BIGJakes (ims?) dilemma

[linderpat]

Originally Posted by thstone

....

As our Boxster's age (in years and miles), there will be more and more engine issues coming to the forefront.

....

and this is exactly why I am out. I truly enjoyed my Boxster for the year and a half I had it, but the thought of a torpedoed engine just wasn't fun anymore. The M96 power plant has far too many issues for my liking.
to the OP, hope yours is something inconsequential. Best of luck!

[SoCalBlackbox]

Originally Posted by linderpat

and this is exactly why I am out. I truly enjoyed my Boxster for the year and a half I had it, but the thought of a torpedoed engine just wasn't fun anymore. The M96 power plant has far too many issues for my liking.
to the OP, hope yours is something inconsequential. Best of luck!

Same here, I loved the car, owned it 1 day short of a year.

Rick

[Perfectlap]

Originally Posted by linderpat

and this is exactly why I am out. I truly enjoyed my Boxster for the year and a half I had it, but the thought of a torpedoed engine just wasn't fun anymore. The M96 power plant has far too many issues for my liking.

Pick your poison. Rebuild an air cooled engine every x number of miles at great cost... Or go water cooled and replace it whole every x number of miles?
you can't really daily drive an air cooled car and not take a beating every time the odometer ticks up 10k miles. and you can't garage queen a water cooled and not take a beating on depreciation period.
Do you come out ahead buying a water cooled Porsche cheap and doing the IMS, water pump every five years, etc. vs paying UP for an aircooled car if you're registering high miles on both? Porsches become money pits once you start driving them a lot and not just on a sunday afternoon to get ice cream cones.

[linderpat]

Originally Posted by Perfectlap

Pick your poison. Rebuild an air cooled engine every x number of miles at great cost... Or go water cooled and replace it whole every x number of miles?
you can't really daily drive an air cooled car and not take a beating every time the odometer ticks up 10k miles. and you can't garage queen a water cooled and not take a beating on depreciation period.
Do you come out ahead buying a water cooled Porsche cheap and doing the IMS, water pump every five years, etc. vs paying UP for an aircooled car if you're registering high miles on both? Porsches become money pits once you start driving them a lot and not just on a sunday afternoon to get ice cream cones.

Or option number 3 - get a 928 (or a 944 for that matter). The engines are virtually bullet proof. They are good for 300k plus miles, with routine maintenance and regular driving. And contrary to popular belief, the 928 engine is fairly easy to work on. Easy to get to - open the hood, and there she be. Keep up with regular maintenance and they really are trouble free cars with exceptional capabilities. And the more you drive it, the better it runs and the reliability increases - these cars like to be driven, and not just to the ice cream cone stand!

The big issue with 928s on post - '85 automatics is thrust bearing failure, but that is easily checked at home, and an external clamp takes care of it entirely. And it is a very small percentage issue, not like IMS or RMS, or lifters, or separating cylinder sleeves or the other myriad issues that the M96 presents with.

Don't get me wrong, I love Porsches. And many of them are the best designed cars in the world, but this one group seems troubling, and the evidence seems to bear it out. A later year Boxster will eventually fill my driveway (or better yet - gasp - a Cayman - I think that is the most beautiful car of Porsche since the 928). Just got to wait for that depreciation thing to work its magic.

[Perfectlap]

Originally Posted by linderpat

A later year Boxster will eventually fill my driveway (or better yet - gasp - a Cayman - I think that is the most beautiful car of Porsche since the 928)..

well you love it because the Cayman is a Boxster. Simply a variant but for marketing they sell it as a being a different car. The 911 Cabriolet is still a Carrera and not a Porsche Riviera or something catchy sounding that is even placed on a different page of the website configurator like is the case with the Coxster as Jeremy Clarkson coined it.

The 928 is a beautiful car but its an entirely different driving proposition to a small mid engine car. At least the 944 is near 50/50 weight distribution but neither car are practical daily drivers for the typical owner who does not wrench on his own car...and you will be wrenching if you try to drive thosr cars year round like a water cooled Porsche. Perhaps the 9A1 cars will check All these boxes some day. But for now I don't think you can have your cake and eat too. Maybe if you live in a perfectweather oasis with perfect roads...but good luck on perfect taxes there.

[Fintro11]

Originally Posted by linderpat

Or option number 3 - get a 928 (or a 944 for that matter). The engines are virtually bullet proof. They are good for 300k plus miles, with routine maintenance and regular driving. And contrary to popular belief, the 928 engine is fairly easy to work on. Easy to get to - open the hood, and there she be. Keep up with regular maintenance and they really are trouble free cars with exceptional capabilities. And the more you drive it, the better it runs and the reliability increases - these cars like to be driven, and not just to the ice cream cone stand!

The big issue with 928s on post - '85 automatics is thrust bearing failure, but that is easily checked at home, and an external clamp takes care of it entirely. And it is a very small percentage issue, not like IMS or RMS, or lifters, or separating cylinder sleeves or the other myriad issues that the M96 presents with.

Don't get me wrong, I love Porsches. And many of them are the best designed cars in the world, but this one group seems troubling, and the evidence seems to bear it out. A later year Boxster will eventually fill my driveway (or better yet - gasp - a Cayman - I think that is the most beautiful car of Porsche since the 928). Just got to wait for that depreciation thing to work its magic.

944 reliable? Lol I will take the ims and any day over 30k timing belt changes fun car but the engine was not very well though through. 968 is a better bet

[mikefocke]

Always good to hear of one saved.