986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners - View Single Post - In the process of buying an S that supposedly had the IMS bearing done, need advice..

Lawmacmoore · 05-06-2020, 12:12 PM

Greetings,

So I'm in the process of purchasing a 2002 Boxster S and I'm thrilled. I have been around these cars for years, but I'm now in the bit of a pickle with a car.

So I purchased this particular S in Phoenix while I live in Dallas. I was unable to get a PPI for the car due to COVID. This car has spent the past decade at two service shops, and lived in California up until the end of 2019. The service history indicates that the IMS bearing was done along with the clutch at 60k miles in 2012, and the shop that did the work in California says that it is a great car and maintained by a great owner. The car currently has 82k miles today.

HOWEVER, I just got a phone call from the other shop it went to (albeit, more infrequently) and they said they saw metal shavings during an oil change in May 2019 and sent a sample to Blackstone Labs. Blackstone said that the metal shavings weren't that bad, and that they would check back after 3,600 miles.

Do you guys have any advice or way for me to know definitively whether the IMS bearing was done? If the bearing was done once, will it have to be done again later?

Any and all input is greatly appreciated.

Thank you!

05-06-2020, 12:12 PM	#1
Lawmacmoore Registered User Join Date: May 2020 Location: Dallas, TX Posts: 2	In the process of buying an S that supposedly had the IMS bearing done, need advice.. Greetings, So I'm in the process of purchasing a 2002 Boxster S and I'm thrilled. I have been around these cars for years, but I'm now in the bit of a pickle with a car. So I purchased this particular S in Phoenix while I live in Dallas. I was unable to get a PPI for the car due to COVID. This car has spent the past decade at two service shops, and lived in California up until the end of 2019. The service history indicates that the IMS bearing was done along with the clutch at 60k miles in 2012, and the shop that did the work in California says that it is a great car and maintained by a great owner. The car currently has 82k miles today. HOWEVER, I just got a phone call from the other shop it went to (albeit, more infrequently) and they said they saw metal shavings during an oil change in May 2019 and sent a sample to Blackstone Labs. Blackstone said that the metal shavings weren't that bad, and that they would check back after 3,600 miles. Do you guys have any advice or way for me to know definitively whether the IMS bearing was done? If the bearing was done once, will it have to be done again later? Any and all input is greatly appreciated. Thank you!