It could happen to you......

[Timco]

A 90s Honda Accord is a safer bet if it’s your DD and an engine failure will break the bank or the last straw. It’s a 15-20 year old sports car. I wouldn’t chose a 1956 Indian as my only motorcycle either.

Owning any older sports car out of warranty and driving it is a luxury. You’re taking your chance. Every trip is betting nothing will happen.

And, you bought used. Can you really be sure what all POs did? No. As for the Raby video, he’s a solid engine guy who uses the it can explode at any moment and I’m the only real fix thing to death.

[Gilles]

Originally Posted by Timco

As for the Raby video, he’s a solid engine guy who uses the it can explode at any moment and I’m the only real fix thing to death.

Jake Raby builds the engines Porsche was supposed to built to support their racing heritage...

[Timco]

Originally Posted by Gilles

Jake Raby builds the engines Porsche was supposed to built to support their racing heritage...

There is certainly no denying that.

Anything out there can be modified or improved. Porsche is no exception. They should be reaching out to hire him honestly.

[black pegasus]

For the record I think they're beautiful cars but reading about engines that grenade even after an ims fix is a real bummer, that's all.

[Boxtaboy]

Originally Posted by black pegasus

For the record I think they're beautiful cars but reading about engines that grenade even after an ims fix is a real bummer, that's all.

I don’t blame you for thinking that. Heck, I wouldn’t buy another 986 either, and yet I’ve had nothing but joy with mine. I’ve owned it for 16 yrs now, and besides brakes, a battery change every 4 yrs or so, oil changes (once every 2 yrs), a water pump, coolant tank and motor mount replacement, it’s been totally reliable. Original IMS and still going. I guess it’s just luck. Anyway, if I were to buy another Boxster, it would be one of the newer year models without the IMS altogether. In the meantime, I’m still waiting for mine to give up, but not worried about it. I don’t care if it blows up now...I’d just discard it, as it's already done it’s job and then some.

[10/10ths]

2004 Boxster S "50 Years of 550 Spyder Edition" I bought in June of 2015 with 25,000 miles on her. I shipped her to Jake Raby of Flat 6 Innovations and had him install his "Level 3" preventative service--"IMS Solution", AOS, cam chain idler R&R, Water Pump, RMS, new clutch and flywheel, plugs, and filled with Driven oil.

I've put 20,000 miles on her since getting her back from Jake.




















Get busy living, or get busy dying.

[grc0456]

Those are a bunch of great shots, 10/10ths! I love the SE cars with the silver over cocoa. Wish I would have found one when I was looking 2 years ago, but I am more than happy with my humble little base





Also love the Shawshank quote


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[10/10ths]

...nothing humble about that sweet ride! Love your wheels. Enjoy!

[sfkjeld]

2000 S, 33k. I will say this about the Boxsters at this point. The IMS issue is factored into the price. When I was looking last spring, I found a lot of low mileage Boxsters in the $10-15k range. And many with IMS upgrades. So yeah, it is a gamble. But smiles per $, hard to beat.

[78F350]

$ per smile, I agree that 986s are one of the best deals out there. Still I can relate to black pegasus. Reading this thread, I started thinking about my experience with Ford trucks. I loved my 1978 F350, but when it came time for an update, I read horror stories about most of the newer trucks. It was enough to steer me away from any of the F-series built after the 1990s and I ended up with a Cayenne as a replacement for my old Ford truck.
Do I worry about an engine failure in my Boxsters? Not 'worry' but anticipate that it may happen and gradually build my engine swap inventory and education.

[GTA_G20]

550 SE owner here too. On my second 986 and neither have failed from ims. Sorry to hear about your failure.

Truth is it's a beating. An integral bearing which failure is catastrophic. But a bearing all the same. Some cars wheel bearings fail @50k other cars same model 200k.....
Boxster is a great car

[Boxstard]

Sorry for your loss, if I'm in your shoes I'll find an another engine or a 3.4 motor for swap and be even happier. For the money you will be hard pressed to get another car as much fun and satisfying!

[Drphil]

i now have all that new stuff too, Merry Christmas, a LN dual row ceramic hybrid IMS, etc etc, - AND a upgraded updated clutch hydraulics, will pick up the car tomorrow- BTW wasn doing clutch and was not going to do the IMS but it was leaking, RMS was not, 39k original miles, the p.o. must have slipped the piss off the clutch as I had to do the flywheel which was bad too.- my last boxster I had I put 60k same clutch and Big Jake has put a bunch more on it too no issue- some people are not meant to drive manual!!! this will last me the rest of my ownership, 1 year or 10 years, - 35 years driving I have never burnt up a clutch like that! btw love your car great color combo!!

[BIGJake111]

@drphill

Happily over 100k now! Clutch is happy as can be.

Still drives like a dream!

[Drphil]

Jake that's great! many days I regret selling that car, but glad it has a good home!
loved the sound system too and have now upgraded my current car with the rear speaker system (bose)!. next will be coil overs , I will continue to do some S upgrades to this car to improve balance and performance, but this was and necessity to take care of and ended up being way more than I wanted or expected to do on a 39k mile car! - my mechanic is convinced its the low mileage cars that didn't get driven and sat too much that have more failures -

I picked up the car last night and its night and day! a good clutch is like butter, soft, smooth , but grabs and holds! amazing the difference, - should not have to ever do another clutch, you will eventually and what I learned from this is that if you wait too long and don't realize the pressure plate and disc is wearing out, you will then wear out your flywheel- the p.o. of this car burnt up this flywheel something fierce!! and that's a $700-800$ part - BTW my main seal wasnot leaking, it was coming from the IMS - and once out you can feel the bearning wear when rotating it so it was just a matter of time - a ticking time bomb- we did the LN dual row hybrid ceramic with 75k mile warranty, I think the bearing was $696, and the labor was 2 hours, so $200 from this shop for that as an add on for the original $1400 for clutch labor pressure plate and disc. in and out with fly wheel and the hydraulic upgrade its $3600.

just a word of warning to those who think they may not need an IMS because the oil looks ok !!! if you are doing a clutch do the IMS- if you do it yourself you can do this for under a grand - why take the chance???

cheap insurance for the next 75k miles-

[Geof3]

This thread is nuts... try owning a Jeep one day... that's all I'm going to say about that. My 02s is fantastic, and if explodes, I'll deal with it at the time. Mechanical things break, they just do. None are perfect, none last forever, some last longer than others. Just a part of the experience. Know it, except it. Or not.