ivangene

OK I am starting this because I am so fricken happy !!

the story goes a 97' Boxster in for service at the dealer, clutch. The dealer pulls the tranny and all, then notices a leak on the IMS seal so the proceed to pull the outter section off - WHAM.... the IMS is toast, the bearing is visably deformed and there is metal shavings everywhere - they stop and offer the owner 2 options:

1: $20K for a replacement motor (she told us thats what the quote was for)
2: they will buy her car for $2500 as is

Well, she did some research and somehow ran across LNE's website, got interested and found my indy (an Authorized Dealer/installer) and called up. The car was flat bed trucked over with out a tranny and all the stuff open (blocks of wood holding the motor up)

My indy pulls open the IMS and is scared what he sees... the retaining ring is coated in metal flakes, and the bearing is nearly in 2 pieces (mind you this was drive into the dealer for a normal clutch job and service!!!)

so the bearing is out and everyone is amazed how close this motor came to seeing an end AND how happy we are to offer this lady an alternative to the dealers 2 options!!!

I will be getting some docs/pics and other data together on this car and show you (sorry no camera today) what was found - It is the best success story I have seen on an IMS and proof to me that the warning signs dont exsist... its clearly just luck that the dealer thought to replace the seal - and that she caught this at such a late stage of degrade!!

YIPPY !!! one for the little people, I will get some pics up just as soon as I can and again some better stats on the car (miles ect)

What a great day !!

Jake Raby

AWESOME!!
This is the car that Jason from Chris' shop was emailing me about! Glad to see that he was able save it and make that dealership look like a bunch of retards!

This story reminds me of a Boxster story I was told by a client earlier who had an IMS bearing failure recently, but the service manager told him that he could not have had an IMS bearing failure, because his engine didn't have an IMS!! Its a '99 Boxtser, of course it has an IMS!

It looks like Jason's trip here to my "M96 101" Engine Assembly class is paying dividends for those in the Seattle area! Jason impressed me a lot, he is continuing to!

Every day that we keep money in the pockets of the car owner is a very, very good day!

Chris996

Ok, so who thinks they should wait to do an IMS upgrade?

bkjwhipple

Me, i mean they could have gottten $2500 for their car! who could pass that up? lol

Eharrison

OK so who is the dealer?

ivangene

thats the car... there is still clean up efforts to remove shavings, and the road to recovery is still a challenge.

Jason is really sharp... I feel lucky to have him so close to my home even though I dont have an M96 motor anymore, there is still great things to learn and to teach people about how to save themselves.

I agree - what a great day to have seen this has inspired me - I am hoping to get the bearing to my work and get some good pics under magnification.


You are the one who started this

philooo

My god ! this is an amazing story !

I can't wait to hear the mileage and other details on the car, but what a save.

I am glad I got my extended warranty ! this was keeping up at night before that...

It really sucks that such a small piece of nothing is causing so much trouble !

Jake Raby

I had a customer with aan '02 996 drive to my shop from Louisiana for an IMSR back in February.. When we extracted the bearing it was starting to fall apart just like the one in this story.. He told me heard a new noise for the first time while climbing up my 1/4 mile long driveway... That noise was the IMS bearing!

You guys are lucky to have Jason in the region.. I have been looking for one exceptional individual from each region to help get to the next level, Jason is definitely the one for the Seattle area!

Dharn55

So $20,000 for an engine for a 97 Boxster. You can buy a 97 for $10,000 or so all day long. For that matter you can get a 996 for less than $20,000.

ivangene

yea, crazy!!

I "pre-guessed" the number to be $13-15k installed and when I heard $20 I couldnt believe my ears.

The car is worth $8-12k like you said, so I dont understand why they offered to buy it for $2500 either???? - there is a wrecked Boxster around here (someone took a bat to it and beat every panel pretty bad) so maybe there is an option.... swap the motor into it (seems that car was listed at $5-6k IIRC)

just plain crazy... I hope to get the parts this weekend and have some pics come Monday. It truely is a great feeling to see a "save"

Marc Gelefsky

Dealer service departments ... bleh!

chsu74

I would buy a Boxster roller($5-6K) and drop a used 3.4L with the bearing upgrade ($6-7K) + $3k installation all day.

ivangene

trust me I almost bought that Boxster... one day they dropped the price to $3999 and I called but it was a typo....still I was just going to drive it as is at the track

here is one
http://seattle.craigslist.org/see/ctd/1792595968.html runs and drives from what I understand

chsu74

^ nice. Think of all the parts available in that car..

Seriously! If you can pick up a used 3.4L engine at a decent price and install the LN bearing. Do all the maintenance on the engine before installing, you can get a serious car for about $15K. Need suspension of course..

ivangene

I know of a Boxster with a Cayman motor in it... that thing is wicked sounding. The guy did most of the work himself, but had to get the shop to work out a few electrical "bugs" story is he picked up a blown motor car and a wrecked Cayman....made a nice car out of the 2