Looking for Advice..
 

I purchased a 2001 Boxster 2 years ago. I have loved every minute of driving it. I was well aware of IMS issues and did my research and found one that had had the bearing replaced, as well as the clutch. It ran fine, but now my mechanic discovered metal in the oil filter. He heard a sound coming from the engine and performed an ear test and determined it was coming from the location of the IMS. unfortunately, he won't go into this engine and another well-respected mechanic won't touch it.
I would hate to drop $5000 to have a mechanic tell me I need a new engine......so....what should I do with this car?
It still runs, pretty good shape, 60,000 miles. I definitely won't try to stick a stranger with this problem. Should I sell it 'as is'? Would anyone buy it in this condition? Part it out?
I'm a newbie so any and all advice is welcome..!

Thanks All!

Assuming that you are not handy in the garage, it doesn't cost $5k to drop the transmission and check the ims. If you are handy and have the space, it costs time, patience and a few salty words to diy.

do you know what bearing was used as the replacement? if it was LN Engineering and the bearing went bad i believe they have a warranty on it as long as the car was properly inspected prior to the installation. More information on the bearing upgrade would be helpful.

and sorry to hear about the problem!

Once you see metal in the oil filter, particularly if the metal is ferrous, your options are severely limited. Realistically, the engine is probably done, regardless of how it currently runs. Trying to replace the IMS at this juncture is a non started as the metal circulating in the engine will simply kill it.

Not that I am recommending this but if you look in old threads, there are one or two reports of people trying to salvage the engine by replacing the IMS and doing multiple oil flushes in a row (of course that is assuming the IMS bearing is the source of the problem).

The key point is that many of the replacement IMS bearings are opened on one side to allow oil to splash on the bearings for lubrication.. This is exactly what you don't want in your situation because the metal will get in and destroy the bearing. Instead they used an original bearing style which is covered on both sides and has grease as lubrication. I believe Pelican sells one that way.

Then they replaced the oil and oil filter frequently until there was no more metal. I'm not sure whether it was at 50 or 100 miles and four oil changes in a row or so.

Anyways, the experts say this shouldn't work and I'm definitely not an expert. But at least one person tried and seemed to have success in the short term although I don't know whether that success is continuing or whether it ultimately failed.

Putting $2,000 (new IMSB + labor) into an engine that already has metal in the oil is big risk. The engine might last for a week or a year; its impossible to know for sure. That's a big bet without knowing the odds. How has your luck been so far this year?

Selling the car with metal in the engine oil now is slightly better than selling it with a blown engine - you might get $4000 if it can be driven.

The cheapest path forward right now is to do nothing and drive it until the engine dies. Might be a week or might be a year; its impossible to know for sure, but the cost is $0.

Once the engine fails, you have a few options;

1.a Sell the car as a roller with a failed engine. Car would be worth around $3,000.
1.b Parting out the car would certainly bring in more than $3K, but you'll have to spend a year pulling off parts, listing them, and shipping them. Its a huge PITA so I wouldn't recommend that route unless you like pain and agony as a hobby.
1.c Replace the failed engine with a salvage engine. Total cost: $3000 used engine + $2000 swap = $5K.

It all depends. There is a short window where you can replace the is bearing with a greased sealed bearing drop the pan then do a few quick oil changes and there is a good chance you'll be ok. No shop would touch this but if the IMS is not damaged it can certainly work. If you have the ability to get to the IMSB yourself and are lucky enough to have an intact intermediate shaft, buy a bearing from a bearing supplier, install it and get back on the road. Running the engine any further will tend to eliminate this possibility.

As dav9515 mentioned, I would see if it's under warranty. Hopefully you have a receipt from the previous owner. That's too bad, the car has relatively low miles too. Well good luck with whatever you decide to do.

I just want to throw in here that the metal might not be from the IMS bearing...

In my case (2001 Boxster S) the metal turned out to be from the main timing chain that had stretched and was beating the heck out of the top of the tensioner paddle.

Whatever the cause, once you have metal in the filter you only have a few choices...

1. You can have the engine torn down and rebuilt. Lots of $$$$ to do that (ask me how I know)... would I do it again? In a heartbeat. I love this car...

2. You can replace the engine with a good used one. Before the engine is installed, have all the usual suspects replaced (IMS bearing, water pump, AOS, motor mount, etc. It's a lot easier to do that stuff with an engine in a stand rather than in the car.

3. Drive it until it goes BOOM and sell it as a roller. Or see #2.

Once metal is in the oil it's all through your engine. It will have contaminated all the timing chain ramps, tensioner paddles, oil pump, and there will be metal bits clinging to everywhere inside your engine. You might be lucky and the oil filter has prevented the bits from getting into your bearings and valve train components. But I wouldn't count on it.

You could gamble that the replacement IMS bearing went bad and replace it again. But whatever you do, don't install a ceramic bearing like the LN one - they are absolutely awesome, but they don't work well (ie BOOM) if there's metal in there. You'd have to install a sealed steel bearing (like the original) and then do multiple oil changes (flushes). After 15-20K miles and several oil changes then maybe you could install an LN. But this is a super big gamble and assumes that the metal is coming from the IMS bearing. It might not be!

My recommendation would be to replace it with a good used engine.