txhokie4life

On a Boxster my sister-in-law had it was the fuel purge valve(name?) under the drivers side air intake. PITA to get too -- we just jumpered it with a complete assembly from another Boxster. whistle went away. Prior to that I changed everything in the EVAP system. I'm sure there is an equivalent on a 996 -- just not sure where. Mike

To give you an idea -- my partner had a customer with a 04 996 that would misfire at start-up but then run fine. It was a cracked liner --- maybe 1" in length, but deep enough (or wide enough) to catch your finger nail. The owner had the cylinder boroscoped and saw the coolant, but never saw the crack. We didn't boroscope that one, but found the crack upon disassembly. Customer chose to bore out to 3.8 using LN Engineerings Nickies. Wasn't cheap. Mike

You could have a crack in the cylinder liner that opens up when the chamber gets hot and coolant enters the chamber and some gets burned off -- but when car sits, coolant leaks back into chamber -- then down cylinder walls into the oil. Do you have any misfires? Any coolant in the cylinders or evidence on plugs? If you do have this scenario -- you really don't want to be driving it as this is the start of the infamous d-chunk failure. Mike

Yes, you can remove the tappets with the engine still in the car. Not trivial, but doable. You say it doesn't change with RPM? I would think if your tappets are ticking then they would increase in frequency, I think I have one or more noisy tappets as well. Mine changes with rpms. When my oil is fresh -- it usually goes away. I also tried Seafoam once and it also quieted down the noise. This is my daily driver and it has been doing it off and on for 20,000 miles. I just have not been motivated enough to pull the valve covers off and search for the noisy lifter. M

I'm no expert -- however I'm in the process of rebuilding the top end of a 964 engine for my RSR clone. Currently I have it installed in the car and should be firing it up soon. Where exactly are you having the oil leak? Have a picture? mike

'05's are iffy here. I've heard (YMMV) some have IMS's that are larger than the case opening and cannot be retrofitted. They only way to know is to split the tranny from the engine and look. An IMS Guardian maybe a better option here. M

Honestly there is no telling how long you have. There are many possible failure mechanisms. Some are a bit benign (the leaking oil cooler or AOS) to cracks in the heads or cylinder itself. Antifreeze is nasty on bearings and what not. It can also fill your cylinders with fluid causing hydrolock. Sort of a ticking time bomb -- you just don't know how long a fuse you have. I doubt you'll be able to trade it in. I'm sure this is something that anyone knowledgeable about 996's should be looking for. A 996 with 180K miles isn't worth much. One with intermix issues is worth practically nothing. If you plan to move to a 997 -- I'd start looking yesterday. Mike

Its quite possible when the first bearing went that the other end of the IMS was wearing in its housing. (wobbling around) I "saved" an engine with a toasted IMS bearing, but we had to replace the entire IMS tube. On yours you say 8 miles later it seized up (probably IMS tube. Then something gave in the timing. Your 10mph might have broken or bent the valves out of the way -- but now the timing is so far off, or the compression lost -- that it won't fire up or won't allow itself to fire up. I'd find a used 3.4 (just not a 99), toss in that IMS retrofit and drive it or sell it. Probably 7-8K depending on the engine you find and the labor. As is the car is probably worth 6-8K. Low 20's fixed. Mike

Great Value -- but they are noisy. I find they have a lot of road noise -- especially the rears. Mike

Points taken....However when last shut down this engine ran fine..... Based on that we are assuming that it has not lost timing and no interference damage has taken place. For the rest of your argument, if the engine is shot, it's shot. My friend who has a lifetime of destroying engines as a race car driver behind him, feels good about the engine, and is willing to throw a bearing at it. We'll rinse it out the best we can. As it is he's out 18 grand. There's a chance we can squeeze some more miles out of it for less than one. Plus we're having fun wrenching. I sure am learning a lot quickly. If I ever lose my sanity and end up wanting one of these things, I'll know a lot more than I did a week ago. You'll need the smaller head one to fit into the spark plug hole -- which I'm not sure HF has. I don't remember the exact size mike I think your friend should come up with another $239 so you can head over to Harbor Freight and pick up a fiber optic camera to add to YOUR toolbox. This way you can post some photos for us to look at and you will earn some good will from those who are providing technical advice. After reading the description, I think I may go buy one. ...j Description of Cen-Tech 67980 View inside cylinder heads, behind wallboard and many other hard-to-reach areas. Sharp 640 x 480 resolution camera with tempered glass lens records and plays back still images or video clips. -Save images on internal flash memory or SD card (not included) -USB cable lets you stream video directly to your laptop or personal computer -Brilliant 3.5" color 320 x 240 display -Narrow 8.5mm probe fits most spark plug holes -38" watertight flex shaft with CMOS imager -Bright white LED illumination -Rechargeable lithium-ion battery -includes: 120 volt adapter, USB cable, video-out cable, hook, mirror and magnet accessories, clip-on mirror

Have you boroscoped the cylinders? you really want to know if the valves have been bent which would be an indication of having lost timing. mike

Your key and your immobilizer are not speaking to each other. do you have a back up key? Otherwise you might have to have it hauled to the dealership and get a new set of keys and have them programmed. m

CPS failure doesn't always flag codes. mike

You might check the timing before you commit to the IMS replacement by pulling the green plugs on back side of the cams and see if they line up at TDC with the notch on the heads. Note you make two revolutions of the crank for one complete cam revolution. This assumes that you can turn the crank and the ims tube will rotate -- but this could be risky. Alternatively, pull the plugs and put a boroscope down each tube -- you should be able to see the impact of the valves with the pistons (it will look like shiny half-moons on the pistons) -- if you see this -- something has jumped timing. If not, you maybe in luck. Mike

Might spin fine in hand, But under load (with the belt tensioned), the bearing maybe dragging on the pulley bolt. I had one that seemed fine - then seized and snapped the bolt clean off. In hindsight -- I might have heard something prior to failure -- but it was not obvious enough to take notice at the time. Mike

If you do end up having to do some engine internal work or option for replacement -- let me know. Depending on year of the car, etc -- I might have an engine here -- or we can look to rebuild yours. Either way it would be far cheaper than the dealership. I'm in Austin. Mike

Maybe, maybe not. Here is what I would check out: In order of ease: Is there any oil in your coolant -- it will look a little milky -- chocolate milkshake -- maybe a little maybe a lot. If not -- then check to see if your serperntine belt is good order. You could have a pulley that went out preventing the belt from turning -- which would prevent you from starting by not allowing the crank to turn by the starter. You could also have had a water pump go out. is there any leaks there -- or yellow crusty stuff around it? beyond this -- check your oil filter -- you can remove it without loosing much oil. open it up and see if there are any particulates. beyond this -- things get a lot more complicated. Mike

I had E1 go out on another car -- but since it was a complete IMMOB replacement (classic wet Boxster) I don't know how it performed pre-IMMOB replacement. we'll give that a try, Mike

When the remote isn't working --- can you still start the car? We rebuilt an M96 engine and the 996 was running great for two days -- then one morning it would not start and nor would the FOB remote work replaced battery -- no joy, Duramatic gave codes: 23,25, 60 and 42 mike

My partner rebuilt a 1999 996 M96 Engine. During testing after car running for 2 days -- following morning the key fob would not work, nor would the car start. Tried to replace battery -- no change. Pulled the following codes on the Duramatic. #23 w lead #25 w lead #60 central locking limit position #42 wrong key or wrong transponder He does not have a PIWIS. We're trying to track down a second key (I believe it is a valet only) Quite frustrating. Any help appreciated. thanks, Mike

I have personally seen four IMS failures. 30k, 60K, 92k, 105k two manuals and two tips. 2.5L, 2.7L, 3.2Lx2 I know of several others in/around Austin/Houston/Dallas. I have also seen many other failure modes. cracked cylinder liners, hydrolock (aos?), multiple spun bearings, d chunks, water pumps, broken timing chains, old fuel. I'm sure Jake has even more anacdotal evidence to support the numerous engine failures, and relative random nature of mileage and configurations. Mike

How about 968's? There is a 944 with a 968 running gear I am considering. thanks, Mike

Not 100% perfect -- but we killed the lead from the CPS to the DME. Kills engine immediately, but the fuel pump still runs. All the tech folks seem happy -- but I haven't run SCCA. We never seemed to figure out how to kill the fuel pump too. with the single kill switch. Mike

sorry I have been traveling -- does the tach bounce (like 1/4") when you crank it. if not -- then there is an issue with the crank position sensor to dme to tach. On our race car -- we sometimes swap the two connectors (NOTE to self label the **** connector!!!) anyways -- I can tell immediately because the tach doesn't move. Mike

Hi Mike- Thank you so very much for your quick response. The weather will be nice today so I am going to go out and tinker.... I will check everything you just mentioned....I hope its not the DME, those things can get expensive. Is there a way to check the DME without sending it to the shop? The one closet to me is over an hour away and the towing alone could cost a fortune.....It seems this should be something I could do at home, just not a mechanic....I am just learning...This car was gotten last year, ran GREAT! Not sure what happened with the ground wire and why it was bad. When we replaced it, it was laying on the engine. I am wondering if the heat alone just melted the plastic casing and over time, it just melted through and arced out. We drove this car often last summer and fall......it was perfect when we put it in storage. Thanks again Mike- I'll be back later to update what I find..... Aurora- I race a 924S which is a 924 with a 944 engine. I'm knowledgeable but I am not an expert. I do wonder about what could have caused your ground wire to fail and if it did any damage along the way. Good luck -- and I'm happy to help. Mike