99 Boxster engine problems - need a recommendation

[emptyhead99]

I'm hoping someone can help me here. My wife purchased a '99 Boxster with a Tiptronic in 2003 with about 11,500 miles on it. The car is immaculate. She drives it about 5000 miles per year with the odometer now showing about 36,400 miles. It is garaged daily – stored in the winter – very well taken care of - maintained well - washed weekly and is in like-new condition. About 2 1/2 years ago I had a problem with the engine running rough - check engine light coming on etc. - It turned out to be one of the engine coils and I had it replaced at my local Porsche dealer in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The experience at my dealer was good, service was quick and the shop charge was fair @ $95.00 an hour. The car was finally paid off this past August and my wife was happy to get rid of a car payment after 5 years.

Around the end of October she was driving the vehicle and noticed that the check engine light came on - flashed a few times and then it began running rough. I had her drive the car home and I drove it around to see how it was running - I had a feeling that it was experiencing the same problem as before with the coil, so I scheduled an appointment and took it to the dealer for service. I received a call late in the morning from the dealer that the remaining 5 engine coils should be replaced as they all had cracks in them and one had failed completely. After doing some research and speaking to a few people regarding this, I found out that this is a fairly common issue with this engine. I thought it was a little extreme and even though there are only 36,400 miles on it, I figured the car was about 10 years old, maybe it was time. I authorized the work to be done for the replacement of the 5 coils. Cost - $734.00.

I received another call later in the day with some rather disturbing news. While the coils were being replaced, a compression test was done on each cylinder and the following was noted: 5 of the 6 cylinders registered a healthy 170 PSI; however 1 cylinder (#2) only registered a poor 25 PSI. Knowing that this is a fairly significant problem, I agreed with the service manager that this issue should be addressed. We both figured it would take about 1 hour to pull the valve cover and check to see if there was a stuck valve or some other problem. I authorized the service to proceed. About an hour after my conversation with the service manager I received another disturbing call. According to him, the only way to remove the valve cover was to completely remove the engine and transmission from the car, and put it on a bench for service. Huh?????? He also informed me that the shop time for this service is about 12 hours. That’s 12 hours just to remove the engine and reinstall it. 12 hours. That equates to about $1200.00. This doesn’t even count the time involved in determining what the actual problem with the engine is. I figured I could potentially be looking at another $400.00-$500.00 in shop time and parts on top of the $1200.00 before the problem is fixed. After verifying from some other dealers that this information is correct, I authorized the work to proceed. I was curious as to why a company as world renowned as Porsche have such a major design flaw as to need to completely remove an engine just to get a valve cover off? It certainly lessens my confidence in Porsche overall. I’ve always been treated right by my dealer, but I found it rather strange that the engine coils, compression issue and engine removal all seemed to happen at the same time. The dealer was rather busy with some other projects and since it's winter time, there was no rush and they would start on it when time permitted.

Today I received the most disturbing call of all - according to the service manager, the engine is in pretty bad shape - apparently a small piece of the intake valve in cylinder number 2 had broken off and did a hell of a job inside the cylinder - scoring the walls, damaging the top of the piston but not putting a hole in it, damaging the rings and the inside of the cylinder head. I was told that there is no way to repair the engine because of the nature of the damage and design of the block, and the only option is to replace the engine. ARE YOU SERIOUS????? Replace the engine??? I asked him what could have caused the damage and he told me there is no definitive answer. He said maybe it could have been from over lubrication or something else - he wasn't really sure. After asking him the cost to replace the engine I had to get up off of the floor because I fell out of my chair. Cost of a new engine from Porsche.....$10,000.00. Yes that's correct - ten thousand dollars. So now I have a car worth maybe $18,000-$20,000 with an engine that's gonna cost $10K to fix - now you see my situation. He said a used engine or a new short block may come in around $6000.00 but that's still a lot of money to drop on this.

I'm wondering if the valve was faulty all of these years. Maybe it had a hairline crack in it and finally let loose. Who knows? Does anyone have any suggestions? - is there any chance that Porsche would back this up if it was a faulty valve? I know the car is well out of warranty, but again, only 36,400 miles and very well taken care of. Could the cylinder be bored out and fitted with a new piston and rings? If anyone can shed some light on this it would be much appreciated as we have some difficult decisions to make.

Thanks,

Mark

[savowood]

Although your dealer will charge you 10k for a new motor, and that's not the labor to do the work involved, you can get a motor for a lot less. I bought a 3.4 to put in my 2000 Boxster for about 8k.

It's true the motors are basically swaps for major repairs. They get sent back to the factory and new engineers are trained on rebuilding them, then you get a remanufactured motor for a lot less than the new one. Often, you can't tell the difference. My 3.4 was so nice, the mechanic thought it was brand new.

If it helps, I feel your pain. I've had three motors in my Boxster (the original, a used 3.4 that I paid $3500 for, and a new 3.4). The swaps were because of a blown motor due to a known oiling issue under high G forces in a left hand turn after extremely hard braking.

I can highly recommend the 3.4 swap. The best part of the swap is not the extra oomph, rather the massively improved fuel mileage. If I set the cruise on about 60-65, when I return from the race track I get around 35 mpg. Around town I get around 20-22 depending on my "spirit".

-Michael

[grover]

Boxster S 3.4L is certainly a good idea :D Is it possible to put in a 3.6L or other more powerful engine in a 986? Is that just a drop-in, or does it cause any transmission issues?

If this should happen to me... I've got a tiptronic 04 Boxster S, can it be reprogrammed for (and handle the power of) a more powerful engine?

Edited January 20, 2009 by grover

[mikefocke]

All the options I know of and have collected over the years

are here.

I don't know what you expected when you bought a flat-6 mid-engined car but removal of the engine/trans as a unit is normal to get at many internal things.

Wish I had good news for you.

[Bill_SoCal]

Mark - What a bummer...no words of wisdom for you. :( I'll need to leave that to the more technical engine guys. I can only imagine your frustration with getting the car paid off and then having this happen to you. I wish you success in gaining resolution with the options available to you. The Boxster really is an outstanding vehicle. Mine's a daily driver and I love every minute of it.

Mike Focke - Good info. I saved a copy of the attachment you provided, however, I hope I never need it! At 139,000 miles, my Boxster is still running like it did when I took off the lot with 17 miles on it back in December '02 (MY '03)! :P

All the best,

Bill B)

[tnoice]

I am sorry to hear your pain, however, Porsche is not the only one. I recently had my head gaskets replaced on my subaru impreza and the mechanic had to remove the entire engine in order to remove and install them. It is the perk of a horizontaly opposed motor.

[Cassiebox]

Mark/emptyhead99-

I feel for you man and am sorry to hear of your troubles.

Certainly work w/ the dealer to see if PCA will offer you some assistance (they just might). If they hold firm w/ offering nothing you may want to reach out to Pete Delmer @ peteseurotech.com . He's on Stoops Ferry Rd just over the river and up the hill from Sewickley. Not only does he supports our local PCA but he does mainly hi-end performance upgrades. With any luck, he's got a customer in the wings wanting to do an engine swap but doesn't want to dump a perfectly good motor for no reason. Either way, he should be able to connect you w/ a used motor at a sharper price than the dealer. Another option is to reach out for George Riggins (IIRC?) from the old C&G Motors. He split out on his own a few years ago and I understand his pricing is pretty sharp. PM me if you want his contact info as I know I have it somewhere at home.

Good luck!

[Topless]

Sorry man. The worst possible news... your baby is dead. As a second owner of a 10 year old car, any sort of legal remedy is probably approaching zero. I think the MFG warranty was 2 yrs/24k in 99.

two choices:

Fix it- repair or replace motor $$$$ I would weigh the good "takeoff" motor vs a Raby rebuild.

Sell it at a loss- Not running ($$$$)

Either way it is going to sting. I do not envy your situation. It could happen to any of us tomorrow though.