BIG Mistake? Porsche Boxster S M96 Core Engine Teardown. What Happened Here?
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I've been tearing down engines on camera for 2 and a half years! Search my channel to see what I've torn down. Here's a few recents:
Mini Cooper/PSA N14 • JUNK Mini Cooper S (BM...
Ford 1.0 Ecoboost 3cyl • JUNK Ford Ecosport 1.0...
Infiniti/Nissan VR30DDTT • 60K Miles on 1 Oil Cha...
Dodge Ram 8.0 V10 • 8 LITERS OF DESTRUCTIO...
Today I get the pleasure of tearing into a Porsche M96. This M96.24 is a 3.2L Flat 6 from a 2003-2004 Porsche Boxster S. 258HP, Variocam plus. This is a core return from a good engine we sold. On this particular engine, I required the core to be returned or I would not sell it. FINALLY, we sold the engine and got the core back in the last two weeks. Sadly, I don't have details like mileage or symptoms, but we do have an engine to teardown and try to figure out what happened.
On most of the cores I get, they're hurt pretty bad and there's not a lot to sell from them. On this one, I hoped for the least amount of damage as possible. These engines part out extremely well, so I was really hoping for the most minor of damage possible!
Why am I doing this? My name is Eric and I own and run a full service auto salvage business. Part of our model is parting out blown up and core engines to salvage the good parts. We do not rebuild engines, merely supply parts to those that do!
I really hope you enjoyed this teardown. As always, I love all of the comments, feedback and even the criticism. Catch you all on the next one!
-Eric
Porsche is not a 2 syllable word.
yes it is
The people who make the car think otherwise 🤷♂️
Ja. Learned that at the factory showroom in Stuttgart many years ago
There are no silent e's at the end of German words,
The German pronunciation is two syllables.
Feel free to throw the water pump as hard and far as possible. M96 water pumps are a known failure item; replacing them is "routine" maintenance (like every 50k miles IIRC). Nice to see the engine torn down as far as it was; I now appreciate my 996's motor that much more.
Thay are only an over engineered vw flat 4
@@garrypritchard1658you ever drive one?
Yeah, I'm on one replacement (plus the original) and I'm at 119k miles. Half of the vanes on my original were broken off... Very dramatic barfing of coolant under the car when it totally gave out as I backed into the garage after some spirited driving...
why do they have pourshe racing,, cos they can only race each other,, as there pendulums.. dont like corners, unless you have 26'' wide tyres.. only decent poursche, is the v8,,in front..948. ill keep my clevo. 351.. 15 yrs, no probs, $26 services..
problem with expensive cars,, people dont drive, thrash them, as there expensive to fix, but if you dont drive them, they fk up anyway.. plus, a lot of ''people'', that own them, cant fkn drive..more money than gray matter.. or service them as its hundreds, thousands of dollars.. & synthetic oil is garbage..3000k, change it..
Yes, not tearing down the short block is the right decision. Besides, it's no fun if there's no carnage to revel in.
But it’s a huge gamble, Is the engine block not perhaps cracked somewhere?
@@manuqtix8874 thats the job of a machine shop
@@manuqtix8874- buying used vehicle parts is always a gamble. 🤷🏻♂️
Will anyone buy the short block knowing that there has been piston-to-valve contact?
@@robj2704 as long as it ain’t cracked it’s fine
Homie goes out and buys white gloves for a 5 second joke. Lol love it.
cool video Eric, there were no indications of lubrication failure in the parts you removed and examined so I totally agree with your decision to not strip the motor any further 👍
I had a 2004 986 S and tore my 3.2 out and did the IMS repair and sold the engine for a big chunk of money because it ran and was worth something. Bought a wrecked 2004 Carrera S 997 and pulled the 3.6 M96 and swapped it into my 986 S. With cams intake and exhaust it made 360whp. Thing was an absolute rocket. Sold it last year for $25k. It was bittersweet selling it.
Yeah, I hear ya. I've got a 1997 986 chassis with the 3.4 and bigger brakes swapped from a 2001 Carrera (the original 2.5 had an IMS failure, who woulda thought?). The '97 is the lightest 986 they built, which is nice, and the motor with headers, some ECU tweaks and good intake plumbing puts out about 290whp on the dyno. Nowhere near your 360, but still gets you into severe traffic violation territory at the slightest twitch of the right foot.
Sounds like youre a champ with these engines. Loved hearing this story u wrote.
@RadDadisRad, What did the 3.2 you sold fetch if you don't mind me asking? I'm looking at a wrecked Boxster and hedging my bet if it were to go South.
Why did you sell it?
This is most friendly and gentle engine teardown in the channel history. 😅
Thanks for sharing. Love seeing Porsche, now Ferrari next…
We did a while back. Technically it was out of a Maserati. But it's a Ferrari designed engine.
Imagine W16 bugatti engine teardown.
@@1Ministras Oooooohhhhhh.... I have not even dared to hope for a W engine... that would be the most epic teardown possible, by far.
FERRARI. STOP, CEASE, DESIST
@@ChaseMMDwe?
An expensive core that you've been looking for? That's hardcore.
The "E" and "A" labels on the cam caps probalby refer to "Einlass" and "Auslass" - Intake and Exhaust in German. Likely checked and labeleyd before assembly.
Watching this video just shows how masterful you really are in your craft. I know there are countless hours of footage that are cut, and even more off camera time looking up manuals and procedures on any first-time teardown, but once put all together then edited into the final product… it’s an absolute thing of beauty. While I do enjoy watching you throw parts across your shop and tell jokes while beating on an old LS, I still want to say thank you for allowing us the privilege of watching you work for your business. Finally, this is another fine example of content that this channel provides, sometimes its complete carnage, sometimes it’s good old dad jokes and spicy tacos, but then these rare times it’s a more serious first-time tear down, but every time it’s always a great video. Thanks again.
Well said, I’m glad Eric is showing us , I been retired for 26 years and I’m glad I’m out I will stick with my dinosaur cars and trucks.
That motor looks much bigger than I expected
That's what she said
They are, you have to take off the rear tires and change the spark plugs in the wheel wells. Which actually makes it pretty easy
They're wide, but quite short front-to-back. Boxer engines tend to be.
the height of the intake plenum and runners fools the eye - in the car, the heads would be below the knee. They are wide side to side, but low Cg with that engine design
@jordansling.. Thats what i need to be doing.. sparkplugs.. glad u mentioned it and removing the rear wheels .. great reminder of makin it easier, never done em b4.. But also havent been driving the car more since i havent done em. I got the plugs about 2 months ago (tryin out some Iridiums .. single ground strap, as opposed to the 4 strap, oem copper Bosch. Share any ideas or advise u may have about this.
Even though you had to stop short ( perfectly understandable ) it was interesting to see the engineering ethos of Porsche. I am always fascinated to see how each engine builder drives their camshafts and valvetrains which, I feel, is their engineering signature. In this engine, everything seemed to be built to have a solid purpose with as few frills as possible. As opposed to Audi which seems to think the more parts, the better. If you have the chance to take apart an Audi V8 you will see what I mean. Keep them coming!
I'm in the same boat. The timing cover removal is my favorite part. The Bentley tear down blew my mind, gear driven timing.
Really hope to see a rotary engine teardown on this channel
I think he did. Did a Mazda RX-8 rotary.
I like the way you treated the parts to show how you take care of not losing anything if you need them again.
This one was interesting. I bought a Y2K Boxster S used for $25K and it was a great car. I was enjoying it for a few months until I heard about the IMS failure that could happen without warning, and Porsche wasn't backing it up with any kind of recall or warranty. I took the car to a Porsche car show hoping to sell it when I discovered a 28K mile black 930 turbo coupe for sale for only $31K (before the big price surge). So it all worked out peachy. That Boxster engine makes music and it did run great but I wasn't about to dump $15K into a new engine just in case it decided to explode backing out of the driveway.
Aftermarket IMS fix is bulletproof.
Do you still have that black 930 ?
They demoed the after market fix on Wheeler Dealer. Not very hard to do, Ant did it with engine in car. Not sure which car.
@@vladpcgamer No, I sold it in 2015. I have a mini review video of it on my channel somewhere... it was really clean.
@@RadDadisRad That's good to know. I'd like to revisit the Boxster S ... maybe a newer version than I had before.
I have never seen you be that careful taking things apart 🤣 I agree not tearing down the short block, I was thinking about this a few minutes before you mentioned it yourself 🙂
I really looked forward to see a 6 cylinder boxer engine torn down, but after the first head came off i knew where we were headed, and i think you made a good (and the right) call of not going further, those bores looked way too beautiful.
You did the right thing Eric. Enjoyed seeing the innards of that engine as far as you went. Actually, nice to see something that deserves some TLC while coming apart.
My guess is someone might have went to change the IMS cover seal or even IMS and didn’t have the camshafts locked. It jumped time and valves hit when started. The only annoying part rebuilding these engines is finding a place they can deal with cylinder liners. Those bores look excellent The real sad part is the valves are pretty cheap to replace.
I concur with this. There's no way the contact happened when Eric turned it over manually. It had jumped time and made contact prior, likely when someone attempted to service the IMS. Bummer the engine was scrapped when it could easily have been repaired.
Exactly what I was thinking
This engine is actually HUGE! WOW! Takes up a lot of space on a mid or rear engine car.
Real heavy too. Supposedly 40lbs heavier than an all aluminum LSV8
Love the respect you show to this engine.
Loved the teardown, now I see what my 2003 Boxster S engine looks like inside ! 98k miles after 20 yrs, mine still runs smooth like butter ... Had the plastic coolant tank replaced, fuel sending unit, water pump, brakes and tires and that's about it. Still original ims bearing, looks sharp in kobalt metallic blue after some major detailing, red caliper repainting and re-lettering, and all new emblems.
If the car is blue, why paint the calipers red?
@@blackmanops3749cars that come with the sport brake packages have red calipers. Yellow for PCCBs. Green for performance hybrids.
I look forward to your videos every week and always learn something, thanks for doing what you do!
Very cool seeing the construction of a German engine that didn't appear to be excessively over designed or more complicated than necessary. It looked well done.
It's interesting seeing the different between the treatment of "mass production" engines vs. something a little more rare.
You can actually see the $$$?
Yeah. I've got a good imagination. ;-)@@josephbidon4333
There is no discrimination - He caresses and cherishes even the cheapest timing chain.
@@johncoops6897 He has his name down in case he decides to enter the Hip-Hop scene. Instead of 2-Chains he can call himself T-Chanz .
@@prevost8686 - yep, agreed. Eric T-chainz 😃
Wow, that was a hell of a tear down, good luck selling the long block... And I fully understand why you stopped there... Thank You Eric another Epic tear down...
Thanks for another great video Eric! You did the right thing stopping where you did. Cannot wait for the next video.
Thanks! Been waiting for a while to see a good M96 teardown! Love my '99 996 C4!
The RTV in the pick up screen is most likely from a leaking rear main seal replacement. If the seal has been replaced multiple times, or “required” RTV to install it, it is very likely the casting of the case where the crank exits is oversized or not round. That was the issue with the M96 motor in my Carrera. A very common problem. You mentioned the IMS failure to be blown out of proportion by the internet? Well it was bad enough for a class action lawsuit to be won against Porsche, so I’d say the problem was pretty widespread.
I do love your show. 1968 was my last year of high school and my auto mechanics class. Mr. Duncan had 4 of us rebuild a performance 327 with supplied parts. We were ready to start it and it locked up. We had put the domed pistons in backward. Mr. Duncan laughed and told us that we knew what to do. I loved that class. Old LB
Funny...my brother (1 yr younger) and I doing same thing. Him a 327, me 283 to 301, both 11:1++++. Mine complete and in his 63 temporary. He's to heads, arguing with my dad in garage, calls me out.."is this right?" Me "NO" and go back into house chuckling...interesting dome pattern. "Can I swap pistons/rods?" Me "No" 1969/1970, 16/17 yo gearheads...best of times
Your videos have shown me just how complex engines are and how many intricate castings are included.
It was fun watching you be so gentle with this engine.
I watched this one to learn what happened to the engine. I was disappointed that you didn't provide a better explanation as to what/how/why the failure occurred. I often tear down engines at work and love to figure out exactly what happened.
I too was disappointed
The E or A on the cam caps is for intake (Einlass) or exhaust (Auspuff). Cause an E on the intake isn't confusing or anything, Germany! No clue on the numbers.
I'm subscribed to a ton of channels on KZhead but yours is one of two that I have set up for notifications. I love getting the alert on Saturday night to watch your latest video.
It’s refreshing to watch an engine that doesn’t puke piston nuggets in a bath of extra glittery sludge, love the content and glad to watch you unpack that lump of German performance engineering
Did you know that if you cut a piece of plywood to fit across the legs of your engine stand you can drill holes in it where those cranks go down through that would keep it in position and keep your drain pan where you want it
I have a 24-year-old 2000 Porsche Boxster S (built in late-1999). Never had the engine removed or apart, zero engine issues except for an AOS replacement and a couple of coolant reservoir leaks, failed water pump replacement (very dramatic barfing of coolant under the car as I backed into the garage), plus cracked ignition coils that were overdue for replacement, and all of which I kept up on and replaced myself. That's it engine-wise. Every time I change the oil or plugs they look great, as well as the oil filter which I tear open to check every pleat for debris. Always pretty clean except for used oil. And I drive it hard every day, even through mountain switchbacks at 12,000 feet altitude. These engines like to be wound out responsibly. Mine still goes like stank. Generally, if you have nice things, you have to pay attention and take care of them. Is there still a chance of catastrophic failure? Yup. But you can do your best to minimize that probability and a little luck helps. Porsche is indeed a two-syllable word. 😉
True, although I also follow a reputable German engine specialist (Redhead. sorry, YT videos are in German) who said on YT that Porsche Boxster engines are not standard meant to go on trackdays. If you want to drive them that hard, you must say so when purchasing them and you will get a stronger engine (provided you pay extra, of course). He also mentioned what differences there were, but sorry, I forgot. Personally, that would be the limit for me. Paying extra to do what the car was meant for is beyond me. And oh, coils are not parts that should ever be replaced routinely. In principle they should last the engine. I know that is not always the case, but still.
@@ronaldderooij1774the coils Porsche used prior to roughly 2010 eventually degrade and crack. In roughly 2010 Porsche updated the coils and they are much better. When people do the spark plugs on cars with the previous style coils they're recommended to update them to the latest version.
Of course there are some differences between mounting in Boxster and 911. In Boxster the engine is mounted right in front of the rear axle and in 911 it is mounted right behind the rear axle.
I am not even a car guy and enjoy your videos. 90% of the time I have no idea what the parts are even called. Well done keeping us entertained 😊
Thanks for stopping where you did. You've likely not only made a good financial decision, but that short block will be appreciated by someone else in its current state. Very interesting to see the inside of that engine (I have a 996 so very interesting) - hope you do well out of this core 🙂 Thanks for the great content !
The money made from this KZhead video, will more than cover any perceived "core loss". I will never purchase a partially disassembled engine without seeing the complete engine disassembled first. It will serve you much better if you have ONE standard for excellence, not two or three.
Thank you Eric for the Porsche teardown. I appreciate your efforts more than you realize.
Thanks so much for another boxer on the channel makes me so happy
Good call not tearing down the short block, as much as I would have liked to see it. It was really interesting to see this video, even though you didn't tear it all the way down. This engine looks like it's in very good condition and it should be possible to rebuild it, even considering the intake camshaft. I hope you do really well on this engine, because you deserve it.
Thank you for this Erik!
So what about that M28 from that 928 in your inventory....
It's Saturday time to look at an engine
Good call stopping when you did. I love this teardown.i love seeing how they engineer this motor.
You’re a wise man Eric. Keep up the great videos 👍
Yeah, perfectly understand why you left it as a short block! Engine might as well have been gold plated, especially these days! Glad you'll make some money off of this for a change.
Here's what I think happened. Someone did a timing job on the engine and forgot to torque the intake cam sprocket properly. I actually did the same thing on a jeep 3.7. Luckily my boss didn't fire me, I did fix it out of my own pocket. Learned a valuable lesson that day.
holy shit u have to pay mistakes by urself? not here in Finland
Timing job, didn't look like any new gaskets on it and not a high mile engine except for oil the consumption. Why did it have valve interference on only one side, I guess it's a mystery engine. BTW, why no oil filter? Don't reply JiffyLube.
@@kiiiisu If it's obviously my fault. Yes.
@@robertklein1316 Well, unlike you, I'm not perfect. Thanks for the comment Richard.
You got that right!@@gwick358
i loved the water pump part. thanks for your videos
GREAT TO SEE YOU GET A GOOD ONE!!
Great video! As much as I’d like to see that short block in pieces, I totally understand. I would rather see that engine rebuilt and in a healthy vehicle. Great work!
How many views, subscribes, 👍, and comments would it take to see that short block disassembled?
@@ab2230 I would. Have one Standard for Excellence, not two or three. No excuses, none. I would never buy a partially disassembled engine without seeing the complete engine disassembled first.
Kind of interesting, the gap between the cylinders, visible on both the block and heads, and the layout of the head bolts, suggest to me that Porsche, when designing this engine basically just took their old air cooled architecture and built some water jackets around the cylinders.
Don't apologize - this was a great video sir!!
BMW toss at the end made my day! Thanks Eric!
This looks like the shop diagnosed a Variocam failure (which does happen,) took it apart to start the repair (hence the marked caps,) found the cam was completely dead, and found the piston damage. Being a 3.4L M96 and susceptible to bore scoring, putting a known good used engine in became the cheaper option. It probably just needs the head reconditioned, but then you're pulling the engine, resealing it, may as well do the IMS while you're in there, pulling the pistons is likely to score the bore, you need all the special tools, all the labor, etcetera. I could easily see this being written up as a $40,000+ estimate. "Or, we can put a good used M96 with a new IMS in for about $15k."
Thanks for sharing! Took a while to find an explanation that makes sense.
notice that there where any witness marks from valves touching the pistons on the second head removal ? Make you wonder if the loose cam gear bolt was the cause of the valves touching pistons ?
You made the right call.
OMG, When Eric changed his gloves at the beginning, I lost it. That was perfect. Bless you Eric
As long as there's a water pump toss, I don't care what engine it's from 😂
Even though I knew no Porsche water pump was gonna be thrown across the workshop, I had a sneaky suspicion you’d still sneak in a pump toss somehow, even if it was from a different engine. 😆
He should have tossed that water pump. It's junk and needs replaced every 50k miles or so. Plus it's dirt cheap
Big fan of this channel. Weirdly cathartic to see engines being stripped down and the pathology of why they failed. Also have learned about how IC engines are engineered. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you for another great video. As you said, you have a business to run and you made the right decision. No need to be sorry about anything.
Don’t split the case haves on that short block. That short block is definitely worth some money. It’s ready for the IMS upgrade. What a great tear down. Loved every minute of it.
highly reccomend getting a strong neodymium magnet so you can hold it near the oil drain stream. for really f**ked motors the stream will arc towards the magnet.
Pretty good idear!
Everything is cool ! Thanks for posting.
Don't apologize for the video. Seeing the architecture of this engine was, in my opinion, well worth the lack of carnage. Another excellent video sir.
Completely agree with your choice here. It was cool to see as far as it went, but no sense destroying something you can make money on.
I, nor any technician I know, would ever buy a partially torn down engine without seeing the engine completely disassembled first.
Applause Applause...think you made the right decision--no need for an apology. You do run a business, I'd rather you make the correct decision for your company and your employees...
Beautiful Motor, seems well taken care of. 20 years old!
You approach that engine like it's the relics of some Saint. Killin' me.
It could still have damage in the short block due to IMS bearing failure. In which case it's got to come apart assuming it's repairable, even if for no other reasoni than a thorough cleaning to get the metal bits out. I was really hoping to see the exploration of the IMS bearing and shaft.
It’s amazing how complicated and intentionally difficult to service these engines are, especially considering Subaru had a similar displacement engine (3.0 vs 3.2) with similar power (250 vs 258) starting at around the same time (Legacy 3.0R was available starting 2004 in Japan) but it was smaller, more reliable and *much* easier to service.
You should see the 928 motor. All aluminum and weighs more than a big block.
The Subaru H6 WAS NOT easy to service. I had the misfortune of having to do timing chains on one. Much like this engine, the entire powertrain had to be dropped. Even spark plugs are right against the frame rails on both sides of the engine bay. Granted they are one of the more reliable Subaru engines but that’s because there’s nothing to them.
That's the power of German engineering.
These things were made during a time when Porsche was in bad shape financially, so they had to cut costs by reusing the same head casting for both sides. That's why there's timing chains on both sides of the block. Keep in mind the Boxster S 3.2 was intentionally tuned very conservatively so it wouldn't interfere with the base 3.4 911, and that 260hp figure is for the EZ36, not the EZ30 (which made 220 or 240 depending on the year).
After consultation I understand why you didn’t tear the short block down thank you for explaining.
Thank You for not having music for your background, I can’t stand in on all the others, we just want you to do your thing and be yourself.
Considering it came from a porsche - this is likely the 8th or more time it’s been removed from the car.
You don’t know anything about modern Porsches apparently.
true dat!
Pretty ignorant response I think
Modern Porsche are extremely reliable, apparently.
why ? you have to remove the engine alot of time to work on these cars@@christopherjones2557
Whats the difference between Elon Musk and a lemur? Elon Musk made an electric car. Lemurs Madagascar.
Don't blame you for not tearing it all the way down, was still a really interesting video - and at least you threw one of the head gaskets ;) Love your work Eric :)
First time I have ever seen the inside of a Porshe engine. thanks for taking the chance to entertain and inform us.
Thank youuu I was just looking for a Porsche engine breakdown 😩
I giggled with the water pump thing.
Thank you Eric! 👍
Watching while sipping on my morning coffee on a beautiful Sunday
I like how you use that jointed ratchet. I never thought of using it's jointed ability as a speeder handle 🤔
No excuses necessary, Eric, no carnage in the cellar it would be a waste! Thank you for this episode!
Superb content as always. Thank you 👍
I have never seen you so nervous tearing down an engine. Great job.
I’m pretty new to your channel and watched a few of your videos and just yesterday I was hoping you would get a Boxster S engine as I have one myself, a 2000 model , I’ve had it a few yrs now and do enjoy driving it, no major issues yet but I do look after it well , regular serviced and it’s garaged most of the year , I enjoy your content , you have wealth of knowledge with a twist of humour , keep up your good work 👍
I like the white glove treatment.
I find your video very helpful! Now I can get on with replacing my 986S 3.2 Power Steering. Keep up the good work👍
Thanks for the teardown. 👍
Hey, no worries. Business is business, and nobody wants to work for a loss. It was more than worth it, to watch that engine come part as far as it did...👍👍
No need to apologize for not ruining a factory original Porsche short block. Nice video.
i gave you a thumbs up even before you started the teardown
Be glad that you are taking it apart. Putting it back together looks like a nightmare.
Great video!! As always
I have been watching all of your videos and I love them all in fact I have been watching all of them they are great and as long as you make them I I’m going to watch Thanks for all the work that goes into making them
Really good move not to take it further and split the case