996-997 wet-sump engine reliability: enter your stats here!
Discussion
Seeing as I Just got my car back from an engine rebuild I thought I would contribute.
2000 996 C4, purchased with a little over 100K Miles, Engine Rebuilt on 144K Miles
Bore Score on Cylinders 2 and 5 I think, Rebuilt Engine and though the IMS was solid on inspection I had it replaced seeing as engine was already out. Hoping the Engine will keep going for another 144K Miles
2000 996 C4, purchased with a little over 100K Miles, Engine Rebuilt on 144K Miles
Bore Score on Cylinders 2 and 5 I think, Rebuilt Engine and though the IMS was solid on inspection I had it replaced seeing as engine was already out. Hoping the Engine will keep going for another 144K Miles
Jivaldinho said:
Seeing as I Just got my car back from an engine rebuild I thought I would contribute.
2000 996 C4, purchased with a little over 100K Miles, Engine Rebuilt on 144K Miles
Bore Score on Cylinders 2 and 5 I think, Rebuilt Engine and though the IMS was solid on inspection I had it replaced seeing as engine was already out. Hoping the Engine will keep going for another 144K Miles
I thought bore score on the 3.4's was virtually unheard of - did you just get very unlucky?2000 996 C4, purchased with a little over 100K Miles, Engine Rebuilt on 144K Miles
Bore Score on Cylinders 2 and 5 I think, Rebuilt Engine and though the IMS was solid on inspection I had it replaced seeing as engine was already out. Hoping the Engine will keep going for another 144K Miles
They can be reasonably reliable. When they were first used for racing in the UK (Boxster 3.2 and later 3.4 and 996 3.4) they were quite unreliable - but things have improved since and we built several race engines (standard Hartech spec) last winter for the 2017 season and they won all 3 Championships they were entered into and were 100% reliable (Mark McAleer PCGB Class1, Jake McAleer PCGB class2, Mark McAleer PCGB Overall championship, Mark and Jake PCGB Team award, Ed Hayes BRSCC TOYO Tires Championship only being beaten occasionally at the end of the season by James Coleman (after having a Hartech engine rebuild) and another engine obtained a 2nd in a Spa endurance event.
Ed (who won the BRSCC Championship) also finished all 22 races on the podium as well with 15 wins, 4 seconds and 3 thirds.
This reliability under severe strain was achieved as a result of continually trying to solve problems over many years, testing solutions and persevering with ideas finally achieving the desired result.
Incidentally we also put something back into the sport by allowing those customers with Hartech built engines and displaying our "Hartech powered" decals to be rewarded by a podium based points system that has overall earned them over £8000 and will enable all three to have their engines rebuilt free of any labour costs this winter while some other competitors with Hartech engines have earned a contribution.
However the PCGB class in introducing the 3.8 engine next season and we expect this to have particular and specific additional problems (not the least of which relates to crankshaft flexure) which we are currently working on and will shortly be testing a solution for.
Generally the Boxster 3.2 engines are acceptably reliable, the 996 3.4 with ferrous coated pistons can suffer cylinder ovality, cracking and "D" chunking while the pater versions with plastic coated pistons, the 3.6, 3.8 and Cayman S versions - can score bores.
Crankshafts and shell bearings are usually worn out by 80-100K and if the crankshaft fails as a result it can wreck the engines but most are looked after better and driven more carefully as they get new owners (as the cars age) and can push on to over 150K.
Variations in the casting quality of the Lokasil preforms can influence longevity (and there is little anyone can do about that until they fail) and prevous owners can thrash the cars and use the thinner oil for too long and this also shortens longevity.
They are still brilliant cars and with a properly rebuilt engine (addressing many of the weak spots) at the right time or after a mild failure - they seem to be exceptionally reliable once again.
Baz
Ed (who won the BRSCC Championship) also finished all 22 races on the podium as well with 15 wins, 4 seconds and 3 thirds.
This reliability under severe strain was achieved as a result of continually trying to solve problems over many years, testing solutions and persevering with ideas finally achieving the desired result.
Incidentally we also put something back into the sport by allowing those customers with Hartech built engines and displaying our "Hartech powered" decals to be rewarded by a podium based points system that has overall earned them over £8000 and will enable all three to have their engines rebuilt free of any labour costs this winter while some other competitors with Hartech engines have earned a contribution.
However the PCGB class in introducing the 3.8 engine next season and we expect this to have particular and specific additional problems (not the least of which relates to crankshaft flexure) which we are currently working on and will shortly be testing a solution for.
Generally the Boxster 3.2 engines are acceptably reliable, the 996 3.4 with ferrous coated pistons can suffer cylinder ovality, cracking and "D" chunking while the pater versions with plastic coated pistons, the 3.6, 3.8 and Cayman S versions - can score bores.
Crankshafts and shell bearings are usually worn out by 80-100K and if the crankshaft fails as a result it can wreck the engines but most are looked after better and driven more carefully as they get new owners (as the cars age) and can push on to over 150K.
Variations in the casting quality of the Lokasil preforms can influence longevity (and there is little anyone can do about that until they fail) and prevous owners can thrash the cars and use the thinner oil for too long and this also shortens longevity.
They are still brilliant cars and with a properly rebuilt engine (addressing many of the weak spots) at the right time or after a mild failure - they seem to be exceptionally reliable once again.
Baz
1999 Boxster, 2.5L, 98k Miles, No engine work what so ever.
1999 Carrera 4, 3.4, 75k Miles - RMS Replaced @ 68,000, no other major issues in it's history, i'm new to this car.
My friend who will never post on here has a 1998 C2 3.4 - 150k miles, no engine work what so ever.
1999 Carrera 4, 3.4, 75k Miles - RMS Replaced @ 68,000, no other major issues in it's history, i'm new to this car.
My friend who will never post on here has a 1998 C2 3.4 - 150k miles, no engine work what so ever.
Edited by Porka986 on Thursday 28th March 14:35
Edited by Porka986 on Thursday 28th March 14:36
2002 996 Targa purchased at 63k miles in 2011, so now in 9th year of my ownership.
Engine failed at 93k miles last July, diagnosed as a value seat cylinder 3 letting go. Just completed running in period post a full Hartech rebuild. Went for a full rebuild of all 6 cylinders & the works as car is a keeper. Guess I was unlucky as this valve seat issue is as I understand it, a rarer failure in these engines.
Engine failed at 93k miles last July, diagnosed as a value seat cylinder 3 letting go. Just completed running in period post a full Hartech rebuild. Went for a full rebuild of all 6 cylinders & the works as car is a keeper. Guess I was unlucky as this valve seat issue is as I understand it, a rarer failure in these engines.
911 997.1 C2S 89K
Now going in for a rebuild due to bore scoring (cylinder 6 confirmed, will know how bad the rest are after its apart) . This is the 2nd time the engine has been apart in its history (although the 1st time was not bore scoring).
For anyone interested in symptoms, it was pretty clear my car had an issue - I didn't know what to look for but it started to smoke on startup if left for a few days, this got worse and worse over a few thousand miles. Then the oil consumption got worse, and finally when idling you could tell there was an issue with a knocking noise from the engine. I did google this and there are a lot of people claiming its common for the cars smoke on startup however mine never did previously badly enough to notice it.
I followed all the advise about driving style (no standing starts etc, changing the oil very regularly, making sure the cooling was working etc) and still had the issue. Its been used as a motorway car for me - 85% of the miles over the last 30k have been motorway cruise at 70 ish so its had a very gentle life.
Pretty disappointed its had the issue, as I had dismissed the issue as unlikely to happen given the age of the car and my usage.
Now going in for a rebuild due to bore scoring (cylinder 6 confirmed, will know how bad the rest are after its apart) . This is the 2nd time the engine has been apart in its history (although the 1st time was not bore scoring).
For anyone interested in symptoms, it was pretty clear my car had an issue - I didn't know what to look for but it started to smoke on startup if left for a few days, this got worse and worse over a few thousand miles. Then the oil consumption got worse, and finally when idling you could tell there was an issue with a knocking noise from the engine. I did google this and there are a lot of people claiming its common for the cars smoke on startup however mine never did previously badly enough to notice it.
I followed all the advise about driving style (no standing starts etc, changing the oil very regularly, making sure the cooling was working etc) and still had the issue. Its been used as a motorway car for me - 85% of the miles over the last 30k have been motorway cruise at 70 ish so its had a very gentle life.
Pretty disappointed its had the issue, as I had dismissed the issue as unlikely to happen given the age of the car and my usage.
MGR said:
911 997.1 C2S 89K
This is the 2nd time the engine has been apart in its history (although the 1st time was not bore scoring).
...
85% of the miles over the last 30k have been motorway cruise at 70 ish so its had a very gentle life.
Pretty disappointed its had the issue, as I had dismissed the issue as unlikely to happen given the age of the car and my usage.
Sorry to hear that.This is the 2nd time the engine has been apart in its history (although the 1st time was not bore scoring).
...
85% of the miles over the last 30k have been motorway cruise at 70 ish so its had a very gentle life.
Pretty disappointed its had the issue, as I had dismissed the issue as unlikely to happen given the age of the car and my usage.
Abjectly bad that it's going onto it's third engine in 89k miles of gentle use. It makes you wonder how many engines it would be on if it was used in a harder fashion...
General consensus from worst to least worse.
3.8 (997.1 S models) - pretty likely it'll need a rebuild due to borescoring eventually
3.6 (996.2 and 997.1 non S models) - Could suffer borescoring and the 996 versions could suffer IMS failure
3.4 (996.1) - Rarely suffer borescoring, most have dual row IMS, can suffer cracked heads.
When it comes to things like IMS failure and cracked heads a lot of people say if it was going to happen it would have happened by now as many of the cars are 20+ years old (talking about the 3.4). The difference with borescoring is that it's a cumulative issue so the older the car gets the more likely it becomes an issue.
They are all getting on in age and mileage now and there's lots of other bits that can go wrong same as any other mechanical thing. If you buy knowing the potential then you can only be surprised if it never happens.
3.8 (997.1 S models) - pretty likely it'll need a rebuild due to borescoring eventually
3.6 (996.2 and 997.1 non S models) - Could suffer borescoring and the 996 versions could suffer IMS failure
3.4 (996.1) - Rarely suffer borescoring, most have dual row IMS, can suffer cracked heads.
When it comes to things like IMS failure and cracked heads a lot of people say if it was going to happen it would have happened by now as many of the cars are 20+ years old (talking about the 3.4). The difference with borescoring is that it's a cumulative issue so the older the car gets the more likely it becomes an issue.
They are all getting on in age and mileage now and there's lots of other bits that can go wrong same as any other mechanical thing. If you buy knowing the potential then you can only be surprised if it never happens.
Only just spotted this thread, and see it is pretty old and possibly long forgotten, but FWIW:
996 C2 1999.
Owned since 2003, regular use as only or mail car including some years of daily commute, in recent years mostly weekends only.
c.80k miles when bought in 2003, now 160k miles. Still the original engine, no surprise issues in my 20 years (i.e. just usual age-related/wear issues).
Cheers.
996 C2 1999.
Owned since 2003, regular use as only or mail car including some years of daily commute, in recent years mostly weekends only.
c.80k miles when bought in 2003, now 160k miles. Still the original engine, no surprise issues in my 20 years (i.e. just usual age-related/wear issues).
Cheers.
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