Bad Motor - 2012 RTL

[Makkat]

My dad just got the call from the shop that the motor in gone on his 2012 RTL that he bought used a couple months ago. The spyder has less than 13k miles, including the 200 miles he has put on it.

He is going to look at it in the morning to figure out exactly what went wrong but he is not looking forward to the $5500 they quoted him to fix the engine.

Has anybody replaced the motor, is it worth trying to find one and replace as a unit instead of having the dealer rebuild? I looked on copart and found a few but you never know what shape those motors will be in either.

[EdMat]

Less than 13K miles. Needs a new motor. Must have suffered some very abnormal abuse to need a new motor. My first question would be how trustworthy is the shop? What do they determine failed and why?

[BLUEKNIGHT911]

:agree .... Something smells Bad in this one ..... sending er's .... Mike

[Bfromla]

They could just be scared because it’s the 998

[jcthorne]

Engines do fail. My 1330 failed at 32k and its not the only one. Its not common but they do happen.

[ARtraveler]

The 2012 is considered the best year for that particular model. At 13K miles, it's not even broken in yet. I would have the dealer or a different dealer run the VIN and get the repair history on the machine for starters.

We either have a case of bad advice from the dealer, or the bike was "driven like it was stolen," to ruin the engine.

Let us know what you find out.

[Eckhard]

Find out why they want to scrap the motor.

If your thinking of doing it yourself, look for a used engine on Ebay to get an of the cost of an engine swap. Buy a shop manual to get an idea of the level of effort required.

If your going to fix it buy a shop manual and see if you can do it and then price out the parts. Some parts like the hose clamps are criminally expensive, others seem reasonable.

Make sure you have a large space to store the panels and all of the other stuff you have to pull off. I have a small garage and I am having to store stuff in my pickup in spite of things hanging on the walls and off the rafters.

And get ready to cuss as they have not designed this thing to be easily repaired. I know as I may have to pull my engine later this month.

Good luck and please keep us informed.

[IdahoMtnSpyder]

One possibility I think. The 998 uses oil, about a quart every 1000 miles. Maybe the original owner wasn't aware or was too careless and let the engine run out of oil. If it didn't run long w/o oil to seize the engine the owner may have just put oil in and thought that fixed it. Now, many miles later the hidden damage has become visible.

I believe, given the overall reliability of the 998 engine, the best approach is the buy a low mileage engine from a salvage yard.

[Makkat]

Note all of this information is coming second hand as I have not seen any internal pictures; my original post was hoping to gain information on the difficulty of an engine swap.

It appears there may have been something put in the gas (sugar comes to mind) and then cleaned up before the Spyder was dumped at a dealer where my dad bought it. There is excessive corrosion and pitting in the intake and head and the valves are sticking open.

The current thinking is to bring it home and clean the head/valves up and see how far the damage goes. If it is warranted we will get a used engine and do the swap. He has the service manual and my brother is a mechanic so barring any specialty tools we should be good to go.

He is going to the shop today, I told him to run the VIN for the service history.

[IdahoMtnSpyder]

There was a thread here sometime in the past couple of years, I think, where a member describes his venture into rebuilding a 998 engine. It probably would be worthwhile finding it. As I remember there was quite a bit of good info in it.

[BajaRon]

I've had good luck running a heavy dose Marvel Mystery Oil in the engine oil and in the fuel. I wouldn't put any load on the engine (ride it anywhere). But running it for 10 minutes, shutting it off, letting it cool down and doing it again a few times has unstuck a few valves for me over the years without a tear-down. A lot of variables so no guarantees. But it's a cheap and easy try. Especially when you have nothing to lose.

The 998 is a pretty bullet proof engine. But no engine can stand up to outright abuse.

[IdahoMtnSpyder]

This might be the one I remember seeing. The poster has a lot of photos and comments.
Oops, forgot the link!

https://www.spyderlovers.com/forums/...own+998+engine

[Brad0414]

had 4500 miles on a 1330 plastic gear in oil pump failed brp said to warranty it with a new motor , too many parts were floating around in motor

[BajaRon]

had 4500 miles on a 1330 plastic gear in oil pump failed brp said to warranty it with a new motor , too many parts were floating around in motor

A good idea if you have a disintegrating part failure. But according the the OP, it's just sticking valves, in this case. As long as the valves are not bent or otherwise compromised. Cleaning them might just solve the problem as there would be no loose parts floating around inside the motor to worry about.

[KX5062]

https://www.spyderlovers.com/forums/...S)-Fire-Damage