Massive mechanical failure. Not a good day...

Beast,
Your quite correct in the numbers game with cars, that's the nature of the beast. It's a commercial venture though I have read Porsche UK may take an active interest in the older cars which sounds good to me.
As for the 993 sticker, well that's me and my mate OCD :lol: your partially right, I now know from ongoing dialogue that Mobil produced the stickers but I'll not hijack the thread. I'd just love to see JFB's dream restored and some respect given to the situation by all concerned which for me has not happened as yet. The bloke has done nothing wrong, dream car, check. Dealer reputation, Check. Warranty Check. Disaster, well where is everyone?

Ocean Blue said:

Beast,
Your quite correct in the numbers game with cars, that's the nature of the beast. It's a commercial venture though I have read Porsche UK may take an active interest in the older cars which sounds good to me.
As for the 993 sticker, well that's me and my mate OCD :lol: your partially right, I now know from ongoing dialogue that Mobil produced the stickers but I'll not hijack the thread. I'd just love to see JFB's dream restored and some respect given to the situation by all concerned which for me has not happened as yet. The bloke has done nothing wrong, dream car, check. Dealer reputation, Check. Warranty Check. Disaster, well where is everyone?

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Understood, thanks for clarifying (although I missed the bit about the 993 sticker :dont know: )

I am most interested in your point about Porsche UK being most interested in older cars: I didn't know this, and it sounds good - could you elaborate on this?

Ocean Blue said:

I'd just love to see JFB's dream restored and some respect given to the situation by all concerned which for me has not happened as yet. The bloke has done nothing wrong, dream car, check. Dealer reputation, Check. Warranty Check. Disaster, well where is everyone?

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If this was Facebook I'd "like" this comment! :thumb:

I'm fairly philosophical about all this. I watched that Red Nose Day programme the other night about the slums in South Africa (I'm no tree hugger / hippy) but there's nothing like a reality check to give you some perspective.

"Oh no...my Porsche is broken...sob sob....I'll have to drive my BMW 7 series (which makes me look like a pud landlord)...sob sob..." :sad:

All that said, I'm a massive petrolhead, I LOVE(D) driving that car and it honestly felt like a privilege to own one after years of lusting! And now that dream is shattered.

There's a good chance that it won't cost me personally very much (if anything) to get the car back on the road, but with a rebuilt engine (even by Porsche) I don't think I'll ever really trust the car again, and I assume the resale value will take a hammering too. I just know I'll cringe slightly every time I push my right foot down - and that just kills the point of owning a 911.

I tried to explain to Porsche GB that I change my cars every 12 months and having got the 911 I'd decided (and proudly announced it to my family and friends) that I would always have a 911 on the drive from now on, I loved it that much. I'm only 34, so that means a lot of 911s to come! I guess PCGB don't care about one consumer who's had a couple of Boxsters and now is driving a 6 year old 997.

In fact I know they don't. Before they wrote to me and said they "weren't able" to help me they called Porsche Byfleet and asked "what kind of customer" I was. Byfleet told them they knew my previous Boxster and I'd always been loyal to them - but I'm guessing that because I'd never bought a brand new car (or cars) through an OPC, I'm irrelevant. Guaranteed that had I bought 3 new cars in the last 5 years from them, I would have got a different response. But then they didn't have to help me, so I guess I can't grumble too much.

They have however missed an opportunity to hook a customer at "entry level" and turn me into a truly loyal brand advocate for life who would always remember the extra effort they made to help when I was just starting my 911 ownership story.

I have to say I did take exception to the letter from Porsche GB that said they were "unable" to help. I politely pointed out that in 2009 Porsche announced record profits of £51 billion, a 400% increase on the previous year, so unless there was a massive financial crisis going on behind the scenes at Porsche that I was unaware of I would suggest that they have "chosen" not to help me, rather than being "unable".

Anyway - I'm rambling.

I'm now in this horrible limbo waiting for confirmation of my repair bill and then I have to start the laborious process of workling out who's going to pay. And I'm also torn between two conflicting ideas -

1) Get car fixed, sell it immediately, buy a Range Rover and never touch a Porsche again or...

2) Embrace the marque I love and give them one more shot - buy a Gen2 PDK from an OPC and hide the costs from my wife!

I'm full aware that all of us that are lucky enough to own these cars are priveleged, but it's the weirdest feeling having one of the best things in your life become one of the worst and being powerless to do much about it.

And here endeth today's lesson. Apolgies for "War and Peace" and but it feels good to vent! :frustrated:

An excellent post jfb.

Well done for taking the time to articulate your feelings at what must be a very frustrating time.

I'm the loving owner of a now 9 year old 911 and know that I'll be quite lucky if I don't experience some sort of major engine issue in my tenure.

Fortunately (or unfortunately) I've been around long enough to understand that ANY mass production car manufacturer will only consider buyers of their new or nearly new cars as particularly important.

The fact that some future new car buyers may be put off the brand in their formative car owning years by bad experiences of old examples doesn't seem to matter at all.

Unfortunately in this ever increasing disposable society in which we live I can understand their point. There's enough people out there aspiring to owning new or nearly new Porsches that, if kept happy, will repeat-buy. They just don't need to consider the feelings of those that buy 'old' versions of their merchandise second, third, fourth or fifth or ............. hand.

I really hope that you get your own car situation sorted to your satisfaction. If you do I'm quietly confident that you'll remain a 911 owner for the forseeable future.

Good luck :thumb:

jfb1977 said:

....it's the weirdest feeling having one of the best things in your life become one of the worst and being powerless to do much about it.

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Most marriages can be a bit like this at times.

Stick with it, the reward will be there in the end. :thumb:

jfb1977 said:

2) Embrace the marque I love and give them one more shot - buy a Gen2 PDK from an OPC and hide the costs from my wife!

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Thanks for keeeping us updated jfb1977 :thumb: Personally, if funds allowed I would go for the above choice. Having heard about the engines in yours, The Beast's and the new guy who just bought a 996 Anniversary all in the space of a week, it has seriously put the willies into me as I have pretty much the same engine also. If I'm fortunate enough to have a 911 next time around it will be a Gen 2 997, Gen 1 Turbo 997 or perhaps even a 991.

Just my 2p.

~ Maxie

Do the replacement engines have the same design fault?

I purchased a C2S (Speed Yellow) 2004 18 mths ago which had a replacement engine in 2008. I had previously bought a new 2004 C2S in Artic Silver (having been persuaded to change colour from SY) and owned it for 3 years before going to the dark side with an AMG.

Just love the 911, and did not mind buying one on 2nd engine. I just got it checked over by OPD before buying. Still it would be nice to know that my current car has an engine with the potential fault fixed.

i really hope you get the car fixed and at not too much cost to you.

if you are put off the newer cars, there's a wealth of opportunity for fun in the air-cooled arena 8)

ok, our cars have thier own 'idiosyncrasies' too, but we just get these things sorted, move on and enjoy the cars. Thankfully engine failure seems to be quite uncommon, but with rot around the screens and creeping into the rear chassis legs, it could put some folk off!

Thankfully all our cars are eminently fixable and their are a great bunch of indies (and OPCs) out there to help. This most excellent forum for is also a great comforter for all the support and advice you could ever want.

please stick with Porsche, in the longer run you won't regret it. :thumb:

tim

God, don't buy a Range Rover, at least with Porsches its only the engines that give up the ghost. 8)

The Beast said:

C4srmsims if it was not all that important then why have you just spent 3 pages going on about it?

Seriously, there are some people here who do not take these things as well as you claim you would. There are a good few on this forum whose cars are being mended, but who do not wish to discuss it in public. For each and every person dealing with this will come difficult decisions about extra financial outlay. It is their hard earned money, and this massive expenditure is difficult to get the head around.

It is all very well being cavaliar about others people's money but I am not sure you would feel the same if it was your eight thousand pound notes laid out of your own pocket on someone else's table.

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I can understand and sympathise with your situation - not quite sure that I've spent 3 pages going on about it!

Let me be clear. I'm not claiming that I will take it well - I will be very disappointed if my engine fails, but I have done my research, taken a view on potential costs, and gone down the route of an OPC purchase with a warranty that I will be extending to cover any risk.

It's a personal decision, and one that was taken having done as much research as I could to make the right decision for me and my financial situation.

I don't want to be getting my head around massive expenditure of my money, so I have acted accordingly. I won't face massive expenditure that I can't afford - isn't that the responsible thing to do? I took a long hard look at the potential costs of running a 997 before I bought one. I'm not being cavalier about other people's money - I'm being very careful about my own, and I've taken steps and made certain decisions so that I wont be laying out eight thousand pounds from my own pocket on someone elses table without having made a carefully considered judgement about it in the first place.

I'm not looking for an argument, and I certainly don't want to be taken to task over warranty payments vs potential likelihood of failure - that's been discussed at length before, and for me it came down to the affordability of paying for the Insurance vs carrying the risk myself.

I'm sorry you find yourself in this situation, and I hope that it works out as well as possible for you.

Holy cr&p!

I've just had the call giving me the estimates for repair.

So...what exactly has failed is as yet unidentified (or at least they didn't tell me on the call), but the engine is full of metal (or swarf) and not in good shape at all, the cylinders are scored and it's all a big mess internally.

Upshot is that whilst it could be repaired, you wouldn't want to repair it and the cost would be prohibitive at over £18,000!!!

A replacement engine from Porsche can be fitted for more like £13k, which would come with a 2 year warranty - so there's really only one way to go.

So....now the warranty company have asked for electronic print outs etc in order to try and wriggle out of paying anything (standard procedure) and then I'm left asking the supplying dealer to put his hand in his pocket for the difference.

Have sent an email to them explaining the situation and my position (i.e. that I've taken advice and should they decide not to make up the difference I'll be going down the SOGA route and coming after them for every penny).

So...horrendously expensive.....I wasn't really expecting anything else, but somehow it's seems worse once it's real!

Now it's a waiting game on both warranty company (who will doubtless want to send an engineer to inspect) and the dealer to respond.

If the warranty company stump up their £5k and the dealer the rest, I'll be relatively happy with a new engine fitted and warranted (for 2 years) by Porsche. If either decide not to play ball then it's going to be a long drawn out legal battle I'm afraid! It's one I'd be confident of winning, but it would be time consuming and (to coin a phrase) a massive ball ache!

:nooo:

At least you making progress and hopefully you get it sorted soon

Just a thought,

You may still have to pay out some money yourself due to 'betterment'. Ie, when the new engine is fitted you will be in a better position than you were before the engine went pop, brand new engine and two years Pork warranty. I think the best outcome you could expect would be £5K from warranty company, £5K from Trader and £3K from yourself.

peterg1965 said:

Just a thought,

You may still have to pay out some money yourself due to 'betterment'. Ie, when the new engine is fitted you will be in a better position than you were before the engine went pop, brand new engine and two years Pork warranty. I think the best outcome you could expect would be £5K from warranty company, £5K from Trader and £3K from yourself.

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I don't agree with this.

If that was the case then I'll just take the dealer through the courts for a 100% refund of the car purchase and start again...or if betterment was an issue I could be pig headed and just ask them to repair the existing engine for £18k, surely?!

Anyway...we'll see!

Who has supplied those numbers as they seem very very high?

Second opinion required me thinks...


:dont know: