Boostede36

Last year I purschased my 99 911 c4 and I want to start tracking the car. Therefore, since I want to ensure the car is reliable and safe I decided to have the car gone through and serviced. I am planning to replace all fluids, replace the clutch as it feels worn and grabs relatively high, replace my rms as it leaks and while in there change the ims. I call my local dealer and ask for an estimate and he tells me that they will not do the ims. I am shocked as these are natorious issues for our cars so I asked for an explanation and he stated that c4's are not plagued by the ims problem and he checked my vin and it is not on the recall list, therefore they were instructed by porsche not service the ims. I know what you are thinking, this is just a crazy dealership and just go elsewhere. However this dealer hosts all the Pca de inspections in my area, deeply involved in Pca events, and the tech's who I have met seem very competent. What are your thoughts? Any validity to his statement, any one experience anything similar?

DTMiller

I've heard some.dealerships treat the IMS as nonserviceable. I'd find an Indy. It isn't the year of your car or chassis code; it's the specific work you are looking to have done. Thread title is a tiny bit misleading in that regard.

jhbrennan

Since the replacement bearing is a non-Porsche part, some dealers decline to replace. Find an Indy - many great ones around.

Boostede36

I'm confused, aside from ln and the handful of other companies you can buy the oem Porsche bearing. Also I want to note, they said they wouldn't perform this service on the c4 as he indicated they weren't affected. They have serviced them on c2's. Has anyone heard of this before?

DTMiller

Dealership is wrong unless you have a secret turbo.

ZuffenZeus

Best advice, is if you're really concerned about IMS failure in a track situation, the put aside about $6K and have an IMS solution certified shop install the proven (to not fail yet) IMS Solution part that will make your engine more bullet proof. Trying to get Porsche to rationalize on this topic is like trying to squeeze blood from a turnip.

vitaminC

IMS Solution Warranty Exclusions:
Failures due to off-road or severe service applications, including but not limited to autocross, drivers education, track days, or any race or competition or applications other than intended by the manufacturer use will void warranty.

jhbrennan

I've not seen a replacement with an OEM Porsche IMS bearing. Why would anyone use another Porsche bearing to replace a potentially failing Porsche bearing, assuming a Porsche bearing were even available? My dealer suggested a replacement but never even mentioned a Porsche alternative. Lots of aftermarket replacements though.

C4 engine is the same as the C2 engine so not sure what dealer was referring to.

gnat

There is no OEM bearing available on its own. The only way to get a new bearing from Porsche is as part of the IMS assembly. To the best of my knowledge, that is only available in the larger captured style.

Next up is the recall list. There was no recall list. There is a list of class vehicles for the class action, but at the time it was settled no 99, 00, and most 01s were part of the class due to age (more than 10 years old).

Finally, unless you have a replacement motor (then you just won't know until you pull the tranny), you'll have the original dual row bearing. While they still have failures, they are much more rare than the small single row.

ejdoherty911

The dealer is crazy and the techs are clearly not as competent as their fancy jumpsuits with patches convey. Find an indy who primarily works on Porsche and has replaced the IMS bearing multiple times.

RngTrtl

if youre gonna track the car you got alot of other work to do with the oil system as well.

Boostede36

Please explain? I wasn't aware.

tharbin

As others have said, there are a number of issues here.

First there is no recall. There is a Class Action suit which is entirely different.

Second there is no Porche-branded IMS bearing available. It is only available with the IMS shaft and it will be a different style than is currently installed in your car necessitating an almost total rebuild. In fact I believe that Jake once stated that the main reason he designed his IMS bearings was because you could not get factory bearings without the shaft.

Third Porsche dealers do not typically install non-Porsche parts. There are exceptions but most will say no. The ones that say yes realize they are losing a lot of potential revenue or want to help long term customers so they look the other way as to the origin of the part.

Fourth and most important if you are going to track your car the dual-row IMS probably in your car is a minor concern. Read up in this forum. You have oil and emission systems (AOS) work to do that is far more likely to take out your engine.

Find a good Indie that will do the work or have the dealer do everything but the IMS. The Class Action suit comes into play if your serial number is in the agreed list and your engine blows up due to an IMS failure.

RngTrtl

oil starvation. You should be able to do some searching for setting up your car to track it. There are oil baffles and such that can help prevent the issue.

David993S

Boostede36 - where are you located?