Marco8

Porsche makes greater boxer motors, but seems like every one has an Achilles heel (993 SAI, 3.2 valve guides, 2.7 broken studs, 964 leaking head etc).

I'm interested in acquiring a water pumper but this known IMS (intermediate shaft) failure issue is giving me pause.

So I'm trying to understand how real and widespread this problem is, so please share the following:

Yes, I have had an IMS problem (not someone you know, but you)
And my solution was
a)Repaired (Cost associated please)
b)Replaced engine (Cost associated please)
c)Got rid of the vehicle (sold, trade, charity, parts vehicle, etc)
d)Something else (Please share your story)

I realize this topic has been covered numerous times (yes search is my friend), but my hope is to get an answer w/o the hype. Thanks

Cpa4S

i had it in a c4s 2004 996 engine - just blew up in a car wash bay - i had no real notice.

fixed under warranty and the dealership was great but i would not want to have had it happen outside warranty.

didn't stop me from the RS 60 though - but i think it was partially behind me dumping the C4s 2 months after the ims failure/repair.

Jay H

From reading a bit on various sources, it appears that Porsche beefed up the Intermediate Shaft bearing for the 2006 model year. It'll be interesting to see if this larger bearing leads to fewer IMS issues.

Jay
08 987
90 911
84 911

cviles

I had an IMS failure on my '05 987S last November. Dealer convinced PCNA to replace the motor rather than repair it, so I got all the "fixes" for that design. Whole thing was covered under warranty and I was given a rental for a few weeks while the car was diagnosed and a new engine shipped and installed.

Larry Herman

Jake Raby, an M96 engine rebuilder in Georgia has made a host of replacement parts that have proven to be fragile in our motors. This includes cam tensioner arms and the notorious IMS bearing. BTW it can be replaced from outside the motor. It requires pulling the trans and flywheel, so if you do a clutch job, it is a good time to replace it with one of his aftermarket bearings.

tinman

Not only here but in other posts, I read, "dealer took care of it" or something to the equivalent...c'mon....WHAT would it have costed if they had not...those figures must have gone past you on some paperwork, not everyone is under original warranty still......some have none, some purchased "extended" warranties....(for what they are worth....&^&$%^^&^^@#$!!!!)

cviles

They figure you see when the "dealer took care of it" is quite different than what'll hit you if its your pocket book on the line. My dealer expended a lot of extra labor to make sure I got a new motor instead of repairing it themselves -- this way I got all the latest updates rather than a fix for this one problem, which was PCNA's policy at the time. That's labor I wouldn't have paid; I would have simply replaced the motor and avoided a lot of hours of labor I didn't need. So, the number I saw that went to PCNA is kinda meaningless. But if you just have to know, it was a little under $20K.

A scary number, yes. And not the only failure I've on this car -- if Porsche wanted to take a strict reading of the warranty they probably could have disallowed some other things they've covered. But they haven't, they've stood behind their product and that's a big part of why I spent >$100K on my 997. I've gotten far better treatment from them than BMW or Toyota ever gave me and I'm happy and I don't worry about this failure happening again.