Peace of Mind
 

Whoever believes you can't buy peace of mind has never owned a Porsche. I just bought peace of mind by doing some preventive maintenance. I've owned my '01 base model for two years. It has accumulated 56,000 miles and was an exceptionally clean car when I purchased it. But the records that came with it indicated no maintenance other than periodic oil changes. What I have learned about IMS issues on this forum had made me apprehensive about what could happen. So I had Joe at Series 9 in Deland, Florida, replace the IMS bearing, AOS, water pump and serpentine belt.

Here's what I found out about my car. First, everything on the car was original. Secondly, the car has a double-row IMSB. The prevailing consensus was that I should expect a single row bearing. It was replaced with a LN Engineering ceramic double-row bearing. The old bearing still had miles to go, probably, but it was beginning to become "notchy" in places. Replacement may not have been necessary but I know that the new one is good for at least another 50,000 miles.

The water pump was "weeping" and the shaft was beginning to drag. The impeller fins were all there - no cracking. Clearly replacement was imminent sometime in the future.

Hard to tell about the AOS. It is mostly plastic and showed no evidence of failure. Joe commented that the RMS was the driest he had ever seen on a boxster this age. So yes, I dropped some dollars in maintenance but I've also purchased some peace of mind.

I think only the single row has the 50,000 mile interval; I believe the Dual Row ceramic bearing is lifetime? Or some interval > 50,000.
Steve

Ps I have the LN dual row ceramic bearing myself.

That's good to know about the double row ceramic bearing. Anything greater than 50000 miles is serendipity. I do know that each bearing is registered and the number was attached to the inside door edge of my car as proof of conversion.

BlueStar what did they charge you for the parts and labor, if you don't mind sharing.

Also, Curious why you didn't do a clutch job while you had tranny open in order to do the IMS

I failed to mention I have a Tiptronic, hence no clutch. Mechanic mentioned that the tranny on my car had never been dropped, so I knew the old IMS was original. The cost was a little higher for a Tiptronic car. LN IMSR Kit was $650 and labor was $1750. You might find cheaper but this installer was LN Engineering certified and registered.