Blown 964 Engine :( Advice?

[Alaistair]

Driving home on Thursday night in my '92 964 C4, the engine let go big time (119,000 miles).
It dropped all my oil in one big dump on the road.

I've had a quick look after I towed it home. See attached pic. The inlet manifold appears to have blown off the air box?

But I've been looking for the "big hole" in the crankcase...but nothing vizable on top. May be underneath.

Advice

I'm guessing total rebuild - or new engine? Any ideas of where to get a refurb/recovered 964 engine? I've started looking around.

Also - any good guys to contact in Glasgow/Central Scotland? I came across theses guys - anyone any experience of them?
http://www.drewpatersongarage.co.uk/specialist.htm...

[Wozy68]

Alaistair said:

Driving home on Thursday night in my '92 964 C4, the engine let go big time (119,000 miles).
It dropped all my oil in one big dump on the road.

I've had a quick look after I towed it home. See attached pic. The inlet manifold appears to have blown off the air box?

But I've been looking for the "big hole" in the crankcase...but nothing vizable on top. May be underneath.

Advice

I'm guessing total rebuild - or new engine? Any ideas of where to get a refurb/recovered 964 engine? I've started looking around.

Also - any good guys to contact in Glasgow/Central Scotland? I came across theses guys - anyone any experience of them?
http://www.drewpatersongarage.co.uk/specialist.htm...

Can't help with the engine.

I've owned aircooled 911s on and off for many years, and this is the first time I have ever heard of a road going 964 total an engine. Blimey, sorry for you buddy.

[boxsey]

I've heard of a few examples of an oil tank pipe (right rear wheel arch) letting go and dumping all the oil. And since they had stopped immediately, there was no discernible engine damage. I would definitely find out where the oil escaped from before thinking about a replacement engine.

[monthefish]

Sorry to hear of your problems.

Alaistair said:

Also - any good guys to contact in Glasgow/Central Scotland? I came across theses guys - anyone any experience of them?
http://www.drewpatersongarage.co.uk/specialist.htm...

There are quite a few highly regarded Porsche specilists in Central Scotland.
Who do you use for servicing?

[Alaistair]

For the last few years I've been using Mercury Motorsport in Lundin Links.
http://www.mercuryclassiccars.com/home.html


They're good, but its a bit far to trailer up to have a look....

[supersport]

I have only ever heard of them going pop when the belt between the distributors gives up the ghost.

[Rutlandracing]

This may sound absolutely stupid but have you checked the oil filler cap? The rubber seals on them perish with age and if they fail lots of oil comes out....

[keep it lit]

Speak to Kev Hughes at The Classic Car Workshop.. he rebuilds air cooled engines on a daily basis for road & race.. he also has a vast second hand spares source..

pm me if you want his details.

Ade

[thegoose]

boxsey said:

I've heard of a few examples of an oil tank pipe (right rear wheel arch) letting go and dumping all the oil. And since they had stopped immediately, there was no discernible engine damage. I would definitely find out where the oil escaped from before thinking about a replacement engine.

I've also had one where the tank itself corroded through and needed repairing - symptoms would be the same.

[Alaistair]

Rutlandracing said:

This may sound absolutely stupid but have you checked the oil filler cap? The rubber seals on them perish with age and if they fail lots of oil comes out....

Nope - filler cap looks OK (in the photos) although I will check. That wouldn't explain complete loss of oil and blown manifold tho?

[Alaistair]

keep it lit said:

Speak to Kev Hughes at The Classic Car Workshop.. he rebuilds air cooled engines on a daily basis for road & race.. he also has a vast second hand spares source..

pm me if you want his details.

Ade

Doesn't seem to let me PM for the first 24 hour (always been a lurker but never a poster).
Can u PM me his details please? Where is he based?

[OlberJ]

Did it make a rattling noise as the engine let go or did it just lose power completely?

Has the engine actually seized? Any bits of metal/rod/case on the road? Do you still have the engine underside panel on the car?

That much pressure in the inlet that it's blown the manifold off and the oil out the engine (or somewhere else) seems strange but might point to something else other than catastrophic engine failure.

George Morrison, Lorimer and Findlay and Motortune in Shotts seem to be the best guys to use locally.

[Jevvy]

boxsey said:

I've heard of a few examples of an oil tank pipe (right rear wheel arch) letting go and dumping all the oil. And since they had stopped immediately, there was no discernible engine damage. I would definitely find out where the oil escaped from before thinking about a replacement engine.

Good advice, get a torch and a camera and get us some pics of the oily bits and I'm sure we could spot whats gone wrong.

Dont panic just yet - lots of fairly inexpensive stuff could cause what you describe.

[Alaistair]

OlberJ said:

Did it make a rattling noise as the engine let go or did it just lose power completely?

Has the engine actually seized? Any bits of metal/rod/case on the road? Do you still have the engine underside panel on the car?

That much pressure in the inlet that it's blown the manifold off and the oil out the engine (or somewhere else) seems strange but might point to something else other than catastrophic engine failure.

George Morrison, Lorimer and Findlay and Motortune in Shotts seem to be the best guys to use locally.

Thanks everyone for the advice...I can sense you are all feeling my pain! I had to run out and pick up an "emergency car" at the weekend as my 964 is my everyday car (as they should be). I am now the proud owner of a '02 plate 1.2 Clio

The engine did not sieze and (I know I shouldn't) I did manage to continue driving a few hundred meters to get off the motorway trying to work out what had just gone wrong. No real big bang! It happened on the middle of the Kingston Bridge in Glasgow (M8 and the biggest bottleneck in the city) and I wasn't going to stop there!

Busy week at work and off to Europe on some stuff....but I may get time at the weekend to get under and remove the engine tray underneath for a closer look.

[OlberJ]

How do you know it dropped all it's oil? Big puff of smoke or was it dripping when you stopped? Was it clattering like a bag of bolts?

My sympathies at losing it there, best case scenario would have been coasting round to house of Cher if you were really lucky.

Where you based in Glasgow? Happy to help get a nosey at it before sending it off to a specialist if you're local.

[Alaistair]

OlberJ said:

How do you know it dropped all it's oil? Big puff of smoke or was it dripping when you stopped? Was it clattering like a bag of bolts?

My sympathies at losing it there, best case scenario would have been coasting round to house of Cher if you were really lucky.

Where you based in Glasgow? Happy to help get a nosey at it before sending it off to a specialist if you're local.

When I finally pulled up - there was a big puddle of oil quickly formed....I then checked with the dipstick and it was dry There had been a massive cloud of smoke behind the car.

To be honest - there wasn't a big clattering like a bag of bolts...it just sounded like some terrible missfire/backfiring.

I know you'll all laugh at me, but I did pull right off the motorway and then pulled up at lights and stopped the engine. I then restarted the engine (which it did OK) so I could pull away from the lights and parkup somewhere safe.

I'm based Lenzie (nr Kirkintilloch area) and car is in the drive. Planning to go under it on Sat morning to remove the undertray and have a closer look.

[comrie]

Get Peter at Motortune in Shotts to have a look....I don't trust anyone but him with my 964



stv

[Alaistair]

comrie said:

Get Peter at Motortune in Shotts to have a look....I don't trust anyone but him with my 964



stv

Thanks - that sounds interesting - may give him a call. Are his rates reasonable?

[mollytherocker]

Here's hoping that the engine is actually intact.

I am sure you realise that you should have shut the engine off immediately.

[Zingari]

I suspect this is an oil leak from a corroded pipe somewhere rather than thrwoing a valve/piston/crank etc. Believe me you'd know if the latter occurred. Hopefully the block will be intact. Best of luck