Preface - Ok, I bought my '06 997 Carrera 4 with 9K miles on it in November 2008 from a Porsche dealership certified preowned. Since then I have babyed the car and have only put 12K miles on it. I have kept it garaged and never even drove it in the rain. Plus, I took it each time for the recommended maintenance.

What happened - On new years day my friends and I took my car to my friends fathers house (it was his birthday and he liked cars). His was was probably 5 miles from mine. When we got on the interstate the car warning light came on saying I "Low Oil Pressure", then within a mile the steering wheel got more difficult to turn and the engine light came on again saying "Check Engine/Overheating". So we immediately pulled the car over and there was smoke coming from the engine in the rear.

I let the car cool down and opened the engine hood to see that the belt was off the wheels and pulleys. My friend who has rebuilt engines started pulling the belt and feeling around and in the process the belt came completely off but it was intact (it wasn't snapped or broken). He then individually felt each pulley/wheel and I think it was the very bottom one was severely loose. When he put his hand on it and applied pressure we could all hear it wiggling around and he said it had at least 1-2 inches of play in it. The back of the engine also had a fine mist of coolant all over it. From what it looked like to my friends and I, the loose pulley caused the belt to slip off which caused friction in the rubber belt to produce the small amount of smoke we saw. So I got the car towed to the Porsche dealership (which was 1 mile away).

Yesterday the Porsche dealership called me and said that the pulley shouldn't have been that loose and that they believe it was caused by a bad crank. I'm not too keen on cars, but I know he mentioned the problem was the crank. He then said that it would be easier to replace the entire engine in the car rather than individually fix the crank. He told me that he had never seen or heard of this happening to a car with such few miles on it. He said he was going to call the dealership where I bought the car from to see if they may have worked on the engine which could caused this issue. Then told me the best case scenario would be if it wasn't the other dealership's fault Porsche (the company) would pay 15-85% of the cost of the new motor (since this shouldn't happen), but he expected they would pay more like 65-85% in this case, then they could sell the old barely used engine to cover some more costs.

My Driving style - My friends make fun of me because I drive like a granny yet own a Subaru WRX and a Porsche. I have maybe driven the car hard like 3-5 times and by hard I mean I got the RPM to 6K.

The car went out of warranty within the last 10-12 months. So its looking like worst case scenario I'm going to have to pay for this out of pocket.

I always thought Porsches were among the most reliable high performance cars (which is why I bought it). I live in Chattanooga, so there's really no place close that I can get a second opinion. Does this sound right to you guys? I posted the issue in another forum and they recommended I come here for some feedback. Thanks.

 

A friend of mine had a similar episode.

Turns out the prior owner had installed a light weight flywheel and did not replace the pulley or pulley bolts. Apparently the LWF causes more vibration which can cause the pulley to loosen. If that's not the case, then I have no idea.

 

No, this doesn't make sense. The lowest pulley you're describing is the water pump assembly and although 20k miles is not a lot it's certainly possible it's let go.

If you were low on oil and/or coolant it would cause you're warning lamps to set when the bearings let go in the pump and lost tension in the belt.

I've not heard of 1 997 with a bad crankshaft. Did the engine seize ??

I hope this works out for you but the diagnosis sounds way off to me.....

 

This might be hindsight for you but when the "Low Oil Pressure" light illuminated you should have immediately pulled over and shut down. At a minimum that could reduce additional damage.


"When we got on the interstate the car warning light came on saying I "Low Oil Pressure", then within a mile the steering wheel got more difficult to turn and the engine light came on again saying "Check Engine/Overheating". So we immediately pulled the car over and there was smoke coming from the engine in the rear."

 

No the engine did not seize nor did it may any sounds which would indicate a severe problem. My friend who has rebuilt engines before was the one driving it and when we pulled over he said it felt like a belt had snapped before we even looked at the engine (just based on what he felt and saw), so I'm sure if the engine started seizing up he would have noticed immediately.

Yes, I was a bit perplexed as to why the oil pressure light came on, but at that point we were only 2-3 miles from his fathers home. The car felt as if it was running normal at this point so I had no reason to expect a major issue. Now if the car was stuttering or shaking or had just been serviced a few days prior I would have immediately pulled it over.


The more I think about it the more bizarre it sounds. The car could still accelerate (as far as I know) when we pulled it over because my friend asked me if I wanted to pull it over immediately (because of the engine lights) or take it to his dads house a few miles away (where they had parts and tools to look at it closer). It was making no loud engine sounds and the steam/smoke from the engine (to me) looked like it was from the coolant hitting hot parts of the engine and from the belt not fitting precisely in it's spot.

 

^ So the old engine still works and they're going to sell it? That doesn't make any sense. If the engine is blown it's blown.

I'd ask them if they put the belt back on and tried to fire it up.

 

Have you done any mods of any kind to the engine? If so, you are screwed.

 

Just called Porsche and they said they are calling their regional office to see which route would be best:

1) Replace the crank
2) Get a new engine for the car

He said that it is very labor intensive to fix the crank and the individual parts associated with the crank so it is sometimes easier to simply replace the entire engine rather than do the repair. I'm not a Porsche specialist so I don't know if there is any truth to this.

Would the price be about the same for either repair? I know a crank doesn't cost as much as a new engine, but they charge $125/hr for labor and if it takes twice as long to repair a crank than swap an engine, the cost of the crank + labor could come close the the cost of a new engine (especially if Porsche decides to pay a portion of the repair cost for a new engine). If this is the case would I be wrong to rather have a new engine in the car than a repaired crank if the cost is relatively close?

He still doesn't have an estimate but they should know a ballpark figure by the end of the day today.

As far as my understanding goes the only issue with the engine is the crank. The engine is not blown and only has 20K miles on it so I'm sure a large portion of the engine still has value.

No, the car is completely stock. I don't even have the windows tinted.

 

After the oil press light came on, you began to destroy the engine. The engine will certainly run for a while with no oil, but it is beginning to seize. If it gets to that point, it could have bent the crank (although that is a very unusual event). As I've read, a new motor is $12-15k installed. On a P flat six, taking out the crank is splitting the case and taking apart the entire motor. It would be thousands in labor. Hope they cover some, but out of warranty and run for a time with no oil is a difficult situation.

 

I bought an 07 997.1 C4S in November 2010 - it had 17k miles on it but had a new engine at 13k miles. The reason for the replacement was a broken crankshaft pulley bolt (one of 4 bolts I think). Porsche said to replace the engine and had the dealer ship the engine back (I was told) to find out what happened.

It sounds similar to your issue. I would have your dealer check to see if there were any service bulletins for this. You may be able to appeal to Porsche given the low mileage, etc. I did this once on a Mercedes that needed a new gearbox after 51k miles - 1k miles out of warranty. Merc paid the labor...

Good luck.

 

I hope you get out of this OK.... worse cause if you have to pay out of pocket get a new motor and do not rebuild crank....as if you ever sell the car you can state that it has a new motor, a bonus over a car that has a rebuilt crank that's for sure.... sell the old none blown motor (hoping not blown, does not sound blown) to recoup partial costs. Not an expense you wanted but if a new engine is 15K+ and you sell your old one for 7500++ your 7500 out of pocket but have a car with a new engine which is worth more then a car with a rebuilt crank.... get everything documented and pictures.... also dealer labor rates suck, but again saying dealer installed new motor is worth more to most buyers then any side shop no matter how good of a reputation they have...

Good luck buddy and sorry to hear this news...

 

You need to call 1800 Porsche and start a claim/complaint...

Those percentage #'s he mentioned are purely speculation. He would have no idea the percentage that they would cover until: 1. they determined the failure 2. the price to repair/replace 3. Porsche's goodwill amount. 4. etc. DO NOT AGREE to any pricing this person mentions until you recieve an answer from his manager or Porsche Customer Comittment. And the mention of selling your current engine to cover costs only proves to me he is trying to hustle you for some extra $$ in his pocket.

Send me a PM if you'd like to speak further.

 

Unless they have dismantled the engine there is no way they can determine the extend of the damage and once you start paying for that labor you're already half way to a new engine. My understanding is that the crank shafts in these car are engine specific and can not be replaced. Truth or fiction for my money I'd go with the new engine regardless of who pays.

 

+++1

 

I talked to my friend who was driving the car and he told me that it was a Low Battery Warning message NOT a Low Oil Pressure light that came on initially. He then said we drove about a mile and the Overheating Message came on at which point we pulled over immediately.

So we were not driving on low oil, which gives me some ease.


Now for the other news. The Porsche guy just called and here's what he said:

They are talking to the regional Field Tech Manager to see what Porsche's stance is on this. It's his call as to what they will replace and how much (if any) percentage Porsche will pay to fix the issue.

Replacing the Crank - He told me the cost for a new engine would be about the same as it would cost to replace the crank. I told him that if that was the case then I would much rather have a new engine in the car and he agreed.

Replacing the Engine - Asked him how much it would cost for a new engine and he told me the last engine they replaced was for a Cayanne Turbo and it cost 15k...so he estimated if I had to pay for the engine for the 997 out of pocket it would cost 10K for the engine and would take 18-20 hours to pull the old engine and replace it with the new one. So I guesstimated the total cost would end up being around 13-14K including labor.


Random stuff - He said he looked at all the service records the vehicle had and it was serviced on time each time without having any prior engine issues (which was good). He also said that they were going to try to do what they could to get Porsche to pay for as much of it as possible. He said that since it was serviced each time, was bought from Porsche as Certified Preowned, and had such few miles on it that he expected they would cover a portion of the cost (but he doesn't know how much yet...I'm hoping for 65-85%).

Worst case scenario: Porsche doesn't help out at all and I pay 10K for a new engine and 3K for labor. I won't be too happy if this is what happens.

Best case scenario: I get a new engine for 5K or less (combination of Porsche paying for part of the new engine and the selling of the current engine core). If this happens I'll definitely consider another Porsche in my future.