Porsche 911UK Forum

Welcome to the @Porsche911UK website. Register a free account today to become a member! Sign up is quick and easy, then you can view, participate in topics and posts across the site that covers all things Porsche.

Already registered and looking to recovery your account, select 'login in' and then the 'forget your password' option.

997 turbo engine removal DIY - engine refresh and new turbos

darkhorse

Well-known member
Joined
24 Feb 2019
Messages
306
So, I used the hottest afternoon of the year to take the engine out of my 997 turbo yesterday. I had already disconnected everything and worked out how I would do the job, so all that was left was to go for it and take the mezger out.

If it is of interest to anyone I can post up more pictures and do a summary guide. Here is a few pictures of the removal.

I would say compared to other engine removal/repairs I have done this would be 'easier' if you have access to a 2 post lift . When doing it with axle stands only, on a gradiented garage floor (it slopes downwards and from left to right slightly) I would say it makes it a lot harder, but still clearly do-able with a bit of prior planning and some decent safety measures. I would personally rate it a solid 8/10 for one handed DIYing off axle stands as a first time.
Repeat removals would be easier as I know how to do it and have a good system now.


You can see in the last picture the way I got the car up at the front, using ramps as someone else on here (infrasilver I believe **thanks mate) used. Because of the slight gradient from front down to back, I bought some car transporter tie straps and clamped both front wheels to the stands. So that was the front end dealt with. At the rear, I had already removed the rear bumper and intercoolers etc in my attempt to free the turbos. Unfortunately as the coolant lines were totally heat/rust welded into the old turbos I had to remove the engine to replace with the new turbos I fortuitously aquired for a great price from a guy in Florida.

So at the rear, I jacked the car up in stages using the rear jacking point to lift the rear, put a stand under one side, then moved to the rear crossmember and put it to a height that made the car perfectly horizontal (there is very little room on the turbo between the rear engine plate and the chassis rail so it need to be horizontal to come out smoothly (or so it seemed at the time)


Here is a few pictures of the removal.

I used an engine crane and two old seat belts to lower the engine, and will reuse them to lift it back in after. There is no room for chains. The seatbelts fit through the available space ok though.

**disconnect everything** this would be in a photo guide if there is a demand for it..

then I used a gearbox jack under the gearbox and undid the tiptronic mount nuts and the rear engine mount nuts, a staged lowering process was initiated... It was nice and controlled, but tedious doing it alone.

I then discovered I had not removed the coolant pipe that goes from the bottom of the expansion tank to the engine, but it was nicely revealed when the engine had dropped a couple of inches so I undid and removed it (this is why I did a staged lowering, so I could catch anything I had missed)

I knew when the engine got down to the bottom of the gearbox jack, it would be too high for the engine to sit on the engine trolley (a cunningly reused machine mart wheel dolly rated at 500kg each so used one for the gearbox) .

So I raised the gearbox off the gearbox jack (it worked well) and used my small trolley jack to relower it down.

I then continued the lowering in one go pretty much so that gearbox and engine were resting on their padded trolly dollies.

The only issue I had, due to the mildly gradiented concrete garage floor, was that the output side (off side) of the diff was very close to a lug on the suspension framework when I lowered the engine in the lower stages, so I did a bit of yoga between the engine crane and using a bar and some cardboard to keep the diff from damaging the suspension and vice versa.

Once the engine was landed on the trolley, I didnt have enough height on the jackstands to remove it....

With the oil filter removed, I was about 1 inch missing height wise, so after some messing about, I managed to get my big trolley jack under the OS rear jacking point, and raised the car a few inches higher, the engine then slid out nicely and I lowered the car back on to the stands.

You will note several other sets of axle stands... The front ones are just in place under the jacking points in case of failure of the ramps... (unlikely I know but you can never be too sure). The red ones are just placed as catching stands for the main blue stands at the back that are holding the car up.

The other ramps ended up not being used for anything. But for any jobs that involve wheels on work underneath I always prefer ramps where possible.


So that's where I am up to. I will post up a few before and after pictures when I have the old turbos off and new ones on.

I also am planning some other jobs while its out. Namely sorting a small oil leak on a timing chain guide bolt.
Turbo pipe replacment where needed + new orings for the others.
All sealing washers.
Rear coolant manifold thing, new orings and protector seals for the ones underneath (and o rings)
New coolant pipes where needed (engine bay ones look like new)
Propshaft guibo being replaced
new accessory belt
new coils and plugs
turbo check valves
new oil filter and engine oil
new porsche coolant (I need to buy a vacuum bleed kit to hook up to my compressor)
oil pressure sensor (mine works but I think its meant to be worth doing?)

I will assess the coolant pipes in the engine, I spoke to a few specialists in the UK that say they havent had coolant pipe failures in very often, yet in America it seems high risk. Is it worth removing and resealing these and 'pinning them'? the jury is out on that at present.

** I disconnected the plenum rubbers as I was trying to find if I was missing any electrical connector on top of the tiptronic (I had no documentation on the tiptronic removal). As it turned out there is a load of vacuum piped coming off the back of it AND I couldnt see anything under there!! So I left refitting it until I had the engine out as I was confident I had the right bits disconnected.



Cheers























 
As someone who can cut themselves on a spanner and has to google which end to hold a screwdriver I salute your work :salut: and feel embarrassed to offer an opinion but ........

In your position I feel it's a 'no-brainer' to pin your coolant pipes. I haven't heard of as many 997Ts popping off as 996Ts were prone to but it can't hurt.
 
T8 said:
As someone who can cut themselves on a spanner and has to google which end to hold a screwdriver I salute your work :salut: and feel embarrassed to offer an opinion but ........

In your position I feel it's a 'no-brainer' to pin your coolant pipes. I haven't heard of as many 997Ts popping off as 996Ts were prone to but it can't hurt.

Thanks T8.
So thats one vote for pinning! It definately does make sense. I am a bit OCD though so may end up having to reseal them like this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIl2-vBAnvk

I can imagine the list growing before I get to the end of it!!
 
Please post the pics and information. I hope I never need to remove mine (non metzger) but the geek in me is genuinely interested. nice work. :worship:
 
brownspeed said:
Please post the pics and information. I hope I never need to remove mine (non metzger) but the geek in me is genuinely interested. nice work. :worship:

Thanks brownspeed :thumbs:
Ok so thats one vote for the guide!! cheers, I have plenty of pictures in the event it would be useful for others, like a step by step guides worth!
 
There are a few of you lot on here that in my opinion, are tapped. I'm having bouts of uncontrollable shaking like Merkel reading this, and you're doing it like this is a monthly occurrence. :floor:
I'll be watching this thread with great interest. As for pinning the pipes, my view would be that seeing as you've got the engine out, it's a no brainer to do it.
 
Great Job DH - that takes some balls. I'm definitely up for a bit of DIY but that's another level.

Makes perfect sense to pin the pipes and look at as much preventative maintenance as you can at this stage. (Unless you're telling me this was a mornings work dropping the Mezger...

Posts like this are what the forum is all about and please do let us know how it goes getting it back in again.

All the Best

NH
 
Dark horse. I salute u. If I had the balls technical skill or knowledge I would love to do this too.

Pining the pipes is a no brainier.

Keep the updates coming.
 
Another vote for pinning while it's out
The car I brought had them done and this was a huge bonus
The more pics the better I looked everywhere for a guide on how to do this and couldn't find a proper how to this would be amazing as I do have access to a two post lift as well as other things
Should I need to take my build further knowing this would be a huge tool.
Will be following great stuff
 
Top work, the more photos the better. They will all help when putting it back together.

MC
 
Thanks for the positive feedback guys

FZP said:
There are a few of you lot on here that in my opinion, are tapped. I'm having bouts of uncontrollable shaking like Merkel reading this, and you're doing it like this is a monthly occurrence. :floor:
I'll be watching this thread with great interest. As for pinning the pipes, my view would be that seeing as you've got the engine out, it's a no brainer to do it.

nice!!
:thumbs: Re the pinning, yes seems to make sense. It has always seemed like a bandaid to me though; its not going to stop a coolant pipe leak, just stop a mass ejection of coolant over the rear tyres though its definately a good safeguard!!



NickHappy said:
Great Job DH - that takes some balls. I'm definitely up for a bit of DIY but that's another level.

Makes perfect sense to pin the pipes and look at as much preventative maintenance as you can at this stage. (Unless you're telling me this was a mornings work dropping the Mezger...

Posts like this are what the forum is all about and please do let us know how it goes getting it back in again.

All the Best

NH



Thanks NH. Glad this thread is well received, I will be sure to add more to it and hopefully it will help other people in future.
Just goes to show bigger mezger/turbo work doesnt necessarily have to mean a big bill from an Indy or OPC. Its only a car/engine at the end of the day and can be worked on and removed as such. I am impressed at how nicely accessible/visible thing's are now it's out; its Party time!

Was 3.5ish hours actually removing it (with refreshment breaks as it was boiling hot) and about 8-10 hours getting things ready and disconnected (just a couple of hours at night after work for a few days) but I had already removed a lot for the turbo replacement like bumper. At least 2 hours of that was messing around with jackstands and working out how certain bits came apart/off.



FRP said:
Dark horse. I salute u. If I had the balls technical skill or knowledge I would love to do this too.

Pining the pipes is a no brainier.

Keep the updates coming.
Thanks FRP , will do. another vote for pinning! cheers


Brunty88 said:
Another vote for pinning while it's out
The car I brought had them done and this was a huge bonus
The more pics the better I looked everywhere for a guide on how to do this and couldn't find a proper how to this would be amazing as I do have access to a two post lift as well as other things
Should I need to take my build further knowing this would be a huge tool.
Will be following great stuff


Will do cheers Brunty88. There is no DIY guide anywhere for the 997t that I could find, but I will do one with pictures at some point in the coming weeks. Having access to a 2 post lift would make it a lot easier, and save a good few hours as well.

deMort said:
From one mechanic to another i salute you .

:salut:

:salut: cheers

MisterCorn said:
Top work, the more photos the better. They will all help when putting it back together.

MC

Thanks MisterCorn, will add more photos for sure. Cheers
 
nice work :thumb: I am watching with interest no doubt mine will need to come out at some point not brave enough to tackle it on my own though, you get up to speed and let me know when I can drop mine off :lol:
 
Gazc2 said:
nice work :thumb: I am watching with interest no doubt mine will need to come out at some point not brave enough to tackle it on my own though, you get up to speed and let me know when I can drop mine off :lol:

:grin: Will do Gazc2!
ok so the jobs list is growing. Coolant manifold at the back coming off tonight and going to strip the top end parts off and make up my parts order list. I may have to sacrifice the two turbo coolant lines (cut them near the turbo) so that I can see if the other turbo lines will come out then (the ones behind) and remove the turbos. Seems a little random how all the turbo feed lines are routed.. but Im sure Porsche had their reasons :what:

Also going to remove the heat exchanger from the top of the block as it would be crazy not to replace the seals on that while the engine is apart. I would like to get it pressure tested but may have to jerry rig something up to do so as I don't imagine its a very popular request :lol:

I am going to re-fix the coolant pipes to the rear manifold as in the video I linked earlier up the thread. Makes sense and for me, preferable when the engine is in bits to 'pinning'. When I weighed up the two options, I think 'pinning' introduces a new potential leak point to the coolant sealing that Porsche didn't design to be there. it undoubtedly works and is much better than stock, but seeing as the engines going to be stripped it makes sense to do it fully, and it wont be a big job for me to do that.

I would far rather jbweld them back in and I will know they will never come out or leak again then.

Will also check the ones on the top of the engine when I can see them.

I noticed a bit of brown water when I removed the top left engine plate mount bolt (it was in the thread). This is the mount directly under the alternator coolant pipe (the notorious one) and also under the water pump. I looked but could not find evidence of a recent leak, so this could be coolant that got spilled when the garage did a lot of work on the car and replaced coolant hoses, aux water pump and some other bits or could be another leak. There has been no coolant under the car and the system was extensively vacuum tested by a garage after doing front coolant pipes. My guess is its a leak from above that went between the manifold and casting and got on the threads. Manifold will be off soon so I can check further then.

I will remove more risk by replacing the water pump as well because it looks original to me.



Will update . Cheers
 
Good work!

As others have said, a step by step & what to disconnect from where would be handy for everyone interested!
I like the idea of the JB weld too & if I was doing it, I think that's the route I'd take. I've seen some actually welded, but not sure how reliable that is on cast alloy.
Another thing worth checking would be the condition of the starter cable knowing the issues people have had with sluggish starting.

Worth doing the clutch & plugs maybe depending on mileage?

Looking forward to the rest of this!
:thumb:
 

New Threads

Forum statistics

Threads
124,350
Messages
1,439,416
Members
48,706
Latest member
SBSEA
Back
Top