BIGJakes (ims?) dilemma
 

I went for a spontaneous drive while the parents were away on their anniversary trip.

A 100 mile round trip up over the eastern continental divide and back down.

I saw some amazing sights and enjoyed the drive. However while chugging through North Carolina, the car made a strange sound like something was dropped in the engine behind me. Zero smoke. Zero power. I pulled over and cut the engine.

The car has had on O2 sensor CEL for a while and developed a tick in the past week that we were planning to get checked out next week.

Someone managed to capture the IMS failure on video during a drive. I believe the forum member was British. He said something like "was that my engine?". It sounded like rocks in a blender and lasted maybe 3 to 5 seconds. See if you can find that video on YouTube. I recall he said he had a rebuilt engine installed soon after. Jake Raby posted that he would like to use the video for his classes.

Rocks in a blender, sounds about right. I have seen the video of an ims going out on the top gear track.

Not sure what to about the car right now, just getting it sent back to South Carolina. I'm currently sitting on a porch with 70+ year old simply chatting with the best mountain backdrop ever.

If the car did die, it died doing what it loved.

Just made up my mind to bribe my Indy whatever he wants to get my IMS done before I get that back together.

Before reading this, I was starting tomorrow to put it back together as is, and roll my dice.

ETA, Jake, best of luck with this. Here's to a belt or something fixable. Good vibes from UT, man.

ETA 2, I do not want to see any mention of any go fund me site!!

That's a good attitude Jake. what's done is done. No point stressing when that energy can be used to find a engine from a local wrecker, search online and get some math on paper so you can weigh your options. Mewhile the mechanics can confirm the extent of the damage.

Jake, I am in little Switzerland, an hour northwest of Asheville if I can help. Got a trailer , lift and a lot of tools. Bad news is I had ims failure a few years ago in my C4 and it sounded a lot like you described. bob 828 385 3100

Oh no! Sorry to hear that jake. I got the link to that video somewhere but yeah mot good.

Sorry to hear that Jake. Your reaction to this from shutting it down to your attitude after the fact are fantastic. Kudos to Mountainman for the offer to help.

https://youtu.be/nXWZDt4l0jA

is this it ?

Sorry to hear this! Could be a lot of things other than IMS but zero power is always worrisome.

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

Let us know what you find.

BIGJakes (ims?) dilemma
 

Thanks all for the nice words. The car is on a wrecker on its way to the dealer and I've made it back home. I got lost on the way.

http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/05...b98b5d89eb.jpg

I ended up ontop of sassafras mountain, the highest point in South Carolina!

http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/05...3259577e5d.jpg

This second photo is where the car died.

And don't worry timco, no go fundme for this one.

I had 6k in my first boxster, insurance allowed me to an S, but in the end, the family only spent 6k which is not much more than what a roller goes for.

We will see, hoping it was just a belt, it felt like the car lost power steering as I coasted to a stop.

Sadly this does sound comparable. The car was not under load. Simply cursing past some cyclist going 40 or so when it happened. Mine sounded like the video but stopped very quickly. As I depressed the clutch and scurried to the side of the road.

My first reaction was actually to check my waterbottle that was in the door pocket, as it had sounded as if something plastic had fallen. A sack of mostly empty water bottles or something.

That video has fewer views than there are cars that have had their IMS replaced...

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!

Well, more and more that failed to have the IMS done at any point during that time.

Otherwise, same is true for any engine it seems.

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

Rick

Jake - fingers crossed for you buddy!

Rick

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.

Jake how many miles are on this car?

Hate to hear this for anyone..best of luck!
Did you try to start the car after coasting to the side? If so, what happened (other than not starting)?

The smart ones resist this temptation.

91k I got the car in June. Oddly enough my accident with a bronco was May 5 last year. May is not my month.

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.

I had a similar sound, but I didn't lose engine power. I lost all other power though. The tensioner fell off so I threw the belt. Got the car home and to my surprise, I found every part of the tensionser and the belt didn't have a nick on it. Hoping you have a similar issue.

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. :)

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

Did you smell rubber burning when this occurred, by chance?

The car actually did have a rubbery smell both when I stopped at a gas station and an odd smell right after it went. I am less sure of when the car broke as my first action was to walk back up the road and check for anything that had fallen.

However I did stop at a gas station maybe 10 miles before it happened and smelt rubber, I assumed it was just the tires.

What you were smelling was the main drive belt as the alternator was seizing.

Pull the drive belt and see if the engine will turn over.

How sweet would it be if it was just a seized alternator? I hope Jake is right.

Please, please let that be it. :)

Fingers crossed for you buddy. Let us know what you find out.

Let's hope so... You can only imagine how often I assist people with this. The key is the burning rubber, which is why I asked that specific question.

BIGJake,

The first thing I will do tonight as soon as I get home, is to open this tread, looking forward for the good news... :)

A seizing alternator makes a rocks in the blender sound too?

Likely no news tonight as the tow truck just got it back today and it's at the dealer. But there will be news tomorrow. My fingers are crossed for sure! Thanks jake.

The car had a tick before this, most noticeable at idle for the past week or so. And it was centric to the right side of the car. Right inside of the passenger air vent and seemingly near where the belt is.

Sound of an alternator on the way out. Man that would scare me...


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The bearing went out on my alt long before it lost any power. It made a crunchy or squishy sound at startup. As I spun it by hand you could hear the bearing skip and chatter.

A lot of up and down emotions here!
I wish the best for you Jake. Look forward to hearing a good verdict.

I was thinking, it can't be that bad sounding, its only an alternator.

I was wrong. I'd have soiled my pants hearing that while driving. :o

Hoping for the best!