Quote:
Originally Posted by maytag
The demise of the IMS has been greatly exaggerated.
This is just my opinion, of course, but because I'm a DIY-er, I do a lot of reading, and I research everything I read. Sure, there are lots of "experts" who'll tell you one thing or another (for instance; this week we've heard on this very forum, from someone who has an "expert Porsche Technician" who says you can't track a Boxster without losing the motor. This is demonstrably false) These "Experts" come with varying degrees of experience and qualifications, and you need to remember that, when assigning a value to their opinions. You also need to understand the agendas which sometimes lie behind their statements. DO NOT DISCOUNT THE AGENDA of pride; Those who have spent a LOT of money for an IMS Solution to gain "peace of mind" are sometimes (not always) threatened by those who think that might be a little overboard, or even foolish, on a car that isn't worth $10k in resale.
I replaced my IMS bearing when I did the clutch. I honestly wish I hadn't. with 147k miles on mine, it was still PERFECT. But as another member commented: once removed, it's junk. But I took out a KNOWN-TO-BE-GOOD bearing and replaced with a giant question-mark. (Yes, there are some instances where the replaced IMS, and even the "solution" have failed)
MY daughter bought an '08 Subaru Legacy last year, with 80k miles. After 9 months of driving, she lost a head-gasket and overheated. The damage was catastrophic to the motor: chunked a cylinder. She put a USED motor in it, to the tune of $6k. Yup: a USED motor couldn't be had for less than $3500. Turns-out this is incredibly common on the NJ25 motor. My point? ALL USED CARS HAVE A CERTAIN RISK OF FAILURE. And most used cars have COMMON failures.
Ultimately, you need to decide what the car is for? IS this for FUN? Then forget about the IMS and go have fun. Elsewhere on this forum is the GREAT advice: Drive More, Worry Less".
Is this car for INVESTMENT? then you picked the wrong car. HARD Pass on it. The Boxster is not an investment car.
If the car has some sort of sentimental value to you, or represents a "bucket-list", or whatever, and you plan to keep it forever, and pass-on to posterity, then YES, do the IMSB. This is the only instance in which I think it makes sense.
Again: just my opinion, based on my own experience and all the reading / investigation / research that I've done.
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Thanks for taking the time. I really appreciate it. Kinda thinking along the same lines as well, but I don't want to be foolish either.
Way I look at it is if the failure rate is around 10% - that means that I have a 90% chance of everything being OK :-) I'll take those odds.
Been doing a lot of research on this and I have come across a few comforting points of view that express much the same as you - And with what I am paying for the car I am finding it hard to justify going and spending almost a 1/4 of what its costing me to buy it just to do this one upgrade, that might not even be needed.
Its not my daily runner, so if it went south I wouldn't suffer any down time. And then I could just try and source a second hand engine or donor car, which would cost more but I'd have a fair chunk of change to put towards it from what I saved by not getting the upgrade done.
Having read a lot of forums and posts at this point one thing starts to come across strong - I don't remember one post where anyone that had it changed said that it actually needed changing - in fact many make the point that the original was "Pristine" - but now they had peace of mind.
And there also a few youtube vids of guys that had them replaced and they still failed as they weren't fitted right or whatever. So you take a risk either way! And as I'm in Ireland I'd doubt many mechanics here have much experience doing this type of upgrade, the roads aren't flooded with Porsche's due to astronomical road tax for big engines, so I'd be nervous that it's been done right.
I'm also not sure if any of the solutions offer a lifetime guarantee for their upgrade.
I liked this guys comments I read somewhere else:
"So far, of everyone posting in this thread that has done the replacement (of whatever version) all have said their bearings were “pristine”. Mileage doesn’t seem to matter. I’ll do mine when I do my clutch. Currently, everything is fine and it is hard to justify spending the $$$ up front when to do the whole thing right should be IMS, Clutch, Flywheel, RMS. Otherwise it is almost pointless to take the trans out to just do one, or a lessor combo at the end of the day. I’m not big on replacing parts that don’t need it. I suppose I’m playing the odds, but they are stacked WAY in my favor. If my engine goes boom, then it gives me an excuse to do a 3.6! :-) "
I think I'll go with that. Drive it on, don't worry about, if it happens it happens - any car can have any problem at anytime. I'll keep an eye on oil filter when its being changed and whenever the clutch needs doing I'd consider one of the upgrade options at that point.
For anyone else interested - this guy seems to do a decent explanation of why they fail, although he is promoting one of the fix options at the end of the vid. But even he admitted that when he removed his to do the upgrade, his was pristine also.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzUq2DFpeKw