997 turbo Gen 1 seized Mezger engine
Discussion
I have had my 2007 turbo from new. Serviced every 12 months rather than every 2 years. Warmed up for ten mins on every drive and generally driven hard but very well looked after car.
High speed on motorway and suddenly engine just let go with plume of white coolant smoke from tail pipes. Took a couple of minutes to find a relatively safe space to pull over and as i did engine conked off. Didn't bother trying to restart as coolant and check engine light on.
Initially thought it had simply popped another coolant hose but just heard and back from OPC and engine seized.
Thank God I've always kept my warranty since new.
Rare occurrence but these engines do occasionally let go. Cars never been modified or tracked.
High speed on motorway and suddenly engine just let go with plume of white coolant smoke from tail pipes. Took a couple of minutes to find a relatively safe space to pull over and as i did engine conked off. Didn't bother trying to restart as coolant and check engine light on.
Initially thought it had simply popped another coolant hose but just heard and back from OPC and engine seized.
Thank God I've always kept my warranty since new.
Rare occurrence but these engines do occasionally let go. Cars never been modified or tracked.
Cars now done 60,000 miles. Its a manual. I was in 6th gear at high speed and had been for about 5 mins or so. I'd hate to think what the bill would have been if out of warranty. If car had not been in warranty it would have probably been just as cost effective to send it to a reputable engine builder like Nine Excellence and have it rebuilt to GT2 RS spec. I'm going to ask Porsche if they can facilitate this but doubt they will be willing to do this.
Gibbo205 said:
Crazy such an engine letting go at 60k miles, considering I own a Porsche but I hate to say it their engines simply seem weak to the competition, such as BMW or Mercedes which you often see with well beyond 100k miles and still go strong. E46 M3 being perfect example!
Only a modern phenomenon. The bottom end of the engine in my 944 S2 race is all original 172K miles and yet it seems as quick as any other car in class 2 down the straights (220 Bhp on the dyno). SC and the 3.2 ISTR used to be the same, could easily see em producing full power on a 200K mile bottom end. Shame that the hard won reputation for bullet proof mechanicals seems to have become something for the history books.Gibbo205 said:
Crazy such an engine letting go at 60k miles, considering I own a Porsche but I hate to say it their engines simply seem weak to the competition, such as BMW or Mercedes which you often see with well beyond 100k miles and still go strong. E46 M3 being perfect example!
Lots of E46 M3's have had an engine replacementGibbo205 said:
Crazy such an engine letting go at 60k miles, considering I own a Porsche but I hate to say it their engines simply seem weak to the competition, such as BMW or Mercedes which you often see with well beyond 100k miles and still go strong. E46 M3 being perfect example!
Turbo Mezger engine is not weak by any measure. quite the contrary. I think that's what's so surprising about the OP's post.IMI A said:
I have had my 2007 turbo from new. Serviced every 12 months rather than every 2 years. Warmed up for ten mins on every drive and generally driven hard but very well looked after car.
High speed on motorway and suddenly engine just let go with plume of white coolant smoke from tail pipes. Took a couple of minutes to find a relatively safe space to pull over and as i did engine conked off. Didn't bother trying to restart as coolant and check engine light on.
Initially thought it had simply popped another coolant hose but just heard and back from OPC and engine seized.
Thank God I've always kept my warranty since new.
Rare occurrence but these engines do occasionally let go. Cars never been modified or tracked.
Any ideas from the dealer why it seized? There must have been a cause. Are you saying a hose has 'popped off' previously? Could that have been the origin of this event?High speed on motorway and suddenly engine just let go with plume of white coolant smoke from tail pipes. Took a couple of minutes to find a relatively safe space to pull over and as i did engine conked off. Didn't bother trying to restart as coolant and check engine light on.
Initially thought it had simply popped another coolant hose but just heard and back from OPC and engine seized.
Thank God I've always kept my warranty since new.
Rare occurrence but these engines do occasionally let go. Cars never been modified or tracked.
Bad luck, glad you have the warranty.
I'm guessing a liner has melted causing the smoke and power loss and that hydraulic lock on the coolant that found its way into the cylinder once it stopped is causing the seizure noted. I've seen one other do the same in similar circumstances. Warranty will see you right - in the case of the one I did it was cheaper to replace the motor than rebuild it (complete motor is literally complete bar the tailpipes and flywheel).
Gibbo205 said:
Crazy such an engine letting go at 60k miles, considering I own a Porsche but I hate to say it their engines simply seem weak to the competition, such as BMW or Mercedes which you often see with well beyond 100k miles and still go strong. E46 M3 being perfect example!
Not crazy. Any engine can let go at any time. The engine is only as strong as its weakest part.All it takes is one to fail... and boom!
And you think these engines are weak based on one engine failing?
Good grief. My 03 Turbo has over 109K miles on its untouched engine. Still runs good. Still sounds good. Doesn't use copious amounts of oil. Another owner's Turbo engine has over 350K miles.
IMI A said:
Cars now done 60,000 miles. Its a manual. I was in 6th gear at high speed and had been for about 5 mins or so. I'd hate to think what the bill would have been if out of warranty. If car had not been in warranty it would have probably been just as cost effective to send it to a reputable engine builder like Nine Excellence and have it rebuilt to GT2 RS spec. I'm going to ask Porsche if they can facilitate this but doubt they will be willing to do this.
Sorry to hear about that. One piece of advice, if they can repair the engine they will - it really depends on the level of damage internally but it does sound like something has gone into the oil pump and then seized the engine. Just make sure you understand what they are doing - new engine no issues, rebuild is fine provided they replace the appropriate parts.Whilst these engines are very good, it does only take one thing to go wrong. I know 997 turbo gen 1 have suffered Ims failure for example which is not commonly known.
Ken
Latest is they're stripping engine today then deciding whether to rebuild or replace. They've confirmed their preference is to rebuild if at all possible as cost of new engine is £40,000 
Amazing that these cars aren't worth much more than £40,000 when the cost of a new engine alone is the same.
Amazing that these cars aren't worth much more than £40,000 when the cost of a new engine alone is the same.
IMI A said:
Latest is they're stripping engine today then deciding whether to rebuild or replace. They've confirmed their preference is to rebuild if at all possible as cost of new engine is £40,000
Amazing that these cars aren't worth much more than £40,000 when the cost of a new engine alone is the same.
Not really the 'cost' is it? Just what they would sell it for. Amazing that these cars aren't worth much more than £40,000 when the cost of a new engine alone is the same.
Any idea what caused the problem yet?
IMI A said:
Latest is they're stripping engine today then deciding whether to rebuild or replace. They've confirmed their preference is to rebuild if at all possible as cost of new engine is £40,000
Amazing that these cars aren't worth much more than £40,000 when the cost of a new engine alone is the same.
Should be cheaper on an exchange basis?Amazing that these cars aren't worth much more than £40,000 when the cost of a new engine alone is the same.
IMI A said:
Latest is they're stripping engine today then deciding whether to rebuild or replace. They've confirmed their preference is to rebuild if at all possible as cost of new engine is £40,000
Amazing that these cars aren't worth much more than £40,000 when the cost of a new engine alone is the same.
This has been done to death. The retail cost is ~£40k, not the unit cost.Amazing that these cars aren't worth much more than £40,000 when the cost of a new engine alone is the same.
crabbit said:
This has been done to death. The retail cost is ~£40k, not the unit cost.
Even so, what's the actual cost of the engine? I gather your typical 2.0L TDI type engine is around £1,500 true volume cost to the manufacturer. Clearly the Mezger engine is in another league, but £40k retail ???????Gassing Station | Porsche General | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff