2005 Boxster potential buyer!

[JcD]

Hey guys, i just sold my slk r171 and thinking about purchasing a 2005 987 with around 50000km on her. I would welcome any advise about what to look and check on the car and especialy what to do with that IMS bearing issue that i'm reading about all around the internet. Should i take the car to service imidiately after i buy it and replace that or something?

[JFP in PA]

Hey guys, i just sold my slk r171 and thinking about purchasing a 2005 987 with around 50000km on her. I would welcome any advise about what to look and check on the car and especialy what to do with that IMS bearing issue that i'm reading about all around the internet. Should i take the car to service imidiately after i buy it and replace that or something?

Unfortunately, 2005 was a transitional year for Porsche and the IMS; some of the car carry the replaceable single row bearing, others carry the oversized last design that cannot be changed without taking the engine apart. And the only way to know which is in the car is to take it apart and look.

[JcD]

First thank's for your answer, i really appreciate. The story is that i sold my slk with a loss of 14.000 euros 2.5 years after i purchased "her" second hand and with 60.000km on her, so buying now the next generation-R172 will mean in the Greek market a loss of 15.000 euros within 3 years, so buying a boxster in the greek market now at 17-18.000 and even if she will completely brake down after a while and i'll sell her for parts, i'll probably won't loose more money then in the case of the Slk, and i really think that 987 is a lot more fun to drive then any slk out there! So here are a few more questions if anybody would like/could answer, in the meantime i'm looking around in the forum and in internet for answers also.

Is out there a "failure chart" with the percentance of boxsters that actually failed?

Are out there boxsters working after 100k km's without serious problems?

Is there a video or sound archive with a problematic IMS bearing so i'll know what to "hear for" when i'll check the car?

The technicians in Porsche service are able to know if the bearing has some life on it or it is ready to die?

Thank's again.!

[JFP in PA]

First thank's for your answer, i really appreciate. The story is that i sold my slk with a loss of 14.000 euros 2.5 years after i purchased "her" second hand and with 60.000km on her, so buying now the next generation-R172 will mean in the Greek market a loss of 15.000 euros within 3 years, so buying a boxster in the greek market now at 17-18.000 and even if she will completely brake down after a while and i'll sell her for parts, i'll probably won't loose more money then in the case of the Slk, and i really think that 987 is a lot more fun to drive then any slk out there! So here are a few more questions if anybody would like/could answer, in the meantime i'm looking around in the forum and in internet for answers also.

Is out there a "failure chart" with the percentance of boxsters that actually failed?

Are out there boxsters working after 100k km's without serious problems?

Is there a video or sound archive with a problematic IMS bearing so i'll know what to "hear for" when i'll check the car?

The technicians in Porsche service are able to know if the bearing has some life on it or it is ready to die?

Thank's again.!

IMS failure rates are somewhere between 1% and 10%, depending upon the model year. The IMS failure problem was the subject of a class action lawsuit here, do a search and you will find a lot of information.

Yes, there are high mileage cars that seem fine.

When the IMS fails, it typically does so without any warning, and the results are catastrophic (total engine destruction).

Porsche appears to be as in the dark as the general public. LN Engineering developed a product called "The Guardian", which is an aftermarket alarm system that can warn you that failure is immanent, but that does not prevent it. The only known method to prevent IMS failure is to replace the OEM bearing with an LN Engineering ceramic hybrid bearing before the OEM bearing fails. Once failure begins, the dying bearing fills the engine with metal debris that requires the engine be removed and completely rebuilt.

Again, there is a lot of information on this subject already posted, do some searching and you will literally find hours of reading about it.

[White987S]

I'd recommend you stretch your budget a little or hold off untill you can buy a 2006 Boxster/Boxster S. This gave Porsche an extra year to work out some of the bugs with the major redesign from the 986 to the 987 series. The 2006 usually has the larger bearing.

[JcD]

First thank's for your answer, i really appreciate. The story is that i sold my slk with a loss of 14.000 euros 2.5 years after i purchased "her" second hand and with 60.000km on her, so buying now the next generation-R172 will mean in the Greek market a loss of 15.000 euros within 3 years, so buying a boxster in the greek market now at 17-18.000 and even if she will completely brake down after a while and i'll sell her for parts, i'll probably won't loose more money then in the case of the Slk, and i really think that 987 is a lot more fun to drive then any slk out there! So here are a few more questions if anybody would like/could answer, in the meantime i'm looking around in the forum and in internet for answers also.

Is out there a "failure chart" with the percentance of boxsters that actually failed?

Are out there boxsters working after 100k km's without serious problems?

Is there a video or sound archive with a problematic IMS bearing so i'll know what to "hear for" when i'll check the car?

The technicians in Porsche service are able to know if the bearing has some life on it or it is ready to die?

Thank's again.!

IMS failure rates are somewhere between 1% and 10%, depending upon the model year. The IMS failure problem was the subject of a class action lawsuit here, do a search and you will find a lot of information.

Yes, there are high mileage cars that seem fine.

When the IMS fails, it typically does so without any warning, and the results are catastrophic (total engine destruction).

Porsche appears to be as in the dark as the general public. LN Engineering developed a product called "The Guardian", which is an aftermarket alarm system that can warn you that failure is immanent, but that does not prevent it. The only known method to prevent IMS failure is to replace the OEM bearing with an LN Engineering ceramic hybrid bearing before the OEM bearing fails. Once failure begins, the dying bearing fills the engine with metal debris that requires the engine be removed and completely rebuilt.

Again, there is a lot of information on this subject already posted, do some searching and you will literally find hours of reading about it.

Thank's a lot for the info my friend, i'm reading all around everything i can find and it seems to me that boxsters have a lot of small quality problems, l'll keep on looking.

I'd recommend you stretch your budget a little or hold off untill you can buy a 2006 Boxster/Boxster S. This gave Porsche an extra year to work out some of the bugs with the major redesign from the 986 to the 987 series. The 2006 usually has the larger bearing.

I was thinking that a 2005 model with easier access to the bearing is a better idea for the reason that i can change it as soon as i get the car but if the 2006 biger bearing has less failure rate then maybe it is better idea.

It is really not about the budget, S and simple versions have identical prices in greece right now because of the taxation system. Our taxation system is based on the assets that you have and a car at 3200cc is considered a big luxury here so the prices of cars above 3000cc have fallen dramatically. I'll have trouble reselling the S after a few time and also i think about the extra fuel consumption!

[White987S]

Or buy a 987.2 in 2009 or newer. No IMS. DFI engine. Power and fuel economy.

[JcD]

So 987.2 has no IMS? I was wondering about that but anyway can't have that car for taxation reasons. You see since the crisis began here government had the idea of a new tax called "Luxurius Living tax" and it goes up as the CC's of your car's engine are going up. So for the 2009/987/2900cc someone has to pay 1700euros per year, then for the "Road tax" you need to pay also 880 per year, that is 2580euros per year all together. Now for cars above 10 years of age the luxurious living tax does not apply so i save those 1700 to spend on gas or anything if i buy the 2005 987.