IMS Upgrade - Should I have it done

[mikefocke]

My understanding is that, no, you can't tell what revision of the bearing assembly your car has if it is a replacement engine until you pull the transmission and clutch off. '02 replacement engines may be redone '97-'01 engines or redone '02 engines and '02 was around the time they switched from dual to single row bearings.

There are no comparative statistics on which of the 3 assembly designs are more prone to failure except in Porsche's records and they aren't telling.

So yes, you have to possibility of a failure of the IMS.

Now the good news is they don't all fail and the failures are spread out over many possible years of ownership.

[jmatta]

Now the good news is they don't all fail and the failures are spread out over many possible years of ownership.

All is great until it's YOUR car that fails.

[jotoole]

Don't piss on the campfire.

[jmatta]

Not pissing...just stating a fact and respect Mike's input on "all Boxster". I've owned over a dozen older 911 variants and have never had a serious issue. The modern Porsches are of real quality and engineering concern. I'd considered buying a pre-driven Cayenne, but after reading the article in the latest Excellence, there isn't a chance. That said, my Box S is still one of my favorites.

I've loved my Porsches, past and present, as much as the next person; but will think carefully going forward. Unfortunately with two kids in higher edu, I can't afford to buy the "latest and greatest".

[BMAN_986]

So I recently bought a 2001/67k Boxster. It's a well looked after car and so far in the couple months of ownership I've not had to do that much; a full service (filters/belts/fluids), some minor interior replacements, change one of the Cats and a window regulator. The last oil filter inspection didn't show any signs of IMS failure (~1.5k miles ago) but I know that's no guarantee. I keep the revs high and drive spiritedly ;-) The car purrs like a kitten and she drives beautifully.

With all that I'm still keen on getting the (LN) IMS upgrade carried out. Shipping my car to Flat 6 in not an option (it's gonna cost over 1k to do that) however I have a local specialist who is more that capable of doing the work.

As well as the IMS upgrade, what other (enigine) work should be carried out at the same time . Here's my current list

IMS
RMS
Full clutch kit

given the age/mileage ...
AOS
Water Pump
Timing Chain + Tensioners

anything else?

[mikefocke]

why not look at the list of things done for the cpo engine Jake sells as a guide to what is worth doing as a preventative maintenance/confidence booster. It isn't that different from your list:

-Update the IMS bearing with the LN/ FSI unit
-Replace the water pump
-Replace lifters with FSI updated units <--------------
-Replace chain guides and vario-cam wear pads
-Replace clutch assembly
-Replace AOS
-Replace RMS with 997 unit
-4th and 5th timing chains replaced
-Install new LN Engineering lo temp thermostat <----------------
-Install LN Engineering Spin On Oil Filter Adaptor (SPOFA) <-----------------

3 differences I see and have marked with <------. The last 2 being optional but the lifters being a significant addition.

[Chuck W.]

Originally Posted by mikefocke

why not look at the list of things done for the cpo engine Jake sells as a guide to what is worth doing as a preventative maintenance/confidence booster.

Great list Mike, thanks for posting. What do you figure is a fair ballpark price for this.

[Jake Raby]

Originally Posted by BMAN_986

So I recently bought a 2001/67k Boxster. It's a well looked after car and so far in the couple months of ownership I've not had to do that much; a full service (filters/belts/fluids), some minor interior replacements, change one of the Cats and a window regulator. The last oil filter inspection didn't show any signs of IMS failure (~1.5k miles ago) but I know that's no guarantee. I keep the revs high and drive spiritedly ;-) The car purrs like a kitten and she drives beautifully.

With all that I'm still keen on getting the (LN) IMS upgrade carried out. Shipping my car to Flat 6 in not an option (it's gonna cost over 1k to do that) however I have a local specialist who is more that capable of doing the work.

As well as the IMS upgrade, what other (enigine) work should be carried out at the same time . Here's my current list

IMS
RMS
Full clutch kit

given the age/mileage ...
AOS
Water Pump
Timing Chain + Tensioners

anything else?

Where are you located?? Shipping is very cost effective now that we have trucks picking up and delivering multiple cars from different areas and delivering them to the Flat 6 facility all at once...

Also if you are out of state and have this work done, and the car shipped home sales tax also isn't applied, which can be a notable amount.

If you do the list of things that Mike lists it would be hard for anyone else to do that work cheaper than us, because we do this everyday and we "go deep" with no fear and no reservation..

Might want to explore that shiopping again.

[BMAN_986]

@Jake

Can you help out with shipping recommendations? I live in Seattle, WA. I did a brief check and it was ~1.5k there and back. That's almost half the cost of the actual work and would rather invest that money in additional work. $300-$400 I could live with as I'm going to have to hire a car during the time my car is away. I'm guessing it would take at least 3-4 weeks to turn it around. So my non-work cost could easily get to $2K.

If sending the car to FSI doesn't work out then I have a great local option. Squire @ http://www.squiresautowerke.com will be doing the work. He carried out my PPI and my full service. I was both happy with the work and the price. He recommended the LN IMS replacement with Clutch/RMS etc at a price similiar to your IMS retrofit service.

But please let me know if you can help here.

[mikefocke]

Originally Posted by jmatta

Now the good news is they don't all fail and the failures are spread out over many possible years of ownership.

All is great until it's YOUR car that fails.

The chance that mine will fail this year is very low. And if it does, I'll do what I've done on 5 other cars over the last 50 years when their engines failed, replace the car or the engine. Compared to other things in life, this isn't.

I don't spend my last dollar on a car when I buy one (the last 2 Porsche's I've owned I've been the third owner and they have been at least 5 years old when I bought them) and I don't expect perfection from Porsche (my first-owner 914 taught me that all too well...probably 2 dozen dealer visits in 2 years!).

(I'm also a measured-over-a-lifetime winner at the casinos.)