I am currenlty looking at a 997S.

Any issues with the 2005's? Do the 997S engines have the same issues as the 996?

Any information would be appreciated.

 

This topic has been discussed literally 100's of time in one thread or another.
Do a search for 2005 & IMS.

In brief, generally all 2005's have an "inferior" IMS design which could
lead to engine issues. That being said, the percentage of 2005's with
IMS failure issues is quite minimal.

My suggestion, echoed by just about every 997 owner on this forum, would
be to buy a 2006 or newer. However, I'm not sold on the theory
that all 2005's will experience IMS issues.

 

Is that true on the "S" model as well?

 

Yes.

 

Indeed. My '05 is coming up on 30K, no engine issues. Talked to someone getting his '05 serviced when I was at the dealer: no issues @ 55K. Plenty of things to go wrong with any car 4+ yrs old, nothing cheap to fix on a Porsche unless you DIY. "Bumper to bumper" extended warranty on my car ~$6K for 6 yrs/100K will cover everything with a high % of failure chance in that time frame as well as the remote chance of an IMS. Never yet not had one of those warranties at least pay for itself in "minor" repairs...$300-$1000 at a pop, only takes a few of them to pay for the warranty.

And now that the internet mythology is convincing people to buy '06+, the "Tick Tick Boom" guys are claiming those are having IMS failures too...although no Google search I've done has turned up a single verifiable first-hand report. In terms of first hand reports, there are only a handful of them regarding '05's, and maybe a couple dozen total for all years of the 997 as well as 996. I'm excluding all the "I saw x of them when I was at the dealer" or "My mechanic told me" or "My neighbor's car" hearsay anecdotes, as well as the doomsaying originating from people with a financial interest in selling aftermarket parts, or magazines who sell ads to the aforementioned entrepreneurs.

My advice is buy on condition and price, not year. Find the car with the options and color you want, in the best possible condition, at the best price deal...then get it CPO or Bumper to Bumper (aka Exclusionary) aftermarket warranty and enjoy the car of your dreams...not settle for second or third choice and pay more just because of internet hysteria.

That said, '05's are becoming harder to find with low but not ridiculously-low mileage (cars that get driven 1000-2000 miles a year are not necessarily good buys as we all know!) that have solid service histories and not more than 2 previous owners.

 

^^^ One of the most rational and reasonable posts I've read re: the 05 997s IMS issue. Well done.

Oh and there's 75k on my '05S daily driver with no problems. Normal maintenance items need only apply.

 

As I have written dozens of times...

My 05 had an IMS issue, not serious as per the dealer, but my engine was replaced.

While it was being replaced an 06 was In the dealer getting a new engine for an IMS issues.

Unless you go with the DFI engine IMO there are no guarantees.

But I do believe the issue is much smaller than discussed here.

 

I tried to be proactive in dealing with the IMS issue on my April build 2005 C2S. We had the engine out to do a rear main seal, and I was going to do the IMS upgrade, only to find that it actually HAS the upgraded IMS, like a 2006+ model.

So it's a mistake to assume that ALL 2005 cars have the faulty IMS.

 

I recall there being a lot of talk at the time about a curious shift in the suspension under cornering, perhaps to do with overly soft bushings, that was peculiar to the 05 model year cars. Excellence spent some time on this topic at the time, and I recall seeing mention of it on Rennlist as well. Probably worth doing a little digging here as well.....

 

The suspension issue was an assembly error. Caught into the MY05 process, it hasn't been rectified unless the customer complains about it. (There is no recall, per se).