chsu74

I would not consider dealer prices a "little extra."

Malakas

FWIW - I was talking to one of our top local Porsche mechanics the other day about extending my warranty... In the discussion he said the 2004 C4S was the most common car he's seen with IMS failures. Didn't know why.

Anyway congrats! The X51 will be incredible. Glad to see Porsche stand behind their product despite their financial woes.

notfastenough

Outstanding example of a dealer who's willing to go to bat for you... this, unfortunately seems to be the exception.

Here you go: Buy a good extended warranty and give your business to a strong independent shop who will die for you, rather than paying exorbitant dealer prices in the hope that they will come through for you in the future. My money is always on personally accountable, small business instead of sterile, corporate conglomerates.

With these cars, return on investment is excellent with an ext warr policy on just the small, boring repairs but not being paranoid every time you fire your engine is the real reward.

Macster

It is amazing that someone would not only not shut the engine off right away but to restart the engine and continue to drive the car for some distance.

'course, maybe the thing is to ensure if the noise does occur to drive the car enough so the engine is definitely toast vs. saving the engine and having an engine that could be rebuilt.

However, not everyone I'm afraid -- and which too many posts here and elsewhere have justified my fear -- will have Porsche and his Porsche dealer step with a new engine with car out of warranty.

If only...

Sincerely,

Macster.

goliver

Glad it worked out the way it did but what the hell. 40K and IMS failure? What crappy service life. Porsche should be ashamed of themselves. I read this stuff and think better sell my car before It lets go. For my car and mileage if it did its totaled. Such a fun car to drive but waiting for the other shoe to hit the floor sucks!

jyoteen

doesn't matter, but are you absolutely sure it's the IMS? I"m wondering if your valve seats broke apart like they did mine. My car has done a number of DEs as well but maintained very rigorously. I'd be curious

racerman911

I'm in Moon Township - within 4 miles of the Pittsburgh Airport.

Yep, Sewickley is the dealer that went to bat for me - great group. I'm pretty active in ARPCA and work with the dealer on many "joint activities." That being said, a very large contigent of our club consistently has great experiences with Sewickley. They have worked hard to build the trust of their customer base and it shows. There is a really strong two-way street that exists here.

Not to make this too much a sales pitch for this organization I'll mention that there are a few local independent shops in the region that are thought of very highly - no slight to them.

I'm not positive that it was the IMS - taking for granted based upon the dealer's description.

racerman911

Interesting perspective around frequency that an IMS failure occurs. My service manager says that he has seen only a couple of failures in the 996 engine. Not sure the total volume is (Porsche has been pretty tight-lipped on the subject) but I think the Internet has played a large part in creating the signficiant awareness...

Question - how many on this board has had either an IMS or RMS failure that has "totaled the engine"? Just curious?

An example of really bad engineering...
I owned a 1997 Dodge Grand Caravan that I bought in 2000 (Yes - I purchase all vehicles used) and every 2 years (like clockwork) I needed to repair / replace signficiant pieces in the air conditioning system - the compressor, the front and rear condensor, etc. for about $2K a pop. I'm not the only one in my family - my father and cousin both have also had failures on the same model (within a year or 2 of mine.) Total cost during the life of the car in my posession? $8K. Anything ever picked up by Chrysler? Nada!

This is an example of a really ****ty design that was propigated really broadly. My daily drivers will go until they are worth almost nothing - got rid of the 1997 caravan in 2007 with 200K miles and only able to get $500 for the vehicle (needed more air conditioning work done and the main computer unit failed - no speedo, etc.) We replaced it with a 2004 BMW 325 (wife chose the car and she loves it!)

Analog Theory

My IMS failed on my 99 996 @ 20K miles but it was well within the warranty. I was astonished (in a very good way) that Porsche offered unsolicited to swap the whole car out for a brand new 2001 which had a sticker nearly 20K above my 99 (including special Slate Grey paint)....which happened to be still wrapped in plastic sitting on the dealer lot (Barrier Motors, Bellevue, WA) at the time (8 miles on the odo). Incredible given that I was already the 2nd owner and had imported the car from Canada to the US (Seattle)....just the two model year evolution felt like a night and day better car. Because of the big delta in options I did have to pony up $5K but is was totally worth it. Absolutley outstanding customer service in my eyes warranty or not. They even let me move my aluminum gauge cluster, shifter and ebrake over to the new car. Then....at 1100 miles the rear main seal went on the new car (which was the 3rd time over both cars. I again complained and the regional rep gave me a new factory PSE setup installed for free. Can't say enough about how well they took care of me but that was years ago and the cars were basically new. I'm astonished they still step up now and again on these failed motors.....nice surprise for the lucky few.

theiceman

sounds like you did well, and was before they discovered this was not an isolated incident and that this was a major design flaw. i know lots of guys who bury there head in thwe sand over this issue.
The part of the original story that caught my attention was the bit about the buddy spending 18K to rebuild a SC engine .... either I call Bull or they guy got TOTALLY taken for a ride. You could almost buy to complete SC's for that. I could belive 8- 12 at the utmost max, and I even think that is insane .. 18 ? no way ..

Barn996

I had work done on my 1960 bugeye sprite and a 1968 912 in the late sixties, early seventies. Lived in Sewickley, worked for Equibank in the city. Glad to hear they did a little extra for you.

AndyK

Damn that is wild luck! Taking your old used car and giving you a brand new one? Wow!

racerman911

Do not know if my friend was taken for a ride. Started with a broken stud - progressed from there. Could try and get the breakdown of the work done. Just a note - in my opinion my friend is no fool... May not have been how YOU might choosen to invest.

Edgy01

Best of luck with the new engine. What does the X51 package provide in the way of total HP on the 996 models? I know on the early 997s it boosted output from 355 to 381.

Fast40th

Fantastic story!

You are going to love the X51 package... I truly enjoy it on my 40th Anniversary 911.

Dan: In the 996 the X51 package increases power output from 325 to 345 hp (257 kW). From my perspective, and experience of both on the track, I would say the 996 w/X51 feels very close in acceleration and throttle response to the 997.1 S.