New owner of an '02 986S

[Ptnl986]

I'm considering buying a 2003 Boxster S with ~ 30k miles. The dealer just installed new IMS and RMS seals. The RMS was reported leaking a little bit before the seal was fixed and the preventative IMS bearings were installed when the RMS was fixed. All the other standard maintenance is documented for the car. Question: Now that the IMS and RMS work has been performed. Will this completely prevent potential future issues associated with those seals? Thanks

[jsceash]

Originally Posted by Ptnl986

I'm considering buying a 2003 Boxster S with ~ 30k miles. The dealer just installed new IMS and RMS seals. The RMS was reported leaking a little bit before the seal was fixed and the preventative IMS bearings were installed when the RMS was fixed. All the other standard maintenance is documented for the car. Question: Now that the IMS and RMS work has been performed. Will this completely prevent potential future issues associated with those seals? Thanks

I'd like to say yes but a dealer may have been limited to just installing another original stock IMS single row with 2 seals and chrome steel balls. You'll have to post some pics.

[Ptnl986]

Originally Posted by jsceash

I'd like to say yes but a dealer may have been limited to just installing another original stock IMS single row with 2 seals and chrome steel balls. You'll have to post some pics.

I think they performed a Single Row IMS retrofit with a part with a name like "LNE". I can't post pics as I haven't bought it yet.

[Giller]

Originally Posted by Ptnl986

I'm considering buying a 2003 Boxster S with ~ 30k miles. The dealer just installed new IMS and RMS seals. The RMS was reported leaking a little bit before the seal was fixed and the preventative IMS bearings were installed when the RMS was fixed. All the other standard maintenance is documented for the car. Question: Now that the IMS and RMS work has been performed. Will this completely prevent potential future issues associated with those seals? Thanks

Why would the dealer do this installation and then sell it? Most dealers will put as little into a car as they can - there really isn't any profit for them in doing the IMS. Sure, might sell the car a bit faster, but really.

I would be cautious - did they fix it cause the old one had already exploded and there's little bits of metal now throughout the engine?

I would want some form of warranty to ensure the IMS was preventive and not reactive. Always good to ensure there are some KM's on it after the IMS has been changed to provide a bit more piece of mind.

[Nmbrsix]

The LN Engineering Single Row Pro kit is what is going in my car, and is considered to be one of the best options for IMS bearing replacement (short of the LNE IMS Solution, which eliminates the sealed IMS ball bearing unit entirely--for $1700+).

So that's the good news.

The question posed above is a good one, though. Why would the selling dealer do any more than they had to? The IMS Single Row Pro replacement kit is $799, which is a LOT for a dealer to spend if there wasn't a reason to replace the IMS. I'd want to see the work order and talk with the tech who performed the work (ideally) to understand why it was done.

As stated, if there was metallic debris in the oil filter (one sign of IMS bearing failure), that same ferrous metal has circulated through the motor--including bearing surfaces + the many complicated oil passages in the M96 motor.

I wouldn't want to chance it that they caught the IMS bearing in time before it threw a LOT of metallic debris through the oil system.