IMS Problems and failures

[John99Boxster]

Being new to Porsche ownership and the Boxster in particular, I have a question concerning the IMS issue.

Is the Manual transmission Boxster more susceptible to IMS failure than the Tiptronic transmission?

Forgive me if this has been discussed. I did search and found little about the Manual vs. Tiptronic IMS issues.

Thanks for any education and experience you may provide here.

John

[landrovered]

My understanding is that the Tips are more susceptible to IMS failure only because they tend to be driven at lower RPMs more often than the manual gearboxes.

There is a correlation between lugging the engine and IMS failures. Slushboxes just shift at lower RPMs in normal daily operations than drivers that don't like to drive their cars below 3000 RPMs.

[Perfectlap]

I think how that engine was looked after has more to do with it. In other words I think you might be missing a big part of the issue if you don't consider the owner and look at it just based tip vs. manual. The IMS has inherit issues that are made worse by insufficient oil changes, inadequate oils, insufficient driving (I would not buy an annualy winter stored Boxster/996), and as landrovered points out, insufficient revving.

I'd be really curious to see a profile of what sorts of avearge weekly miles, (year round driver vs. summer only), if Mobil 1 (now questioned as inadquate) was used, if the oil was not changed at least twice a year, for those cars that experienced IMS failure.

[san rensho]

Is there any known correlation between IMS failures and climate? In other words, do cars in the north, that get put away for part of the year and drive more in the cold tend to get more failures than cars in the south?

[dennis]

This gets beat to death so much and there is stillno smoking gun. But the positive takjeaway from every discussion is the low incidence of failures

[Perfectlap]

Originally Posted by san rensho

Is there any known correlation between IMS failures and climate? In other words, do cars in the north, that get put away for part of the year and drive more in the cold tend to get more failures than cars in the south?

I've thought about this lately. Good weather like in SoCal tends to result in more frequent driving, year round. That has to be a good thing for an engine that gets stronger with more exercise.

[DenverSteve]

There's no KNOWN correlation between IMS failure and anything. There are too few to make any correlation to anything. Everyone who worries about this has a spin on the question - driven too hard, driven too soft, manual, automatic..... Again, not enough to establish any specific pattern and some go undiagnosed completely. Just drive it and don't worry......... that is known not to help anything.

[blue2000s]

Originally Posted by dennis

This gets beat to death so much and there is stillno smoking gun. But the positive takjeaway from every discussion is the low incidence of failures

+1. Everything you read in the thread is pure conjecture. No one, including the two guys who provide the replacement bearing, will give you correlation information.

[Lordblood]

Here's my take on IMS after dreading about it for months when I bought the car. I have committed to it, it is an investment. Like any investment, you either get good returns (a smile on your face every time you take it out on a drive) or bad returns (failures, IMS or otherwise).

I believe the good outweighs the bad in the long run, just do regular oil changes and keep the car in good condition. Don't let a problem so rare as an IMS failure keep you from sleeping at night.

[thstone]

"There's no KNOWN correlation between IMS failure and anything."

+1 to DenverSteve

[landrovered]

Originally Posted by thstone

"There's no KNOWN correlation between IMS failure and anything."

+1 to DenverSteve

Right you are and thank you for pointing that out.

There has been no sharing of actual failure data, only anecdotal evidence which is subject to hype, whimsy and manipulation, normally I do not give in to these sorts of wives tales but in this case I have helped to perpetrate the rumors.


So I redact my statement above and state what I know to the true and correct.

1. I have two Boxsters, one with a 2.5 and one with a 3.6
2. The 2.5 has 110k miles, the engine on the 3.6 has about 60k miles
3. Both are manual gearboxes
4. When the professional race shop (ALMS, Grand Am and Porsche Cup) installed the 3.6 in my car they said the IMS looked fine and did not feel the need to go to any lengths whatsoever to swap, retrofit, upgrade or change it in any way.
4. I felt panic when I first learned of IMS failures from this and other Porsche boards.
5. I considered having the retrofit done but was told it was not recommended for high mileage engines.
6. Other people have had failures and they seem to be really pissed about it.
7. I accepted the fact that a D-chunk, IMS failure or deer in the road could severely change my enjoyment of my Porsches at any moment.
8. I decided to enjoy the cars anyway, knowing that life is uncertain and fun is a worthwhile endeavor.


Thank you for letting me set the record straight.

[Chuck W.]

I have had my '01 S since new. When the IMS issue came out I was very concerned. Over the years I have had conversations with three top notch independent Porsche mechanics in the Los Angeles area. One said to do it for peace of mind. The other two said to not worry about it that there were other issues with the motors that could cause them to fail besides the IMS.

All three recommended changing the oil regularly and examining the oil filter for metal pieces. I take it a step further and send the oil to Blackstone Lab (Blackstone Labs) for analysis.

[2003S]

Originally Posted by landrovered

8. I decided to enjoy the cars anyway, knowing that life is uncertain and fun is a worthwhile endeavor.

+1 Too true.