Shortlived Boxster engines survey

[smiledrs]

Add me to the list of early blown engines. 1998 Boxster with just 16,500 miles engine went dead over a year ago. Sent to Todd and he put a 3.4L 996.

[Bobiam]

Originally Posted by smiledrs

Add me to the list of early blown engines. 1998 Boxster with just 16,500 miles engine went dead over a year ago. Sent to Todd and he put a 3.4L 996.

What was the specific failure and cause of your misfortune? And, if you don't mind, to be curious, what did that great upgrade to 3.4 cost you?

[Paul]

Porsche's new design of our motors has no liners, no IMS, and no crank carrier; very much like a 944 motor. (From a tech session at this year's Parade.)

[chitowndad]

I know I should know the answer to this question but what year did they redesign the Boxster engine to remove the IMS etc., 2005?

-Steve

[Paul]

2009 as far as I know.

[dbw]

I bought my first Porsche - 2004 Boxster with 35000km - a couple of months ago. Local one owner car bought and serviced at the dealership I purchased from. Love the car but concerned about the potential for total engine destruction. If it did not have the 2 year cpo warranty I probably would not have bought it. When the cpo warranty has run its course I'll have to think long and hard whether I want to keep it. Dave

[Lawdevil]

Originally Posted by chitowndad

I know I should know the answer to this question but what year did they redesign the Boxster engine to remove the IMS etc., 2005?

-Steve

THe IMS went away with the 2009 MY

[flame011409]

Add me to the list. 2005 with 31,000 miles and just out of warantee. Porsche came through though and put a new engine in it. I had $850 out of pocket to diassemble the dead engine to make sure it was in fact, dead. Which it was. New engine purrs and pulls harder than the original.

Death was caused by intermediate shaft failure.

[Quickurt]

Exactly why my Porsche mechanic buddy told me if I didn't buy a certified Box from my local dealer, he'd come to Jax and kick my ass!! Mine is covered until 4/2012 and/or another 69k miles.

[Jake Raby]

Lots of people can afford to buy a Boxster and even a 911 these days... But many of those can't afford to properly maintain or repair it.

Always think about that...

[mikefocke]

may be a bit more involved with their cars than the average brand owners. So they tend to be connected to each other and the way we do that these days is on the net.

You also see lots of postings about other problems. How many times has the ignition switch come up? Or rear tire wear? RMS? But it is the last 18 months when the IMS failures suddenly became identified and we started talking about them. It helped to have an article in Excellence. And a rebuilder willing to talk in some of the forums.

I bought my car third hand, paid less than 40% of the original cost, its 8 years old and 56k miles. Why does Porsche owe me anything?

Stuff happens. Deal with it. If you can solve the problem with money, on the scale of things it isn't such a big problem, is it? It is only a car, not a family member.

And if you bought it not knowing stuff happens to any brand of car...well then just shame on you. It isn't like info on possible failures isn't publicly available for the price of a search.

Only thing wrong about my Boxster is there is a half inch of ice on the roads and I have summer tires.

[hatch1517]

We own performance cars thats part of the fun (And you get nothin for nothing).I have had my 97 for two years drive it every day the only cost is fuel/service front engine mont and what i have chosen to spend.I would have to say from my experiance a reliable car.
One problem i see here some of these cars are doing only 5000 miles per year average.I have a motorcycle it has seal problems and brake failier every year after winter storage guess what the vtx1800 is a reliable bike so they say.