Howdy Rennlisters! I need some advice on buying a 997.1. As you can imagine, the breadth and variety of information available on the internet has made my decision more difficult. After hours of reading, I have been able to deterimne that the car's possibly original IMS bearing may need to be replaced, or may be fine or, may not be replaceable. It may have the same engine as a 996, or it might be slightly different. I should either worry, run away, or not worry at all and buy the car...

The car was sold once here on RL and I've reached out to the seller to see what he meant by: "no ims not changed when clutch was done. Ramon & Blake @ Carl’s Place examined & said it did not need to be done". I'm also going to call the shop that did that service and see if they have any info for me. Old advert from last year.

What I do know is that the car is in great shape, seems very well taken care of and drives great. It's a September 2004 build, which is what is causing the IMS confusion. E.G. which bearing does it have, is it replaceable and does it need to be done. What I'm hoping you all can help me shed light on is those questions. Also, in your experience, if I'm able to replace the IMS bearing, which should I use and how much should I expect the replacement to cost...

Help me see through the mud, people!! Should I buy this car, or am I out to lunch?

 

I feel for you. I WAS you, but AFTER I fetched my Porsche. Imagine the fret I experienced? What have I done!

Then something magical happened. I drove it. And then I drove it again. And it's such a magnificent thing to drive that I think I heard it telling me to relax. Breathe. I'm here to make you grin.

Honestly, I still am not completely sure which bearing I have. (2005, so??) I admit at some point I probably will need a clutch or a rms and then I will discover, but not today! It's Friday and I think I might put the top down and drive down to the seawall and grab a Cajun seafood platter and watch the sunset.

 

holy smokes, at that price, that was a lifetime ago! Can't find one in that ballpark anymore.

Anyway, if the IMS wasn't done, I'd do it. Now is a good time at over 70K on the clock. Do the clutch WYAIT. Use the LN product, altho I hear good things about the one Pelican sells. Make sure the shop understands these things and the installation. Reach out to Flat 6 for more info and for shops in your area. Jake Raby will talk with you and steer you right on it. Buy it!

 

I like seafood platters, and Porsches...

 

I am working on buying it in that ball park, actually. Hence why I'm trying to cover all my bases... It had a clutch back at 70k, but no IMS, which is puzzling. Thanks for the advice on finding a shop, I'll reach out to Jake.

 

This is really good advice. You can read all kinds of scary stuff on the internet, but if you find a good one (via thorough PPI) and you take care of the IMS, you’ll have a very enjoyable car you can (and should) drive like you stole.

 

I like linderpat's advice as well. A late 2004 is very likely the smaller, replaceable IMS. Replacing the original IMS with the IMS solution from LN Engineering would cost a couple thousand I think and it is well worth doing. But at the same time, I've read many posts where owners replaced their IMS bearing at higher mileage points and the IMS was perfect. The problem is you never know what is going to happen in your engine so just change it (if you can; late 2005 models and beyond of the 997.1 can't be replaced without taking the whole engine apart, and they have a very low failure rate and thus are not usually replaced unless there is strong evidence of a problem.) Once that is taken care of, the 997.1 is a pretty reliable machine. Both the 6 speed manual transmission and the Tiptronic are very reliable. Mine has 112k on the odometer and it runs and drives like a nearly new car. I feel like I'm driving a slot car sometimes. So yes, go for it. You will be glad you did.

 

I’ve only owned my 997.1 since January but am starting to get the sense that there are two types of 911 owners:

1. Those that are on the forum and fret about everything (me included)
2. Those that just own and drive them without fretting

 

#2 - mostly me

 

I hear ya! Man those wheels need cleaning! Wow the Car is filthy, Lets get at it! F-It. I'm going for a drive...😎

 

If in fact it is the smaller bearing equipped and if funds allow then have a clutch replaced and replace the IMS. Its good insurance and you'll sleep better at night for doing it. If down the road should you decide to sell, save your receipts. It might actually sweeten the pot.

 

Those who suggest that he "Replace the IMS" How and why would he do that?
I can see replacing the IMSB if it's the small one, but why the whole intermediate shaft?

 

There are certainly referring to the bearing being replaced - not the IMS itself.

 

I recently acquired a 2005 C2 with a 09/2004 build date. About a month ago, I had the clutch, IMS bearing, RMS, and AOS replaced. The IMS bearing was a small, single row variety and was functioning pretty well, but I wouldn’t have known that unless it was pulled. My clutch was at ~40% left.

I went with an LN ceramic bearing replacement rather than the Solution. Difference in cost was about $1000. All in, my bill came out to be about $3,800. I factored in this work when I purchased the car.

Before the IMS bearing replacement, I had a little anxiety each time I drove the car and the benefit of the anxiety relief was worth the cost of the replacement to me.

 

Yeah man, if you have the suspect bearing or are thinking about getting a car with that bearing, don't mess around. Get it upgraded. Simply not worth the risk and heartache of paper weighting a $30k investment over a couple thousand dollar bill. If you cannot afford a couple grand maintenance on an issue as serious as the early IMS bearing, you probably are not ready for a 911. This is one corner one should not cut.

Here are numbers that someone was keeping track of until the OP in the IMS failure stickie decided to combine 997.1 and 997.2 to water down the results and make it not appear as big of a problem as it is:


Year . . . 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 .? .(blank) . . Total
No Fail . . . 4 . . .93 . . 105 . . 52 . .30 .1 . . . 7 . . . . 292
Fail . . . . . . . . . .22 . . . .3 . . .2 . . . . . . . . . 1 . . . . . .28

That is a pretty high percentage and a huge risk of catastrophic failure if you own a 2005 with the suspect bearing. 19% failure rate for 2005 models is particularly troubling when you consider not all 2005s have the suspect bearing.




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