Bought Boxster S! IMS identification via housing.

[piper6909]

Hello, Pete. Congrats on your Boxster. As stated here before, there is no way to be 100% certain which bearing you have unless you pull the transmission and look at the flange. Also, check your engine's VIN number. If it has "AT" in it, you have a replacement engine which COULD have the larger, non-serviceable bearing. That's what happened to me. I know you've checked the car's service history, but not everything done to the car is always on there.

Regarding your choice of bearings, got with whatever you're comfortable with. I also considered EPS, but eventually planned to do what Burner did and go with an original style replacement. Regarding the "solution", you can still find a good replacement engine for the cost of an LN's "solution" so, from an insurance standpoint, it's premium-to-coverage ratio doesn't add up. Not even close. Besides, a multitude of other things can grenade these engines, so replacing the bearing doesn't guarantee the engine will last you forever. But that's me. There are people here who love LN and the "solution", and it's a choice that works for them. I'm sure it's a very fine product, but LN soured on me a bit when they wouldn't let me return the UNUSED IMS bearing extraction tool that I couldn't use because mine had the non-serviceable bearing. Like you, I wanted to get everything done while the transmission was out so I bought everything in advance. BTW, I can rent you the tool, if you're interested.

[Petecomplete]

Originally Posted by piper6909

Hello, Pete. Congrats on your Boxster. As stated here before, there is no way to be 100% certain which bearing you have unless you pull the transmission and look at the flange. Also, check your engine's VIN number. If it has "AT" in it, you have a replacement engine which COULD have the larger, non-serviceable bearing. That's what happened to me. I know you've checked the car's service history, but not everything done to the car is always on there.

Regarding your choice of bearings, got with whatever you're comfortable with. I also considered EPS, but eventually planned to do what Burner did and go with an original style replacement. Regarding the "solution", you can still find a good replacement engine for the cost of an LN's "solution" so, from an insurance standpoint, it's premium-to-coverage ratio doesn't add up. Not even close. Besides, a multitude of other things can grenade these engines, so replacing the bearing doesn't guarantee the engine will last you forever. But that's me. There are people here who love LN and the "solution", and it's a choice that works for them. I'm sure it's a very fine product, but LN soured on me a bit when they wouldn't let me return the UNUSED IMS bearing extraction tool that I couldn't use because mine had the non-serviceable bearing. Like you, I wanted to get everything done while the transmission was out so I bought everything in advance. BTW, I can rent you the tool, if you're interested.

Hi, and thanks for your post. I agree with your view on the ims matter. Lots of other things can go wrong on these engines, but its up to each owner how much tjey worry about ims and how much they want to pay to sort it. The IMS solution however does seem to be a good design, allthou pricey. Didn't even think to check the engine number before. I know not all history is complete, because changing the water pump, the coolant was orange/pinkish and not the original green. When i got to the pump i pulled out a Pierburg pump with production date 2006, so it had been changed previously with no record of it. Put a new pierburg in (and low temp thermo), flushed, and added pink G12+ coolant.

Anyways, I checked the engine number now, as I had to jack up the rear to drain out a bit of oil because of slight overfill. Engine number was M96/2167Y02102, indicating it is the original engine. Also now the oil level is 1 bar down from max on the digital display, 2mm down on the dipstick.

Next project is cleaning out the rads, but not sure if i find the time before it goes to the workshop.