viper501

Very interesting. Similar failure on my car, altough not quite as dramatic. How many miles have you got on your car? Had you had any work done prior to this failure?

That doesn't look like the problem point. Maybe these pictures will help.

So I'm leaving the office last night and start the car. I immediately hear a loud metallic sound, almost like a bad rod .... :( :eek: Shut the car off and do a visual inspection, as best you can in the dark on a 996. Can't see anything obviously broken so I restart and the same noise. Still can't see anything at first, then I realize that the serpentine belt is shredding itself. Examination revealed that the belt is split down the middle. Pulled out my handy-dandy multitool and cut the half that's off the pulleys so I can get it out of the way. While in there, I notice that the small plastic fitting replaced in September (by the Porsche dealer) is rubbing against the idler pulley at the top of the engine. Hmmmmm ... could this be the cause of the belt shred? Well, I got it to the independent mechanic that normally services the car. A while later they call to inform me that the alternator bracket is snapped and that the alternator pulley has two small dents in it. After a complete examination, they've discovered that the upper alternator mount was loose (the same bolt hold the above mentioned idler pulley in place), allowing the alternator to pivot and snap the lower mount off. That caused the belt to start walking off of the pulleys, hence the shredding. The alternator pulley has two small dents in it. The piece replaced in September has substantial rub marks on it where it was being rubbed by the idler pulley and the oil filler tube is shredded. A call to the dealer discovers that the replacement of the part in September required the removal of the idler pulley .... hmmmm ... Lots of pictures taken and a few parts order ... bracket, oil filler tube, alternator pulley, and a couple other odds and ends ... only problem is that they won't be here for a few days ... Once I figure out how to get the pics out of the camera, I'll post 'em for all to see. The silver lining is that it doesn't look like its going to be *that* bad. The bracket was only $38.00, can't imagine that the oil filler tube is too bad and the alternator pulley shouldn't be too bad. :P

That's what I want .... now I just need to find a donor ... B)

It might also be an oiled filament air filter. If you have one and its over-oiled you can have the oil separate from the filament and contaminate the MAF.

Look at the RMS writeups that talk about revised bolts for that area (names of which are escaping me) and have them replaed while you are there. It might add a little to the cost but it certainly willl save you from any more heartache or expense. As to the alignment, definitely get all four done at once. It'll probably cost the same to try and do 'one' corner because the setup is going to be the same. I've seen people post between 100 and 360 to get their 996 done ( wonder which one of them went to the dealer ). Wherever you go, make sure that they have had their equipment calibrated fairly recently.

You might also try it with the car locked.

I'd definitely get the newest car you can afford, all things being equal. The 3.4 can't compete with the 3.6, performance-wise. Then there is the chassis reinforcements on the 3.6 cars (although that might have been an '01 implementation but definitely worth looking at).

I can agree with the frustration of it. Porsche has definitely handicapped the Cayman to keep the 911 sales from being sapped. After all, there's a lot more profit in the 911. Kinda sad that the accountants seem to be taking over Porsche ( RMS failures continuing are a perfect example of this. ).

and take a look see at the clutch and throw-out bearing while you're there.

Ditto that.......I would like to see it also. GreggT, I don't know why you're not getting it. Might be firewall settings(?) Toddel68, I'd be happy to if I only knew how. :(

Great idea! :clapping:

Warped head from an overheat?

I just had the transaxle fluid changed along with oil, mount and balance of new tires and wheels, and an alignment. I replaced the transaxle with a full synthetic 75-90 product made by BG. Helped the slight notchiness when going from 1 to 2. All the shifts feels smoother too. Highly recommend the transaxle fluid change. Its an easy do it yourself too. Also, I'd recommend getting the alignment done by someone you know has a good reputation (not necessarily your dealer). The difference a good alignment will make in handling will amaze you. As far as oil goes, most of the major manufacturers bumped their service intervals a few years back. It was not the 'technology' of the fluids or the cars that caused the change. Instead, it was the JD Powers, et al. service cost numbers. By extending the service interval, the manufacturers decreased the paper cost of ownership, boosting their rankings. It also seemed to coincide with the included maintenance push that many of the majors (BMW, Mercedes, etc.) started. Hmmmm. Wonder why that was? :rolleyes:

Glad you guys liked it, those who could view it. Google has some great video material on their site. Although this is a bit disturbing for us .... http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=83...2820&q=kill+911

Would love to find a reasonable DIY to replace the headliner with black, or grey, alcantara.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=10...30165&q=porsche Ouch. Interesting article though when you consider the overall marketing drive from Porsche. (See Also today's Wall Street Journal).

I have my XM antenna mounted under the small cover that is there between the two vents inside the car at the base of the windshield. The small cover pops off and there is a metal plate close to the windshield. The small XM antenna mounts magnetically and the cover fits back over top of it. Some occasional problems that I probably would not have if the antenna was mounted on the paint outside but I don't have any worries about paint damage and it is low profile.

I know that G.A. Cup guys swap the 3.6 into 3.4 cars along with the ecu/harness/etc. Don't know how much of a PIA it is but I doubt that the mechanicals are that different. I'd definitely get the newest motor you can find. I'd think that there would be a lessened likelihood of subsequent RMS failures given the upgrades the 997 motors seem to have gotten. Not to mention the nice bump in power.

What you need are two monitors, one for each bank. Since you don't have that, I'd probably suggest doing the EGT in one bank and the A/F in the other. Not great but at least that way you have some idea of what is going on in both banks. I'd also suggest you get yourself to a dyno with loading capability (i.e. a Mustang, not a Dynojet) and use a wideband O2 sensor on both sides to make sure tuning is correct. Finally, as to placement, optimally, you would use as many sample points as possible. Since you can't I'd suggest researching which cylinder runs hottest/leanest and use it as a starting point (e.g. certain cars are notorious for lean run in certain cylinders such as the Miatas with forced induction typically run lean in the #4 cylinder due to poor cylinder head cooling of #4 ) Just my thoughts. Any ideas from your s/c installer? Oops, just realized your question was which cylinder runs lean. Someone has got to have that information. In the Miatas mentioned above, #4 runs hot because it is at the end of the coolant flow through the head on a head / engine designed for a transverse mount that has been turned 90 degrees to mount longitudinally. Maybe examination of the coolant flow pattern on the 3.6 would help.

Nope. Bought a pair (high and low) at NAPA. They're made by FIAMM and are probably the exact same as I saw at Pep Boys, Autozone, etc. Didn't want to spend the $$$ on an OEM horn replacement that doesn't seem to have very high durability. Not to mention the fact that it would have probably taken a month to get them.

Well, got the horns replaced and everything buttoned up. :clapping: The new horns work great and the radiators appear to be working better as well. Temperature is not nudgin' up as it once did in stop and go traffic. Now if I can pull the pictures off of my phone, I'll have some to post. :thumbup:

Depending on the year, there are a *bunch* of mods out there, some of them relatively cheap (at least in Porsche dollars). e46 M3 is 333hp with good high rpm power. e36 is only 240 but can be modded for relatively little money to put out *lots* more. As they say, there's always someone faster out there and Speed is money, how fast ya wanna spend. :D

My horns have gone to the great beyond so I yanked the bumper to replace them. (Thanks to Loren for the 3d Radiator Install instructions :clapping: ) I figured that I'd inspect the radiators while I was in there and make sure that my previous vacuuming had been effective. :eek: Oh my God! They were both disgusting. There was so much stuff built up in there you would not believe it. I found what was left of a bird embedded into the upper corner of the passenger side. There was dirt, leaves, bugs, and every other debris possible *between* the radiator and the a/c condensor. How it managed to work its way into that area I don't know but it did. Having looked at this, it is clear that a 'normal' vacuuming with the bumper on is totally ineffective in getting the radiators clear. I've been using a vacuum and a soft brush to try and get the biggest part of the stuff out. I'd highly recommend that you have a compressor to blow air from *behind* the cores. That has been very effective in clearing the fins out. ( Note: Be careful about using water to jet out the debris as the water is capable of bending the cooling fins ) I took some pics of the debris with my phone's camera and will post them as soon as I finish cleaning everything up and putting it back together. ... now I gotta fix those horns still .... :cursing:

Theoretically, it would be nice to see him scammed like he tries to scam others. Not sure who or how you can do that legally though. Of course, there is always the question of the income scammer is deriving and whether he's paying his taxes ..... :oops: :jump: