Porsche GT3 owners face more engine concerns

Remember how embarrassing it was for Porsche last year when it had to recall every new 911 GT3 to replace the engines?

Well, it’s happening again. To Porsche 911 GT3 owners. Again.

Porsche has admitted that it has written to owners to urgently bring their 911 GT3s in to their local dealerships to have their engines replaced - for the second time.

But while the original engine-replacement scandal affected every 3.8-litre, 349kW 911 GT3, the latest round of replacements involves around a dozen cars, Porsche insists.

We know of five of the affected 911 GT3s, four of which are in harness as ‘Ring taxis on the Nurburgring’s Nordschleife. As unlikely as it seems that we’d know of the whereabouts of 40 percent of the cars involved, Porsche insists it’s true.

Still, that will be at least 12 owners whose cars will have had three new Porsche GT3 engines inside their engine bays, all within a year of ownership.

Porsche was forced to recall 785 911 GT3s in March after two engine fires. About 200 owners who had already received their cars were sent letters urging them to refrain from driving them before their dealers picked them up to change the engines for fresh units from Weissach.

The original engines were found to have an issue with a loosened screw joint on the piston connecting rod, though Porsche sources have said the latest engine problem is in the valvetrain of the flat-six motor and it was less troublesome to simply remove the engines and replace them with all-new motors.

The questionable engines will then be rebuilt by Porsche at Weissach and used in development testing.

"It is true that in some very rare cases we have had minor issues with the valve train," Porsche spokesman Thomas Becki said.

“To repair these engines would have taken longer than we found acceptable for our GT3 customers so we replaced the engines and repaired them afterwards.

“These engines will be used internally as replacement engines for research purposes so the overall cost is acceptable, given the small number of cases.”