Jake Raby

This is becoming a more common problem.. It recently took one of my engines out of service and accounted for our first failure.

The answer is a billet chromoly replacement part thats total overkill.

No, I mean the 3 main chain tensioners that maintain the main drive chain tension.

Lifters only make slight tapping noises and they generally do not make a notable noise at start up more than at idle..

Lots of people have changed lifters only to find thats not the root of the issue and that the chain tensioners are the issue.

These engines do have lifter issues, significant lifter issues, but most are masked so well that the Owner never knows that 90%+ of the lifters are actually bad.

Hydraulic chain tensioners.. Not the lifters.

When the tensioners bleed down lots of slack occurs in the timing chains. This can cause the engine to jump time.

Change all 3 tensioners, B1, B2 and the IMS drive chain and it'll go away.

palmtree,

Glad to see you are back in Alaska and enjoying the car!!

BTW- Theres a post on 986 forum that parallels the work I had to do on your lifters earlier this year, might want to chime in there :-)

Its all about evolution...

The manufacturer creates the vehicle, makes their money off of it and pay the SMEs too much money for doing not much of anything...

Then the aftermarket led by a group of innovative hard-chargers that live to modify what is "Engineered" perfect it... Thats just the way it works...

While the manufacturer is busy claiming that issues don't exist we are using that time to "fix" them.

I absolutely respect your talent with the Porsche Flat 6 engines, however, I would like to understand the failure analysis and how the conclusion is lubrication related.

Not al the failures illustrated here are lubrication related..

They all share one thing in common...

The same SMEs did the design work.

Trust me. I have data, almost 5 years of it... Including no less than 75 oil samples and data from my intellistick in two different test cars, along with data from 11 different major oils and 5 different spin on filters.

I gathered all of this during the development of my engine program.. Its something that I share with my clients who purchase an engine, but there is no need to post it, as all it does is breed conflict.

I test components and processes all day long.. Thats all I do, with an occasional engine assembly. On site I have two engine dyno labs, chassis dyno as well as two different data logging systems... B etween all of this I have over 100 channels of data acquisition... We don';t just bolt things on and send them down the road, I have a VERY thorough understanding of anything that leaves here with my name stamped onto it.

Thats just what I had handy.

Porsche designs the very best in performance with extended oil change intervals for a reason...they are the SME's in this case (Subject Matter Experts).

Those guys are really, really good.

And these components LOVED those extended drain intervals!

The true Pinnacle of development!

This doesn't sound like the oil is coming from the IMS flange... Maybe one of the fasteners is weeping oil past it's threads??

Also, this entire repair is covered under Porsche's 2 year, 24,000 mile warranty, so they are very reluctant do to anything further on the car since Porsche is picking up the tab for the labor, IMS seal and flange. I do understand their position since the factory does not seem to offer any solution to this potential weak bearing and the motor runs exceptionally well.

So Porsche doesn't have YOUR best interest as a primary concern? They are too busy following directives that were established by the same team that created the IMS bearing issue in the first place.

I do understand their position since the factory does not seem to offer any solution to this potential weak bearing and the motor runs exceptionally well

Thats right.. If the factory offered a "fix" they would be admitting that their is a problem with the engines that requires attention.. Basically admission of guilt and they'll never do that. I had a dozen service writers and techs tell me that the bearing couldn't be changed but that didn't stop us..

The engine can and will run exceptionally and then all of a sudden without ANY advanced notice its all over.. The only advance notice it'll give you is an IMS bearing flange leak thats similar to what you originally described.

Right now you can save it, later you can't.. Once it fails, its screwed.. And when that happens is Porsche going to give you a new engine because they ASSUMED that the bearing was fine???

Get the car away from the Dealer and take it to someone that doesn't have rules to follow and has enough intestinal fortitude to tackle the issue.

the best way to determine if the oil leak is detrimental or not is if the oil thats leaking is a darker color than that the engine has in it's sump.. Compare the leaked oil to that of whats on your dipstick... The oil thats released from the IMS is usually much darker than whats in the engine's sump because it has been filling the IMS tube for a good while and is never released when the oil is changed...

The IMS bearing starts to shuffle as it wears and the nasty oil that has been trapped inside the IMS starts to seep past the center stud and around the outside of the flange housing..

I haven't seen a failed IMS yet that didn't have nasty oil leaking from around the flange.. Change it while you can! When it fails its too late.

Take the opportunity to replace the IMS bearing with our retrofit kit while its all apart.. The dealer will tell you it can't be done but the article on my site proves them wrong..

The very first sign of IMS failure is oil leakage..

Now, remember that NO MATTER how often you change your oil, the IMS can still fail. Thats because the Engineers at Porsche installed a SEALED bearing for the IMS.. That means the oil you have been changing never comes into contact with the bearing that may be failing!!!

Once the permanent lube in the IMS bearing is expended failure is imminent..

You should not need a new engine.. You just need someone to work with your car that actually has some desire to repair what you have rather than replace it..

That comes from a guy that has an engine replacement program designed to help people like you, in your position...

Valve springs can break.. Engines are mechanical and ANYTHING thats mechanical can break at any time and NO it does not have to make sense or have any reasoning...

That spring can br replaced in your car if the valve isn't damaged, at worst case you'd have to pull the engine and pull the head. No big deal for anyone with some sense and a tool box.

With a tad of common sense and innovation you can do the job with only the clutch alignment tool..

I don't have any of the tools you mentioned in my shop.. well at least not with a Porsche part number... I built them all myself..

There is no way to know for sure what bearing you have until the bearing flange is removed and inspected.. ALL the 00S engines I have done to date have had a dual row bearing.

Pull the car apart, remove the IMS bearing flange and verify the bearing you have.. we'll next day the parts to you AFTER we know exactly which bearing you have.

We have perfected the procedure for removal and replacement of the IMS bearing, and made some new tools to make it an easier process.. About 1-1/2 dozen people have installed the bearings to date themselves and done so successfully

Yes, I have replaced the IMS bearing in 3 different 00 Boxster S Engines this month..

See the article on my site for an understanding of whats done... It takes 45 minutes to do the install while the car is apart for the RMS update.

My guess is you broke the vario cam tensioner pad.. That can change the allocation of the intake cam to the exhaust cam as it may allow the intake cam to retard by one tooth..

Pull the cam cover...

I can change valve springs in the car, without pulling the head as long as the engine hasn't seen a bent valve from the broken spring...

5K to do this job is an incredible cost, indicative that they probably haven't ever done the job before and don't know what it requires..

You can test for a broken spring easily with a leak down and compression test... A trained ear should also be able to hear it or at minimum it should be audible with a stethoscope..

Coil packs do fail around 28-38K most of the time....

It definitely sounds like you have some internal mechanical issues.. It sounds like the IMS..

You should not have fired the engine up again after that code and the mechanical sounds until the IMS flange was pulled and the bearing inspected..

We could have saved the engine with our IMS retrofit procedure... Its too late now.

Mike,

One thing that makes it more difficult than most is the fact that cylinders 4-6 must be assembled blindly with the special tools used for every portion of the piston installation.

A lot of the engineering of this engine does make sense, but as an assembler that uses the sense of feel more than anything else I dislike the fact that I can't feel the procedures of piston installation and moreover I can't see the components without the use of a borescope.

There are some aspects of the M96 that are more simple than an aircooled Porsche engine, including the cam timing and the special tools that make that so much simpler than an aircooled 911.

Perhaps the biggest mistake and set back that can be made is a wrist pin clip that doesn't properly seat into the piston. If this occurs as soon as the tool is extracted the clip flies into the depths of the engine and is lost, usually requiring disassembly to fetch it and that costs a day. Lots of dealerships have called us after making mistakes with engine assembly. The most commo failure stemmed from a wrist pin clip not being seated all the way on the 4-6 bank, which allowed the clip to dislodge during operation and the pin wasted the cylinder.. That has happened no less than 4 times and twice on the same engine at the same dealership!

I have seen some pretty costly mistakes made by those who have a ton of experience with other Porsche engines that tackle an M96 thinking it's similar to an aircooled 911. A lot of engine building is luck, and every time I assemble an engine I end up with a different set of challenges and some things that are more simple than they should be..

if you really want a challenge start adding stroke and bore to the engine.. Adding 100HP to a 3.2 "S" spec engine was the most difficult experience I have had yet.

Having our own tools made has been the key, especially for the lower tension rings that are compatible with our Nikisil liners as they are a real ***** to install with a normal ring compressor..

If its the head you have man options and I can easily assist you with the procedures and special tools to do this work correctly..

If it is the cylinders the entire engine needs to come apart to be repaired.... Thats when the men are separated from the boys.

The borescope can be used to diagnose this, in more severe cases.. Small voids can still cause big problems but not be very notable with a simple bore scope.

This engine is VERY hard to work with internally, even for most that work with engines everyday. Not many engines require as many special tools or procedures to assemble and this is THE hardest engine I have ever assembled, including turbine engines for Aircraft.

The machine work to repair a D chunk is extensive, since most of the time a chunk of the cylinder is totally missng that can be as large as 1/3 of the bore..It can be done, because we do it but it took two years to perfect...

I have been working to train shops how to do this work and have classes beginning in the Fall of '09 for enthusiasts as well.. We can't build them all and I don't want to!! All I want to do is develop and perfect and build a few bad boy high output engines per year.

Look for my video series to be released mid next year with a full line of DVDs for the Boxster/ 996 Owner including a DVD on the assembly of an M96 engine.

I do not mean to discourage anyone, but rather put in plain and simple terms what is required to do this job.

For a taste of what assembly is like, see this link to one of my builds.

http://www.flat6innovations.com/engine-assembly

Not accurately.

I see many mis-diagnosis from Porsche Dealerships and etc.

The portion of the piston that fails is not visible through the spark plug hole in most cases.

Something crushed that spark plug and you can bet that it did some damage to the chamber as well and probablt bent the valves if nothing else.

Foreign Object Debris in the chamber is not good..