I convinced a good friend of mine to buy a Cayman (one of my all time favorite cars) and a year ago he pulled the trigger on an 07 with less than 50k miles. It was clean and he did his best to perform do diligence from 1000 miles away. When the car was pulled off the shipping truck there was a CEL (cam position sensor). He called the guys he bought it from and they said it was the "gas cap"... It would come on and go back off. He took it to a reputable private Porsche mechanic and they swapped out the cam position sensor (that was the code). The light went off, but then came back on... After it came back on the shop said they could do the diagnostics and inspections and that scared my buddy so he took it to the dealer :/ The dealer scanned the ecu and saw 4 or 5 recorded 9,000 over-revs. Upon inspection the dealer mechanic could not get the cam gear tool in place (suggesting tensioner and or chain stretch, but after just a little further inspection they basically gave up on the car and stamped it "it needs a new engine". I've done a little reading on here from time to time and have heard about some of these motors coming apart, but really don't know specifics and if there are consistencies. It's literally a year after he originally bought the car and its been sitting and sitting and sitting. The dealership he bought it from is saying the dealer down here screwed the motor up (while inspecting it?), and the Porsche dealer down here is saying it was shipped with a blown motor. Needless to say, the lawyers are involved and its just about to head to court.

My question is two part: Whats a car like this worth with a blown motor (assuming worst case) and where could we find a low mileage motor for the car (perhaps an upgrade) that wouldn't cost an arm and a leg? Unlikely?

Thanks in advance for your help; its really appreciated!

 

I have to say that I'm struggling with what you said happened to your friend. Unless it was that much of an incredible deal in the purchase price of this car, sight unseen, what person buys a Porsche with these particulars (age and mileage) without any recourse upon inspection? Also, from your description, it sounds like the seller actually knew about some type of problem that was triggering the sensor. It sounds like this condition wasn't disclosed to your friend prior to the sale. Your friend seems to have acted reasonably by contacting the seller at the first sign of trouble and then by having the car independently diagnosed by an expert. There should be some implied warranties if, as you say, the seller is a car dealer. Rather than now seeking to sell the car or replace the engine, my inclination would be to entirely rescind this transaction with the seller. You also said in this connection that your friend has an attorney invloved. I would leave matters with the attorney at this point.