gmsracing

Well, it's been a tough couple of weeks for me with Porsche costs! I blew up my 951 a couple weeks ago and I had to take my CS in because I couldn't get the car into gear. Car has about 38k on it. Sold my Honda CR-V the week before so I didn't have a back up car for the first time in years! Murphy's law. It needed:

New pressure plate (cracked in half), disc, flywheel, bearing, and clutch slave. RMS was leaking and they are doing the IMS seal too while they are in there. I'm having them put in the "Cayman R" pressure plate and disc to provide some more clamping force. Flywheels are the same on both cars. Decided not to go with a LWFW in case there is truth to the theory that they cause crankshaft/balancing issues.

While the car was in, they noticed the tie rods were going and the water pump was leaking a bit. So, new tie rods, alignment, water pump, serpentine belt too. So, all in, it is about $4500. It also needs new rear tires, plugs, and a few other misc things. That brings the total to about $6k. Ouch. I was thinking of trading in the car on a Cayman R or a new CS, but I'm now pretty heavily invested in this one now so I guess that plan is off!

skl2

Wow, when it rains it pours. Most of that you could have done yourself and saved quite a bit in labor

ECS Tuning

Sorry about your luck as of late and hopefully it turns around for you soon.

gmsracing

True; that is why selling my back up vehicle hurts even more! But, I don't have the time to be down a car for several weeks while I put in a hour or two in the evenings after work.

extanker

i feel your pain. we came home in jan from a vacation and i fired up the 09 po. missing ,noisey had it towed to dealer. a rodent made a home on the engine and decided he did not like the wiring. so while it was at the dealer..............service,tires...yadda yadda and 2300 bucks later. btw......we got sick the first few days of the cruise

cds4402

Ouch. I hope my clutch doesn't go out while I still have this car.

gmsracing

Tech called to say that they couldn't get the "R" plate and disc to fit. So, back to the standard 987.1 stuff.

TexasRider

I keep batting around a Cayman S as a daily driver on days when I dont use the truck.

Is this about "normal" or are you running the car hard and harder?

No doubt that my 951 has seen it fair share of work down through the years, but even now at 92,000 it is still in top shape. And it has not had an IMS or a clutch failure . Of course it is not a daily driver .

Maybe I better re-think this .

Sorry about your luck but when you get them all back together again you should be good for a while.

gmsracing

Been driving clutches for about 20+ years now. Rev-match all gear changes. I drive the car--but I don't abuse it. 3.5 track days. No clutch dumps. Orginal owner. My wife drove the car for a couple of weeks once and that didn't help things. I had my old '97 GTi VR6 that I ABUSED for 80k miles with 12+ track days. No clutch problems. Anyway, I've seen many posts about clutches on these cars lasting ~35k miles or so. My pressure plate cracked. The pressure plate seems to be the weak point. I was going to upgrade it, but I couldn't find a compatable upgrade that also didn't require a LWFW.

TexasRider

Thanks. You know how it is - with the IMS thing, and clutches, it can start to take some of the fun away from these cars.

Machog

Texas, is the Cayman subject to the IMS as well-or where you just mentioning general costs in passing. I've been looking for a 996 for months, but recently found a couple of Cayman's that I really like.
Machog

TexasRider

Yes , the Caymans until very much subject to the IMS failure. So are the 911s (996). That applies for years from 1999-2009 or 2010 for the Cayman, Boxster, and 911 ( 996/997 ). Somewhere in there anyway for the time frame. The 2010s on are different . And some differences on the S in 2009 or so. You can search for it.

I would want a Cayman from 2010 or newer and with a Porsche Warranty. Just to be sure.

Pnug

TexasRider, where do you get your info on the IMS for the Caymans? Yes, they have an IMS but it's not the same as the older Boxsters and 996s. It is has been upgraded and has not seen the issues of previous models. Replacing the IMS seal is just a precaution since their in there and have the flywheel off, just makes sense. I really dislike guys making comments on the IMS like it's this ticking time bomb inside your Cayman. It's just not true. The first gens Caymans have been around a while so where are all these IMS failures? The problem with the 987.1 Caymans is the oil starvation and rod bolts when track the car performing high G turns and lots of high revs. There are a few IMS failures of 987.1s but most turn out to be early Boxsters that probably were not the newer versions of the IMS update and other engine failures that can not directly connected to the IMS.

Suggesting to go with a 2nd Gen Cayman is smart not because of the IMS but because of the oiling issues, DFI, LED tail lights, iPod connection and a whole lot of other improvements.

Please stop spreading IMS BS, that's not a real issue for the Cayman. It has it's own set of problems.

TexasRider

Here is a hint Pnug - I got it from the Porsche dealer when I was over looking at Caymans.

When I specifically asked the guys there at the dealer that I know fairly well which Cayman I might want, including one of their used ones, that would have a higher reliability overall and be less or not subject to IMS failures, they replied "2010 and newer."

Here is a thread just down the board that is likely the IMS . Might go see how he feels about it if it is. It is titled Bad Oil Change - Cayman engine seizure .

I did not say the issues are identical. There is indeed Cayman oiling issues. Thre are rod bolt issues. And there certainly are IMS issues too.

Here it is straight from L N Engineering , a member here on RL. The guys who do the refits.

" By far, the single row ball-bearing used starting in model year 2000 through 2005 are the most problematic. Based off projections calculated by a fellow Porsche enthusiast and retired bearing engineer from Timken, they figure a 90% survival rate of the single-row 6204 ball-bearing used in the IMS at 90,000 miles* – resulting in a staggering 10% failure rate (called the Ll0 life)! *Assuming an average speed of 60mph in top gear. This co-incides with the high number of failures we see in these model years. Regardless, all M96 and M97 engines from 1997 through 2008 can suffer intermediate shaft bearing failures at any mileage and at any time. "

Also from L N -

" The MY06s are suffering failures now. Given time, the 07 and 08 years will suffer the same as there is no difference between the model years when it comes to the intermediate shaft. I would recommend a low mileage model pre-dating the change to the latest revision IMS and put an IMS Retrofit on the engine and now worry about it. I get a lot of phone calls in regards to individuals looking to purchase a MY97-08 Porsche with an M96/M97 engine and my recommendation is the same. Purchase a MY09 car, buy an extended warranty or CPO car, or get as low mileage as possible MY97-05 car that the IMS retrofit can be applied and couple that with a low temperature thermostat and water pump as preventative measures as well. Or buy a Turbo or GT3 and don't worry about any of the above :-) We have a great buyer's guide for M96/M97 based cars on our website for those interested. "


I dont have the data here but I think on the Planet 9 poll there was about 10% plus or minus of guys reporting complete engine failures with IMS. The poll had a couple of hundred or more participants when I read it. They had other levels of cost associated other than total failure. It was $3-4,000, $5,000 etc spent on this repair or replacement and there were quite a lot of those too. They have a lot more Cayman activity there than we do here on RL as it is more the home of just Cayman and Box cars.

I think I do remember that the 3.4 motors faired somewhat better .

But to say it is "not an issue" is not correct when you look at input from the owners.

I will stand by my original comment that if you have a clutch failure, and possibly an IMS failure or seal to deal with ( as long as you are in there on the seal it would be prudent to replace the bearing right ), then it could start taking some of the fun out of these cars for most guys.

Electric Lizard

I thought that the Caymans (Caymen?) got the new engines (the 9A1) in MY2009.