Epic Engine Fail

[hosickjg]

Got my 2.5L 1999 Boxster engine with 75100 miles on it apart today. Didn't take long to figure out what was wrong......
Is there a class action lawsuit against Porsche yet for this? I've seen this type of cylinder failure on many websites now..

[extanker]

a tad past the warranty isnt it ?

[Boxtaboy]

That really stinks, and sorry to see that, but you're what...7 yrs past the warranty period now? I doubt you'll get anywhere with a lawsuit.

[hosickjg]

Oh I'm aware its an old car and I am fixing it on my own dime. I'm just bothered that Porsche has build such garbage while taking no responsibility for what they sell. I've owned MANY cars and NEVER had anything major go wrong with any of them at such a low mileage point. It would be nice if they would own up to the IMS and Cylinder issues and offer to cover a percentage of replace costs even on older cars.
However.... that's not the way it works.

[Boxtaboy]

A poster here was 2 yrs out of warranty (04 model yr), and had an engine failure...he was not the original owner either, but Porsche still covered half the price of the replacement engine for him. Apparently, they pick and choose who they help.

[Bladecutter]

The only thing that we can truly recommend is that you write up a very polite, and un-emotional letter to Porsche NA, and let them know that you loved driving your '99 Porsche Boxster, and just recently had this failure occur to your engine.

Explain in your email that you are now aware that this type of engine failure is common to '99 era vehicles, and if they would have any options that could help you with a lower cost recovery of the driving pleasure that you had with your car before the failure occurred.

Make sure you include the pictures of the D-chunk failure.

And then after that, just wait and see.

They aren't required to give you anything, but if they do, make sure you thank them, even if the option sucks.

BC.

[Mauiboxster]

God, I hate coming on this forum and seeing posts like this. I just took my 99 Ocean Blue Boxster with 76,xxx miles for a fun spin around the island. Many turns and down shifts and it did fine.

Question. Does everyone that drives a Boxster think about the IMS failure everytime they go out? I DO!

I have a check engine light on but it drives great and I hear nothing to worry about but I still cant help but think about it every day.

This kind of takes the fun out of owning a Porsche.

[Dave928]

Originally Posted by Mauiboxster

Question. Does everyone that drives a Boxster think about the IMS failure everytime they go out? I DO!

no way! if it happens, it happens. i drive the car the way Porsche made it to be driven.

what are you gonna do, leave it in the garage and sit in front of it with your head between your knees?

[Mauiboxster]

No, I bought mine as a daily driver. I drive it everyday at least 20 miles. I wish I could drive it more. I just always have it in the back of my head that I will be spending 10k (or more on Maui) to replace the engine. Just not what I had in mind when I bought it. Guess I should have done a little more research before I had bought it. The truth is I just figured it was a Porsche and I had nothing to worry about. lol

[Brucelee]

My advice: Run Red Line Oil. Change every 7500 miles.

Hope for the best. Go to Church on Sunday!

[mikes_box]

just got back from maui and wouldn't have minded driving a boxster up there especially to the top of the volcano... haleakla....my wife and kids got a headache with my driving the chrysler 300 thinking it was a porsche..

[tonycarreon]

Originally Posted by Mauiboxster

Does everyone that drives a Boxster think about the IMS failure everytime they go out?

i can honestly say during my 1300 mi. 2-day trips to dallas (and back) it does not enter my mind at all. just me, the car, a road and some gasoline ready to burn.

as others have said, drive it well and change the oil. if you can afford to get an IMS retrofit/upgrade then do it. but do not let it stop your enjoyment. get out of the traffic and drive it hard when you can. it (and you) will enjoy that more than stop and go 20-mile daily commutes.


the probability of having a car that will not have an IMS problem is more likely than one that will.

[Aron in Toronto]

Originally Posted by hosickjg

Got my 2.5L 1999 Boxster engine with 75100 miles on it apart today. Didn't take long to figure out what was wrong......
Is there a class action lawsuit against Porsche yet for this? I've seen this type of cylinder failure on many websites now..

Are you located in Peterborough Ontario, Canada by any chance?

There is a board member Ekam in Toronto who was recently given out of warrantee good will from Porsche on a reman motor.

http://986forum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=24936

And as much as I hate to mention it, there is an 987 owner, also in Toronto, who is/was trying to drum up a class action against Porsche over IMS design flaws.

He regularly posted ads on Kijji and Craigslist saying how unreliable Porsches are.

[edevlin]

"Question. Does everyone that drives a Boxster think about the IMS failure everytime they go out? I DO!"

Not every time, but I am aware of it. Over the years I have come to realize that there is not much that you can do besides change the oil lots, dont lug the engine, and if you can afford the IMS retrofit, go for it (the later would not have helped the D-chunk engine failure....).

I will be leaving in a few weeks for a road trip out west from Virginia to the west coast, via Michigan in my 2000 base boxster with 95K on it. It will be a long trip, 4-5K.

I would like to be able to turn over 100k while on the trip. But I realize that I may be driving around the grand canyon with the top down and a big grin on my face and the boxster may sputter and die, but hey, I turn 60 this summer, I guess I could sputter and die as well, so why worry about it unduely..... enjoy,


Ed

[kabel]

it is a know issue and [yawn] this must be the billionmagilionth thread on this topic [/yawn]

[kpm]

Lately after the car sits for a week I have a rattle for about 5 seconds after start up. It's not a heat shield type rattle.

So I have taken the following start up procedure...Start the car. rattle starts, shut off car, wait 10 seconds, re-start car. Rattle all gone.

Drive car...enjoy car !

Do I think about IMS failure? Sure, and it bothers me a little 'cause it does sometimes take the fun out of the car. Do I love it less...no.

I leave Friday for Watkins Glen for the IndyCar race. Guess what I'm driving.

[kpm]

Originally Posted by Brucelee

My advice: Run Red Line Oil. Change every 7500 miles.

10W40 Redline ??


I have 6 gallons of Redline 40wt Race oil I would love to use, but the race oil is non-detergent

[dennis]

Funny story. I was in Germany in business last month, was going to take the tour, but had little to no time. Prior to my trip, I emailed Porsche Engineering in Germany (forgot how I located the email address, some Google search I'm sure) and I wrote a long note on how the IMS issue is a known manufacturing defect and asked what are they working on as a corrective action in the aftermarket and in new production, etc. The next day, a customer service rep from somewhere in the US called me. She asked me what the basis of my inquiry was about (kinda funny that she didn't know or pretended to not know) I explained to her the issue and how large of a problem it is and asked HER what Porsche is doing about it, and she said Porsche has no recorded data on any issues with the engine IMS bearing, and basically that was the end of the conversation. They are obviously so aware of it, that they make sure their global reps squash any negative talk ASAP before it spreads, but no fix in sight. I guess, from what I read, they have rectiified the problem on current yr models, or they just don't have enough cumulative miles on them yet?

[dallison]

Originally Posted by dennis

Funny story. I was in Germany in business last month, was going to take the tour, but had little to no time. Prior to my trip, I emailed Porsche Engineering in Germany (forgot how I located the email address, some Google search I'm sure) and I wrote a long note on how the IMS issue is a known manufacturing defect and asked what are they working on as a corrective action in the aftermarket and in new production, etc. The next day, a customer service rep from somewhere in the US called me. She asked me what the basis of my inquiry was about (kinda funny that she didn't know or pretended to not know) I explained to her the issue and how large of a problem it is and asked HER what Porsche is doing about it, and she said Porsche has no recorded data on any issues with the engine IMS bearing, and basically that was the end of the conversation. They are obviously so aware of it, that they make sure their global reps squash any negative talk ASAP before it spreads, but no fix in sight. I guess, from what I read, they have rectiified the problem on current yr models, or they just don't have enough cumulative miles on them yet?

If there is someone who has received some sort of letter from pcna stating specifically ims failure, i would call her back and fax it so she is aware that pcna does in fact "know" of the issue.

The one thing that ii did find interesting was my local indie didn't have any knowledge on this issue, and he has been servicing p cars for many years.

[Boxtaboy]

It's funny, because a tech I had work on my car at a dealer in NJ told me he hasn't seen any engine failures on Boxsters, and that in general, the engines are very robust. Lol

I guess mine has been though...my 01 has only seen oil changes every 15k miles (recently, I changed that interval to 12k due to Porsche's recommendation), and up until now, have only used Mobil1 0w-40. No engine problems whatsoever. Knock on wood. Original IMS, original clutch, never any RMS leaks either. At 64k miles now. Oh, and at my last oil change recently, I also checked my oil filter for any metal particles and nada.