IMS statistic
 

Last week I did an 02 Boxster S, one of my cars for resale with 90k miles. did not have any signs of oil leakage or fragments in the oil filter but the cam deviation was out of spec. When I got the bearing out it was definitely bad. there was axial play that did not belong. After replacement, the cam deviations for both banks were dead on 0.00 Now it runs so much smoother than before and I have more confidence that the engine is healthy.
Just another day at the office.

Nice work!
See the problem, fix the problem, get on with your life!

Harry, one sample has nothing to do with statistics especially when it was selected especially because it failed a diagnostic test. Stop spreading FUD. All parts fail at some point, the IMS is not immune to failure. We all get it.

And as far as anecdotal evidence goes, what about all the people who post that after replacing the IMS as prevetative maintenance, they find that the old bearing was fine?. Even if there was some play in the bearing, thats to be expected. Parts wear. If you strip down a perfectly running high mileage motor, all kinds of parts are going to be worn compared to new specs. Doesn'r mean theres anything wrong with the motor.

I couldn't agree more and wish to add that an internet forum is a highly distorted place to obtain data that in any way represents the entire population of M96 owners.

It is a bit like the local TV news coverage that has three folks standing behind the reporter picketing which gives the impression that there is some mass movement going on when it is really only three people and two of them got paid to be there by the other one. (This is simply a reference to Bonfire of the Vanities and not an indictment or judgement of anyone's marketing programs)

My wifes 2.5 has 120k on it and I can hear little noises at startup, I am not going to tear it down, I am not going to replace the IMS or the RMS or likely even the clutch because the motor has 120k on it! It is a great running motor and will eventually be replaced. If you were to dig in to her motor you would find all sorts of stuff that is not in spec as San Rensho has so aptly stated. It still runs like a top.

I am glad for Harry, the best time to fix a problem is before it breaks. Like Ltusler said find it, fix it, get on with it. Just don't try to draw any meaningful conclusions from the event.

Not to mention I've probably overspent by $25k doing better than needed preventative maintenance on cars over the years only to quickly sell the car or have it go to the scrap heap for other reasons. Trying to figure out what preventative maintenance is worth doing without statistics is darn near impossible which is why I decry the wildly varying statistics I see on the web that people cite as gospel.

RE Statistics: of course only people sharing will be either victims, or paranoids!

If you guys wants to make up real stats, and if I were you, I'd gather as many VIN numbers as possible from those who had a toasted IMS or blown up one. Then write an algorithm that aggregate the values by e.g. MY, by factory, season (hot/cold), location, and that will give you a good idea of which car(s) have been affected the most by the IMS problem.

You will end up with a similar "scenario":

95% of the IMS failures were boxster manufactured in XYZ factory
75% of the IMS failures were boxster manufactured in winter months (cold environment)
25% of the IMS failures were boxster manufactured in summer months (hot environment)
35% of the IMS failures were reported in Europe
65% of the IMS failures were reported in North America
85% of the IMS failures were boxster manufactured between years 97-98
etc etc etc

Something like that. Now that is statistics... and pretty sure Porsche would pay a lot of dosh to get a thread like this removed ;)

PS: a computer programmer with basic skills could write something quick to compared/decipher VIN# and aggregate something quick (1-2 hrs work)

Tidy!, very tidy!

How far out of spec was it, harry?

Also, just to be clear on the specs:

How far out, is out? 6 deg.?
Should be steady at idle--right?

Well as I posted earlier, I opted to have the IMS and all the goodies replaced this week. The clutch had worn down to the rivets and was not long for this world. There were grooves in the flywheel and it had separated a little bit from itself. The IMS bearing was still intact but it was only a matter of time before IT was a goner as well.
I inspected it, and there was indeed play in it. Mechanic said it only would have lasted about a couple thousand miles if that. If I had done what I usually do, which is wait until the clutch totally crapped out, I probably would've had an unuseable car that i was making payments on.

6 deg is still acceptable as long as it is steady at idle but when you venture out to 7.5 or more then you need to find out what's going on and it did wander a little, nut much, by .02 or so. Again if the reading is steady at idle then it's most likely OK