The former service manager in me wants to know more here; I just re-read the thread, looking for links to previous accounts of this car’s service history but I don’t see any. If you don’t mind - I’m only looking to better understand your predicament - may I pose these questions?

What relevant work has been done to the car? I see references to a Porsche dealership in FLA having done some, perhaps an engine rebuild?
- What did they do and when (time and miles ago)?
- Why did the car need that work then?
- You mention lack oil to the camshaft. Did you pull the cam cover?
- Did you drop the starter and put a socket on the crank pulley as GeorgeB suggested?
- With the transmission in neutral, can you move/push the car?
- With the car safely on jackstands, starter motor removed (disconnect battery first!) and someone in the driver’s seat actuating the clutch pedal, can you see anything going on at the slave cylinder end? (Looking to make sure clutch plate not seized as per previous poster’s question.)
- Do you have any local P-car or otherwise reasonably savvy amateur car mechanic buddies who could come over and help you work thru some basic diagnostics?

Others may have better or more refined suggestions. I’m (obviously) not familiar with your level of comfort in working on the car, so I offer these questions respectfully and in the spirit of helping us better help you.

John

UK only, methinks...

If it was rebuild LESS than twelve months ago, (ie, still within Parts Warranty period) and if (??) the dealership did the work, it would likely be in your interest to have the car towed there and for them to open a Repair Order while the repair is still under the stated parts warranty.

Again, assuming that the dealer rebuilt the engine (?), you should definitely be talking with the Service Manager (not a service advisor). Be nice, obviously, but not a pushover. You may need to approve a couple or more hours of diagnostic labor OR the Service Manager May be a good soul and take an initial look.

The timing of the Repair Order is very important and again, assuming you had the dealer do the work, you did that precisely so you’d have the backing of their warranty if something goes south... and likely paid for that privilege.

Yes dealer did the work but...
But they want to charge me $450 just to examine it.
Then they want to charge me for going into the engine and inspecting it.
If the part(s) that are damaged where put in by them they will replace them and split the labor.
If it was a part I brought like the Cams or Pistons then I have to replace them and labor is on me.
after getting off the phone with them this is a 3-6K repair with them.

So with that said the car will not be going back to them. I found a local shop (AAMCO) where the owner had owned a 944 Turbo and kept it running top notch (All the shop guys say). In light of everything that has happened I decided to give him a try. I don't have the energy or the money to deal with the dealership on this anymore...They are fantastic don't get me wrong but I have to tow my car over 60 miles to get to them and that's just a inconvenience right now...So I have made my decision to go with someone that has at least owned this car as he pointed out he has had four of them.

Sucks for me because I poured all that money into this thing thinking I was gone have a good car for the next 10-12yrs because they rebuilt it...That didn't happen but at least they completed the work and didn't screw me over and gave me back a running car after 6-7mos...the parts are still covered under warranty but I really don't care at this point. I just wanna drive...I just hope this guy is true to his word like he says and he did change my clutch on the car after I completely burnt it up being a noob once I had got it back the first time so I can say I trust him and his shop about 80% Lol!!!

When I did my search I typed in US but it's very well possible this info could be for the UK and not the US. Lol!

The former service manager in me wants to know more here; I just re-read the thread, looking for links to previous accounts of this car’s service history but I don’t see any. If you don’t mind - I’m only looking to better understand your predicament - may I pose these questions?

jjeffries

What relevant work has been done to the car? I see references to a Porsche dealership in FLA having done some, perhaps an engine rebuild?
Reeves Import Motorcars in Tampa (Excellent Service BTW)

- What did they do and when (time and miles ago)?
Rebuilt the entire engine and got the car running from my parts and parts they had to buy to complete the build.

- Why did the car need that work then?
Engine was completely damaged it was cleaned and re-sleeved by a engine shop before I brought it to them and and they took it from there.

- You mention lack oil to the camshaft. Did you pull the cam cover? No. the engine's dip stick was completely at the right level - full.

- Did you drop the starter and put a socket on the crank pulley as GeorgeB suggested? Yes was done by me and my neighbor before taking to AAMCO

- With the transmission in neutral, can you move/push the car? Yes that's how we loaded it to the tow truck

- With the car safely on jackstands, starter motor removed (disconnect battery first!) and someone in the driver’s seat actuating the clutch pedal, can you see anything going on at the slave cylinder end? (Looking to make sure clutch plate not seized as per previous poster’s question.)
Yes this was done Clutch engages and releases as should

- Do you have any local P-car or otherwise reasonably savvy amateur car mechanic buddies who could come over and help you work thru some basic diagnostics?
Yes!!! Lol!...The owner of the AAMCO. He has had four 944 Turbos over the years he said and fixed them all himself.

Others may have better or more refined suggestions. I’m (obviously) not familiar with your level of comfort in working on the car, so I offer these questions respectfully and in the spirit of helping us better help you.
Thanks mate. Although I do a lot of wrenching on the car myself the stuff like this I leave to the very knowledgeable people or the professionals which I have done. When I get some answers though I will let you all know.

Thanks for your comprehensive answers. I’m feeling your pain. I’m guessing $450 is likely 3 hours of time the dealership is quoting to check it out ... rather naughty of them IMO, guessing your probably spent $5-10K with them to rebuild it? I hear that you don’t want to fight and don’t know how hard you’ve already leaned on them ... your call.
I admit that when I first heard AAMCO I thought bad things but that’s a franchised brand name and doesn’t mean anything positive or negative in and of itself; the capability and quality is determined by the technician and the fairness and integrity is set by the owner, so if your guy is both of those and you feel reasonably confident ... have at it.

My hope is that this guy is a clever and capable diagnostician and that he finds something that is discrete and easily fixed, like the flywheel bolt suggested by someone else. We’re all rooting for you, have no doubt.

Best of luck Sir,
John

Before spending money see if you can determine if the cams are seized or the crank. Cams should move a little bit if the crank is seized.

If it's the bottom end I suppose it could be a backed out bolt as suggested but I would remove the plugs, check them for metal flakes, and use a borescope to see if the cylinder walls look scuffed. If the block prep was not done properly or the pistons not appropriate for the bore then they can gall up.

Removing the cam belt and trying to rotate the engine (a small amount) will give you an idea of a lower end or upper end problem.

Thank you guys for all of your help...Really put my mind at ease a little with all of the helpful suggestions...As it turns out I am pretty lucky I guess...IT WAS THE CAM TENSIONER BOLT it stripped in the head and backed out stopped the cams from rotating hence making the engine appear to be seized...I got lucky this time and it cost me far less than I thought it was going to add up to be...Thanks again for all of your help and suggestions really appreciate you guys.

How cool!

Yes Sir!!! Very cool...I have always heard they do that and even heard of people cutting a piece out and replacing it with steel to mount the tensioner on just thought was a little overkillish but now I fully understand why...if it backs out again I will definitely look into this mod...

That’s so awesome and even though we’ve never met this makes me very happy for several reasons.
The first and foremost reason is the expense and stress to you
The second is you got your car back in record time after waiting 7 months from the dealer on the previous repair.
The third and important to me after 25 years of shop ownership is you found an honest and straightforward shop that know what they’re doing and they shot you straight and didn’t try to jack you around with some cockamamie story to try and get more money out of you.
There are way more bad ones than good ones. At least around Houston and while I used to feel bad for people coming to me who had these horror stories a little part of me was happy because I got new customers from it who never went anywhere else which led to an extremely successful business for 25 years.

Just goes to show you never know where you’ll find your best relationships because I would think an Aamco is not your typical first guess of where to find a Porsche technician but I’m certainly glad you did.

Take care and safe travels
Tony
P.s sorry for being so long winded

Tony, EXACTLY.

John

Thank you for this I really appreciate the kind words...I got lucky I guess...I needed it Lol! After two Rip off Mechanics and a dealership I was done!!! just gone try not to worry about whats gone happen next. Lol! Going to post up on the picture thread I started. Go over there and post yours too.

I'm glad to hear you were able to diagnose this without giving the dealer more money as well. They totally should have looked into this for you at the very least, a couple of hours of a tech's time is a small price to pay for a happy customer which turns into good reviews and more work.

It's the same way in the aviation industry, there are those of us that do their best to serve the customer in the safest way possible (and also FAA legal) and those that will cut corners and oversell their customers which makes everyone wary and makes it a lot harder for real honest mechanics to get work.

Thanks I felt the same way too which why I didn’t take it back there I felt they should’ve looked into it for free but that’s life...I think they just didn’t want to deal really because this was a massive build for them and they really wasn’t prepared to do it. So when something went wrong they want to charge me top dollar so I wouldn’t bring it back....