who is still on their original IMS?

[recycledsixtie]

2001 Boxster base 46k miles. 3rd owner and I am sure it is original IMS. No issues with metal in filter. Change oil every 5k miles. Got IMS Guardian. I used to worry about it and now don't. I am in my 3rd year of ownership. If it blows up then I will face the music then decide what to do . $4k here for clutch, rms, ims is too much to spend on a second hand car.
Guy

[Coffinhunter]

58,000ish miles. Original (family) owner. Change the oil every 9-10,000 miles with Mobil-1. I check the filter every time and haven't seen a speck.

[Mark_T]

99 with 5-speed manual trans
133000 km
Castrol 5W40, changed every 5000 km
driven hard, redlined frequently

Might change it when the clutch needs changing, might not. Don't really want to have a perfectly good IMSB sitting on the shelf next t to that perfectly good water pump I changed. I guess it will depend on the mileage when I change the clutch and RMS and what I see when I go in there. Currently the car does not use or leak any oil.

[tomonomics]

03 Base 5 speed, 40k miles, original IMS as far as I know.

2003-09 Original owner, 15k miles, no records.
2010-2012 2nd owner, 19k miles, well documented service, oil changes: Mobil 1 - 0W40
2012-now oil change every year or 5K.

I don't plan on touching the IMS until it needs a clutch, will decide then. For now, I don't worry about it, I just drive.

[Perfectlap]

Originally Posted by tomonomics

03 Base 5 speed, 40k miles, original IMS as far as I know.

2003-09 Original owner, 15k miles, no records.
2010-2012 2nd owner, 19k miles, well documented service, oil changes: Mobil 1 - 0W40
2012-now oil change every year or 5K.

I don't plan on touching the IMS until it needs a clutch, will decide then. For now, I don't worry about it, I just drive.

how many oil changes did the car have under owner #2?

Owner #1's non-existent record would be troubling to me as he was averaging barely 2,500 miles a year. Sounds like annual oil changes at best.

Seems like youre' in that zone of being way too early for clutch #2 while having a car that may have sat for long periods. I would add the LN Guardian or swap bearing #1 for the low cost Pelican IMSB until you do go in for clutch #2. One is nominal cost the other is simply a day at the shop. I'm sure the Pelican bearing can make it to the next the clutch no problem.

[Dlirium]

2001 S 6-speed manual California car. Converted to spin on oil filter (LN 106-01) at 100k miles. 116k miles, original IMS. Blackstone reports say all is good. Crossing my fingers.

Mobil 1 synthetic 15w50 every 5k miles.

[John Bergen]

2000 S with 74K miles. Use synthetic oil changed at 5K miles. Just replaced my IMSB with LN dual row ceramic bearing! My clutch was on the way out anyway... Horrendous cost but the added peace of mind takes some sting out!

[John Bergen]

I forgot to note that we found minor metal indications in the oil filter. Plus after the IMSB was removed you could feel roughness when rotating it. Thankfully we caught it early!

[986_c6]

Some great high mileage Boxsters here!

Original owner, 02 Base, ~80k miles, Mobil 1 every 7500 miles, tracked ~40x, no specks in oil filter, no retrofit.

[Frodo]

2001 Boxster S, manual transmission, 71,465 miles, Castrol 10w-40 Syntec; originally used Mobil One for the first few changes. Bought the car with 19K miles---I'm assuming I'm still on the original IMS.

[VWAudiChris]

Is this still an issue or have most of these cars now been updated?

[BIGJake111]

Originally Posted by VWAudiChris

Is this still an issue or have most of these cars now been updated?

most cars are on original... do not let the IMS worry you away from these cars. If it happens it usually happened early on in the cars life. Just make sure to check your oil filter for metal shavings when you do oil changes. Best way to prevent an IMSB going out is to drive the car like a Porsche needs to be driven. The 90s cars are less likely to fail though.

[Idaho Red Rocket 3]

2000 S Second owner since 48k miles. Currently 85K miles on original IMS and RMS. Clutch was replaced at 44K along with AOS. I recently did water pump and front motor mount.

[Perfectlap]

Originally Posted by BIGJake111

do not let the IMS worry you away from these cars. If it happens it usually happened early on in the cars life. Just make sure to check your oil filter for metal shavings when you do oil changes. Best way to prevent an IMSB going out is to drive the car like a Porsche needs to be driven. The 90s cars are less likely to fail though.

I've heard conflicting conclustions about when the IMS bearing is most likely to fail. It seems to me that there are various conditions under which an IMS can fail. Some are low mileage with infrequent oil changes. Some are high mileage with infrequent oil changes.

If there is in fact contamination from not changing the oil enough, we may be entering a period where a large number of the Boxster/996 fleet that did not have their IMS bearings swapped when the clutches were replaced, and were looked after in a suboptimal way up to this point, could be finding out the hard way that a bearing can only last a long time if you looked after it correctly. We have no way of knowing if current owners have been diligent. In the past it didn't matter as much because in most cases, a fresh bearing can withstand abuse up to a certain amount of mileage. But what happens when you go beyond that? As a group, Boxsters and 996's are only now going past moderate mileage.

If the typical old German and British car ownership experience bears out, most owners are not as diligent as they should be, and in this case we're talking about a very large number of Porsches rolling around. It seems to me that a person of modest means is going to dump one of these cars before investing in a comprehensive IMS swap. Whereas neglect in the past could result in a poor running vehicle, in this instance prolonged neglect can be much worse than that.
Point is, the past is not indicative of what the long-term will bring to these engines. That depends on the owner, and that's not a static input.

[Trey T]

01 base tip with 70K miles. Still at its infant driving mileage. I hope to get to 200K miles like some of you.

Lube change: semi-annually (every ~5-6K miles)
Lube specs: M1 0w40 or Castrol 5w40, whichever deal I can get for stock-up. I use filters from Hengst, K&N, or Wix .... whichever deal I can get for stock-up.