Edgy01

From everything I know about the 997, that is not your engine number. That may be a part of it, but that is not your entire number.

The 997 cars have an engine number that begins with a M96 or M97 followed by a slash, and then has a zero followed by 9 more digits. You provided 8.

Does your engine number carry an M97 prefix?

My 2006 Carrera S number is provided for an example.

Ingiro

Unfortunately my IMS bearing on my 2003 C4S coupe just failed this past Thursday while on the freeway in slow traffic. I've only had the car for 3 months. It's in immaculate condition, never tracked with 31k on the clock. The car is at my local shop, and I'm debating what to do this weekend. Also, there was no indication that this was about to happen, the engine was bone dry underneath and the PPI came back with flying colors.
Incidentally, I did not burn my engine up. Oil is still in the case, there was no leaks. but with the sound coming from that bearing and gold metal flakes in the oil, it was determined to be the IMS. My shop gave me two options. 1. pull the engine and transmission, just replace the failed part with the more reliable aftermarket one, add a different type of oil filtration system (non-bypass) and flush the engine. (no engine guarantee)
2. Complete engine tear-down. Much more $$$$$$$. (recommended)

I'm inclined to go for option 1. mostly for lack of funds, and also because I don't see myself keeping this car for ten years+. If the car was more collectible, maybe. But throwing huge amounts of money doesn't seem to make sense. Unfortunately, the car is absolutely pristine with low miles, which is making the decision slightly more difficult. I paid top dollar for the car, more than the going rate, because of its 'show-room' condition.

Does anyone have any thoughts on how reliable option 1. will be for me, considering that my shop won't guarantee this route?

Also, as the third owner of this car, would I be a candidate for the lawsuit against Porsche for what is clearly a design flaw in the motor?

Thanks.

Ingiro

1analguy

If your V.I.N. falls within the class-action window, then you should be good to go...

BED997

Ingiro- is your car part of the settlement?

https://rennlist.com/forums/996-forum/745057-ims-class-action-suit-2001-2005-owners-win-update-mar-12-a.html

Ingiro

Thanks guys. I'll check my VIN, to see if I have a shot.

Vjgtrybno1

Charles Navarro at LN recommends removing the seal to increase lubrication to the bearing.

rsabeebe

not sure how i missed this thread in the past, but i don't remember reading it before. i'm quite surprised to hear of an M96 with a non-serviceable bearing and a production date from 9/04. I think most of us were convinced that the early part of '05 - for production - was the timeframe for the change over period. having a 1/05 production C2S (M97) myself, i am also in the camp that has no idea what bearing i might have and i could drop the tranny to find out i have the newer version. it's hard to imagine a 9/04 production M96 having the later bearing - that's an extremely early use of the newer design bearing. it certainly would be nice if there was a way to determine externally which bearing your car carries. love the car, hate this headache.

Rebel32L

My car has the M96 with 2008 build date and 33k miles on. I just bought the car few days ago. It seems this model would have the non-serviceable IMS and the recommendation is to remove the outer seal on the IMS. Is it also recommended or required to install the aftermarket direct oil feeder? Isnt the bearing going to get enough oil anyways when the seal is removed? The risk I see with the direct oil feeder is getting more rhan needed oil over the bearing with contaminents in the oil that will wear out the bearing prematurely and also the feeder line seem to stick out a little below the engine. These engines are already very low to rhe road so there might be risk hitting debri that damages the line and that could be catastrophic.

Sporty

you're overthinking it. Just drive the car and remove the seal when/if you need to do the clutch and if you desire to remove it. I am on the fence as to whether I will have my seal removed when I have to do the clutch in about 10k miles or so from now. Would like to hear from those that have removed it and have put significant miles on since for the feedback.

groovzilla

Lots of back and forth on this thread getting a headache
Heres some proper information for you and I am quite sure your engine # has the earlier more problematic bearing:
In 2005 & 2006 cars engine (3.6) number up to M96/05 69507475 has the smaller IMS bearing and Engine number from M96/05 69507476 has the larger revised IMS.
These production dates of 997's with the smaller bearing are pre-March or April 2005.

You stated your engine# is 69505134 which is before the change over to the larger IMS bearing
My 2006 997 C4 has the latter less problematic IMS bearing and I did a lot of research on this 997 as well as my 2005 997 I owned a few years ago.

**Any 2005 base non-S cars with a M97 engine have most likely had their engines swapped out from junkyard due to failure. I believe actory replacement engines have no serial# stamp.

Here is a recent summary IMS Bearing Post from Petza914 that pretty much sums up the IMS questions:

Later 996s had a smaller single row bearing. This version usually failed more spectacularly, often without any real warning. This is the worst bearing of the 3 used and is also what was used in the early 2005 997 builds IN BOTH M96 AND M97 versions of the motor. This version is also replaceable.

In mid-2005, Porsche switched to the larger single row IMS bearing. This is the one that is not replaceable (don't get me started on milling the case to get it out as an option) and is the one that has proven to have a low failure rate. Every car of model year 2006-2008 has this bearing. Some of the model year 2005 cars also have it. You can use the Porsche IMS bearing lawsuit information as a GUIDELINE, but it's not a guarantee when discussing a Model year 05 car.

Here's the Engine Serial Number Information

Porsche 996/997 IMS Engine Serial # Info
There are three different serial number types for the three engine variants in our cars - base model M96.05 3.6L engines, S-model M97.01 3.8L engines, and the X51 power kit M97.01S 3.8L engines. All three have slightly different engine serial number formats.

For S-model non-X51 M97.01 engines the serial number is of the format M97/0168YXXXXX. The last 8 digits matter and are the following format:
685XXXXX = M97 for MY05
686XXXXX = M97 for MY06
687XXXXX = M97 for MY07

So the first two digits are 68, followed by the year digit, followed by a five digit serial number. But the full serial is M97/0168YXXXXX.

For X51 engines I believe the format is M97/01S68YXXXXX (added 'S' between 01 and 68).

3.6L base engines have a similar format M96/0569YXXXXX (not positive on the 05, can someone check?).

With replacement engines there is an 'AT' in front of the final eight digits. So a S-model 3.8L factory replacement engine the format would look like M97/01AT68YXXXXX.


Here's the IMS Engine # Guideline information from the Porsche lawsuit

or 3.8L motors, up to M97/01 68509790 has the smaller IMS bearing and Engine number from M97/01 68509791 has the larger revised IMS.

For 3.6L motors, if the engine s/n is M96/05 69507476 and up it has the larger bearing.