The unlucky 1%

[ksjohn]

While I appreciate everyone's opinions, and all of you know far more about this than I do, I am not willing to pronounce the patient DOA just yet. I will closely look at the oil filter tonight. I already know that it doesn't look anything like some of the examples I have seen here. There were no obvious bits of metal when I took a quick look at it last week.

Beyond that, it is really all a guess until I get the old IMS out. Maybe a new IMS is a waste of money. Maybe the engine will last 100 miles, 1000 miles or maybe 20,000 miles. That being the case, it seems that I should go with the least cost IMS option considering it may be lost money. For the most part, the rest is my time and the fluids required, so not a large dollar investment.

If it blows up in short order, I can get a used engine and install it. Put a new IMS in that one with the same clutch and down the road. I did not expect to get into this thing without spending money on it, and I did get it cheap. It is just a question of potentially wasting $400 on this engine or spending $3K on a replacement.

Either way, it will be an adventure!

[Perfectlap]

Originally Posted by ksjohn

While I appreciate everyone's opinions, and all of you know far more about this than I do, I am not willing to pronounce the patient DOA just yet. I will closely look at the oil filter tonight. I already know that it doesn't look anything like some of the examples I have seen here. There were no obvious bits of metal when I took a quick look at it last week.

Beyond that, it is really all a guess until I get the old IMS out. Maybe a new IMS is a waste of money. Maybe the engine will last 100 miles, 1000 miles or maybe 20,000 miles. That being the case, it seems that I should go with the least cost IMS option considering it may be lost money. For the most part, the rest is my time and the fluids required, so not a large dollar investment.

If it blows up in short order, I can get a used engine and install it. Put a new IMS in that one with the same clutch and down the road. I did not expect to get into this thing without spending money on it, and I did get it cheap. It is just a question of potentially wasting $400 on this engine or spending $3K on a replacement.

Either way, it will be an adventure!

Wouldn't you want to just avoid the hassle of doing something twice? Taking down the transmission to replace an IMS is no small task. Some very experienced DIY'ers have done it but I can't recall any who tackled this knowing the IMS had already compromised the engine. Maybe you can score a good deal on 2.5 now that it's the dead of winter and the spec racers are all home nursing their racing budgets. If you wait until spring or summer a good donor engine may be harder to find and the asking prices will certainly be higher. And who wants to go through having to sort out engine issues twice.
Unless this Boxster has a documented history of many important repairs (water pump, AOS, suspension, brakes/wheel bearings/etc.) that in aggregate can easily exceed the resale price of the car, then I would also consider simply selling this as a running condition roller and buying another cheap 2.5 Boxster that checks out. Chalk this up to a learning exercise. It's a slippery slope that I know all too well. You might end up pouring more money into this car than you could have otherwise spent on a mintier condition Boxster from a more recent model year without all the trips to garage. Or if you do like to wrench on the car yourself, you'd still be better off with a Boxster with a bigger engine/less mileage since the ownership cost would be lower from all your non-engine related DIY repairs/maintenance.

[78F350]

Originally Posted by ksjohn

...If it blows up in short order, I can get a used engine and install it. Put a new IMS in that one with the same clutch and down the road. I did not expect to get into this thing without spending money on it, and I did get it cheap. It is just a question of potentially wasting $400 on this engine or spending $3K on a replacement.

Either way, it will be an adventure!

I know it's a minority opinion and you don't seem to care for votes, but I say IF you enjoy working on cars and have a healthy curiosity about Boxsters go ahead.
As you have said, if the engine fails, you have lost under $1k and gained some significant experience. Having replaced an engine and IMS bearing, I know that doing it a second time will go a lot smoother and faster.

Your engine IS compromised and short of spending much more than it is worth, it can not be 'saved'. The failed 2.7 that I pulled apart was full of debris, most of it was aluminum which will not stick to a magnet. Much of the fine debris was adhering to plastic parts and was still very difficult to remove completely in a parts washing tank with a brush.

Worst case: Soon after you reinstall the engine it will catastrophically fail and the car will need to be towed. I wouldn't plan on taking it for any cross country trips.

Best case: Your engine makes it another 5k-10K miles before the wear from damage and tiny particles finally finish it off. At 2k miles a year, that could be 5 years.

Edit: If you do it, drive it hard and enjoy it; push it to its eventual demise. No sense in taking the trouble if you are going to worry and fear every time you take it out.

[Giller]

There are a fair number of folks out there who have changed out the IMS AFTER finder metal debris and have lived to drive another day. Actually, many many days.

Roll the dice, take your chances. You got the car on the cheap - worst case, you put a few bucks into a fix, it doesn't work - take it as a (hopefully) fun learning experience and then either go get another engine or a newer Box.

Either way, good luck!