996 Engine Failures- GOOD AND BADNEWS

[kamal996]

There is an excellet article in the October issue of 911 and Porscheworld.

To sum up th BAD NEWS

1) cylinder liners fail (unclear if it affects both 3.4 and 3.6 models) with catastrophic consequencies.
2) intermediate shaft fail on 3.4 only -the 3.6 had an updated design. This shaft also causes oil leaks.
3) It is more likely that the intermediate shaft causes the leaks that are often blamed on the rear main seal

THE GOOD NEWS-Autofarm are working on a solution

1) they re-sleeve the block and can take the engine up to 3.8 litres (YUM YUM). The re-sleeve will cost less than £2k

2) they can modify the intermediate shaft to the 3.6 design. this will cost £800.

With labour (lets say 30 hours at £60) you are talking £4600 for engine replacement rather than the £8-10k for a replacement unit that could fail again!



>> Edited by kamal996 on Wednesday 5th October 15:08

[bennno]

presumably if you buy the new engine you get at least 12 months warranty on it?

Bennno

[ninemeister]

We have also evaluated 996/986 block repair and have come up with options, presumeably much in the same way as Josh (not seen the AF design, so have to guess). We think the best policy to properly repair cracked liners would be to replace them with a "never break again" steel wet liner and probably to replace all 6 bores rather than just do the one that has failed. No suprise that the cost of this method is pretty much the same as AF. In our case we have decided not to go oversize on the bore with aftermarket pistons since there are better performance options to be had from camshafts and head work, but each to their own I suppose.

[kamal996]

Have you actually repaired one as yet or is this theoretical...as a stockist of 911 and Porscheworld I encourage you to have a look at October's issue.

[ninemeister]

kamal996 said:

Have you actually repaired one as yet or is this theoretical...as a stockist of 911 and Porscheworld I encourage you to have a look at October's issue.

Thanks for the words of encouragement.

[kamal996]

ninemeister said:

kamal996 said: Have you actually repaired one as yet or is this theoretical...as a stockist of 911 and Porscheworld I encourage you to have a look at October's issue. Thanks for the words of encouragement.

Just recalling the 1st time I visited you for an alignment on my LHD 968....i ended up walking out with 10 back issues of the bloody magazine..still kept me entertained in the bog for a while