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So just to clarify - the current going rate is about $4,000-5000 depending on what you include in the service?
I am looking at a 2000 C4 cab with 61K miles which had a new refurbished Porsche engine swapped in 12K miles ago and thinking to do the service IF I decide to purchase the car.
I had 6 other Porsche before, and as always I have been suggested not the buy a 996 (same happened for my 1990 C2 which i owned for 14 years...)
So just to clarify - the current going rate is about $4,000-5000 depending on what you include in the service?
I am looking at a 2000 C4 cab with 61K miles which had a new refurbished Porsche engine swapped in 12K miles ago and thinking to do the service IF I decide to purchase the car.
I had 6 other Porsche before, and as always I have been suggested not the buy a 996 (same happened for my 1990 C2 which i owned for 14 years...)
I think you really need to investigate a bit more. If the engine was refurbished, what was done to it? Maybe it has the larger single bearing (997 style) and you don’t have to mess with it. Of course if you do “everything” you go to these numbers. Just the IMSB would set you back around 2k I guess.
I put in a LN Engineering IMS bearing retrofit in my 2002 996 along with the RMS. The IMS failed after about 2000 miles. LN Engineering would not even throw me a bone such as replacing the $900 part-they told me it was only warranted for 3 months and they told me to pound sand. I also got a similar response from the shop in Northern Virginia that suggested the IMS replacement. I wish I had just left well enough alone.
Vicomel, I’m sorry to hear of your problem. I also had a local Porsche Indy do my RMS with an LN replacement. COmpletely on my request, the car was running fine but with all the talk of potential problems I decided to go for it. I have put 6000 miles on since and the engine runs sweeter than ever. That said, I wonder if the issue was the shop and the installation rather than the bearing itself. Of course it could be the bearing but what do you know of the shop? For example, the shop I used services only Porsches and they also race them on weekends. The owner talks on behalf of the local PCA chapter so his and his crew’s knowledge of these cars is enormous. Hopefully the shop would take a little responsibility and at the least take it apart and see what failed. Then a determination can be made as to the problem and what to do moving forward. Good Luck.
the shop was highly reputable similar to the shop you use. I had the engine rebuilt and then sold the 996 and got a 997 911T with the Metzger engine so life is good.
I put in a LN Engineering IMS bearing retrofit in my 2002 996 along with the RMS. The IMS failed after about 2000 miles. LN Engineering would not even throw me a bone such as replacing the $900 part-they told me it was only warranted for 3 months and they told me to pound sand. I also got a similar response from the shop in Northern Virginia that suggested the IMS replacement. I wish I had just left well enough alone.
I review all claims filed with LN Engineering after the information has been collected from the customer.
Can you provide your last 6 of the vin and when you contacted us (PM is fine), along with your name and email address. It would also be helpful if I knew what shop did the work and any other pertinent information you could provide. I would like to look into this further for you.
The Classic Single Row carries a 30 day warranty, but the Single Row Pro and Classic Dual carry a longer 2 yr warranty. There is no product with a 90 day warranty and even if the IMS is not under warranty, we always offer to help out either with a discount on products or services and at the bare minimum, we will replace the IMS shaft and bearing if the customer is having the engine rebuilt, again, as goodwill and not because of any stated warranty.
You would not have been told to "pound sand." That is not what we do.
I will state the obvious that if the job was not registered or properly qualified, there is no warranty. That is clearly stated on all documentation and with the registration card provided.
Ultimately if the shop did not properly qualify or register the install and they gave you a written warranty, it's on them to stand behind that warranty.
I doubt he'll even respond to Charles' questions since he doesn't own the 996 any longer. Not sure why he chose to comment other than he felt a need to troll. Maybe he'll realize his TT has a Mezger engine
The early 997 Carrera (2005) has basicly the same IMS design as the later Mk.1 & all Mk.2 996 models (as of 2000) with a small IMS bearing. Those have the highest failure rate (8-10%?). The good thing this has been addressed by various maintenance or retrofit solutions which will leave you with a pretty much bulletproof solution(at least for the IMS failure).
The 997 S models and later Carreras (2006) have a bigger IMS bearing (similar load factor as the dualrow IMS bearings in earliest (1997-2000) 996 cars), however they can still fail (<1%?). There is no maintenance solution available, except removing the bearing seal to allow engine oil to lubricate the bearing.
The 997 Mk.2 (MY2009, available since August 2008) has the new DFI engine which does not have an IMS anymore.
Any 996/997 GT model or Turbo has a different engine with a different IMS bearing design which has no IMS related issues.
Can you please explain this reply in more layman's terms? I'm currently considering a 996 and wondering what years are better to look for. I'm confused about which IMS design has the highest incident of failure.
While I'm at it, I don't understand why some 1999's have yellow fried eggs (and tail lights) and some have clear lenses.
I'm a blank sheet of "car shopping" paper. Draw on me!
Well, I was finally persuaded to spill the beans about my feelings on the IMS topic. PCA spent several days at my Training facility this week to shoot a series of videos about IMS bearings, and issues. These will be 15-20 minutes in duration, and expect 5-6 of them to be released a few weeks apart.
This series NEVER mentions a brand of a product at all, no company names are mentioned, and no marketing..
It’s all about:
-What the IMS is, and where it is in the engine
-The role it plays in the engine
-How to mitigate the chances of IMS Bearing failure without performing a retrofif
-Which engine’s are most susceptible to failure and why
-Typical collateral damages that occur to the remainder of the engine after the IMSB fails
-Various technologies that will address IMSB failure
-IMS Retrofit tools, and the Retrofit procedure in summary
I’ll probably regret doing this, like I always regret opening my mouth.
Heres a couple of sneak peeks:
Last edited by Flat6 Innovations; 10-28-2017 at 02:05 AM.
Very nice, Jake! I recognize the engine rebuild school.
Let us know when the videos will be available. Look forward to watching them.
The first of 5 (maybe 6) segments should be live in a couple of weeks on the PCA youtube channel. Watch your "E- Brake" newsletter from PCA for the releases.
10-17-2017, 03:01 PM
