txhokie4life

when you try to turn it over 1) does the starter turn? (why was the battery wire fried?) might be worth going over the various grounds in the system and cleaning them up 2) does the tachometer move (even if just a little) if the crank position sensor is not working or is not picking up a signal, you will not get a spark. The tach is will jump if you are getting a signal. Note I'm not 100% sure if the tach is connected to the signal, or gets a pulse from the DME. It is possible you are getting the sensor signal but your DME is bad. 3) is your fuel pump running? you should be able to feel it when the key is turned on. There is a relay (which when pulled can be jumpered) that runs your fuel pump. 4) is your timing belt good. if something happened to it and you are out of timing, you will not start the engine. this should at least give you a good starting point. Mike

I would avoid the 99's they have the additional problem of some of the cars having porous castings of the block by a third party supplier. My research shows this to be limited to the 99 models for the 996. Sadly there is no way to determine this ahead of time. RMS is an annoyance -- not a go no go. Any of these I would budget $1500-2000 for an IMSR. Cracked cylinder heads happen -- not sure if there is a range of years or not -- and no known (to me) preventative maintenance. AOS -- These can go bad -- worst case you hydrolock the engine. Normally you mosquito fog the neighborhood. I'm not sure if there is a way to detect that they are going -- or what early symptoms are. Relatively cheap part ~$100 -- not sure of labor time. Water Pump -- change it every 30k miles -- treat it as preventive maintenance. They go can go bad, and if you don't catch it == you can overheat and either blow a head gasket -- or more likely, and problematic, blow an internal freeze plug causing intermix. Chains and chain tensioners break. No real preventative maintenance here. Although a good oil change regimen should help. The 3.4s can go out of ovality -- lending to lower compression and possible cylinder head cracking --- of all the M96 engines, they have the thinnest cylinder liners. If it were me -- I would look at the 3.6 engines. 2002-2005. And do the IMSR, WP, AOS, Oil Change and start from a known good point. If you plan to track these -- then I would seriously look into some sort of oil sump expansion or back-up (accusump) as they can suffer from oil starvation which can lead to #6 bearing spinning, scoring the crank and doing other bad things. These are the heavy hitters I know about. I'm sure there are even more failure modes. Folks will debate the frequency of these occurrences. At least you can go into the 996 relationship as informed as you can. Mike

So : dismantler quoted $15K for a USED 2004 996 engine with 18K miles. Dealer was $16K for a NEW / REMAN engine I've need to be charging more..... I've got 3 different 996 3.6L spanning 4500-33k miles all less than $9k. No core charge. mike

You really need to goto a Porsche DE -- here you can drive as fast as you are capable in a relatively safe, legal, and controlled environment with instruction. I just got back from an event this weekend at Texas World Speedway. what a blast, Mike

squeak? maybe PS fluid? check to see if your wheels are balanced. always a chance you lost a weight. also check to see if there are any pending codes mike

I could be wrong - but did you get the DME programmed to match the Immobilizer. If they do not match -- security will not let you fire up the engine. The other possibility would be that the crank position sensor is not hooked up properly -- or the wires are swapped with the cam position sensor. I believe the two connectors can be physically interchanged. the M96 will rotate I think 3 times before firing. During this period it is observing the crank position sensor as well as the cam position sensors to make sure all looks good before lighting up the spark plugs and fuel injectors. Sort of a diagnostic self test on the timing system. Mike mike

My shop is two for two on actual IMS failures -- Both were tiptronics a 99 and a 03 S. We have a 99 manual engine diagnosed as a IMS fail -- but we haven't confirmed it yet. I also know of a recent '05 manual that failed -- but it was R&R'd at the dealership at no charge! Your mileage and IMS may vary, Mike

+1 Well, I just came back from the dealer's and to be fair, he hasn't explicitly said anything about PCNA not honoring the warranty but has definitely left the door opened to that possibility, mentioning readings of overev ect...I have never seen an overrev as when the rpm's reach redline, the Tip automatically upchanges. All maintenance has been up to date and oil changes done at 5k miles intervals. I don't think, based upon my readings here and in other forums that it's an IMS/RMS issue as there was no noise accompanying the event, as I said, stopped for a red light and the engine shuddered and died. I will update this topic as I get more info. The car was on a lift and a tech was working on it as I could see. I am reserving judgement. Thanks all. I don't know for a fact -- but the overrevs that can be read out of a duramatic have been explained to me as two levels. One where the rev limiter has been hit - and really isn't an over rev per se. The second is the one of concern -- and usually implies a down shift based over rev. Type 1's should not be an issue. mike

Well unless your after market stereo was played too loud -- there is no way it caused your engine to loose timing :-) Sounds like an IMS problem to me. Mike

More to the point -- you have to crack the case to get to these parts. The real tricky part is assembling the 4-6 pistons and doing the blind wrist pin spring lock. My partner manufactured his own tool -- but its not for the feint of heart. If the spring lock doesn't take it will require taking the block halves apart -- finding the spring lock -- and starting all over. mike

Do you hear a high pitched whine during start-up that lasts maybe 45 seconds? My boxster does this -- and if I drive off before waiting for it to stop -- I get a secondary air injection failure withing a couple miles. I haven't dug into it yet -- been busy with other projects. m

For a TIP needing a dual row IMSR -- it would be $1440 plus tax at Silent Automotive here in Austin. Danny who owns the shop is a very good mechanic who happens to be deaf. He does everything from M96 rebuilds to simple oil changes. Place isn't much to look at but he does good, reasonably priced work. Mike

If you are not a confident dyier And your mechanic won't touch it You should have some concern However just about anything short Of engine issues There isn't anything your mechanic should need special tools for

Will 996 hard top holder work for a 986 hard top Thx Mike

Mike: It's behind the door panel, here (click on the photo to get a good look): Regards, Maurice. Dang -- looks like another door dive. BTW, anyone know if the cable from the door latch to the door handle is a replaceable item? I had to canalbalize my race car awhile back -- but now need to put the race car door back together. Mike

I know this was a long time ago -- but my sister-in-laws car did this tonite. what was the solution? m Mike: When the window goes back up that 1/2 inch while the door is still open, the problem is usually caused by a fault in the door lock assembly. Sometimes the connections or the microswitch will be intermittent or one of the wires leading to it has become chafed or pinched (and thus causes a short) and sometimes the solder connections inside the assembly crack or come apart. Porsche only sells the complete assembly (), but you can take the housing apart carefully and resolder the connections. One poster on 986forum ("Jinster"), who also posts here was even able to re-flow the solder to those joints WITHOUT taking the housing apart. Here is a photo of the inside of the assembly (courtesy of "sb01Box"): Regards, Maurice. Where is that assembly -- is it behind the door panel -- back along the end of the door? I've taken a couple doors apart -- but its been awhile and it was for something else (broken cable) thanks, mike

I know this was a long time ago -- but my sister-in-laws car did this tonite. what was the solution? m

Not sure if all this math is sound (no pun intended): Knowing that the revolutions of the cams are 1/2 that of the crankshaft. At idle ~800rpm is ~13.3 r p s IF it was a valve lifter -- the frequency would be 1/2 that.or about 6.6 times a second. If I got my math right -- can you determine how many clicks there are and isolate it from there? Has the car been tracked? IS there any chance you spun a bearing? Mike

Agree -- this is not normal. The vario cams kick in at this point.. Is it possible one side it working (or slow to work) but the other not? Sort of throwing things off balance if you will. Mike

99 996 with reverse mirror. Seems to do its tilt when put in reverse but does not return to proper position, although it I can remotely reposition from drivers door/A pillar controls. thanks, Mike

We can either do a rebuild for you or sell you a replacement -- I have several references if you go the rebuild route. I have a three 996 engines already in flight -- One ready to go out the door is an '02 with 30K miles -- IMSR, AOS, Water Pump, Belt, Plugs. There was nothing wrong with the engine -- I bought it from an estate that was in the midst of a boxster upgrade but never got to the engine swap before the owner passed. The reason I haven't sold any of the 996 engines is that we only sell engines that are fully tested and our test mule for 996 engines is not finished. We've been too focused on customer rebuilds where we have the complete car to actually get to the test mule. contact me offline or PM me and we can talk details. Mike in Austin, Texas mike@lonestarrpm.com 512-560-4603

Could you perform some sort of pressure testing on the oil galleys? mike

Got an '00 s. there are times when I get a ticking noise -- sort of sounds like the normal sewing machine -- but about 4 times as loud. follows the RPMs However it is inconsistent -- been going off/on for over a year. I notice it more often towards the end of my oil life (about 6 miles). -- at least i think this true. Seems worse with thinner oil /30W, vs /40w or /50w, but still occurs with thicker oil too. Seems worse if I have less oil (I had a slow leak which I have fixed), so when/if I topped it off -- it would be better for a bit (or so it would seem) When it is occurring -- it usually is noticed after driving at least 10 minutes. Engine/oil warm? very noticable when it reflects off a wall or a barrier. No performance issues that I can tell. Even today at the shop -- had it running specifically to look/listen to it -- wouldn't do it. Even after idling for 5-10 minutes. Engine was warm. Oil ok, but on the low side. 20 minute drive home -- it was ticking when I pulled into the garage. I think its more pronounced on driver side, but I think I can here it from both sides. Not sure. thanks, Mike

I know it has been a while -- what was the end result?

Looking at a 928S4 in the Phoenix area. Looking for a member that might be interested in checking it out -- or a PPI recommendation. Pix and story look good -- but I'm about 1000 miles away :-) contact mike@lonestarrpm.com thanks, Mike