I have a 2005 997 with about 9500 miles on it. I took it to the local Porche dealership last week because the airbag light was on. The dealer replaced some computer module and applied 2 campaigns. (shift cable and hood bolts).

I picked it up, and all was fine. 3 days later the airbag light came back on again.

I took it back to the dealership last Wednesday. No call on Thursday. I called them this morning (Friday) and was told the engine seized up. It was making a funny noise when they were pulling it out of the garage. They pulled it back in, turned it off and examined it. When they went to turn it back on, the engine "seized up". Service consultant says it needs a new engine.

My questions:

1. Does this sounds weird? Has this happened to anyone else?
2. Is it strange that a new engine is required here? Why not more analysis?
3. What does this do to the resale of my car? The numbers aren't going to match now.

Seems fishy to me, but I'm still in shock........

 

Is this your first Porsche? (In this decade)

My questions:

1. Does this sounds weird? Has this happened to anyone else?

Yes do a search in the 996 archives there are lots of guys who have had their engines replaced under warranty. Porsche does not sell dealers parts to rebuild engines. When your engine fails they replace the entire engine and send the old engine back to the factory for remanufacturing. (So your dealer will get a new/reconditioned crate engine with everything allready installed ready to mount.) This is common, it's a better deal when you have a 3 or 4 y/o engine with 60K miles and a RMS leak requires a new engine. I would not sweat it.

1. Is it strange that a new engine is required here? Why not more analysis?

It sounds like they did their analysis and they require a new engine. Not much more to do. They will have the engine in and out in a day. Downside you have to break in the engine again.

1. What does this do to the resale of my car? The numbers aren't going to match now.

Nothing... you bought a car that will be overproduced. If this was one of the "Club Cars" Porsche built or a CGT something along those lines I could see it mattering. You did not buy a collectors car so I think you will be fine on the VIN #'s. Resale you should not have a problem since they replace the engines with brand new crate engines ready to bolt on a buyer should not care. IMHO

 

Not heard of it. Which dealer is this?

WRT resale value, a new buyer will always wonder if you abused the car to cause engine replacement so soon. Maybe you can get the dealer to add comment on the repair order to say no abuse found. There is no matching numbers on engine and chassis I don't think. However, engine replacement is something people care about when shopping used.

 

Eric is right a new engine will not hurt a thing. I would be courious to know if they happened to have the car our for a "test drive" when it happened. I know I was going to pick mine up one day after having a trim piece replaced and got a call telling me not to come get it. When I asked why they said the car was out on a test drive and the distributor broke and they had to call a tow truck. I was fine with it until they tried to give me a bill for the tow and repair. I explained that my car was in for work that did not require a test drive and I would not pay for their mechanics joy ride gone wrong.

 

whom ever gave me the negative rep point for my opinions/answers THANKS

 

Very strange story.
In some ways, think of it as making your car 'newer' after the engine swap. You gotta wonder what the hell happened though at the dealer.

 

If the odometer rolls back to "0", that might help your resale value. Just sell it right away.

 

I think that's a totally unjustified statement. Why should he sell it?

 

Just crossed my mind,...did you have the oil changed while it was at the dealer? Could they have drained the oil, forgot to refill it, and had the block freeze up???

 

Some dealers are stupid.

 

No oil change. Here are some things I learned:

1. The car looks to be in great shape, minus the engine.
2. They emptied the oil after it seized and there was some metal in it.
3. If this was out of warranty, it would have cost me about 8 grand.
4. It takes them about 10 hours to swap engines.
5. I may get a remanufactured engine. Used block with all new internals. Of course, since the 997 has only been out for a short time, they may only have completely new ones... I hope.
6. They will send my engine off to Porsche who will tear it down to analyze the failure.
7. The odometer will not be reset to "0".
8. I won't get my car back until Friday. So they will have had it at least 10 days.

At least I have a Cayenne loaner. V6 (yawn) Apparently it’s the only loaner they have. Usually they send you to Hertz and you're given a Mazda 6 or similar.

 

I would fight for a new engine, I would not let them put a re-manufactured engine in my car. Call PCNA and ***** to them too. IMO

 

pcna does not respond to well to "bitcing", trust me.

 

Insist on a new engine!!