That’s why you do it right instead to hoping to putting a bandage on a blown off limb. You don’t own or buy a car especially a Porsche because it’s a good investment or inexpensive. If you don’t want to fix it, put it up for sale without an engine, you could even part the car for more then 20. Which is why it’s a question of how much do you like the car, and how much is it worth to you. With a fresh rebuilt you will have many more worry free miles in a car you owned and know its past. If the car gets totaled in the future, well you just got screwed again.

I just don’t know why your letting off that tire shop so easily, what were the codes again?

 

Yes, there is no way to look at this without a money loss. If I start doing this, I might buy myself a Honda or else, very reliable safe inexpensive and ...

Checked DME and not overrevs at all. Forgot to mention. It seems like the fault happened before taking the car to the shop. Now remembering it, it took a while to start... like clogged. That was probably the hydro-lock, from looking at what broke the cylinder today at the shop.

 

In Nov. the price from Sunset for a 3.4 reman was $11,795!! The price for 3.6 reman is only about $9,000, but 3.4's are more expensive. Got the price from Jeff at Sunset, I have bought lots of parts there, including the parts I used when I fixed my engine.

As for repairing the engines, it can be done, and often easily. When I had my intermix most people said I had no choice but to get a new engine. The bottom line is that I spent about $1,500 having the head repaired (it was cracked) and on other parts (and I replaced many that I did not have to replace) and the car runs fine. No not every part or seal, etc. is new, but on a reman engine not every part etc is new.

If it was a Ford, or a Honda, etc. would you have to get a new engine if you had a component failure. Not really, and this is the case with Porsches too. And with the early 996's going from $15K-$20K or so now it is hard to justify the all or nothing approach being suggested. I did the disassembly and reassembly myself, in my garage, and I am not a professional mechanic. Yes a total disassembly is more difficult, and does require some specialized tools, but there are several individuals that have done them, and lots of shops are now doing them. If 19000rpm is afraid to work on them that is his problem, but don't think it can't be done.

And again, if you want to spend the big bucks, there are other sources, that IMHO are better than the Porsche remans.

 

Is it possible to fix the cylinder? My understanding is that it takes so much time to take the engine apart to do it, and putting back together, that you creep into big bucks regardless, vs. getting a reman engine.

 

You can change out the liners, but there again you opened up the case and need to replace all the consumables. You could theoretically just replace the one liner and piston. You still pay the same labor if you rip down the engine and half *** it or if you do it right. However if you only fix that one cylinder and your driving down the road one day and you pop the engine again you will really be wishing you spent that extra bit more to do it right once instead of doing it twice. Or you could forgo all the worry and cost of having it rebuilt by some joe blow and get a factory reman which is most times better then the engine your car came with out the factory door.

Suncoast is the cheapest dealer I’ve dealt with. Haven’t used sunset before. I live in WA and have parts set from Suncoast in FL and even with shipping they blow everyone else out of the water, that is saying something.

Here is why I wouldn’t rebuild your current engine. You have leaked coolant into the combustion chamber, and therefore oil. Oil doesn’t lubricate as well with water and coolant in it. Therefor you could have damaged all of your important bearings, and what ever place you took your car to isn’t going to replace and spec things nearly as well as Porsche factory rebuilds are. I promise if you get a factory rebuilt you will have no worries or headaches in the future. The car already turned into a money pit the day this happened so fix it right the first time. If you try to save some here and there by not replacing certain things your just going to cause more grief in the future and it will not be more fun the second time around. This is why you replace all parts with a new engine, like o2’s and coil packs. Yeah it sounds like more money, but who says your o2's don’t go bad and cause a lean condition and pop your new engine?

 

If you read up there are lots of owners who have had reman engines "pop." Now Porsche will warranty the engine for 2 years I believe, I think you have to have the work done at a Porsche dealer,and that certainly helps. But after two years you are on your own.

I know that on my car, having had an intermix, the bearings, etc. are not like they would have been if it had never happened. But then again, I spent less than $2,000 and I am driving the car, it runs strong, and I am having a great time with it. If I had had to go for a full engine the car would still be parked, or would have been sold less the engine. When I bought the car 9 years ago I paid sticker, my real estate development business was doing great. Well that has changed, but I still have the car, repaired the engine rather than replaced the engine for less than 20% of the cost of the reman engine and I am enjoying the hell out of it.

 

I called Suncoast and the price of a reman c2 is $14,500 excluding core. A new record I guess. Especially when Suncoast is seeling a Turbo X51 engine for only $17900 with no core. Pretty much same price. Crazy.

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dharn55

If it is a cracked cylinder head it is pretty easlily repairable, I know because I did mine. Cost is $1,500-$2,000. Less is you do the labor yourself as I did. Depends on what you replace while you are in there. To fix or replace a head (a new head is about $2,800) does not require splitting the cases.

I have to agree with Dharn55 completely!

If you look at my post called "IMS Failure" you'll see with some pictures the process I had to go through, and it's not too difficult. Mind you, I actually had to repair the crankshaft, so had to split the core, and get to the heart of the engine. Yes, the tools and procedures to put everything back together can be expensive, but you can always take it to the dealer to get the timing done, (should cost you around $600, a lot cheaper than the tools for that process, and the most important piece to get done right) and do the rest yourself.

It cost me about 1/4 of the price of getting it done myself than with some of the other previously mentioned shops, and much more satisfying!

 

I am to check out if I can redo the liners with Nickies. This, plus new pistons, rings, pins and clips, is 4k. I might as well look at the IMS retrofit (do tiptronic cars get IMS failure problems?). Then, get engine put back together.

If the above thinking is correct, it will cost me the same than a rebuilt engine with who knows what problems and old case/cylinders. I'll call LN tomorrow and see what can be done in this regard.

 

Are you sure you cracked a sleeve? I've seen a cracked valve head a lot more than a piston sleeve. When you take all the ancillaries off, do a pressure test first, it'll show you your pressure leaks. Usually the cracks from around the valves, not the pistons.

If you did, yes, I'd call LN and do a Nickie job. You'll definitely be ready for any turbo or supercharger system you want to add later.

 

I did see it with my own eyes. The shop took engine apart. They were expecting a cracked head. I guess that still might be the case, we stopped when we saw the cracked cylinder. Crack about 2 inches, maybe a bit less. Will take pics and post too.

 

Porsche is running a promotion on certain factory remanufactured engines. If you want to see if your engine is on the list, contact me with your VIN and I'll see if there are any good deals.

 

tarzancoe, since ur in socal, you should contact http://ufomotorsport.com/. Others on this forum and rennlist have had great results from them. I never used them myself, but worth a shot. Freight on these engines from Atlanta or anywhere in the East coast can't be cheap.. keep us updated!

 

oh yea 19000rpm, where is your shop located in Edmonds? I'm in Eastside and figures that one day I may need an indy for certain repairs. PM me with some details. thx!

 

well i had a reman done in july and it cost me 17,456. with a 10% discount . the problem to my motor was 2 and 3 cylinder had no compresion and lots of white smoke but yea u do get 2 year warranty unlimited miles when you get it to porsche and installed