2.9 vs 2.7 engine reliability.

[caymanbill]

Hi all.
So i've been reading all i can found about the IMS failures etc of earlier gen 1 caymans which dont seem to effect the 2.7 cars as much as the more powerful S versions. I'm aware of the fact that this problem may be hyped up out of context in forums such as this but it is still quite a concern.

Now from what i read these problems have been fixed in the gen 2 version, so i was thinking that the gen 2 would be the better buy, right?. However, i then started reading tales of "bore scoring" effecting the 2.9 version of the car which doesn't seem to be an issue in the 2.7 gen 1 cars.

This has left me confused as to which car is considered the most reliable engine wise? On the one hand you have the 2.7 which dosnt seem as prone to the same problems as bigger variants (3.2 and above), but still has the IMS bearing etc which gives potential for catastrophic failure, and on the other hand the 2.9 dosnt have the IMS issue but may be more prone to bore scoring than the older 2.7!??

[rigster2]

Yes thats pretty much how i have understood it.

To be honest it started giving me a headache thinking about it and so now just enjoy driving it.
If I hadnt joined PH i would be totally none the wiser and think they were bullet proof.
Every car I have bought has some sort of disaster looming, and I only find out about such issues after joining a forum.
Clio V6-chocolate gearbox
Megane R26-chocolate engine
Clio 200-another dodgy box

All unfounded in my experience.

Now I'm worried as I've no doubt put the mockers on my nice smooth bores.....

[caymanbill]

rigster2 said:

Yes thats pretty much how i have understood it.

To be honest it started giving me a headache thinking about it and so now just enjoy driving it.
If I hadnt joined PH i would be totally none the wiser and think they were bullet proof.
Every car I have bought has some sort of disaster looming, and I only find out about such issues after joining a forum.
Clio V6-chocolate gearbox
Megane R26-chocolate engine
Clio 200-another dodgy box

All unfounded in my experience.

Now I'm worried as I've no doubt put the mockers on my nice smooth bores.....

Thanks rigster2. good to know i'm not alone then. I think it's really hard to tell just how prevalent these things are sometimes!

[SeaBox]

I've seen 1 story of bore scoring on a 2.9 and who knows what contributary factors there were. It's worth reading the Hartech article on the causes of bore scoring in any of the liquid cooled engines. It seems you can mitigate potential problems by keeping oil changed more often than 20k miles, cooling system in tip top condition, don't filly open the throttle at low revs (below 2k) or on a cold engine and consider getting the Hartech lower temp thermostat. The positive thing about bore wear is it gives graceful degradation unlike the ims on the gen 1 cars that supposedly fail catastrophically.

[premio]

Regarding the bore scoring on a 2.9 gen2 that story might have been mine. It basically had 6k miles on the clock and I owned it for less than a week before I luckily managed to get a refund. I really should have done my homework as I subsequently found out the dealer I bought it from (an independent) had purchased it from someone who had only owned it for 1200 miles - their original advert was still on piston heads!! When I contacted him, he denied all knowledge of the tell tale smoking issue but seemed to know an aweful lot about the possible causes.

Anyway as for the cause, it was all 6 cylinder walls scored so I suspect being so new it was a factory issue. I heard that they had 3 different part numbers for the pistons so obviously some revisions and refining was taking place.

My understanding is that only 09 plates were affected, and the biggest bit of advice I have is to start any car you view from warm (not hot or cold) because its only from warm that you see all the smoke fire out of the exhaust on start up. If you really want to cover your arse you can always pay £180 or so for a borescopy test, highly recommended if you are doing a private sale when you have far less comeback if the engine is damaged. That's what I did after I bought the car, and those photos from the borescopy got me my refund, even my local OPC was in denial at first!

[caymanbill]

Thanks for your replys gents. Very insightful. I'm now edging towards the gen 2 car, seems like a better bet overall i think.

Glad you got sorted premio. I did read your story with interest, cant really find many other cases. Out of interest how much would it of cost to sort out?

i would be buying private so i will certainly get a PPI buy someone who can pick up on this problem, although i suppose a camera down the cores isn't somthing that can be done outside a garage.

[premio]

I only managed to find out the cost of a replacement engine which was £12k +vat plus fitting! This was the cost the independent dealer said they'd be able to claim for from Porsche, he seemed pretty confident that he was going to get a new engine on goodwill as the car was only a couple of weeks outside of warranty, although the previous service was not done at an OPC. Maybe a standard cylinder block refurb could have been done but this wasn't really an option at the time as the engine was still quite new so he chased for a complete replacement.

If I had bought the car private, I would have had a massive battle on my hands, would no doubt have ended with me making some sort of contribution towards the cost of a new engine.

Have fun in your new cayman, one positive I did get from it was just how amazing the chasis was.