IMS anyone?

[cbbepop]

Hmmm, Interesting article if not somewhat disturbing...as high as 20%? wow

Anyone here suffered any IMS failures?

www.thetruthaboutcars.com/wild-a s s-rumor-of-the-day-porsche-boxster-engine-failures/

hmmm link doesn't work cause the word "a s s" is blocked by forum's settings, well copy and paste the link to your address bar and eliminate the spaces in "a s s"

lol

IMS FAILURES

Edited November 18, 2008 by cbbepop

[Loren]

Hmm... seems the photo (in their Wild Rumor section) was taken from RennTech.org (without permission of course).

[rsfeller]

So what was "the short" of the rumor before it was pulled down? Just the supposed high failure rate?

[cbbepop]

The article is still up, copy paste link then remove the spaces in between the letters within "a s s"

here is the gist of the article

"By Stephan Wilkinson

November 7, 2008 - 3,804 views

Are you aware of the appalling rate of Boxster engine failures, which I’m only now becoming aware of through participation in some Boxster forums? Some estimates (Bruce Anderson, for one) are that 20 percent of Boxster engines don’t make it past 100,000 miles witout a catastrophic failure. The standard failure is what the cognoscenti universally refer to as the IMS–the intermediate shaft. It’s apparently bolted together, and the bolts fail, then everything internal claps hands and you’re looking at a replacement crate engine. I’m hoping the fact that Susan never revs past maybe 4,000 will spare us, but I’d be careful if I were you. There was a recent Porsche Club event that 11 Boxsters participated in. One had an IMS failure during the event and two of the other Boxsters participating had previously had their engines replaced due to IMS failures. Three out of 11 equals 27 percent. It’s a quiet secret within the Porsche community, and there are reasonably knowledgeable people who claim these engines were built as cheapies to get through the warranty period unscathed–which the apparently often don’t–and that PAG hasn’t the faintest interest in second, third and fourth owners. And they used to say the entry-level Porsche was a used Porsche."

[rsfeller]

The article is still up, copy paste link then remove the spaces in between the letters within "a s s"

here is the gist of the article

"By Stephan Wilkinson

November 7, 2008 - 3,804 views

Are you aware of the appalling rate of Boxster engine failures, which I’m only now becoming aware of through participation in some Boxster forums? Some estimates (Bruce Anderson, for one) are that 20 percent of Boxster engines don’t make it past 100,000 miles witout a catastrophic failure. The standard failure is what the cognoscenti universally refer to as the IMS–the intermediate shaft. It’s apparently bolted together, and the bolts fail, then everything internal claps hands and you’re looking at a replacement crate engine. I’m hoping the fact that Susan never revs past maybe 4,000 will spare us, but I’d be careful if I were you. There was a recent Porsche Club event that 11 Boxsters participated in. One had an IMS failure during the event and two of the other Boxsters participating had previously had their engines replaced due to IMS failures. Three out of 11 equals 27 percent. It’s a quiet secret within the Porsche community, and there are reasonably knowledgeable people who claim these engines were built as cheapies to get through the warranty period unscathed–which the apparently often don’t–and that PAG hasn’t the faintest interest in second, third and fourth owners. And they used to say the entry-level Porsche was a used Porsche."

IF the facts are true it can be hard to argue we'll find out more when everyone starts getting to 100K+miles. Why would it be a "secret with the P community"...are we not admit when your toys are flawed?

[usaf-lt-g]

From ALL the research, reading, more research, more reading, and talking to several Porsche people, early models of the MY02 engines seemed to have this problem at lower mileage (i.e. 25k - 45k) and that it occurred on a batch of Porsche's engines which was never properly diagnosed or given a good fix for people out of warranty. On a side note, several other people have noted that engines past these mileage marks "usually" didn't have anything to worry about.

And some more encouragement for owner's like myself, is that the "S" edition engines seem to have longer longevity overall and handle beefier performance modifications better (such as a turbo or supercharger... neither of which I have installed or can attest to). At least that's what I've heard from some other gearheads around my area that specialize in Porsche cars.

[Jake Raby]

A potential Client called me yesterday with an IMS failure on his 3.2 engine- the car only has 15K miles on it since new. He caught the bearing failure early, at a regular oil service.

The IMS is a serious issue- so serious that we have made our own grossly oversized unit from billet chromoly 4340 steel. Here is the unit compared to a "Stock" early unit. see here

http://986forum.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=9625

The best way to avoid an IMS failure is to do more frequent oil services (every 7K) and then drain the oil thats removed through a strainer looking for foreign object debris in the oil followed up by becoming a member of our oil monitoring service.

Other than than that just drive the **** car!

[Westcoaster]

A potential Client called me yesterday with an IMS failure on his 3.2 engine- the car only has 15K miles on it since new. He caught the bearing failure early, at a regular oil service.

The IMS is a serious issue- so serious that we have made our own grossly oversized unit from billet chromoly 4340 steel. Here is the unit compared to a "Stock" early unit. see here

http://986forum.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=9625

The best way to avoid an IMS failure is to do more frequent oil services (every 7K) and then drain the oil thats removed through a strainer looking for foreign object debris in the oil followed up by becoming a member of our oil monitoring service.

Other than than that just drive the **** car!

Wow, that new piece looks like it would be up to the task!

A couple of questions, I am curious how this piece compares to the 'upgraded' pieces that Porsche is appearently using on the 2006+ M96 engines?

Second, could you describe the unit in the picture, does it bolt onto the engne via the 3 flanges, are those bearings extending out behind, which part actually fails?

Thanks!

Edited November 18, 2008 by Westcoaster

[wvicary]

Ahhhh.... just what everyone needs, more "internet" facts.

[perleman]

That article is offensively misleading. There has been a poll going on on Boxa.net about engine failure & there have only been 2 cases in a sample of 100, which is a bit more representative than a sample of 11. What a cretinous half-wit that made that assumption, do you not think if failure was 20% Porsche would have a reputation like Alfa Romeo. What an absolute idiot.

[usaf-lt-g]

That article is offensively misleading. There has been a poll going on on Boxa.net about engine failure & there have only been 2 cases in a sample of 100, which is a bit more representative than a sample of 11. What a cretinous half-wit that made that assumption, do you not think if failure was 20% Porsche would have a reputation like Alfa Romeo. What an absolute idiot.

:clapping:

:cheers:

[Jake Raby]

The IMS failures are more prominent with certain models and dates of production. I do believe that the number quoted is not outrageous, based on the core engines we have received that have failed due to an IMS. There may well be models out there that see an extremely high failure rate, especially as average miles on the mass of cars on the road continues to rise..

Don't ask me which ones these are because I am trying to refrain from anything more than general statements and there are some things that just aren't worth the crap they start for us when people start bringing up questions and then answering themselves and then arguing with the answers.

At any rate, just drive the **** thing- when it breaks upgrade it. Don't worry about it- anything mechanical can break at any time without warning, just like the M96. Sit back and enjoy the experience of owning a great car that handles, brakes and drives the way a Porsche should.

Edited November 20, 2008 by Jake Raby