Cayman S engine failures anyone?

[89911]

Came across this today. Food for thought in that it was a car I thought would be a nice modern day 911 substitute. Over reaction or real concern?

Super Piston Slap: Cause It

[Tobra]

Wow, glad I bought the Mazdaspeed instead of a Boxter, really glad.

That little Mazda seems to be sort of hard on the rear tires though, I guess it might just be that it is my first turbo car and it is sort of fun to drive it looking ahead out the driver's side window.

[aigel]

I am scared of all those engines. And nobody has been able to convince me otherwise.

George

[pwd72s]

There is a guy on the Bullitt board who suffered three engine failures in two Boxsters. He left the P-car fold...

I wonder how many Caymans will end up donated to a full auto shoot at local gun clubs?

The failure rates posted in the article are pretty frightening...

Too bad, because they really are a good looking car. But good looks only goes so far.

[Flieger]

Well, they mean cheap, good handling chassis for racers who can put a motor in it with the fixes for the biggest issues, or a new DFI engine.

[nzporsche944s2]

Sadly its not just Caymans. 997s have an apparently common problem with the failure of the #6 Cylinder Bore. Have a look at this;

997 engine failure – fact or myth? | Total 911

[LeeH]

Dang! I had plans to pick up a Caymen once they depreciated into the mid-teens. Guess in a couple of years the trends will be more clear. Sigh...

[Jeff Alton]

The power of the internet......

Love my Caymans S and my 996 which both get flogged on the track...... and the Cayman is daily driven. Guess I better buy a spare motor to reduce downtime....

One guy with three engine failures, wow, and I thougth I had heard it all already

[billjam]

Originally Posted by nzporsche944s2

Sadly its not just Caymans. 997s have an apparently common problem with the failure of the #6 Cylinder Bore. Have a look at this;

997 engine failure – fact or myth? | Total 911

Wow, that's amazing! Glad I can't afford a 997

[don911]

Disappointing. A cayman S or ideally the Cayman R is on my wish list. Guess I can't beat my old 3.2 that runs all day long at the track and never stumbles.

[Geronimo '74]

Originally Posted by 89911

Came across this today. Food for thought in that it was a car I thought would be a nice modern day 911 substitute. Over reaction or real concern?

Super Piston Slap: Cause It

If he keeps on reasoning and deducting I'm sure he'll find that for every Cayman that was sold, two broke down....

[aigel]

The air cooled engines weren't trouble free either. But the difference may be that the air cooled engines were a little easier to fix - buy a new cylinder and piston and you are on your way. And the main issues were slowly developing like valve guides not grenade type failures. You can drive the car for quite a while with a little smoke before you set aside time and $ to fix valve guides. Is that the same for intermediate shaft issues? I know the aftermarket will start picking up on these cars and some fixes are already available. It will be some time for things to shake out price and parts wise - that's why I wouldn't jump into any waterpumper (GT3 and TT excluded) right now.

George

[Dottore]

Originally Posted by Jeff Alton

The power of the internet......

Yes.

And in other news, bungee jumping can cure constipation.

[artplumber]

Interesting reading on lnengineering website (fixes for the IMS issue). They rec more freq oil changes, higher ZDDP content, and note that failures are mostly in "babied" cars - less likely to fail in track driven cars. They rec keeping rpms over 2500.

[artplumber]

Maybe this should get moved to tech board - 997 or 986?

[Tobra]

I can see how running low rpms hurts you in the AC cars, wonder what is up with these. Wait a bit until it gets shook out I guess. When the Carrera came out with the chain tensioners, it sort of solved that issue. Maybe the thing to do would be to get a sweet running Boxster S and fix the IMS thing

[DaveE]

My Boxster has 173 thousand miles on it now, original engine. I must have gotten lucky...

[osidak]

I hope they continue to pick up some bad press - just means I can get a Cayman sooner rather than later at an even cheaper price with fewer miles

[s_wilwerding]

The pre-2009 Caymans did have some issues (IMS, etc.), though most can be cured. I frequent a lot of Boxster/Cayman boards, and I have not seen much talk about piston issues, so my guess it that that is getting overblown. The IMS can be fixed with an aftermarket upgrade (which I did to my 3.4). If you take some steps, you can make older Caymans pretty reliable (as many have pointed out, I'm not sure there are a lot of car brands out there that NEVER have issues).

As for post-2009 Caymans with DFI (and no IMS), the only issues I've heard of so far are some reports of high pressure fuel pump issues, which are not catastrophic and pretty easy to fix. I have yet to hear of one of the new engines failing catastrophically - keep in mind that the Cayman, Boxster, 911, Turbo, GT3, etc. are all variants of the same engine, so they were built pretty robustly.

As for the general theme of this thread, keep in mind that it only takes one dissatisfied owner to make a big stink and blow the problem out of proportion - you don't hear from the thousands and thousands of owners who have no issues.

[chuckr]

This was posted on the Austin PCA web site last week....

I'm just looking for some collective intelligence from the Porsche community.
>
> I just had an complete engine failure in my 2006 Cayman S. At 52,000 miles.
I'll forgo all the drama and all for now, but I am trying to figure out my
options.
>
> It appears I'm missing a cam seal on one end, causing some oil loss (but not
catastrophic amounts) and the engine is dead on either one cylinder (Porsche of
Austin, leak down test) or three cylinders (TPWS, ran it briefly on their lift).
Porsche found a smashed plug in the #1 cylinder. Both are suggesting that I
replace the motor entirely, at a cost over $15k. I'm thinking that $15k buys an
awful lot of tools, parts, and beer, and I'm seriously considering having a go
at rebuilding the motor.
>
> My question is, is this something I can do? I've had a few people volunteer
access to a lift (though sadly, not near my house) and I'm pretty handy with
doing my own maintenance work, though I have never tried to do anything like
rebuilding an engine -- I've previously torn my Miata completely apart and back
together with the exception of going no further into the engine than a timing
belt and water pump. Luckily, I have the assistance of people who have rebuilt
motors, though not a Porsche motor.
>
> I've looked at the engine removal process at Planet-9, and I think with some
help, a lift, and a shop manual (which I have yet to procure), I could get the
engine out. At that point, there's a lot of assessment of where to go from
there, but I figure I can't really make things worse by tearing into the motor
since it's currently being deemed scrap. If I can rebuild it, I will. If I
need to buy a replacement used engine, I'll do that. I'm just trying to limit
the damage to my pocketbook.
>
> Does this sound reasonable to the rest of you guys? Do you have any wisdom to
impart before I go tearing into the motor? Anyone got a shop manual I can
borrow?