IMS adventure

[MikenOH]

Frank:
Did your friend have the upgraded IMS with the thicker bolt or the older style?
Early 05's might have had the old style but by mid-year IIRC, all the cars were getting the new style.
original owner? any track days?
Seems way early especially in a 987 for that to happen.

Originally Posted by Frank A

My buddies car is a 2005 boxster 2.7 tip with less than 45,000 miles.
The first thing I would have done would be to pull the pan!!

My car is a 2000 boxster S 6 speed with 118,000 miles. One of the first things I did when I bought it with 110,000 miles was pull the oil pan and all I found was a freeze plug from, what I am assuming, passenger side. but no metal chunks, or, if you take a close look at the oil pan on the right side just below where oil is returned to the sump from the head, no aluminum slurry.

I am a full time student at UH, I'm not a kid, so on my summer vacation I put my car on jack stands and went after the IMS. I did all the research on the subject I could find and went after it slow and methodically. I had the double row variant with no external evidence of imminent failure. Once removed and dissected there was slight galling and the outer part of the race had a weird s like pattern on it. I had no issues at all removing and the only thing that baffled me for a bit was with the Pelican Parts retrofit there are two spacers one for single row and one for double row. In the package for the double row was the spacer for the single and vice verse and the cover was not even close to seating, after looking at all my photos and staring at my 101 projects book for hours I notice in the photo of the P,P kit the spacers were switched. after that easy sailing. I checked cam timing 4 times just to be sure. On the Durametric I'm rock solid at -6, -3 on cam deviation. I corrected others work as well, all to do with the passenger side head, I had the spark plugs from a 2005 3.4, two different sets of injectors, and the passenger oil return pump was clocked wrong. While I was at it I threw two new radiators on, a water pump, 160 degree thermostat, and six flea bay injectors I had sonically cleaned and flow checked, spark plugs, and spark plug tubes and seals, removed and cleaned intake and replaced all o rings including oil separator line o rings. I know I'm forgetting some items. The only issue I have now is my once good clutch can't handle the re discovered power and is beginning to slip and my rear tires are beginning to melt.

[Frank A]

Originally Posted by MikenOH

Frank:
Did your friend have the upgraded IMS with the thicker bolt or the older style?
Early 05's might have had the old style but by mid-year IIRC, all the cars were getting the new style.
original owner? any track days?
Seems way early especially in a 987 for that to happen.

His is an early 05, No track days, 2nd owner, Bought at dealer with 30,000 miles.
He always had it serviced by the same dealer, they saw the car earlier for scheduled maintenance. He did talk to the service manager after incident about IMS but he got the Schultz response "I Know nothing , nothing" there is no IMS problem.

I guess Porsche has no concept of customer retention

[Jake Raby]

I guess Porsche has no concept of customer retention

They've figured out that fresh meat tastes best.

[MikenOH]

Originally Posted by Frank A

His is an early 05, No track days, 2nd owner, Bought at dealer with 30,000 miles.
He always had it serviced by the same dealer, they saw the car earlier for scheduled maintenance. He did talk to the service manager after incident about IMS but he got the Schultz response "I Know nothing , nothing" there is no IMS problem.

I guess Porsche has no concept of customer retention

Absolutely pathetic; this is the kind of stuff that can scare the crap out of potential buyers, but there always seem to be a steady supply of those that are undeterred by stories like this.

Jake--having the car fail with a tiptronic made me wonder if the typical driving style with the auto tranny--low revs, shifting early--lends itself to these kind of failures. Any logic to that?

[Jake Raby]

Jake--having the car fail with a tiptronic made me wonder if the typical driving style with the auto tranny--low revs, shifting early--lends itself to these kind of failures. Any logic to that?

Absolutely. With low engine speeds the IMS Bearing sees the highest loads due to low surface speeds.

[davedeck]

After reading about this IMS debacle for the past six months I'm wondering where is Porsche's liability in this? It's obviously a multi-year design defect. Shouldn't they owe up to the mistake like we require other carmanufacturers to do and recall the motor? Or did I just make a funny?

[JFP in PA]

Originally Posted by davedeck

After reading about this IMS debacle for the past six months I'm wondering where is Porsche's liability in this? It's obviously a multi-year design defect. Shouldn't they owe up to the mistake like we require other carmanufacturers to do and recall the motor? Or did I just make a funny?

You made a funny.................but not a particularly humorous one.

[davedeck]

And why is that? Nissan replaced the front tires on my 350Z because they set the alignment incorrectly at the factory. Why should Porsche get a bye for a very obvious design flaw that has spawned a whole cottage industry? Don't get me wrong, I love my car but I hate driving with the thought that my motor could go at anytime.