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Bingo! 2nd engine dead.

pierre

By pierre
in 996 TT, 996 TT S, 996 GT2

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pierre Member

pierre

Posted
Posted

Yeah, bingo.

Last Friday, my 'new' engine gave up. 2nd gear, full throttle... all good until... boink! Sudden loss of power. I managed to drive up to a parking lot in 2nd and 1st gear, then the engine blocked completely.

The engine itself now has exactly 100'000 km, with the last 75'000 with the Sportec stage 3 upgrade (540 hp, 780 Nm). It's of course out of warranty, and the upgrade would have voided it anyway. Yes, 540 hp is a lot more than the stock output, but still... total failure already? Sob... The mechanics don't know exactly what the problem is, but they say the engine is just completely blocked. So it's the internals. No good.

Opening it, checking it, rebuilding it would cost a lot. Probably even more than getting (yet another) new one from Porsche as a standard-exchange. Now, would I put a 3rd engine into a car that already has over 317'000 km? Not sure...

Stinking thinking time!... Any ideas welcome...

--Pierre

PS: the whole story with the first engine swap is here.

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Chuck Jones Member

Chuck Jones

Posted
Posted

Pierre: Really sorry to hear that buddy....you were my inspiration. When I'd read how many miles you had on that car, it reaffirmed my confidence in looking forward to a long and relatively trouble free relationship....but I think that with the number of miles you had on her when you changed out the engine last time (217,000 km?)....at some point they just get tired...more than just the engine...running gear, suspension, wheel bearings, electrical etc. There comes a point where it becomes questionable how much more money you should continue to throw at her as opposed to moving on to a fresher car.

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T2_996420 Member

T2_996420

Posted
Posted

Pierre,

My condolences as well - interested to see what the mechanics find when they dive into it. Personally I would replace/repair with built internals and move on with the same car!!

For those who are interested - I flipped 190,000 miles this weekend in my bone stock 2003 X50 - just wanted to add that as another data point for those interested.

Looking forward for the update from the mechanics and your plan forward!! T2

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pierre Member

pierre

Posted
  • Author
Posted (edited)
My condolences as well - interested to see what the mechanics find when they dive into it. Personally I would replace/repair with built internals and move on with the same car!!

I talked to Sportec today. They're quite surprised about the whole stuff. According to them, they have customers with bigger power upgrades (580-650 hp) who are driving their cars very hard and quite a lot. One guy seems to be doing like 70-80'000 km / year! So their recommendation would be to analyze the failure carefully before taking any decision. Will probably have them do that, and if possible and not too expensive, rebuild the engine. And while we're at it, maybe they could replace the broken parts with better ones?... ;)

Edited by pierre
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  • 2 weeks later...
Chuck Jones Member

Chuck Jones

Posted
Posted

Pierre: Is there any chance that Sportec might offer you any "goodwill" on a rebuild if it turns out that their parts failed even tho it's out of warranty? The fact they have it and are looking at it might be a sign they're interested in what happened and if it might be connected to their product line.

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pierre Member

pierre

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Ok, got some fresh news today. Things aren't too bad. A loose screw got into the way of the right-side timing chain and broke it. Because of that, the valves are bent. There are other damages, but the good news is that the pistons and cylinders haven't been touched. Quite a few parts to replace, but it seems to be worth it. Otherwise, the engine's internals are like new. So I'm going to Sportec tomorrow to discuss what we do exactly.

What bugs me is that this whole issue happened because of one single silly loose screw! Incidentally, a friend of mine had the very same issue a while ago. He had also found out that this is a quite common problem. Ok, the word 'common' might be slightly to strong, but it's at least not a one-time problem. I doubt Porsche would do anything on goodwill, but I'll let them know anyway. Anybody heard of that too?

More news to come soon!...

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  • 3 weeks later...
pierre Member

pierre

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Sorry for the late answer...

Sportec is now fixing the engine! B)

Will cost something, yeah... :o But still less than a standard exchange, and my 'new' engine will have some better parts, which should make it bulletproof for the next 100'000km at least. :D Pictures should follow...

I still have to write to Porsche about the whole thing. Will keep you posted too.

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alex_55 Member

alex_55

Posted
Posted
Sorry for the late answer...

Sportec is now fixing the engine! B)

Will cost something, yeah... :o But still less than a standard exchange, and my 'new' engine will have some better parts, which should make it bulletproof for the next 100'000km at least. :D Pictures should follow...

I still have to write to Porsche about the whole thing. Will keep you posted too.

good luck !!!!

how much ?? :P

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  • 4 weeks later...
pierre Member

pierre

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Andy (Sportec) called me last Friday. Before any fine-tuning, they had like 580 HP and over 800 Nm. I'm now awaiting his last call to tell me the car's ready! No, I'm not especially impatient, why?... :D :P

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pierre Member

pierre

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Posted (edited)

Got a call from Ueli: he's just done with the fine-tuning/reprogramming of the engine. The result?... 590 HP and 820 Nm!

Will go get the car tomorrow afternoon... B)

Edited by pierre
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wachuko Member

wachuko

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Posted
Got a call from Ueli: he's just done with the fine-tuning/reprogramming of the engine. The result?... 590 HP and 820 Nm!

Will go get the car tomorrow afternoon... B)

good luck !!!

we are waiting for some opinions ! :cheers:

and photos!

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pierre Member

pierre

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Posted (edited)

Photos?... There's absolutely nothing to see! B) Just a little Sportec sticker on the rear. Besides that, the car looks quite stock. Well... Except it's sitting very low on its black rims. B) Ok, will try to shoot a few pics.

Opinions?... That thing is impressively quick! Hard to say how much quicker it's now than before (when it had only 540 HP), but it's a true rocket. I'll try to film and time a 0-200 km/h run some day.

I must say that Sportec did a fantastic job!

Edited by pierre
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