DrJupeman

Did you run the BK deep ban or X51 deep sump plate when these motors were failing?

986

You may want to check again.

I have a track car (with full cage.). When I had engine issue last year the dealer serviced it under warranty. Same for my friend's CPO GT3 that is obviously tracked.

stuttgart46

Not on the first motor. It had over 103K miles on it so we knew we were on borrowed time. I should have included that we are Toyo R888's which may contribute to the oiling issue.
I have had a D-Chunk failure in a street car while taking my son to school.

p997s123

I thank you for your thoughful responses. I'll try to run with a bit less oil in the next DE. If the issue continues, I'll try the motorsport oil seperator. I did install the x51 oil pan on my last dealer visit. This is indeed a slippery slope. I just didn't appreciate the fact that I would start slipping so soon after purchasing my car!

Thanks again.

paradisenb

Put down the pipe before it is too late.

Brinkley

"p997s123"
Can you clarify, you stated a 'motorsports oil separator' in your earlier post? You also mention the oil pan extensions and someone mentioned the x51 baffles which keep the oil from sloshing side to side. Which one did you have the dealer do? The pan extension or the baffles?

I have been racing my boxster since 2003. my original 3.2 lost a connecting rod after two years of racing here in FL. The connecting rod probably died due to oil starvation. I installed the x51 oil pan baffle system. I have also had to replace the "air oil separator" which can allow oil to be dumped back into the intake manifold when bad, thus causing oil to be burned and your blue smoke. I have never hear of a Motorsports version of the air oil seperator? Porsche Motorsports run drysump race motors and I don't know if they need these road going parts?.? The standard part is 98.00 bucks and took me a hour to install even without a lift not the 12 hours your dealer quoted.

After the x51 baffle was installed I will tell you and all the others, who don't have oil pressure monitored on data aquisition, my motor lives at about 50-60psi and still drops to the low 20's to high teens under breaking 1.6 G's and Side loads of 1.5G's.

p997s123

I had the x51 baffles installed.

Porsche Motor Sport oil separator. (p/n 996 107 926 00)

http://www.planetporsche.net/reviews...ct=217&cat=all

http://www.planetporsche.net/reviews...ct=183&cat=all

Here are two articles from the planetporsche.net website that explains the problem and shows pictures of the install. It seems the time consuming part of the install has to do with the larger size of the Porsche Motorsport Oil Seperator and its proximity to the Air Injection Secondary Pump. Parts have to be fabricated and adjusted to fit properly within the engine compartment. My dealer has NOT ever done this install and am concerned that this seems to be rather complicated (although I am not a mechanic). I would appreciate any suggestions for a respected shop in the SW Florida/Tampa/ Miami area.

Brinkley

You learn something new every day! Thank you very much.

That thing does look rather large. I will have to read through the entire write up later.

mooty

great car, nice dynamics.
POS oem engine. you can work around it, but will cost you money.
my had many issues after 5000 track miles
171mph had even more issues than mine.
i know of two other cars in nor cal having issues.
but there are others who tracked theirs with success.

mooty

i dont, no engine issues.
but i dont drive on any trackes that's got banked ovals. so that may be easier on the oil pickup.

cgomez

From what I've seen (my car and other cars) if you had a good baffled pan early in the track mileage the engines can be very reliaboe. The oilsmoke issue has nothing to do with starvation nor compromise durability (is just an oil level problem). They are as reliable as any other water cooled flat six that's not a GT1 based engine.

Will go for the real durability test in 3 weeks at Daytona, and will report back.

DrJupeman

That's not really saying anything, though. Up until this year, all the water cooled flat sixes were similar - except those based on the GT1 engine (which was based on the good ol' air cooled engines of the over-engineered past). Perhaps the largest differences in "other water cooled flat six that's not a GT1 based engine" in the engine was their orientation in the car?

Am I missing anything?

I'm concerned, or at least I wonder, about the durability of the entire range of non-GT1 water cooled flat sixes. The "consumer" engines, as I like to quip.

Your positive experience is very reassuring to me. I'm likely going Spec Boxster next year so I'd like to know I won't be grenading engines every season.

cgomez

My comment had some irony in it. It is "vox populi" that the Watercooled (986, 996, non DFI 997s) engines are much "weaker" than the GT1 engines. You are always expecting the worse to happen, but the cost of replacing one of these vs a GT1 (Turbo, GT3) engine is several orders of magnitude lower ($3K for SPBOX, $6K for a 3.4 or 3.6).
From what I've seen with my car and other Farnbacher cars, is that if you control (own) the engine from its early days and take good care of it (oil level is key, plus X51 pan) they can be raced hard with no issues. I have installed additional sensors in mine and oil temps are fine during hard racing.
However, with the early Boxster chassis in cars converted with bigger engines I've seen much higher temps (poorer undertray airflow? sidevents not large enough? or smaller radiator?).

Bottomline my view is that they are good enough, but I'm not expecting it to last more than 3-4 full racing seasons (20-25 race days per season). Stop by to chat at the next race (going to Daytona?)

DrJupeman

3-4 seasons would be good.

I'm not going to Daytona. I'm done for the season.

mooty

not trying to argue, but just presenting a change in paradigm.
i have had A LOT of GT1 block cars, from SC to RS. and a lot of M96 and M97 motors too.

USUALLY, not always, it's cheaper to replace a water pumper with a junker motor than to do top end on a dry sump p car motor. my boxster engine is 3500 a pop. if one last me two seasons, i will come out ahead of air cool engine rebuilds. i can blow up three motors for about 11000. that's more or less one good top end rebuild for oil cooled motors. (not saying the experience is better, i am just counting $$$) once you accept this paradigm shift, the water engines aren't that bad. think of it as tires. every so often you need new tires. (it took me 6 years to accepted this paradigm).

we have 6 BSR in nor cal, i know everyone of them. the oldest one has been DE/raced 4 years. same old engine over 100k miles. we have one that's sub 10k miles, raced one season, dead. replaced with junk yard motor, 3500, no core exchange.
he did 2:06:2, 1/10 off BSR track record (set on the same day) at thunderhill.

i assure you BSR is slower than your current race car, but way cheaper to run.

my has 15 races and 15 DE this year. so far so good.
i did lose my gear box....
1700 junker box, inc shipping and installation.