Anyone get an LN bearing done AT LN?
05-10-2017, 02:15 PM
#31
Rennlist Member
This thread is exactly why I do not value low mileage when I buy a car. My 996TT was 13 years old but had only 47k miles on it when I bought it - but frankly I would have bought it with 100k miles. My '99 996 C4 aero had 133k miles on it when I bought it and 148k miles (and running beautifully) when I sold it. It looked and ran like a new car.
I'd rather buy a 2000 model year 996 with 100k miles and pay $15,000 for it than buy one with 19k miles on it for probably $25,000. Why? Well, now you are stuck with the above scenario of spending another $9,000 "just in case" it might break. And guess what? It still may very well break. How many modes of complete engine failure are there for the M96?
So, spend $9,000 to hopefully prevent an IMS bearing failure and you might still have D-chunk or bore scoring or fill-in-the-blank with about half of the other modes of failure that still won't be avoided even with all that work to be done.
No sir, not for me. I'll buy the $15,000 car and drive the damn thing until it DOES break. Then, I'll either fix whatever breaks or sell the carcass and move on.
I'd rather have a car that I can drive without worrying about putting mileage on it (which is one thing I hate about my 996TT - it is TOO low of mileage). Or worrying about getting a rock chip on it because it's a garage queen. Or worrying about having to do $9,000 worth of preventative maintenance because "it might break." I used to drive my '99 996 C4 aero every-freaking-where in every-freaking-type-of-weather and I never worried about this stuff. This thread is why the 996 gets a bad reputation.
My opinion is that if you aren't comfortable with going with the recommendations of LN and Jake, then you should not have purchased a low-mileage garage queen. When you do that, you are basically committed to adopting the OCD theory of Porsche ownership. Which is expensive. To each his own - there are guys that would never consider doing it any other way. They are not wrong. It's just a theory that I don't subscribe to because in the end, as much as I love the 996, it is just a car. It's meant to be driven and driven cars will break down eventually. But, there are tons of Porsche owners who are more than comfortable spending thousands and thousands of dollars replacing perfectly good parts because they might someday break.
My opinion? Sell the damn thing to somebody who is comfortable with the OCD lifestyle. Then, take $15,000 of that sale price and buy yourself a nice, higher mileage car that you don't lay awake at night worrying about. Put the remaining $10,000 of your garage queen sale price back in the bank on top of the $9,000 you aren't going to spend doing the preventative maintenance. Then drive the hell out of the higher mileage car with a big grin on your face.
Rant off
I'd rather buy a 2000 model year 996 with 100k miles and pay $15,000 for it than buy one with 19k miles on it for probably $25,000. Why? Well, now you are stuck with the above scenario of spending another $9,000 "just in case" it might break. And guess what? It still may very well break. How many modes of complete engine failure are there for the M96?
So, spend $9,000 to hopefully prevent an IMS bearing failure and you might still have D-chunk or bore scoring or fill-in-the-blank with about half of the other modes of failure that still won't be avoided even with all that work to be done.
No sir, not for me. I'll buy the $15,000 car and drive the damn thing until it DOES break. Then, I'll either fix whatever breaks or sell the carcass and move on.
I'd rather have a car that I can drive without worrying about putting mileage on it (which is one thing I hate about my 996TT - it is TOO low of mileage). Or worrying about getting a rock chip on it because it's a garage queen. Or worrying about having to do $9,000 worth of preventative maintenance because "it might break." I used to drive my '99 996 C4 aero every-freaking-where in every-freaking-type-of-weather and I never worried about this stuff. This thread is why the 996 gets a bad reputation.
My opinion is that if you aren't comfortable with going with the recommendations of LN and Jake, then you should not have purchased a low-mileage garage queen. When you do that, you are basically committed to adopting the OCD theory of Porsche ownership. Which is expensive. To each his own - there are guys that would never consider doing it any other way. They are not wrong. It's just a theory that I don't subscribe to because in the end, as much as I love the 996, it is just a car. It's meant to be driven and driven cars will break down eventually. But, there are tons of Porsche owners who are more than comfortable spending thousands and thousands of dollars replacing perfectly good parts because they might someday break.
My opinion? Sell the damn thing to somebody who is comfortable with the OCD lifestyle. Then, take $15,000 of that sale price and buy yourself a nice, higher mileage car that you don't lay awake at night worrying about. Put the remaining $10,000 of your garage queen sale price back in the bank on top of the $9,000 you aren't going to spend doing the preventative maintenance. Then drive the hell out of the higher mileage car with a big grin on your face.
Rant off
05-10-2017, 02:22 PM
#32
First of all let's get one thing straight; I'm not trying to flame your company. I'm doing my due diligence. Like I said, I've already done my research on your product and chose it to be the solution, now I'm researching the work done by your shop. I completely understand that you need to prequalify both the condition of the engine and you have to prepare and qualify me, the customer, for the possible eventuality that other items might be involved in the solution. I do apologize that the way some of my comments were written may have been misconstrued as comments about your company, in reality, they are directed at my frustration that this and other problems exist from Porsche itself (why can't we just replace the bearing, the frustration that a car with 20k miles can be a basket case, etc). That being said, I will contact you directly with my concerns.
- read about m96, determine there's a risk you want to eliminate
- find vendor for best product at cost you can afford (I chose the Solution)
- locate certified installer (on the Solution's website)
- set appointment
- pay installer for the install
- IF your car is rejected, at least you know it has issues before the engine went kaput. Address the issues and move on. Or sell the car and disclose what you've found. Own your risk!
- enjoy driving a car that has a fixed IMS bearing & focus remainder of efforts on respecting other limitations of the car*
- Do not, under any circumstance, irritate the small network of people that can actually help you with industry leading products geared precisely to your application. We are here for a reason, respect the limitations of our knowledge and the extensive nature of LN/FSI's on the topic.
*I use DT40 for lubrication, run injector cleaner periodically, aggressive with preventative maintenance when the car is in the shop for servicing, do not track my car or spend a lot of time at redline. Do not ignore codes - fix problems as directly and honestly as you can. Don't operate in freezing temperatures, etc. Accept what you have and enjoy within the establish bounds as much as possible.
05-10-2017, 03:36 PM
#34
Advanced
LN Engineering and Flat 6 Innovations know how many things can damage the engine (besides the IMS bearing) - more than anyone else. They can see dangers signs/symptoms in these motors with their eyes closed. You are paying for that, and the associated increased confidence afterwards. They do not want to work on an engine, see signs of risk, and not address them. That's integrity.
-DL Pete
-DL Pete
05-10-2017, 05:02 PM
#36
Rennlist Member
http://theimssolution.com/wp-content...-Checklist.pdf
The website has lots of other info too.
05-10-2017, 05:06 PM
#37
Rennlist Member
My opinion? Sell the damn thing to somebody who is comfortable with the OCD lifestyle. Then, take $15,000 of that sale price and buy yourself a nice, higher mileage car that you don't lay awake at night worrying about. Put the remaining $10,000 of your garage queen sale price back in the bank on top of the $9,000 you aren't going to spend doing the preventative maintenance. Then drive the hell out of the higher mileage car with a big grin on your face.
Rant off
Rant off
05-11-2017, 09:37 AM
#38
Rennlist Member
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Mooresville, IN (Life Long Cheesehead)
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.............so the question begs to be asked. Has the OP changed his name from "Always wanted 1" to "Had 1 for a real short time"? Where'd he go?
05-11-2017, 09:53 AM
#39
Rennlist Member
Try this:
http://theimssolution.com/wp-content...-Checklist.pdf
The website has lots of other info too.
http://theimssolution.com/wp-content...-Checklist.pdf
The website has lots of other info too.
"Control module interrogation"
So lets put the computer under some hot lights, and ask it some tough questions. Maybe we will get a confession of an over-rev or a loose gas cap!
05-11-2017, 09:58 AM
#40
Racer
Thread Starter
Oh, I'm still here. I was just out looking for a third job to cover all of these preventative maintenance expenditures. I was also out in the garage changing the air oil separator and coolant expansion tank. Everything was working just fine after I was done until I had the sudden urge to replace them again, just in case. I thought I saw a mouse in the garage as well.
05-11-2017, 10:36 AM
#42
Racer
Thread Starter
a lot of people fault Porsche for the bore scoring and IMS issues but they fail to look at the big picture. The explaination for bore scoring is quite simple, actually. When you park your car in the garage on cool/cold evenings, the mice are looking for somewhere warm to sleep. They will crawl into the exhaust and nestle next to the catalytic converter. Sometime during the night they discover that the special platinum alloy is quite tasty and begin to chew away at it. This occurs night after night until one evening they've completely chewed through the cats. Once they find an open path they will discover that one of the exhaust valves are open. This is usually cylinder number six as the way the engine is balanced from the factory, number six exhaust valves are typically open when the engine comes to rest. The smaller more adventurous mice crawl into the cylinder and bed down. This typically isn't an issue for most owners as the mice wake up and head out to search for food before the car is started. The problem surfaces on the morning a Porsche owner starts the car before around six AM. The tiny mice are still in the combustion chamber. When the car starts and the piston reaches TDC, they are crushed. It's the little mouse bones that begin to score the bores. If you keep your garbage in the garage this can happen night after night, eventually leading to engine failure. Of special note; most people don't know this, but young mice are actually a bit claustrophobic. This is the reason you see the 3.6L cars exhibit these failures more often. That little bit of extra displacement is really attractive to the little guys. This explains why you can have a 3.4L car and it would be OK, yet your neighbor with the 3.6L can be affected. Most folks think there is no way to predict an impending score if issue, not true. When you first start the car, plant your foot to the floor and hold the engine at redline for 5-7 seconds. Have a friend look for tiny mouse droppings shooting out of the exhaust. This HAS to be done at cold start as once the engine is up to operating temps the mouse droppings will vaporize. If you find droppings, a cheap package of D-con will fix the issue. $5 fix, done.
05-11-2017, 12:11 PM
#44
Rennlist Member
a lot of people fault Porsche for the bore scoring and IMS issues but they fail to look at the big picture. The explaination for bore scoring is quite simple, actually. When you park your car in the garage on cool/cold evenings, the mice are looking for somewhere warm to sleep. They will crawl into the exhaust and nestle next to the catalytic converter. Sometime during the night they discover that the special platinum alloy is quite tasty and begin to chew away at it. This occurs night after night until one evening they've completely chewed through the cats. Once they find an open path they will discover that one of the exhaust valves are open. This is usually cylinder number six as the way the engine is balanced from the factory, number six exhaust valves are typically open when the engine comes to rest. The smaller more adventurous mice crawl into the cylinder and bed down. This typically isn't an issue for most owners as the mice wake up and head out to search for food before the car is started. The problem surfaces on the morning a Porsche owner starts the car before around six AM. The tiny mice are still in the combustion chamber. When the car starts and the piston reaches TDC, they are crushed. It's the little mouse bones that begin to score the bores. If you keep your garbage in the garage this can happen night after night, eventually leading to engine failure. Of special note; most people don't know this, but young mice are actually a bit claustrophobic. This is the reason you see the 3.6L cars exhibit these failures more often. That little bit of extra displacement is really attractive to the little guys. This explains why you can have a 3.4L car and it would be OK, yet your neighbor with the 3.6L can be affected. Most folks think there is no way to predict an impending score if issue, not true. When you first start the car, plant your foot to the floor and hold the engine at redline for 5-7 seconds. Have a friend look for tiny mouse droppings shooting out of the exhaust. This HAS to be done at cold start as once the engine is up to operating temps the mouse droppings will vaporize. If you find droppings, a cheap package of D-con will fix the issue. $5 fix, done.
