Nobody knows the exact % because Porsche does not disclose that information and is kept very secret, furthermore surveys are not very helpful because many owners who have had a blown engine do not want to make it public for fear of depretiation of their vehicle later on and other factors. To the point even that many owners try to dismiss or discredit the issue for this very matter and do not want it to become comon knowledge forwhen they sell the car.
In the spanish forum we made a survey, we had 28% of participants reporting a engine failure out of all who voted (54 out of 190), but even then that is useless because there are many bias in that poll in favor of either side, many users would not report it, and many that did not have a blown engine were not motivated to participate as those that did have a blown engine. But one thing was revealing, 54 members reported they have had an engine failure, that is huge for just a forum like that.
But the facts are:
- There is no conspiracy theory by an unknown entity, this issue sparks a decade ago with the disproportionate number of cases of blown engines in early 996/986 models, every car can suffer a blown engine, its when an out of the ordinary number appears, everybody knows a few owners with blown engines on a 996 and that began to escalate as the issue because public and people started to share info. And only pertained to one particular engine, its not like different engines were reported, its all only about the Carrera/Boxster engine.
- I have talked to people involed in the inside and know very well the issue, of course cannot say it publicly, but with many technical details and their experience with the incidence issue. Many users have seen pictures of the backside of delaerships with blown 996 engines in carts ready to be shipped back to Germany, since Porsche orders dealerships not to touch the engine or open it to see what happened.
- The mayor cause of the engine failure has been identified, its not an etherial failure, and is well known now, its an Intermediate Shaft Failure due to the poor support in the design of this engine, the Carrera and Boxster engine. The Mezler GT1 derived engine of the Turbocharged and GT3 models have a diffrent design... they have no reported issue with blown engines nor RMS leak, at least not in the same incidence.
- The problem is so real that there is even 3rd party companies that have developed reinforcement kits that will prevent this failure. There is even an early warning system being developed that can warn you of an inmediate IMS failure so that you have time to shut the engine off before the engine is destroyed, saving in repair costs.
- The 997 model manufactured from spring of 2005 onwards come with a reinforced support of the IMS from factory, and reports of failures have dropped significantly since.
- And guess what, in the new engine of the 997.2, the intermediate shaft has dissapeared. No more IMS failures anymore, and no more RMS leaks as well. Unfortunately it comes more than 10 years too late.
Personally I have no problem with a issue like this as long as the manufacturer comes foward and takes responsability, like BMW have done with the early E-46 M3's to give an example, but instead they denied everything (while taking steps in every facelift to reduce the issue) and many customers were screwed if they were out of warranty and may have bought the car second hand. That turning its back on the customer is the problem J.Seven complains about and has every right to, I remember when it happened to him and I would of lost trust on the car as well after that and specially how Porsche reacts.
I'm a huge fan of Porsche, and a HUGE supporter as you can see from my posts in all these years, but when they do something wrong, we are not doing anybody a favor in hidding it.
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