Calm My hypochondria

[jcb986]

First all the IMS issue is over done here. I have 76k on mine and I am not planning on replacing it. Here's my theory. The odds are better for me to win a million bucks on a lottery ticket than the IMS bearing going out. Boxsters have been being built since 97', yes the early one's had issues especially 97-98. Ok, next you have a Tip, so do I. The major or majority are the cars are with standards, why, because they are the base units and A Tip is a $2500 upgrade. The drivers of Tips usually are not hot dogging their ride, yes, if I had a stick, I would be another Andretti on the road. I think you can figure the rest out. Next the are the cam pads, usually the last a long time and can be checked if necessary to see if they need to be replaced. Lifters hardly ever go bad. Poor oil change maintenance can create that problem. If you get one sticking, add a little SeaFoam to the oil, and I would recommend using some if yor gas maybe every 3 months...great stuff. Now the AOS and Tip service is a DIY job. Easy, get Pelicans 101 Projects for your Boxster. You can also go to Pedro's site and use his DIY section. You will save a bundle.

[evomind]

Originally Posted by jcb986

First all the IMS issue is over done here. I have 76k on mine and I am not planning on replacing it. Here's my theory. The odds are better for me to win a million bucks on a lottery ticket than the IMS bearing going out. Boxsters have been being built since 97', yes the early one's had issues especially 97-98. Ok, next you have a Tip, so do I. The major or majority are the cars are with standards, why, because they are the base units and A Tip is a $2500 upgrade. The drivers of Tips usually are not hot dogging their ride, yes, if I had a stick, I would be another Andretti on the road. I think you can figure the rest out. Next the are the cam pads, usually the last a long time and can be checked if necessary to see if they need to be replaced. Lifters hardly ever go bad. Poor oil change maintenance can create that problem. If you get one sticking, add a little SeaFoam to the oil, and I would recommend using some if yor gas maybe every 3 months...great stuff. Now the AOS and Tip service is a DIY job. Easy, get Pelicans 101 Projects for your Boxster. You can also go to Pedro's site and use his DIY section. You will save a bundle.

Hmmmm, I thought the early cars were actually very reliable as far as the IMS goes. 97-2000 had a double row bearing.
Not sure if I agree with your logic on the TIP. Plenty of those guys give their car gas, they just cant drive stick. I also believe giving the car gas shouldn't grenade your engine

[Mark_T]

The earlier cars had an issue with D-chunk failures, not IMSB failures. They IMSB failures ramped up with the change to single row bearings. If I had a single row I would probably do the upgrade but, as I don't, it can wait till I do the clutch which isn't even close to needing replacement as this point.

The tips are more likely, not less likely to fail, for the exact reason stated - they aren't driven as hard. The trick to making these engines last is to keep the revs up and drive them like sports cars. Babying them is a recipe for failure.

Lifters frequently go bad. Ask Jake. And adding snake oil to the engine is not a fix. Replacement is a fix.

The tensioner paddles do wear. You can keep an eye on this, as Thom mentioned, by monitoring cam deviation with your Durametric. Also keep an eye out for bits of dark brown plastic in the filter when you change the oil.

I know you're getting conflicting advice here, but if you do some reading you'll find that jcb986's advice contradicts that of the people here that know what they are talking about on just about every point. You'll have to make up your own mind on who to believe, but you can't go too far wrong listening to people like JFP and Jake - guys that work on these cars for a living.