jsmirand

Tucson Porsche has had my 2003 C4 for a week now following IMS failure with 11,400 miles on the clock.

Last week the service advisor indicated they were starting the process to replace the engine on my CPO warrantied car.

Yesterday, the service advisor called and said Porshe wanted them to use a camera scope to examine the inside of the engine - cylinders - to see if Porsche direction would be to repair or replace engine.

I'm unsure why, this makes me uncomfortable and feels like a high school lab experiment. And I am getting irritated that after 1 week, this is as far as we've gotten. I was settled on having my car back in another week with a reman engine, but seems like its not that simple.

Have any of you heard of this diagnostic before regarding IMS failure? Any recommendations on next steps I should take wrt to Porche / service advisor in terms of direction?

914helo

Hopefully he has small hands. Have you ever been to a Turkish prison?
Seriously though, you can talk to the manager about the slow turnaround time to try and speed things up.
Kent

BruceP

I'm sorry for your trouble, and I hope it works out for you quickly.

But, selfishly, I have to say I would be pleased if they started repairing these engines. Because it would mean the beginning of an aftermarket in M96 guts, as there is for older Porsche engines. That would not be a bad thing at all.

roberga

The reman engines have the latest updates and would be much better. Your dealer most likely has never rebuilt a 996 engine. Perhaps Porsche has seen that on inspection the damage trends to less and have been replacing more motors than they need to. I would real push the dealer for their help in getting a reman. You are the dealer's customer. The Porcshe regional rep's job is to do the least.
I had a reman due to RMS and it was a great motor.

blk on blk

My engine went through thorough testing by PCNA before they determined they would replace the engine under warranty at their cost. This is not unusual. They had my car for about a month through all of this. They gave me a car to drive, and made a few other concessions that were wirth my while when my car was away. I wish you the best, and I can tell you when you get the car back with the new motor you will be astonished at how much better the car will run and perform. Good times are ahead just be patient.

jsmirand

thanks for sharing, blk on blk. I'll be traveling abroad a week from now through mid-may, so that helps time go by while they work on my car.

67FJ45

PMNA had my dealer inspect my engine when the IMS bearing failed. Inspection was accomplished by tearing it down, not by scoping it. The engine (M96/03S, i.e. X51) was shot inside, so PMNA replaced it. Here was sequence of events:

- Without warning, engine simply shut off when I was pulling into a parking space. When I restarted it, it sounded like a bucket of bolts being shaken, so I immediately turned it off. No oil was on the ground, so I had it towed to the dealer.

- At the dealer, I started it in the presence of the assistant service manager (at his request) and let it run for about 2 seconds before turning it off. Lots of noise, but still no oil. I then took a loaner car and left.

- The service manager told me later that the mechanic started the car with several people present and ran the engine for 4 seconds in "bucket of bolts" mode. They heard a loud thunk, the engine shut off instantly, and oil began flowing from the IMS/RMS area.

- PMNA instructed the dealer to tear the engine down to diagnose the extent of the damage. It took several days to do the teardown, get PMNA the info, order the replacement engine, and return the damaged engine. The dealer told me that PMNA also covered the dealer cost for engine teardown.

- Total time to retrieve the car with replacement engine was 2 weeks.

Overall, I'm satisfied with the dealer's work and Porsche's response.

roberga

mine was great as well. Since it was the RMS leak the dealer ordered the motor. The had my car for two days and I was back on the road with a new(rebuilt) motor.

rmillnj

Once again though, another garage queen bites the dust. 11K miles on a 2003. Higher mileage is no guarantee of living forever, but it certainly does seem the less a car is driven the more likely it is to experience problems.

PTEC

This isn't an uncommon practice at all... these days its getting to be the norm. PCNA wants dealers repairing engines which have had IMS failures and the only instance which will allow dealers to install a reman engine is if there is damage to the case halfs. In my experience, I would say about 75% or more of engines are rebuildable and show now damage to the case when inspected. When the dealer rebuilds the engine they will use the new shaft/bearing/bearing cover.

RAC

So what is the cost difference between the dealer rebuild vs. a Porsche reman?

996carrerac4s

sorry new to this p forum,was the ims failure only happen to 996 and not 997?but why so many ims failure at so little mileage?i luv the 996 the way it look over the 997,but if this ims problem only happen to 996,then i might be looking into the 997 in the future,sorry not trying to hijack your thread jsmirand,and sorry to hear about your ims failure at such low mileage,but at less your are under waranty still,you'll be having a stronger motor at the end,

roberga

Buy what you want make sure it is CPOed and drive it. If the IMS fails drive it until it grinds up the bits and get a rebuild on PCNA

BruceP

The cost difference between a 996 and a 997 is very likely much more than the cost of a new engine, worse yet when you add in the depreciation you're going to eat on the 997. I think that the 997 is a lovely car, but if the only reason you're buying one is to avoid an engine failure, I think that's false economy to the nth degree.

roberga

Nothing to you but time. I would rather have a reman that was put together by a guy in Germany that does it every day. Ask your local dealer who many 996 motors they have rebuilt in the last 12 months.