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122000 miles and I think it's gone!?

gary996
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gary996 Member

gary996

Posted
Posted

I need help, input, ideas or condolences.

A couple of days ago my '99 996 C2 started making this horrible whining noise that at first sounded like the belt or tensioner (idler pulleys) and it quickly got worse. Yesterday I drove it to one of my shops and they checked it out and gave me a quote to replace the pulleys and I gave them the go-ahead. Well I got the call today that once they started in it was not the pulleys but it was a bad "intermediate control valve" which was preventing the oil from doing its job and therefore the noise was pistons not getting lubricated properly, ouch!

He is looking into this on his side but thinks that the damage is done and it's either a big bill or time to look into a new engine.

Does anyone have any input on this? Do I need to look for a 3.6 liter engine? What do they cost? Or should I have a burial at sea?

HELP.

boxster-s-dk Member

boxster-s-dk

Posted
Posted

If you are planning on keeping the car for many years, I would "grab the bull by the horns" and buy a new engine from Porsche...

It has to many miles on it, to keep on replacing engine parts....sorry

Stefan

denmark

wvicary Member

wvicary

Posted
Posted

From being diagnosed as a noisy pulley to seizing pistons?!? No low oil pressure warnings?

Get it towed to another garage and get a second opinion.

gary996 Member

gary996

Posted
  • Author
Posted

The pistons aren’t seized, yet. The noise was coming from the whole engine area not one specific location so when they dug in they discovered the real source. It appears that the oil stopped flowing do to this valve and this has scored several cylinders. I didn’t drive much at all once it started making the noise. Seizing is emanate at this point. They can remove a part of the oil circulating system so assess the cylinder damage, at no charge, but it shouldn’t be run and once they open it up then I will know if it’s a rebuild or replace. Rebuild sounds like chasing bad money with good at this point anyway.

There was no drop in oil pressure. That is one of the things I was asking the community about. It seems that there should have been some change in oil pressure.

rb101 Member

rb101

Posted
Posted

"intermediate control valve", never heard of such a thing on a 996 engine. There is a intermittent shaft, that has a bearing that can fail. But that will not cause scored cylinders from lack of oil. Follow Wvicar advice and have it towed to a compendent shop.

gary996 Member

gary996

Posted
  • Author
Posted

It is the "intermediate shaft" not "intermediate valve" he misspoke. They had a Porsche engine guy check it out, he said shaft, supposedly. Noise is most likely shaft, doesn't know anything about cylinder scoring, not likely, yet. Lots of blue smoke when started. Second opinion is shaft needs replace about $3k.

Just had it towed to Rennwerks in Campbell, awaiting third opinion.

Anyone had any experience with replacing intermediate shaft?

  • 2 weeks later...
halik Member

halik

Posted
Posted (edited)

There are a million of threads regarding IMS problems, I would suggest searching the forums. You shouldn't have any blue smoke if IMS is the culprit.

That being said, $3K for IMS rebuild is a great price.

Edited by halik
gary996 Member

gary996

Posted
  • Author
Posted

After 3 weeks and 3 shops (the last being the REAL experts, Rennwerks in Campbell CA) I got diagnose and fixed. It was the Oil Separator, the valve failed causing excessive vacuum, collapsing hoses and a host of other related seal failures. Including oil and coolant all over the place, internal and external. I was shown the parts and the mess but now it runs great and I didn't need a new motor. Because of the tiptronic it required the engine to be dropped so of course that added cost but I'm thankful that's all it was and the 3.4 is still running great at 120k miles.

Thanks for the input and feedback which made me get it towed to "my" shop (across town) instead of throwing my hands up and telling the first guys to just fix it.

gary996 Member

gary996

Posted
  • Author
Posted

The way it was explained is that It sucked so much vacuum that it was pulling coolant through the internal seals and the seals failed on the AOS along with some hoses colapsing and then cracking so when it was shut off things leaked out.

halik Member

halik

Posted
Posted

After 3 weeks and 3 shops (the last being the REAL experts, Rennwerks in Campbell CA) I got diagnose and fixed. It was the Oil Separator, the valve failed causing excessive vacuum, collapsing hoses and a host of other related seal failures. Including oil and coolant all over the place, internal and external. I was shown the parts and the mess but now it runs great and I didn't need a new motor. Because of the tiptronic it required the engine to be dropped so of course that added cost but I'm thankful that's all it was and the 3.4 is still running great at 120k miles.

Thanks for the input and feedback which made me get it towed to "my" shop (across town) instead of throwing my hands up and telling the first guys to just fix it.

Hey the pre-02 tip cars shouldn't need the engine dropped to do this.

gary996 Member

gary996

Posted
  • Author
Posted

I"m not too sure about that. I saw the car on the hoist and saw where the AOS is (before) the job and I have no idea how you could do it without dropping the engine. There is no room anywhere.

  • Moderators
RFM Member

RFM

Posted
  • Moderators
Posted

It is possible if you take the suspension and shaft away from the rear sub chassis, but you still need to lower the power train partially. It is as much work (time) to lower the complete power train, which i prefer to approve the accessibility.

gary996 Member

gary996

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  • Author
Posted

Either way it was replaced along with all of the collapsed hoses, spark plug cables, spark plugs (they all needed it), fluids replaced and transmission filter and fluids and it runs better than it has in a while. The whole thing cost a lot but it was all worth it.

  • 1 month later...

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