New member looking for #4
 

Hey all, in the hunt for another Boxster S. I have had a 2 986's one base one S and a Cayman S. Looking for a relatively low mile S, 50-60k manual, not too concerned with options, but the more the better :) PM me if you have one to offer. Cash buyer.

In the meantime, hope to hang out a little bit and refresh my knowledge of the 986, been a few years since my last one.

I am also hoping to keep this car for awhile, can anyone recommend a warranty provider to hedge against IMS??

Welcome (back)! Always great to hear from a serial Boxster owner.

The best hedge against an IMS problem is to install the IMS Guardian or replace it with a more reliable bearing.

Otherwise, be absolutely sure that the warranty will cover the IMS bearing (among other things). Aftermarket warranty companies are notorious for finding ways not to pay out (read the fine print!) - especially when you submit an $18,000 claim for a new factory crate engine.

I'm pretty sure any decent aftermarket warranty is going to exclude IMS. Well that was my experience when I was shopping for it with that big company whose name escapes me now, and this was before the publicized settlement.
The fine print on those warranty agreements always gives them so much wiggle room when it comes to catastrophic engine failure since diagnosing the root cause can allow them to shift the blame back on the owner.

My advice is to address the bearing issue by replacing the original bearing and look for engines that have been driven frequently, preferably year round like a Southern California car. And don't overpay for extremely low mileage, that can be a prolem if the car is pretty old and has only seen a few oil changes.

I will have to check out the Guardian IMS! I would rather be proactive about it.