First Generation Macan S and turbo V6 engine longevity

[chrischrischris]

I have read forum posts and watched videos about the unfortunate development of bore score in the first generation V6 engines. The Macan S and the Macan turbo have the same engine, but the turbo has a larger displacement - I think it has a longer stroke.

The development of bore score in so many well maintained engines is extremely unfortunate and a black mark on the Porsche brand. It's not clear to me how widespread the problem is in terms of percent of cars affected. Reliable reports about seeing a lot of Macans with engine issues may not recognize that there may be many Macans driving around perfectly. The same kind of selection bias is a factor when evaluating the amount of forum posts and youtube videos. However, it is a real issue. If it is a design flaw, then I guess it will affect all cars. If it is a manufacturing defect, then I guess the issue will affect some cars but maybe not other cars.

I'm wondering if there is a valid comparison to the 996 IMS bearing issue where some bearings turned out to be good, but others were apparently really bad.

I have a 2015 Macan S with 140,000 miles and it drives perfectly. Previous owners had the oil changed at the dealership every 10K miles. I have maintained a 3-5K mile oil change interval. Maybe I should assess the cylinder condition with a borescope; I suppose that's the only way to know if scoring is developing.

I guess what I'd like to know is this: Can these engines reach or exceed 200,000 miles without developing bore scoring?

[johnb]

I have read forum posts and watched videos about the unfortunate development of bore score in the first generation V6 engines. The Macan S and the Macan turbo have the same engine, but the turbo has a larger displacement - I think it has a longer stroke.

The development of bore score in so many well maintained engines is extremely unfortunate and a black mark on the Porsche brand. It's not clear to me how widespread the problem is in terms of percent of cars affected. Reliable reports about seeing a lot of Macans with engine issues may not recognize that there may be many Macans driving around perfectly. The same kind of selection bias is a factor when evaluating the amount of forum posts and youtube videos. However, it is a real issue. If it is a design flaw, then I guess it will affect all cars. If it is a manufacturing defect, then I guess the issue will affect some cars but maybe not other cars.

I'm wondering if there is a valid comparison to the 996 IMS bearing issue where some bearings turned out to be good, but others were apparently really bad.

I have a 2015 Macan S with 140,000 miles and it drives perfectly. Previous owners had the oil changed at the dealership every 10K miles. I have maintained a 3-5K mile oil change interval. Maybe I should assess the cylinder condition with a borescope; I suppose that's the only way to know if scoring is developing.

I guess what I'd like to know is this: Can these engines reach or exceed 200,000 miles without developing bore scoring?

I don't know if they can, but I know I would not risk it again. Mine had the bore scoring issue at around 108k, probably developed it a few thousand miles before I discovered it.

I don't know how the frequency compares to the IMS issue. I suspect it's much worse. But the real problem (imo) is that it's economically unfixable. Swapping an engine into a 911 or Bosxter is a much smaller job, and you can preemptively fix the IMS issue. Not so with the Macan - the only preemptive fix is to sleeve the bores which is very expensive. And an engine swap is very labor intensive - too much to swap in an engine that you can't be sure won't have the same problem soon.

I replaced mine with a CPO Base model. Between the warranty and the fact that it doesn't happen to the 2.0 anyway, I have far more piece of mind. I wouldn't rule out owning another high mileage 2.9 S when they've been around long enough to know that they don't have this problem either.

One thing I heard during my experience was that apparently there's a near perfect correlation with cold climates. People who have seen a lot of them say they never see it except in cars that have cold starts. I live in Indiana and last winter we had a really cold spell. During that time the ticking noise, which had been faint, suddenly got a lot louder, and that's when I realized something was wrong.

So if you live somewhere that doesn't get cold weather, and your cylinders are not currently scored (borescope) then you're probably ok. I wouldn't risk keeping it personally but that's probably an emotional response if I'm being honest.