Ferrari Mailing List: Re: Porsche 911 GT3 Recall (NFC)

[John Ashburne (jashburne]

Amazing!  These cars will be parked for months. Have they offered any compensation for having a $100k plus car that you can't drive?

John

Sent from my ATT Bell Rotary Dial Phone

On Mar 19, 2014, at 10:17 AM, Adam Green <FlatCrank [at] gmail.com> wrote:

I've pasted the whole letter text, below, for anyone a curious fascination in corporate-double-speak customer communiques.  I find them to be laughably trivial and insincere; they make matters less tolerable.

I extracted the salient passage as

Analysis has revealed that in both cases the engine damage was caused by a loosened piston rod screw connection which damaged the crankcase. In order to avoid this in the future, an optimized screw connection is currently being tested. 

There's a thing called a gudgeon pin, or wrist pin, connecting the piston to the rod, and there's the "big end" which is the end of the connecting rod (maybe also called a "piston" rod" I guess) wrapped around the crank.  The titanium con rod is a fully formed, single piece, single forged items which is (or at least the technique used to be) cracked apart then machined, balanced and paired in "boxer" reciprocating assemblies, then the three pairs are balanced with the crank and pistons as a single rotating assembly.  It's a robotic assembly process with only a few human steps.  I've not seen or read about the newest 9000 rpm redline engines, but I imagine they continue the march towards a fully mechanized assembly.  In any case, there is no "screw connection" but I guess that's meant to be "accessible" language for vehicle owners who think of the 'engine' as a part to be wholly replaced when it goes bang.  Fair enough. : )  Well, after all, that's how the race teams do it, right?

I'm somewhat astonished by a failure at this point of the engine internals and I wonder if it reflects some break-down in the transition from development units to production units.  This doesn't seem to be a materials, quality or assembly process, but a design flaw requiring the entire unit be replaced holus bolus.  Surely this is the most expensive way, but Porsche has, years ago, gone to a policy of replacing whole assemblies (a whole transmission is replaced, complete in the transaxle, rather than a field tech performing even moderately simple rebuilding tasks.)  It's sad to see Porsches and Ferraris becoming vehicles that, well, will future generations of car enthusiasts be restricted to a laptop for their shadetree mechanic exploits?  "Oh wow, you guys, check out the 3D map I just flashed onto my ignition curves!"

Adam

Dear Mr. Green:

As advised previously, engineers at Porsche AG have been conducting technical analysis of the Porsche 911GT3 engine in order to find a solution to the problem which led us to recommend you stop driving your car.

This analysis is now completed, and we would like to inform you about the cause of the problem and the planned remedial actions.

As already communicated, two vehicles in Europe suffered engine damage, causing the vehicles to catch fire.

Analysis has revealed that in both cases the engine damage was caused by a loosened piston rod screw connection which damaged the crankcase. In order to avoid this in the future, an optimized screw connection is currently being tested. For the final validation of this solution, Porsche AG is currently carrying out extensive tests.

At Porsche we are rigorous when implementing an engineering solution, therefore, after the successful testing and validation we will be installing new engines with optimized piston rod screw connections in all 2014 Porsche911 GT3 vehicles.

Due to the complexity of the necessary arrangement, we are currently unable to provide you with a specific workshop date for your Porsche 911 GT3. We will be arranging an appointment with you individually, as soon as the logistics planning is finalized. We will be providing you with additional information within the next three weeks.

We continue to remain committed to supporting your individual needs during this time. Your personal contact person will make contact with you within the next days to discuss individual solutions to bridge the gap until you are reunited with your Porsche 911 GT3.

Thank you very much for your patience and your loyalty to the Porsche brand.

Kind regards,

On Wed, Mar 19, 2014 at 6:42 AM, Martin Stark <mstark [at] copper.net> wrote:

Just a guess, but perhaps it's a locking tab that was poorly set and flexed off.

On 3/18/2014 7:30 PM, Hans E. Hansen wrote:

That recall says the problem is a "loose fastener" on

a connecting rod bouncing around inside the engine.

I'd think if you lost a rod nut, the nut itself would be

the least of your problems......

Hans.

On Tue, Mar 18, 2014 at 3:47 PM, LS <lashdeep [at] yahoo.com> wrote:

WTH

http://autos.yahoo.com/blogs/motoramic/porsche-fixes-fire-prone-911-gt3s-with-free-engine-replacements-220849413.html

A few months ago I wrote:

"I would say that your quandary of 930 based 911 GT3 (even without a clutch pedal) and the Corvette for long term reliability is probably the only valid one out there. I would not want to put any other manufacturers into that gamble..."

I would like to officially retract that statement.

Thanks,
LS

central

wines-spirits   est 1934

625 e street nw

washington, dc 20004

centralwines.com

facebook.com/CentralLiquors

202-737-2800

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