996 3.4 headgasket blown

[craigw]

Friend of mine with a 1 owner 30k mile car (just out of warranty), full PSH, driving along motorway last week, all warning lights come on, clouds of white smoke, big bill, ouch.

Bit surprising on a low mileage car init ?

[nel]

Is that the official diagnosis, because a liner failure could give the same symptoms? If so, it depends why the HG went - maybe it was due to overheating consequent to a thermostat failure, i.e. a fairly standard cause of HG shaggage. Did he possibly fail to react to the symptoms/warnings of engine overheating?

Either way it's bad news for the poor fellow, particularly just out of warranty. As you say, I imagine the bill would be of the order normally filed unser "painful".

[craigw]

porsche assist came to the scene & oil in coolant.

[ninemeister]

And my bet is that it will be a cracked liner, dropped liner or blown headgasket. Is it any wonder that the main dealers have outdoor compounds to store the blown up engines that they have replaced? The only good news is that the exchange price of a Porsche 996 engine is reasonable, unlike that of the poor 2.5 Boxster at £14,000.

[craigw]

thx chaps, ninemeister, any idea how much damage may have been done & cost of repair ?

also, do u reckon he'd have any recourse with opc, car was bought from them & has FPSH and only done 30k miles!

[McSwerve]

'the exchange price of a Porsche 996 engine is reasonable'

Any idea on the costs??

[ninemeister]

Regarding the cost of repair, all I can say is that if it is more than the head gasket (which will be around £1000 fitted) and it turns out to be bore/block damage then the engine is effectively scrap as very few people will rebuild these engines and offer any form of warranty, such is the production "quality" of the components (in my opinion, of course).

Although I have not confirmed this myself I believe a factory exchange engine is in the region of £7000 + VAT + fitting.

[nel]

Sounds like anyone with a 2.5 Boxster that suffers an engine blowup should seriously consider replacing the engine with a new 3.4 lump. That would make for an interesting drive...

[craigw]

opc reckon 35 hours to drop & strip engine!!?? Local consensus was that it should be more like half that, what you guys reckon ?

[lanciachris]

I think a paraplegic monkey could do it in 35 hours.

[diver944]

I reckon they don't want to do it and just want to flog him a new engine instead