Runningbob

My 1999 C2 996 with 47,000 miles just died and started spitting up metal in the oil filter. The car has been well cared for by proven shops. I wish this were a joke that a Porsche blows a motor at 47,000 miles, even my dad's old Chrysler Cordoba went to 60,000 before giving up the ghost. At the time of failure their was proper oil and coolant in the car, it was cruising along the highway at 3,500 rpm's.

Options

1)Send in the core and get a Porsche factory remanufactured engine $8K with core exchange + $2K warranty, by requiring us to send them an unopened core Porsche keeps to themselves what went wrong. The bigger issue is am I getting an improved motor with the new 3.4L. I talked to 3 dealers today who think but are not sure that the bearing (single) on the 3.4 is now bigger on the intermediate shaft, which could most likely have been the cause of failure. Has anything changed in the remanufactured 3.4 liter engine? I really don't want to spend $10K to get another failure in 50,000 more miles. While I get a 2 year warranty I don’t even come close to 5K miles per year on this car so it will not likely fail again until after the warranty is up.

2)Sell core to junkyard guys, buy a remanufactured 3.6L with x/51 engine for $11K no core exchange (you cannot exchange a 3.4 core on a 3.6), 3.6L is said to have two bearing around the intermediate shaft, and less prone to failure. Problem here is I need to convert from egas to mechanical throttle (can be done in UK by autofarm guys, but no one in the states seems to know how to do this, so far I all I know is I need to change the whole butterfly and center plastic that sits on the mainifold and then change over to mechanical unit anyone who has part numbers or a DIY on this I would really appreciate it). Also, with the 3.6L engine and 3.4 brain apparently you have to buy a break out box to control the cam lift solenoid and a control and link box to mate the 3.6 harness to the 3.4 liter brain (Autofarm in the UK sells a harness conversion for around $1,700). By the time we are done we are into this deal for about $15K, to make matters worse I just heard from several west coast Porsche shops that 3.6L are starting to fail almost as often as 3.4L. Does data exist on failure rates of 3.4 L vs. 3.6 L engine? While I get a 2 year warranty I don’t even come close to 5K miles per year on this car so it will not likely fail again until after the warranty is up.

3) Sell core to junkyard guys, but an engine 3.4 L or 3.7 L engine from autofarm cost of $11-$15K that has their stronger intermediate shaft http://www.autofarm.co.uk/engines/water_cooled/shaft_tech and sisileeve cylinder liners. Either motor will drop right in the 3.7 comes with an ECU map, but if the thing will pass smog in the US is an unknown, also in all deference to the good folks at autofarm I would be proving them right. Any comments on their technical merits of their products please let me know. All in cost with labor for this solution will be about $13K for a 3.4 L to $17K for 3.7L, including shipping my old core to europe.

4)4) Sell core to junkyard, buy a 997 3.8 L engine with X/51, find someone in the states that knows how to convert e-throttle to mechanical and wire a solution to use a 3.4 brain with breaker boxes to control the new variocam plus of the 2007 engine. I think this whole deal will cost about $20Kto $25K. The new engine block on the 2007 is said to be stouter and has a much reinforced intermediate shaft. Any comments or predictions on the increase in longevity on this solution and if anyone out there is known to be able to pull off the install or would be willing for a price to provide me with the parts and knowledge to have my local guys do this install please let me know.

Thanks in Advance