Just had this diagnosis on my well-maintained 2002 C4 cab. Shop recommends engine replacement. Out of warranty. Car has only 38,000 miles on it. Any idea whether Porsche will accomodate me in some way given the nature of the failure and the mileage of the car?

Thanks.

 

Seriously doubt that. Has mechanical damage actually occured as a result of the failed bearing or is the bearing simply (!) making noise? If the latter, there are alternatives in the form of a replacement bearing.

 

Take a look at this site:

http://www.lnengineering.com/ims.html

I think this is what Doug Donsbach is referring to. Withan 02' you should have the single row bearing which is easier to replace. So if no major damage has occured, i.e. the chain did not skip and valves did not crash, you may have a good alternative to full engine replacement. Many parties still follow Porsche's original policy that if anything goes wrong on a 996 engine you have to replace it, but that is really not the case. I would also drop the oil pan to check for pieces of metal from the bearing.

Let us know how it goes.

 

More than likely we can save this engine!!! Lots of shops do not know about our procedure and Porsche says it can't be done!!!

Contrary to Porsche's statements these engines can be repaired. We have the bearing technology and specialized tools to make this happen.. See this article on my site:
http://www.flat6innovations.com/savi...e-ims-retrofit

Get a second opinion, preferrably from someone that doesn't follow the Porsche rules.

( I have three engines and two cars on the way to us now from various parts of the country to have this repaired as they already have failed bearings)

 

I know nothing about engines, but from what I understand the bearing basically disintegrated and there is major mechanical damage. Maybe Porsche won't offer assistance, but they'll have lost a lifetime customer if that's the case. I'll let you know how it turns out. Any additional advice or thoughts would be appreciated.

 

Have you scheduled your Audi A8 test drive yet? Give the guys at Aston Martin a call too. The Vantage looks great and I'm sure they'd love to have you business.

Seriously though, you are *not* the first guy to have a low mileage motor fail catastrophically from the IMS failure. Porsche hasn't goodwilled a motor replacement for a very long time and it's unlikely they'll make an exception in your case. If you're still under some kind of warranty that's different of course.

Good luck.

 

So what's the price of the work you illustrated on your website?

 

Lots of things to consider, are you original owner, did you keep all your service records, porshe often has as good of customer service as the customer was as a customer.

 

The work on our site is basically the same cost as a clutch replacement, since all the work is the same but instead of just updating the IMS flange, we also do the bearing.. Its a 1500-2K job parts and labor if the vehicle is shipped to us. If the engine is out of the car its a 850.00 job including the IMS retrofit kit and install. These prices are changing as development continues and are tentative.

Lots of IMS bearings fail at this mileage, if you make it past 45K its usually goof for 65K, if you make it past 70K it'll usually never occur.

NOTHING is worse for the IMS failure than driving the car easy or cruising at 55 MPH, or if you are a "peddler" as you drive...

Don't expect goodwill from Porsche. You can try, but only if you are bored and have nothing better to do with your time.

If the bearing totally fails and the pistons do not collide with the valves or the engine doesn't ingest debris we can repair it more than likely... Every Porsche Service Writer that has seen the article has been in dis-belief... Imagine that, they have no grease under their fingernails and run around all day coaching a bunch of parts changers...

 

it seems i have to make a 4500 mile road trip to get my car past 70k.

 

I am at 84K so I guess the probability of my engine leaving me greatly diminishes?

 

did your car leaked as an early symptom... or it just failed in an instant? Sorry to hear about the engine.

 

The amont of engines we see with failures past 70K are few.. After that point it'll run until it wears out and starts burning a quart of oil/week..

 

Jake - that seems like a VERY reasonable cost given the only other option of engine replacement!

 

We tend to agree!! My primary business is upgrades and engine builds, so I know how expensive things are when the engine says "Bye Bye" due to an IMS bearing grenading it's self.