BLEW UP AT THE TRACK! Porsche Boxster S M96 Failed Engine Teardown. Don't Do This To Your Porsche!

This week's teardown subject is a Porsche M96.21 6-cylinder boxer engine from a 2001 Boxster S. This engine has 79,500 miles and failed at a track day event. The previous owner said it started making noise and smoking, but was still able to drive itself home! I bought this engine as a core for parts, so lets take it apart to find out what happened, and perhaps why. Why am I doing this? My name is Eric and I own Importapart. A full service auto dismantler. Part of our model includes dismantling blown up, failed and otherwise bad engines to salvage the good parts. We do not rebuild engines, merely supply parts to those who do! TO BUY PARTS, visit www.Importapart.com OR email us at Sales@importapart.com Every week I post one or more failed engine teardowns. Here are some of my past favorites: Audi 5.2L S6 V10 MASSIVE Damage https://youtu.be/AMj5bIRqiLE Jaguar/Land Rover 5.0L Supercharged V8 https://youtu.be/0MUHCvskzOQ Dodge Viper V10 Destroyed! https://youtu.be/pBerq2AKECs Bentley/Rolls 6.75Litre V8 https://youtu.be/4dUZ-yHik7A Hot-V BMW N63 V8 With Extra Ventilation https://youtu.be/nqu7B8DPi_o 00:00 Intro 03:52 Spark Plug removal & Inspection 05:20 Air Oil Separator AOS Removal, Common Failure! 06:38 Intake plenum/manifold unbolting, fuel lines & Harness pandemonium! 08:31 Unbolting 986 Boxster S Alternator, Power steering pump, starter and oil cooler! 11:58 M96 Oil Pump removal and inspection 14:04 Carefully prying the oil pump housing off of the engine block 15:37 Starting to unbolt LH Drivers bank valve cover 17:21 LH Camshaft and valve train inspection after valve cover is off 18:21 First signs of trouble: FORBIDDEN GLITTER! 18:46 Timing chain tensioner and rail removal, LH Cylinder head 21:08 LH intake and exhaust camshaft removal 23:47 Cracking the LH Cylinder head bolts loose, Removing cylinder head 25:02 LH Cylinder head is OFF! Damage inside! 26:48 Scientific Piston Test 28:43 Starting on the RH Cylinder head 30:00 First look at the RH Valvetrain and camshafts 32:18 Pulling the RH Camshafts out of the cylinder head 34:40 Cracking the RH Cylinder head bolts loose 35:40 Removing the Cylinder head 37:22 What's inside the oil pan, OH THATS NOT GOOD 40:21 Starting the block splitting process. LONG BOLTS/PINS 41:20 IMS, Intermediate shaft unbolting 41:28 Unbolting the case halves, SO MANY 10MM BOLTS 42:20 Taking 2 of the 4 bolts out of my engine stand, DO NOT DO THIS 43:00 Splitting of the engine block case halves. What's inside this thing? 44:19 Timing chain, Intermediate shaft and timing system layout 45:17 Removing the first rods and pistons 49:16 Pulling the cage with the crankshaft and 3 rods and pistons 50:59 Removing the final 3 rods and pistons 52:16 Cage dismantling and crankshaft removal 52:54 Full rotating assembly inspection including bearings, Pistons, crank, cage IMS Bearing and shaft 58:15 Summary I really hope you enjoyed this teardown. As always I love all of the comments, feedback and even the criticism. Catch you on the next one! -Eric

Added 23 Sept 2026