Hi everyone and welcome to www.porscheenginefailure.com.  My name is Mark McElwain and in March 2008 I purchased a 2001 Porsche 996 with the 3.4L engine.  I’ve wanted one since I was a kid and reached a point in my life where it was time to buy one.  I have heard all the horror stories about the engines failing and thought I did my research.  It was mentioned on the other Porsche boards but - and maybe I was just blinded by me desire - it didn’t seem like a big deal.  Here.  There.  But it could never happen to me.  I even went down to Park Place Porsche and talked to a service advisor and was told it was no big deal and the internet was making a MUCH bigger deal out of it than it actually was.  I can trust the dealer right???

Well, I was wrong on all accounts.  On June 28th I was driving home from a bar in Southlake and since I was at a bar and it was 2am my speed was between 65 and 75 mph.  I noticed as I was going under bridges a “tick” noise and I figured it was my fan hitting something - no worries.  Well, as I turned into my subdivision near downtown Dallas the engine let go - the sound I heard is in the video posted.  The car ended up at Eurosport in Dallas and at the end of the day after pulling the oil the whole thing looked like a disco ball.  Game over.  It happened.  It was never going to happen to me…but it did. 

I contacted Porsche N.A. about the issue and to get them to admit that there is an issue with the 3.4L engine is like gettting the Germans to discuss Hitler and WWII.  Noone will admit there is an issue even though countless engines have failed, there was a major redesign in Nov 2005 and when I ordered my engine there was over 180 3.4L remanned engines in their warehouse in Atlanta.  But there isn’t an issue.  My friends, Porsche N.A. knows there is a RMS and IMS issue with the 3.4L engine in the 996 and they WILL NOT do anything about it.  My car had 69,xxx miles on it when the engine let go and had perfect service records.  An engine doesn’t just fail under those circumstances without a major design flaw.  Period. 

I created this site after countless posts on other web sites about the failure of the 3.4L engine for people to vent and tell their story.  It’s highly doubtful that Porsche N.A. will step up and do the right thing with these engines but you never know.  I welcome anyone from Porsche N.A. to contact me if you would like to admit your engines are flawed or provide economic assistance for anyone that has fallen victem to your poor IMS and RMS designs.  I guess if the phone doesn’t ring, it’ll be Porsche.