IMS Failure

[Obertelli]

It's unfortunate that none of the IMSB upgrade solutions provide an externally visible identifier tag.

Mine is a 2002 Tiptronic, so unless something goes wrong, there's simply no routine reason to separate the transmission from the engine. So my concern is that I could end up wasting time and money only to discover that an upgraded IMSB has already been fitted by a previous owner...

Unfortunately the car didn't come with a complete service history. I could fit the Guardian but that is arguably additional wasted money if the IMSB has already been upgraded.

Ultimately, my car only cost £5400, it's a gamble but any cheap-ish 12 year old car can suffer a sudden and expensive fault which effectively writes it off. In my case, the most cost-effective solution is likely going to be frequent oil and filter changes. If mine goes kaput I'll just balance the net loss after parting out what's left of the car against the costs of fitting a proprietary IMSB solution.

IMSB failure is a worry, but if I'm going to allow that to ruin my enjoyment of the car or force me to spend a small fortune fixing something which is statistically unlikely to occur then I may as well sell up and buy a Honda s2000.

If I'd spent a few grand more on a newer model I'd probably decide that the additional investment was worthwhile.