ims:dealer vs. independent attitudes
 

it is odd that 2 dealerships I spoke to do not recommend proactive replacement of ims bearing and say their customers don't do that while 2 independent porsche shops recommend it....do you have the same experience?

I spoke to the local Porsche Dealer here when I bought mine and asked the same question. I was told, since 1977 to date 2009, they have had only 1 Boxster with an engine gone bad. As for replacing it...don't worry about it, you spend more money than necessary.

Perhaps both the most consistent, and worst, response we hear about is dealers telling owners of 986’s that “It cannot be done without splitting the cases.”, which is decidedly not true for pre ’05 cars………..

Same thing here, the two dealers I asked said it is not recommended and in the X amount of years only had 1 car with an IMS issue. The local indy shop, who specializes in Porsche cars, was well aware of the IMS issue and recommended replacing the IMS asap.

Back when I was dealer, the local Porsche dealer SM became a friend. He told me in confidence that they "pulled a drivetrain a week on average." IMS and RMS were very well known as a design flaw on the Boxer engine in both the Boxster and 911 line. In fact, they kept spare replacement engines in a local wharehouse in order to not suffer a delay in getting engines.

Things may have gotten better of late, I don't know.

Now, to the average schmo, what dealer would admit to having the IMS design flaw?

Depending on how I look at it, I can either hate or love the internet and forums like this for my concern about potential failures and IMS issues. When I had my 99 base and 01 S I wasn't on the web much and drove both cars a lot and not once had a worry of an engine failure. Fast forward to current times and you can't talk to an informed Pcar guy/shop without the IMS issue being discussed. Amazing.