Went to see my baby after work today. Diagnosis - Intermediate Shaft failure, the main bolt fixating the shaft in place inside the engine is broken. For some reason (im not that technical on engines) the issue is terminal for Porsche.

They are finalizing the paperwork and it will take 1.5 weeks for them to air-freight a new engine from Stuggart, and then another 1.5 weeks to fix. I just want to get it over and done with. Manager says I am the 2nd 987 and there are also 2 997 with this issue in Hong Kong in 2007.

That doesn't sound good, if you were in this hemisphere, I am sure some of my redneck relatives could fix your car with duct tape and WD40. Too bad you are so far away.

The stats your dealer told you are interesting. So we hear that there are four Porsches in HK that have had this problem so far in '07. It would be very useful to know how many 987s and 997s there are in HK. If the answer is 6, I would say this is the worst problem ever, if it is 6 million, this isn't really a problem worth noting. I am sure the number is somewhere in between, but where? Also, are there any other factors unique to HK that could aggrivate or prevent this problem?

hmmmm...after reading the dissertation on the worst engine designed ever :D , I wondered the same question, 2 987 engines to report in all of HK, doesn't seem that bad.....assumption without the sales figures of course.....

I would say that I've heard of a couple 987's that bit the dust but it doesn't seem to be reunning at the ridiculous inferred 25% rate as some tout on this board......

Actually, you will never see real data on ANY issue from ANY manufacturer on defect rates. So, conjecture is what folks have to go on. Now, in a class action law suit, maybe a manufacturer coughs up some data.

Specific to the IMS issue, to my knowledge, Porsche ALWAYS replaces the entire engine when this happens. I don't believe a repair is viable.

BTW- I never said nor inferred that the Boxster engine is the worst engine ever designed. Far from it, it is a nice piece of efficient machinery.

However, I can tell you that as a guy that has spent a TON of time at the local Porsce dealer service bays, they are taking engines and tranny units out of cars all day long, every day of the year.

Whether it is the IMS or the RMS, something is making them remove the engine and trans units.

Now, I would wager some money that you don't see this in many other HP cars.

However, without data, WHO KNOWS?????????

:)

Well, I don't know--I'd say that Porsche is pretty accommodating with their warrantees, in my experience, although you have to rattle the cage a bit. If the engine's out of warranty I don't expect them to replace it if it fails. If they've replaced it for the same failure a bunch of times during warranty, then of course we have something to talk about. I don't know the history with these engines, I know about RMS but that doesn't seem like a catastrophic failure to me.

I should have been clearer. I meant to fix the design flaw, not repair the failures when they ocurr.

Porsche seems pretty good about warranty repairs.

I bought my 04 Boxster with 13K miles as a 2nd owner in Dec 2005, and the intermediate shaft seized and engine blew up the day I picked up the car. Your warranty will not reset, as the mileage warranty applies to the chassis.

Customer service is dependant on the dealer. I live in Northern California and was lucky I am closest to Michael Stead Porsche in Walnut Creek versus Oakland or Roseville. If I was interested in upgrading, the service manager said they would calculate the cost of dumping an upgraded crate engine, but I would have to pay the difference in additional parts (e.g., new fender with center vent). They were even willing to calculate total costs (crate engine, freight, labor, etc) if I wanted to take a cash payout to take the car to RUF for a 3.4L. The big caveat is if I chose any other path than basic 2.7L replacement, the rest of my warranty would have been void (37K more miles and over 3 years)

I just stuck with the 2.7L replacement. My boss gives me poop to this day because I passed up a golden opportunity, but I bought the car because it's fun and I love the look. In the end, if I wanted an S or a carrera, I would've gotten one instead, and I've had zero regrets making my decision.

Andy

Andy, this is no small point to consider. Given this information, I think you did the right thing.

Welcome to the forum by the way.

hm.... they dont really provide any stats from the factory on sales and inventory figures. i would conservatively estimate anywhere between 4000-8,000 porsches on the road with at least 200-300 each of 987 and 997 on the road. its not a lot i know...but this place is in reality smaller than New York City ...! also this is only 1 of 2 service centres here.

its well documented that its pretty polluted and humid here, maybe that affects the engines. however i had my 9 yr-old 986 for 2 yrs and it had ZERO problems :cool: