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| Message: | I believe I am the latest addition to this unhappy club. Sitting in traffic on 6/26/05 I suddenly found myself without a working engine in my '99 Boxster with 12,700 miles. No warranty. Owned for 29 days. Luckily for me, my dealer (Paul Brent of Murray Motors) provides a standard 90 day warranty and will be picking up the engine. He's now my new bestest friend. As with most everyone else in this forum, the cause was stated to be the intermediate shaft. Now, I find this interesting because they also stated that they really couldn't know unless they tore the engine down - but that's pretty expensive (possibly more than a new engine)- so they recommend a new engine ($10k-$13k). Since they ALWAYS recommend a new engine (meaning no tear down), how is it always the intermediate shaft? I then proceeded to do some research and found nearly 20 people (now more) in this forum with the same problem. Most were '97-'99 (16 out of 20) with low miles (10k to 45k). Each reported the stated cause as the intermediate shaft. Another Porsche dealer stated that they see this problem quite frequently in the '97 to '99 model years. But this problem is definately not limited to the '97 - '99 model years. I'd bet it's still happening to newer models (I've read about a couple of '03s)- but under warranty, who really complains? Another forum (I forget where) stated that the problem stems directly from the factory. On some engines the intermediate shaft is mis-aligned. At that point, it's not a question of if it's going to fail - but when! I personally think that Porsche knows this is a defect (my opinion). Since it doesn't apply to all Boxsters and can't be easily or cheaply corrected, they have instituted what amounts to a "slow recall". Basically, wait for it to fail, refuse to pay for a new engine, then pay up if someone complains enough. Again, this is only MY OPINION. Somone else in this forum mentioned the Implied Warranty of Merchantability and Fitness of Purpose. I did some legal research (I'm also no lawyer), and believe this defect fits the requirements for a Warranty of Merchantability. I wouldn't pay a dime to replace an engine with this problem. Complain to your dealer, complain to your mechanic, complain to Porsche of America, complain to your local Television "Trouble-Shooter", and if none of that works then complain to a lawyer! When they finally give you that new engine - they better also include a warranty on it. Expect 2-3 weeks for replacement. Even with the above, I love my Boxster! I'd suggest to anyone buying an older model with low miles to purchase an extended warranty covering the engine (about $40.00/month) even with my comments above. It's cheap insurance and would guarantee you'd have your Porsche up and running (which is what owning a Porsche is all about)- not sitting in a garage waiting out a legal fight. | ||||
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