For over 4 years I have really enjoyed my 02 S. It looked great, sounded great and ran great. I was very proud of it and took very good care of it. It only had 49k miles and an updated LN IMS. I slept good at night.........Last Friday the motor grenaded. There was alot of metal in the filter/pan. The motor is toast. After 3 days of deep thought I decided to sell it as a rolling chasis/paperweight. The car is now sold and Im moving on, but I have no interest in driving, owning or even looking at another Porsche........This is a great forum with alot of great people. I really learned alot here and everyone good luck with their 986's.
I mainly lurked here and will miss reading this forum. Please dont ask how much I got for my car, just know that these cars arent worth much without the motor and just because you have upgraded the IMS doesnt mean your motor is bullett proof......Good Luck.....
For over 4 years I have really enjoyed my 02 S. It looked great, sounded great and ran great. I was very proud of it and took very good care of it. It only had 49k miles and an updated LN IMS. I slept good at night.........Last Friday the motor grenaded. There was alot of metal in the filter/pan. The motor is toast. After 3 days of deep thought I decided to sell it as a rolling chasis/paperweight. The car is now sold and Im moving on, but I have no interest in driving, owning or even looking at another Porsche........This is a great forum with alot of great people. I really learned alot here and everyone good luck with their 986's.
I mainly lurked here and will miss reading this forum. Please dont ask how much I got for my car, just know that these cars arent worth much without the motor and just because you have upgraded the IMS doesnt mean your motor is bullett proof......Good Luck.....
That sucks friend. I've owned Porsches in one form or another for over 30 years and NEVER worried about the engine(s). Have a 73 2.4E coupe that I tracked from 1990 until 2012 when I decided it had become too valuable and retried it back to street. Never had a mechanical failure. Picked up a 03 low mileage S and took measures to ensure mechanical integrity. IMS, deeper sump, pre- emptive leakdown, etc. The first time at the track (HOT day) I was chasing a buddy of mine in his 510 and we were having a great dice... no over rev, watching temp when I felt a flutter and loss of power. No bad sounds. Nursed it to a run off and shut it down. Let it cool for hours. Tow back to shop. Diagnosis: spun bearing. Took a year to find a low mileage 3.6 with IMS replaced. While i love how this car drives, I'm so snakebit, there will be no more track days for me though because the joy, thrill, adrenaline, etc won't offset the pain I'll feel if this motor goes. It sucks. A porsche ain't a porsche unless they can be driven the way Dr. Ferry designed them.
Huge bummer. Did you look into what part failed? I used to work at a car dealership that carried a lot of Porsche, Audi, & VW. My old shop foreman and I are still friends and he tried to talk me into a Miata instead. Time will tell if perhaps he was right. Another mechanic I used to work with had a 928 that blew up the motor. He put a small block chevy in it. Owning a exotic has it's price (and it's benefits too).
Yeah, I had my 03 986S lose its IMS bearing at 100k miles. Never believe the adage that if its good at 30k it's good to 200k. In my case I decided to source a used engine nad have it dropped in. Painful many months long process not for the faint of heart. In the end the $4,500 engine (with 40K miles) ended up costing me about $8,500 when you add in the installation and the "while we're there" items -- replaced the IMS, AOS, water pump, etc.
Financially it was about a wash, but the year before I had put about $k into the car and had confidence in its bones
I hear you on being skittish about Porsches in the future. The way they left time bombs ticking away in the class action settlement left a bad taste in my mouth
Everyone else, Replacing the IMS bearing is a good idea as is doing all the other regular maintenance. Replacing the IMSB should never be thought of as making your M96 engine 'bullet proof'. M96 (and any other) engines can fail for a lot of reasons. I don't see anything pointing to IMS failure on this particular engine. Might be, might not be. The '01 engine I tore down was full of metal and seems to have failed (initially) from a broken rod bolt. The original IMS bearing looked good at 124k miles.
I have learned a lot from Tom and agree with his assessment in the post above, except that I don't see failure in most street cars as inevitable as his racing engines.
911 Monty..........Bringing up my 1st post brings back memories..........I have no reason to lie. After 2 weeks of ownership I has a very respected independent shop do the LN IMS and a complete 30k service. I then drove the car over 4 years {avg 5k miles a year} without one single problem. It was my weekend fun car and hobby. I only had to change the oil every 5k and change the tires twice.
To everyone..........I never stated the IMS was the cause of the engine grenading. I only mentioned it to let everyone know that it wasn't the original .........A lot of times the damage to the IMS IS SECONDARY. THERE ARE ALOT OF THINGS THAT DESTRUCT IN THESE MOTORS CAUSING DAMAGE TO OTHER COMPONENTS. This is happening more and more to these motors according to a very respected engine builder here in the Atlanta area. I sold the car as is because I don't have the space, time, or patience to rebuilt the motor. I also lost my faith in Porsche...........I loved this car and had over 4 years of fun with it for that I am grateful, things could of been worse and in the road of LIFE this was only a small pothole.......Take Care.
911 Monty..........Bringing up my 1st post brings back memories..........I have no reason to lie. After 2 weeks of ownership I has a very respected independent shop do the LN IMS and a complete 30k service. I then drove the car over 4 years {avg 5k miles a year} without one single problem. It was my weekend fun car and hobby. I only had to change the oil every 5k and change the tires twice.
To everyone..........I never stated the IMS was the cause of the engine grenading. I only mentioned it to let everyone know that it wasn't the original .........A lot of times the damage to the IMS IS SECONDARY. THERE ARE ALOT OF THINGS THAT DESTRUCT IN THESE MOTORS CAUSING DAMAGE TO OTHER COMPONENTS. This is happening more and more to these motors according to a very respected engine builder here in the Atlanta area. I sold the car as is because I don't have the space, time, or patience to rebuilt the motor. I also lost my faith in Porsche...........I loved this car and had over 4 years of fun with it for that I am grateful, things could of been worse and in the road of LIFE this was only a small pothole.......Take Care.
Hey Nobrakes, great post. Again, I’m really sorry for your loss. This is my 7th Porsche. If my 986 SE engine goes, I’ll sell the roller for whatever I can and move on. No way I’m replacing the motor in the 986. Maybe an Aston Martin, maybe a 993, maybe a Lotus Evora. Who knows. Life’s too short and there are a lot of cars out there to experience.
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Rgds, Fred
#317 550 Spyder Anniversary Edition 2004 Boxster S, 3.8L Flat Six Innovations engine, PSS9s, etc, etc . . . The contents of my posts are for entertainment only. As confirmed by my many motor sports fails, I am not qualified to give product endorsements or mechanical advice
^ I believe that's only on the 'solution' not the 'retrofit', and still only going to cover the cost of the LN parts not a whole new engine... so fairly useless really. Warranty – IMS Solution
Well if that's correct, I'm not too thrilled I put the in a LN. Everyone knos,, once it goes the motor is junk with or without a new IMS bearing. I would still get the $800 back. Shame on them for a terrible warranty and shame on me for not doing better homework.
A blown motor is always a very bad thing... But yes unfortunately it's a risk that we (as 986 enthusiasts) have to take. Not many things we can do, just drive it as it should be driven and frequent oil changes... After all, isn't this the main reason that boxster are so "cheap" (to buy) ?
At this point there’s no proof that the LN IMS failed in the OP’s car. Even if it did fail, there could be another root cause.
Not saying that LN IMS bearings can’t fail, just saying that it’s not good to assume or jump to conclusions without proof.
To Nobrakes, really sorry to hear what happened and all the best wishes for your future automotive exploits.
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Rgds, Fred
#317 550 Spyder Anniversary Edition 2004 Boxster S, 3.8L Flat Six Innovations engine, PSS9s, etc, etc . . . The contents of my posts are for entertainment only. As confirmed by my many motor sports fails, I am not qualified to give product endorsements or mechanical advice
So the $250 Pelican IIMS is no better/worse than spending a lot more?
I have an 02 Base with 149K and some days I feel like it's going to run forever and other days, I turn down the music and listen to the motor at every stop light.
I guess that uncertainty comes as the flip side of the joy that I get from driving a Boxster.
I think 'stock' involves buying (twice the cost+) and changing (more labour = more cost) a whole new IMS shaft though, don't think Porsche sell just the bearings.
To be fair though, all the alternative aftermarket replacements have the same warranty clauses, they'll only ever cover replacing their product if it dies, not the engine or anything else it takes with it... it's just not much use having a replacement bearing and no working engine to put it in
I wouldn't condemn LN for putting a limited warranty on the IMS Solution or any of their upgraded bearings. Porsche put a warranty on their car and engine that had a limited term. LN came out with some good fixes for a real problem they didn't create. If LN had offered a better warranty and the part cost 5 or 10 times as much, would that be a good deal? Every business has to balance cost/benefit and return on investment. The original cost/benefit analysis done by Porsche to use a sealed bearing on the back of the IMS was not a good one in retrospect. I always thought they did it because it was too expensive to get an oil feed to the bearing at the back of the engine. Then yesterday I watched the new IMS bearing video just posted on the PCA website and see there is a hydraulic chain tensioner on that end of the engine that keeps tension on the chain from the crankshaft to the IMS. So it wasn't because it was too hard to get oil pressure back there.
Anyway, I'm sorry for your loss nobrakes. I will tell you there are compromises made on every car I have ever owned or worked on, including Acura, Audi, Austin Healey, BMW, Chevy, Fiat, Ford, Honda, Jaguar, Mazda, MG, Nissan/Datsun, Peugeot, Porsche, Triumph. The later model Japanese cars do tend to be better in my experience. I hope you have good luck with your next car.
Janice
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