996 Engine Failure

[Guest]

[][]

Lates face it, they have to be real dumb to leave these engines stacked up where you drive your car in for service.
Then I asked an engineer, what's with all these 996 engines out here in the rain? Oh them, they are all knackered
and waiting to go back to Germany.

I "always" keep my camera with me just in case []

 

[Ian W]

Hi Berny

I sent NicD a load of pics of 7 similar blown and/or dismantled Boxster and 996 engines that were in the rain outside the back of Stratstone's in Wilmslow 'waiting to go back to Germany' (according to their parts guy). I've also noticed this pile of engines changes weekly so I think there are a lot more failures than we are aware of.

Anyone else care to take similar pics of heaps of failed engines at their OPC? As you say, how the hell do they deny a problem if there is a bucketload photographic evidence? I would also be intrigued to find out the engine failure / RMS replacement rate experienced by the top dozen or so independents. I think a lot of older cars (like my '98) are out of the dealer loop now due to the insane hourly service costs.

Ian W

 

[Guest]

Ian

I have been taking a series of photos of the same pile in Wilmslow especailly the serial numbers. Yes you are right they do change quite often

[]

 

[Guest]

Well when I took my car in to have the RMS done those engines in the pic mustn't have been there as I would have
snapped the picture up then. So they must have turned up in a week!

No doubt somone at reading will read this in the morning and there will be a massive cleanup campaign accross Britain
this week with all the OPCs to get rid of these public display of blown engines. So lets nip this in the bud people. Get down to your local OPC and snap up some picks of the back of your OPC and post them here. At least report in to us if you see similar piles of engines or not whatever the case may be.

 

[Pete B]

Berny, just seen your post about broken engines etc. Unfortunately was too late for the metal but enclosed picture of the next best thing

 

[Guest]

Not sure if you guys caught the item on Top Gear about 997 on Sunday
. Especially the incident with the gearstick cover.
Even the build quality on the "new" 997 seems a little flawed
[]

 

[Guest]

do these failures also relate to the 996 turbo 2003 model??

 

[gaxor]

Not sure, but I don't think the 996TT is uneffected as it is a different engine to the 996 Carrera (Actually based on GT1 engine)

 

[Mark_Bennett]

Gary is correct.

Turbo, GT2 and GT3 are all based on a different engine. (The GT1 engine).

 

[Guest]

ORIGINAL: Mark Bennett

Gary is correct.

Turbo, GT2 and GT3 are all based on a different engine. (The GT1 engine).

I have to agree with this as well as to add that in general the rate of failures in these engines are very very rare relative to the (normal) 996 engines in c2 /c4/ c4s.

 

[carrera4boy]

But Ive done 20,000 miles in my 996 C4 and haven't had so much as a scratched number plate. (My engine will probably blow, now ive said that)

But is it just me or are you lot driving your cars pretty hard from cold starts etc?. I very rarely take mine over 3500revs except when im on the Nurburgring of course. My Cartier Watch states it's waterproof, so I swim with it on every day. 16 months later its full of water and rust and completely knackered and I'm told that these things just happen.

Higgy,
I know your wife and she drives like a crazed lunatic on those Bracknell back roads, always leaving late to pick the kids up. Im not surprised she blew her engine. She's on 2 wheels on the Met Office roundabout sometimes! And she probably tells you she's a right 'Driving Miss Daisy'. [8D]

Why does one RMS on a 20,000 996 C2 start leaking and another doesn't. If the cars are identical then it can only come down to one thing....YOU!!

Hope i'm not going to be barred from the forum for saying that Just IMOHO
Si

 

[Guest]

SIMON " I very rarely take mine over 3500revs except when im on the Nurburgring of course." [][][]

 

[plhorner]

I've got the video clip to disprove it aswell!!!!

 

[Guest]

Firstly mine is a tip and i hardly use the buttons.
Secondly i am so obsessed about the oil teperature (waiting for it to reach a suitable temp) that on one occassion i was almost pulled over by the police who asked if there was any problem with my car on the motorway.
Belive me I have analysed myself (got one of my psychiatrist friends involved) long and hard if the cause of my engine failure is in some way my fault but so far cant think of a thing i did wrong!
The eveidence from the engine examination also confirms the fact that the engine has not been abused in any way.

Good theory []

 

[Guest]

I was at my OPC yesterday (windscreen washer failed) and one of the service centre managers told me that they can tell when a car has been thrashed or raced.

He talked about 'exceptions' being read from the cars on board computer. So if you blow the engine by changing from 5th to 2nd at high speed, or just generally thrash it, bear in mind that an engineer can download that info and print it out.

Due to this discussion, I've just extended my warranty. Its expensive, but better safe than sorry.

 

[plhorner]

ORIGINAL: n4das

Ian

I have been taking a series of photos of the same pile in Wilmslow especailly the serial numbers. Yes you are right they do change quite often

[]

Having had a chat with a friend of mine that runs a specialist, he reckons that Porsche Nottingham are currently dealing with about 12 engine failures per month!!
Just to top it off, he bought a replacement engine to put in a customers car following a terminal failure and guess what, the replacement lasted 30 seconds! He'd turned it over on the key to prime the oil system without firing it up, connected the ignition system and started it. Apparently it sounded a little rough so they stopped it and did a series of checks, started it again, still sounding a little rough, lightly blipped the throttle and BANG!!
He's now having problems trying to get a replacement, Porsche are claiming it was badly fitted or run without oil!! And that's how they treat a specialist who they've been supplying for 12 years!

 

[carrera4boy]

SIMON " I very rarely take mine over 3500revs except when im on the Nurburgring of course."

Hi Will, I did invite you on our Gumball Rally last month (Nurburgring) but you were busy driving down to Spain in an SLK! Whilst on the track I managed to hit about 4000rpm for the first time ever, before allowing the SLR and Enzo past me. But i did a full oil and filter change (as Stephen Mummery quite rightly stated every 5000miles) when I got back to UK, hence I have a perfectly intact engine without the RMS, Warranty, Legal crap that many currently have. Just follow me and drive carefully everyone.[][]

Phil, Your video camera at Brands was set to Fast mode. I was actually doing about 55mph around the track.[]

 

[Guest]

I have to correct you Simon, I was taking an SL not a SLK through France and Spain to Costa del Crime. I'd much rather of been driving a Porker although 1500 miles with the roof down was great even in the Merc.

You were a bit slow behind me on the way to Brands Festival actually no wonder your RMS has held out.[8D]

Seriously though this is a design/engineering fault not a driver issue.

 

[NicD]

The topic of over reving and how it is recorded is well covered on the GT3 forum.

In fact, it is pretty hard to over rev except by down shifting (or wrong shifting) since the rev limiter will cut in.

 

[Guest]

Yeah, Nic said it all. The engine on the 996 is rev limited at 7300rpm so if it blows up through over reving then there's a fault in the design or manufacture and not in the driving. Similarly, your OPC can check with PST2 if you have stage 2 over reved the transmission unit by changing down instead of up at high revs. These cars are made for the track which means you are supposed to boot the hell out of them and that's exactly what Porsche drivers have been doing for years. Unless you really are a dumb driver and can't change gears correctly (overstressing engine, gearbox or clutch) then your engine should last 150,000 miles+ so long as you change the oil and service it at intervals. It should have absolute no effect on the RMS and that includes even if you do stage 2 over rev it. The RMS is just a bearing protector and nothing else. It stops oil leaking out and prevents muck getting in the main bearing. The crank can turn as fast as it wants till it snaps but the RMS should still stay in tact.