Oil puddles - Certain IMS failure?

[davidbridgman]

1999 Boxster, 105K miles.

After doing a little more reading on a problem I posted about yesterday, I am thinking the amount of oil coming out of the car is consistent with an IMS failure. So, once this happens, is the engine always toast? Am I for certain looking at a new engine or complete rebuild?

Is there any other problem that could cause massive amounts of oil to be coming out of the car?

Edited November 5, 2009 by davidbridgman

[kbrandsma]

Check and see if the oil is coming from where the tranny bell housing meets the engine. Did you bottom out and damage the lower oil pan cover? One could only hope?

1999 Boxster, 105K miles.

After doing a little more reading on a problem I posted about yesterday, I am thinking the amount of oil coming out of the car is consistent with an IMS failure. So, once this happens, is the engine always toast? Am I for certain looking at a new engine or complete rebuild?

Is there any other problem that could cause massive amounts of oil to be coming out of the car?

[davidbridgman]

Not sure where leak was coming from, took it straight to mechanic when I found it, and car was still running but not so well.

Mechanic says AOS then calls me an hour later and says RMS. I didn't think an RMS would cause this amount of leakage. There were puddles, I put a newspaper under the car and it was totally saturated an hour later. So now, I am a little concerned about the mechanic, I though RMS failures caused slow leaks, this was not a slow leak.

I am depressed. If anyone has been through this can can share their experience, I'd appreciate it more than you can imagine.

[Falcon900EX]

Was the car missing or running poorly? Being low on oil is a bad thing. If it's the RMS the engine should still run just fine. Call a flatbed next time. Don't take a chance. E :o

[kbrandsma]

If oil is leaking in the the center of the car where the transmission bell housing connects to engine then you most likely have a RMS or an IMS issue. RMS usually leaks the drops the size of a quarter or so while an IMS can be quite heavy. You really can't know until you drop the tranny and remove flywheel.

[mikefocke]

So does the mechanic really know Porsches? Not many have ever been inside the M96 engine in one.

The problem you face is the cost to diagnose the problem is a large portion of the total value of the car and the cost to repair may be more than half the value of the car...can be up to double. (Sorry, the '99 is 10 years old, after all, and with 105k miles on it is probably worth less than $10k running fine).

So you have some potential options...none of them cheap.

A. Sell the car to someone else to fix it or part it out. No risk to you but little reward and you have to buy another car.

B. Pay to remove the transmission and inspect the rear of the engine to see what it reveals. Only do this if you have confidence in the mechanic you are working with. Otherwise get the car flatbedded to a mechanic you can trust to diagnose it right. Problem with this is you can get a diagnosis you don't want to hear and want to go back and do option A above but you still have to pay the mechanic for the diagnosis.

If the RMS seals are all that is wrong, the RMS seal can probably be replaced depending on how it failed. The IMS seal maybe can be replaced or you can replace the entire IMS bearing (see www.flat6innovations.com for the LNengineering part) and seal. Depends how things broke. I'd also pull the oil filter and look at it to see if there are any bad things in the filter that say the inside of the motor probably has some failure pieces in it in which case you now have a big problem and a big bill.

And worst comes to worst...here are the options

[davidbridgman]

I really appreciate everyone's input on this. Mechanic has informed me it is indeed IMS failure and I have to rebuild or replace, trying to sort out the best option now. I am inclined to sell the thing for parts, or order the Jake Raby videos when they come out and tinker with it myself as time permits. I can't see putting $7-8K for a used engine in a car maybe worth $12K on a good day, especially knowing the next engine may do the same thing.

If anyone wants to buy a 1999 with a blown engine, knows a good rebuilder that won't break the bank, or has any other ideas for a half way cost effective way to get this thing back on the road, I'd be grateful.

[RaisedOnPorsches]

I really appreciate everyone's input on this. Mechanic has informed me it is indeed IMS failure and I have to rebuild or replace, trying to sort out the best option now. I am inclined to sell the thing for parts, or order the Jake Raby videos when they come out and tinker with it myself as time permits. I can't see putting $7-8K for a used engine in a car maybe worth $12K on a good day, especially knowing the next engine may do the same thing.

If anyone wants to buy a 1999 with a blown engine, knows a good rebuilder that won't break the bank, or has any other ideas for a half way cost effective way to get this thing back on the road, I'd be grateful.

I've been playing with the idea of taking a roller such of this and converting it to a purely electric or plug-in hybrid based drive system for the heck of it. I definitely don't have the bank role for such a project. Keep us posted on what you end up choosing to do with your Boxster. You have my sympathy.

-J