So...brought my CPO 2007 CS (69,000km) in for some knocking sounds and white/blue smoke on start up. It appears that They found scoring on the #6 cylinder wall. From what I hear, this is not rare.

Now I'm contemplating selling the car or trading it in. Anyone have an idea of what a used 997 with a brand new engine is worth to ppl ? Will a new engine help with resale ?

I'm curious if I should just keep the car since its practically brand new. Or even sell it for close to what I had bought it 18 mths ago.

 

Nothing wrong with a new engine in the car. In fact, it is a plus to have a new engine with the number of miles your have on the car. It will be a great deal for someone if you decide to sell it.

 

Part of me says if you can sell it for what you bought it for 18 months ago, it might be fun to buy a newer one? I just got a new engine in mine, was going to sell it but i have such a cool terracotta/black full leather interior and other options, every other car i have looked at seems kind of generic with black or gray interior. I am flirting with a 991, but the upgrade cost is hard to swallow...

 

There's nothing wrong with a new engine in the car, assuming it is new and has come from Porsche. The effect on resale value of having a replacement engine is zero, but unfortunately the car will depreciate at the same rate as normal, so you may see some loss on the price you paid 18 months ago.
Cylinder bore scoring is a trending issue for the Gen 1 Carrera engines. There are various theories, but cylinders 5 and 6 seem most prone. Replacement isn't your only option as there are some good rebuild options avaialble. In the US, look at what LN Engineering are doing. You don't want to put a new engine in there only for it to happen again.
We outline the issues surrounding cylinder bore scoring in our new book on the 997 family (www.porsche997book.co.uk).

 

Hi Booknut, curious as to other rebuild options besides LN. When I checked with them it was around 30k and they had to bore out the cyls and you were left with a very non-stock vehicle, if i remember correctly.

 

I would love to buy a new one but I'll wait for someone to take a hit on the depreciation after the first 4 years

I too, love my combo (Carrera White with Terracotta interior). It's such a rare combo and if I were to move to another car, it'd be pretty..generic.

I think I'm just going to drive it and enjoy it, like I have been. The only thing that I'm not thrilled about is that the engine only has warranty until the end of my CPO. Terrible.

 

I love the white and terracota. I have a white and full red leather interior. These combinations are very rare! They were actually factory upgrades.

 

If there isn't any other damage to the engine other than the bore scoring, a rebuild using new/reworked crankcase halves, pistons, etc is possible. Some engine builders offer cases with inserted steel or Alu/Nikasil liners, and the stock cases are also available. There's some discussion on the effectiveness of steel liners, but there's no doubting that if you are in a hole and want a budget solution to get the car back on the road for the minimum cash, it is a solution. I'm not sure who offers this type of rebuild in the USA, but in the UK Hartech are the turnkey rebuild leaders with smaller engineers like Redtek supplying case halves to repair shops. The costs of case repair and rebuild in the UK can range from UKP5-10K ($8-15K). Check out http://www.hartech.org/porsche_996_9...er_liners.html for haretch's view on this subject.
The same comments apply to replacement IMS bearing replacement. Of course, if the damage is extensive in the engine, the cost will eventually reach the point where full engine replacement becomes viable. Unless the engine is under a manufacturer warranty, this kind of rebuild shouldn't brand your car as customised and may actually improve its selling desirability.
What is much, much worse to the value of the car is dropping in a used engine of unknown history, bought cheap from a breaker/wrecker.

 

thanks booknut, makes sense...

 

Paperwork is being sent into Porsche for a new engine. This just crossed my mind, but is there any benefit to have an x51 engine installed ? I assume not really since it's still an m97 engine.

Also, is there anything I should consider doing before the new engine goes back in ? Is it advisable to get an IMS retrofit installed before the engine goes in ?

 

Correct me if I'm wrong, but if you have an 2007 M97 then you have the Larger IMS and there is no retrofit other than replacing it with the factory part.

 

i believe the only ims replacement/fix for all m97 engines after march 05 would be the ims solution that was released in the past year by LN (ceramic bearing i believe).

however this would involve splitting the case to remove the old bearing.

 

nope same engine.

x51 is an oem power kit (standard basics like i/h/e + other power add-ons)

 

I checked with Jake Raby on the IMS solution for my 996. There is no retrofit for the larger factory bearing. the larger bearing is 85% bigger and has been dependable.

What I can't answer is when and what engines received the larger bearing.

FYI: M96 is in the C2 / C4 (non-s cars). M97 is the C2S / C4S (Same as the M96 with more HP).
The M96 (All non-s models) exists all the way through 2008. The IMS solution is for the smaller IMS bearings that were in the 1999-2005 cars and a 'few' of the very early 2006 997's.

 

porsche's official date re ims rollover to larger bearing based on ims settlement is end of feb 2005. so some 05's are in the clear.

with that said, there have been reports that some engines made beyond that date still have the smaller bearing; the only way to know 'for sure' is to look.

with that said, there are reported ims failures (albeit rare) on the larger/stronger bearings on "S" M97 engines here as well as the 'other' forum.