Considering selling, IMS failed
 

Ok, so a few months ago my car lost the battle with its IMS bearing, according to the guys at Jake Raby's. I don't have the cash to fix it so I think it might be time to get rid of it, either as a whole or in parts. Let me know what you guys think.

Edit: It's a 2001 S, Manual trans, 18's. Pretty much basic in other regards.

how many miles were on it?

Need more info.

-Year
-Miles
-S or base
-Color both inside and out
-General condition
-Asking price as whole minus core motor (I'm sure Jake would be interested in your core)

And your choices are:
-Sell it as a roller with dead motor
-Put a dismantler motor in it (my first choice if it goes)
-Put a tricked out Raby motor in it
-Part it out (PITA but reasonable $$ in the long run)

2001 S, about 85k on the clock. It's Biarritz White, grey/black interior. Some wear on seats due to lack of conditioning by the previous owner. I had the passenger seat partially reupholstered. Paint is fair to good. The front has stone chips and a crack in the front bumper (and the little grill insert is broken) from a rabbit that I was planning to have fixed but we know what happened there. The heater is kind of iffy, I never drove it much in the winter but it never seemed quite up to snuff. A/C is good though. That about as general as I can get. Like I said, money is an issue so I can't afford to get it fixed without taking a big gamble on a used motor. I'd like a little more than 3k for it. I know that these cars hold most of their value in the engines. i will be taking the Litronics out, putting the stocks back in, and selling them separately because I had them for two months before the car died. I'm not opposed to parting it out, I have a family friend who can get just about everything out and off. Let me know if you guys are interested or know of any good deals on used engines or just need more info. I live two hours away from where I'm keeping the car so if you need any pictures it may be a while unless I know in the next 48 hours or so.

Edit: It's a manual, forgot that people bought autos, no offense to anyone lol

Really sorry to hear this, I'm facing the same decision and have not found one shop that wants anything to do with IMS repair. Hope you drove most of the 85K, sorry you drew a short straw just like me, maybe you should have taken it to the dealer more..... kidding

I sent a complaint letter to resumes@porschecars.com, it must have singed someone's German hotdog because now I'm blocked out. If you're pissed try it, obviously it gets through..

check this out
http://www.911uk.com/viewtopic.php?t=56035&sid=9c4430963b46c72947422297 629898d1

This thread is even worse, god Porsche do you care how many people now claim to be your sworn enemies and work as hard as they can to dissuade others from purchase?

http://www.total911.com/news/466/

"I don't have the cash to fix it so I think it might be time to get rid of it, either as a whole or in parts. Let me know what you guys think."

You'll get more by parting it out, but it can easily take up to 12 months to sell everything.

This is what I would do.
1-I would make a deal with whatever business is within sight of the Porsche dealer.
2-I would have the car towed to that location.
3-I would put it up on blocks or take the wheels off and rest the car right on the rotors.
4-I would place a large banner right on top of the car that said something
like: "BLOWN ENGINE: THANKS PORSCHE".
5- I would place sandwhich boards on either side saying: thinking of buying a Porsche?
Read this: IMS failures reported at X per month, every week, 12 months a year. bla bla bla.

The Dealer and Porsche can't do a thing to stop you from advertising on someone else's property. In the meantime, you can part it out piece by piece as it sits there losing business for Porsche.

I'm about ready to part it out, if I could drive it again, I might consider the insane amount of money they want for an engine. Since I cannot, selling the litronics, perfect seats, CPU, taillights, GT3 nose, spoiler lip and gauge cluster should get me some walking around money. As for Porsche, I'm seriously shocked that there was no lawsuit. Hey I'm forever mad at them, their response is flat out, too bad. However, doing all that would be too much energy, instead, I'll just never buy from them again. If anything, I'd waste a dealer's time but since they spend none with you even that's unlikely. I hate corvettes, HATE them but if I bought one I'll bet it would purr with only 31,000 on it. Porsche made a lot of enemies with the M96, trust me, one day they will be the new Kodak, on their knees, crying wondering how they got there. The pissed off 996 owners in that one thread were all telling the same story, babied engine 3,500 oil changes, them boom, most got an extended middle finger from Porsche, one guy got an out of warranty car not purchased from the dealer fixed, must have been Ferdinand's cousin. I would have bought a boxster spyder pdk this spring but since they didn't even have the courtesy to respond to my problem their management can all eat schnitzels.

UPDATE The selling dealer has two engines 3500 / 3800 they are rebuilt, I asked for a quote, changeout with my engine as a core, fingers crossed.

Honestly, I want to get it fixed. I've never had an issue like this before and the car was awesome. Not quite as cool as the C2 Cab I used to have but a better driver's car for sure. Still, the money is the issue and right now most of us have to do what makes financial sense. I just wonder if I do get it fixed and then sell it, how much sense does that make?

To all the folks advocating demonstrations across from the Porsche dealership...you are not going to get a lot of sympathy with Joe Public for having a blown engine in a ten year old sports car. You are not going to get any good will from the dealer either. It sucks that you car had a problem, we live in a caveat emptor world and with the internet you cannot claim that there was a cover up of the problem. It is everywhere and widely known. Other makes have worse problems I can assure you... drive a Land Rover for a year or twenty.

I asked for a fix quote, trade in as is quote, I'll let you know what he says. If my dealer will throw in one of those rebuilts and a clutch pack total with tax under five K I'll seriously think about it. Personally, I wouldn't repair one to sell, there are a million used ones and the resale is lousy, that is even more true of the buyer knows the M96 story. The dealer thought it was only the 2.5 that has the ims issues yeah right, sell many of these? In his defense he is not a Porsche dealer, he buys exotics then sticks people with them.

Sorry land, The company treats it's customer's like _____. This is my second Porsche, they should have at the very least responded to the complaint. Furthermore, the M96 true engine failure statistics are being held in secret by Porsche. The failure rate is unacceptable, they should have been sued, why they weren't is a mystery. Read that thread, people who shelled out 996 cash and now have rollers are "uber" pissed, can you blame them?On the LA dismantlers site it says it's common knowledge that the M96 fails between 40 80 k miles, does that sound like good value to you? Porsche tried to build cheap and charge high, if I wanted an out of reach repair bill, I'd have bought a Ferrari.

I have been pleased with my dealings with Porsche Dealerships both in sales and service. I find them to be quite reasonable and they are the first car dealers that actually acknowledge that people drive their cars as advertised and as encouraged by the marketing department. Porsche cars do what they say they can do which is a damned sight better than other marques.

I know you are pissed, I would be too but it is not the manufacturers responsibility to warranty a used car with 85k miles unless you bought an extended warranty from them. Aftermarket extended warranties are available on all cars, you could have purchased one of those but did you?

This is as much an opportunity as it is a curse. Why do you think my car has a 3.6 in it? There are options, you are still grieving the loss. Give it time and you will make the right call.

It has 32,000 on it LAND!! Like about ten others in that thread that were 996's. Hey I hope you never pull the short straw, I loved my Boxster too but I could have built my 944 into a Boxster eater and had money left over. I will eventually go to the dealer, let them pull my credit report, tell them I want a Box spyder, then tell them to make sure to tell the company shove it! please include my credit report when you do so those stinking &%$* will know I could have one but won't give them a dime ever again, screw Porsche! There is no substitute? Seems a hard stick driven up your sigmoid would be a dead ringer substitute.. My forty year old Fiat runs perfect...comon!

With 32k miles I think you have a valid argument. But you still catch more flies with honey than vinegar.

I tried the high road before dynamiting the bridges behind, screw them, I even told them I was glad my dad and my best friend's dad fought their country to it's knees, that is how pissed I am...

Sorry to hear what happened. I'm also in the IMS club when mine went 2 years ago. Nothing much you can do but be nice to Porsche and ask for any assistance available. They were able to give me a discount on the motor but I still ended up forking 5 figures to get the rebuilt motor installed. Not a happy experience to say the least but they hinted that had I taken my car to the dealer for every service/oil change they might have covered the cost completely.

I'm not sure I agree with that assessment of Porsche dealer service as it pertains to preventing the engine failures. I would venture to say that you were in fact WORSE off dealing with the dealer. They do not want to acknowledge the problem. They recommended oil and intervals that experts in the area of this problem say are and were wholly insufficient. Even the M1 oil blend widely used at dealers is now believed to have been inadequate protection. How much damage did that do? They failed to advise their customers that came in for service that they have been investigating the problem and in their opinion they are putting their engine at peril if they do not drive it frequently, irrespective of mileage -- lack of lubrication in the seals is not just 'suboptimal' but potentially catastrophic due to a design failure and not something to do with basic engine maintenance. And they failed utterly to advise their customers to upgrade their IMS units when coming in for new clutch replacements. Any acknowledgement of their failure to address the problem only exposed them to litigation. That's completely absurd for such a profitable company.

Put it this way, you are light years better off having had your car serviced by an indy from the day it rolled off the lot. The indy would have been an honest broker in telling you to use a different oil, change more often and to upgrade the IMS as promptly as possible once it became available from the aftermarket. Where has the Porsche been in all of htis? Handing out goodwill engines to a select few? that's crap. I don't think we have even begun to hear the extent of these engine failures since most 2nd and 3rd owners are now clocking significantly more miles on cars that were not appropriately looked after, engine wise, given this design weak point.