Death of an IMS caught on video - Page 2 - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners

Michiganstar · 02-12-2013, 10:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tonycarreon

and the inevitable question - how often were you performing oil changes?

The car has had all its oil changes as per Porsche's recommended service schedule so every 12k from new.

Perfectlap · 02-12-2013, 09:08 AM

a bit of a wobbler that single row eh?

rondocap · 02-12-2013, 10:35 AM

Very sorry to hear about your troubles. That video shows what every owner of these engines most fear.

Sure, every car has issues and things can go wrong - but very few cars have a catastrophic issue like this pop up with this frequency that just destroys your engine.

Makes ownership a mixed blessing. They are cheap to buy and fun to drive, but you always have this on the back of your mind, or at the very least another $2k-3k expense to get the IMS upgraded.

Crono0001 · 02-13-2013, 07:56 PM

This is what nightmares are made of

Perfectlap · 02-14-2013, 08:19 AM

this thread should be a permanent sticky -- assuming of course that its just the IMSB that failed.
Perhaps more people, particularly those on single row bearings, will address the IMS upgrade and in the process reduce the fear of buying these cars down to being an issue of a design flawe that thanks to the aftermarket can actually be addressed before it all ends in tears.
That will certainly increase the eagerness to own these cars which is good for everyone.

NoGaBiker · 02-14-2013, 10:24 AM

"Upgraded to Carrera chain tensioners and airbox pop-off valve..."

Every ad for a decent SC or G-Series 911 says that. Someday every ad for an M96 car will say something similar about IMSB upgrade. It doesn't matter if only .00001% of cars actually need the upgrade, or 99.998%; perception is everything, and perception is that the IMSB is a ticking bomb. The upgrade will eventually be seen as an absolute necessity if you hope to get anything close to full value for your car.

But it will be awhile before that is the case.

Michiganstar · 02-14-2013, 12:31 PM

The cage that the bearing sits in failed releasing the bearings into the engine. The saving grace for my engine was that I killed the power almost straight away saving any more damage.
I got the car back today and had a very enjoyable drive home in it. 224 miles of English winter sunshine with the top down and some awesome driving roads to enjoy the new engine, its still bedding in so no flat out fun just yet....

Flavor 987S · 02-14-2013, 12:27 PM

I don't think I'll be able to sleep tonight! That's a scary sound.

rp17 · 02-14-2013, 12:34 PM

Not really the "marbles in a tin can" sound I was expecting. Thought it would be more gnashing of metallic teeth. But wow that was awful sound to hear from a engine. Thanks to the OP for sharing. I'm bout to go

com3dorm3 · 02-14-2013, 02:00 PM

Would you mind sharing what the fix entailed? Was it only the bearing/housing???

Michiganstar · 02-14-2013, 11:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by com3dorm3

Would you mind sharing what the fix entailed? Was it only the bearing/housing???

I wish. It was a full engine out strip down and rebuild with basically new everything.

com3dorm3 · 02-15-2013, 07:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Michiganstar

I wish. It was a full engine out strip down and rebuild with basically new everything.

Oh ok. That's more in the realm of the expected. Glad you got it back running. Enjoy.

Perfectlap · 02-15-2013, 08:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Michiganstar

I wish. It was a full engine out strip down and rebuild with basically new everything.

Mind sharing what that goes for over in the right hand driving part of the globe?

Michiganstar · 02-16-2013, 05:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Perfectlap

Mind sharing what that goes for over in the right hand driving part of the globe?

Around 4.5k dollars.

Marcus4ar · 05-29-2013, 11:59 PM

Mind sharing what that goes for over in the right hand driving part of the globe

JFP in PA · 02-14-2013, 03:08 PM

Mike is correct, by the time you hear the sounds, it is all over. The amount of metal spread through the engine when one of these fails is absolutely amazing; and it gets everywhere.

As for how much timing it takes to get into "interference", estimates vary, but beyond 12 degrees you are in serious yogurt.........

Jake Raby · 02-14-2013, 08:00 PM

Single row bearings skip the 3rd stage of bearing failure. People just don't believe that a failure like this can be symptomless.

Three more failure calls this week, two more jobs inbound.

KRAM36 · 05-31-2013, 03:29 AM

Is sure seems like the IMSB goes after a fresh oil change a lot. Is it a bad oil change that really causes this?

Flavor 987S · 05-31-2013, 05:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KRAM36

Is sure seems like the IMSB goes after a fresh oil change a lot. Is it a bad oil change that really causes this?

Nope........

Michiganstar · 06-01-2013, 12:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KRAM36

Is sure seems like the IMSB goes after a fresh oil change a lot. Is it a bad oil change that really causes this?

The IMS can fail at will as demonstrated in the video. When doing an oil change its always worth opening up your used filter and checking for metal filings with a magnet as this can often be a good way of picking up if a bearing is starting to break up.