HallEYA

Purchased in 2014 from original owner, at which time had IMS done preemptively at 41,xxx miles, as well as clutch, flywheel, etc. Oil changed every 4 months or 4000 miles, and nothing ever shown. Currently 52,xxx miles.

Leaving local Porsche dealer on Wednesday night (had been testing Macan/Cayennes as replacements), car flat out dies (with ABS/PSM/Visit Workshop lights going crazy immediately prior), and had it towed back to dealer.

Just spoke with their service - initial diagnosis is IMS failure, but can't be sure until they get it into a bay and pull it, at which time they will review options.

As I was planning to trade it in or sell privately to move into an SUV, I am disinclined to spend a lot of time/$$$ on repair (if even an option).

Any thoughts on easiest and most viable next steps welcome. Thank you.


UPDATE on 10/19/2016: Contacted Town Motor re: IMS, to clarify the procedure. While reading the below, please note that I have, in writing, confirmation that a complete IMS retrofit was going to be done (and that I never would have purchased the car without it). Full reply is quoted below. Short version - IMS retrofit was NOT done, so mine is just your standard 996 catastrophic engine failure. Thanks to many members for the advice/encouragement, and especially Jake Raby, who I spoke with at length yesterday about options from here.

HallEYA,
What was quoted at the time of the PPI was the RMS/IMS seals. We do not do aftermarket bearing only replace with a factory bearing/shaft. Which requires tearing the motor completely down to the crank . after reviewing your invoice it shows only the replacement IMS /RMS seals and there is no parts or labor referring to a retrofit kit. Our RMS/IMS kit is what we refer to it as seals for Rear main and intermediate shaft seals. It seems you are under the impression we replaced the IMS bearing what we actually recommended and replaced was the rear main seal and the intermediate bearing cover seal and the 3 bolts that secure it to the engine.

llis

So sorry to hear of your experience. I have no answer to your question but have one of my own: Do you know which IMS solution had been performed?

HallEYA

Thanks. Pretty gross feeling.

IMS done by Town Motors of Englewood, NJ

jb1007

how can a redone IMS go with only 10k miles. keep us posted. Something isn't right. which bearing was used.

Daniel Kant

Sorry for your loss!

Is it me or are we starting to see an increase in IMS failures where the original IMS has been replaced as a precaution?

HallEYA

Will do. They're going to try and fast track the engine pull (because 911 is theoretically holding up the sale), so should know more within a week. I'll try to find paperwork tonight and advise on bearing.

jhbrennan

But the reports never provide enough info...since there are many bearing choices it would be helpful to know what type of replacement bearing failed.

thechileman

How helpful would it be to know which bearing failed? It's just one motor, with one bad bearing. Anecdotal at best. Could be a bad install, or something completely different. Sorry you had the failure HallEYA.

RngTrtl

To OP, if it is the IMS, i am sure you know that the motor is toast and you will need a replacement used motor. There is no real coming back from having and IMS failure i think.

HallEYA

I do indeed. I posted about 10 minutes after learning, so I guess wasn't super clear. Popping another $7-10k into the car holds little appeal, so I am likely going to go the salvage/roller route, so will be sorting those logistics. If anyone has done that recently, I'm all ears. Thanks to all.

wyovino

No sense speculating the cause until it's been thoroughly examined.

Gonzo911

OP...do you know which brand of IMSB was used in the retrofit?

HallEYA

Have paperwork at home. Will send through when I find.

WalterRohrl

The dealer is unlikely to give much detail beyond Yep, the engine is full of metal. Back when the cars were still dealer-serviced and under warranty, they just pulled the engine, replaced it with a new one and sent the damaged one back to the factory in one piece. And nowadays the typical dealer doesn't see enough of them to know what to look for or how to troubleshoot it correctly. And the customer doesn't usually want to pay for that if the engine is done for anyway.

Good luck, OP.

gnat

You mentioned the milage on the bearing (roughly 11k), but do you know when it was installed?

It was replaced at 41k-ish, but how many miles were on it when you purchased the car? In other words, had he driven on it a decent amount before passing it on was it done to make it a more appealing sale?

Also keep in mind that it is entirely possible that something else failed and took the bearing with it. A dead bearing is one of the first/easiest things seen when diagnosing a dead motor so it often gets the blame without the full story as few people want to spend the time/money to fully diagnose the failure on a motor that is essentially scrap.

As far as your current predicament, if the motor is indeed dead, I wouldn't both having them remove the motor given what you've said. That's just pouring more money into it. You can ask them what they'll give you for it as it sits, but I doubt much (3-5k?) and I expect you can do better selling it as a roller yourself. I haven't seen many C4S rollers come up, so I'd guess somewhere in the 8-10k might be doable in a private party sale.

So if I were in your shoes and based on what you've said (not planning to keep it and not wanting to spend money on it), I'd get it buttoned back up, tow it home, and put an add up on CL and in the for sale section here.