►The Porsche Boxster and Cayman are some of the best bang-for-buck sports cars on the market. Even at nearly two decades old, their power and handling attributes can rival today’s machinery, while the lack of weight and hydraulic power steering delivers an unmatched feel. However, the S models equipped with the M97.21 3.4L flat-6 carry a larger risk than the non-S models. Their enlarged cylinder bore made for a thinner silicon coating on the cylinder walls, and the natural ongoings inside a horizontally opposed engine mean that the silicon coating suffers from significant wear if not taken care of properly.
In a worst-case scenario, the pistons can wear through the silicon completely, scratching the cylinder walls and letting excess oil by. That will lead to rough running, piston slap, misfires, and reduced engine power. Unfortunately, the fixes require a new engine or a complete rebuild with aftermarket cylinder sleeves and new pistons. If there was any positive to the issue, it’s that definitive evidence of a current or future failure is evident by simply looking inside the engine. How do you do that? Keep watching.
In this video, Mike Hidalgo, FCP Euro’s Professional DIY’er, performs a bore-scoring cylinder diagnosis on a Porsche 987 Cayman S.
00:00 – Intro
00:40 – Diag Overview
01:11 – How Cylinder Bore Scoring Happens
04:20 – Inspecting the Cylinder 1 Spark Plug
04:48 – Inspecting Cylinder 1 With a Borescope
08:02 – Wrap-up
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We want a sequel! 😉
My m97 (3.8 x51) in my 997 had bore scoring.
Sent it to Flat 6 Innovations for a rebuild with Nikasil liners and enlarged to 4.3 litres.
Got it back a few weeks ago and it’s absolutely stunning.
>450bhp and 400ftlb, it now pulls like a train from 3000 rpm and is stupidly fast. Love it!
Great video. To be clear, it is my understanding that the lokasil is not a coating like nikasil. The lokasil is not worn away to bare aluminum here. The scoring is due to loss of the coating on the piston skirt and subsequent galling. I would love to see you do a rebuild video as your videos are among the best in the business.
Moment of silence for the owner…and the current owners whose cars are depreciating like crazy.
What can be/should be done to save this engine.??
They seem to say that bore scoring doesn't affect the non-S Boxster/Caymans. Is that true?
Just got a (very cheap) Cayman S with a blown motor that was caused almost certainly because of this
So what are next steps you would recommend to the owner? Just curious.
Same issues for the 997.1 S versions. Locasil + too much bore = heat issues = oil consumption = new block or liners = €€€
Been there. Crappy design.
I think I'd want to scope every cylinder to see what I was dealing with. If all other cylinders look good, there would be be a much more reasonable cost to just repair the one. Plus, a guy might want to NOT DRIVE THE CAR anymore until the one cylinder was repaired.
Porsche engines are fragile plain and simple, they all have major mechanical issues which requires rebuilding
Is this a Porsche version of plasma arc spray coating?
Was that cylinder 1 or 4?