Service records: Porsche IMS fix??
 

I'm looking at a really sexy '04 S with 103k miles. I'm provided service records leading back to when it had just 20k miles. One thing that was interesting was a porsche dealership invoice showing an IMS fix. What do you make of this? If it was done at 50k is it likely it would be required again at the next clutch job? Yes I'm getting a PPI, but was just curious if anyone here at insight on an OEM IMS fix. The price of the part seems ....low. I will call the dealership to confirm, but back in 2011 would they have simply replaced it with a then better quality dual-row IMS? Or the same part prone to failure from the original?




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That doesn't say anything about an intermediate shaft bearing replacement. It says that the seal was replaced.
FYI, 2004 is single row bearing only.

Leaking oil seals on the IMS cover flange were a common occurrence and the corrective measure was to replace the flange seal only. As Porsche has never admitted that the IMS bearing itself can be changed without pulling the engine apart, most dealers did not get involved in retrofits, replacing the entire engine if there was an issue.

As yours is 2004, it is a single row bearing, which can only be replaced with another single row bearing; the dual row will not fit.

Ah. That makes sense now. He's advertising it has having the IMS fix done. Maybe he is wrong himself, then. Bummer, that adds complexity to the deal.

Looks like RMS was done at around 50k as well - how long are those generally good for? I'm kind of surprised there's no indication of AOS, water pump, or MAS in any of these records. Especially the car was serviced entirely by 1 porsche dealer until 97k miles. I'll call them today to have them pull the records in case something was missed. Anyways the PPI will reveal anything else. It is a fully loaded 04 S which is my absolute favorite, so I am not afraid of it having 103k miles. Previous owner of 2 years is a meticulous guy. I'm leaving about $3500 in the maintenance fund so I still think with a clean PPI this is a great purchase.

They're good until they start leaking. No consistent time or mileage figure for when they shoot craps. RMS is changed when other work is done requiring the trans to be removed. It's a cheap seal and an easy replacement, so it's done as preventative maintenance.

So seals not bearings replaced. And a single row 2nd generation bearing would not have been replaced by a dealer. But it has run since '03 and since '11 when the flange seal was replaced so the probability of the block being true is high. That is the good news.

The bad is the bearing is the least capable Porsche used in a Boxster.

At 103k, I think it a good idea to replace with the IMS Pro (sorta a double row replacement for the single row) or The Solution or the bearing kit of your choice.

I figured this into my cost calculations. This car leaves me with a nice $3500 cushion for maintenance, while I still think being a better car than ones at a higher point and with less mileage. Based on my recent research anyways. Finding lots of 60-70k cars with no service history for 3 or 4k more. My gut says a well maintained, well driven car is best.

I also like a private sale where I can verify the motive of the seller. Never liked to pay dealer markups. I've gone 4 states away to find the right deal.

An just to add some fuel to the fire, LN Engineering has just announced online access to their database of installed retrofit bearings. You can search by the LN door sticker number, or by VIN number to see if an LN bearing has been installed, when it was done, who did it, and the mileage at that time it was installed. Caveats are that the installer had to register the installation, which not all did.