Mbeardo

I have a 2004 Boxster S, 550 Spyder Anni Edition, with 32K miles. I purchased the car less than 12 months ago.

The IMS bearing went out with no warning, so now the engine is toast.
Porsche USA will not help.
After driving for 40+ years and 25+ cars later, this is the 1st car I have owned that had an engine failure.

I need help to determine what my options are?
Has this happened to anyone and what did you end up doing?

Help !!

Mbeardo

Macster

That is terrible news. The car is a very nice looking car too. One of my favorite special editions.

I've never had this happen but I have followed this issue since before it became an issue.

Your options are several but none of them very pleasant.

In no particular order:

1) Price a replacement engine from the factory. Expensive but the engine comes with a 2 year, 24K mile warranty. Not a few owners have gone this route -- admittedly most of them getting the engine under warranty -- and have had good luck with the replacement engine.

2) The engine may be rebuildable. I came across a 996 in for this that was torn down and the IMSB while obviously shot the rest of the engine (with about 20K miles on it) was in good shape and the tech (at a Burlingame CA Porsche dealer) had it back together and in the car in a day or so after I first spotted the engine in pieces. I do not know the cost of this. Also, there is the risk the engine will not be a good rebuild candidate. The Porsche tech told me -- the details escape me now -- the factory had guidelines/checks to follow/do that were intended to ensure the engine was a suitable rebuild candidate.

Now you can look into having this done at a dealer -- expensive -- or an indy shop. If you chose a dealer you want one that has done this many times in the past. Not all dealers engage in this activity and since it has been a few years since I learned of this Porsche may have put the halt to any dealer doing this.

The same goes for an indy. You want an indy shop that has a very large and very good rep for Boxster engine rebuilds. I'm sure some who've got direct experience with these will chime in with good suggestions.

3) Replace the engine with one from a Porsche salvage yard. The southern CA/LA area has more than a few of these businesses. Check ads in the back of Excellence or Panorama.

The risk is the replacement engine is sick. So you want to deal with a business that offers you the best 'warranty' or exchange policy in case the 1st replacement engine is sick.

Also, a complication is if your car's engine is also 'special' or unique to the car. If so then the task of finding an engine from a similar car becomes harder. But I think worth it to try to maintain as much of the car's originality as possible. The car will never (well, probably never) become a collector car but you still want to replace the sick engine with one as close to the same engine as possible. There is of course the other side of the coin and this is to replace the engine with some bigger, an engine from say a similar year 996.

3) Sell the car. Option of last resort obviously. As a non-runner it has very little value. I can't estimate this: My non-runner Boxster market values are a year or more out of date and then the car is a special which may or may not affect its salvage value.

All I can say is again the loss of the engine is terrible news.

All I can offer is this advice: Do not rush into a decision. Do your homework and research -- you made a good start coming here and you'll get other good (better) responses besides mine -- and understand all the options open to you and then when you have them all in front of you, you can calmly weigh the pros and cons and make the right decision for you.

Best of luck!

Sincerely,

Macster.

stuttgart46

Well put Macster.
I replaced 3 engines a few years ago. 2 in a Spec Boxster and 1 in my street car. It's such a great car but the IMS issue scares me. However, I did just pick up a '98 a couple of weeks ago and I am hoping for the best. I will be talking to Jake Raby before this car ever sees the track.

Mbeardo

I did run across Jake's website and am going to give them a call to see what flat6innovations recommends. If I go that route, I would probably have to ship the car to them in GA.

Has anyone used Jake Raby in the past?

Beardo

Flat6 Innovations

Yes, shipping the car to us is the only way to go if you are considering our solution. We are our own shipping brokers and can get good prices for shipping from competent shippers. We have already shipped 5 dozen Porsches to and from our facility this year alone, all with flawless results.

Engine removal, reinstallation, dyno evaluation and all fluids are free of charge if you ship the car to us.

That said, the anniversary cars seem to have some trends with their IMS failures and for the small number of these cars that were built, we have seen a fair number of them end up here. No Porsche ends up here unless its a worst case scenario~

Call our offices tomorrow, I'll be in my office mid-morning working on my M96 engine rebuild school curriculum so I'll be available. If you decide not to repair the car, we'll buy it from you.

mikefocke

I've owned 40+ cars, had 6 engine failures and 3 transmission failures. So Porsche is not unique if the brand suffers one. (My 2 Boxsters were so close to perfect they ranked in costs per year well above any of the brands I've owned which have super reliable reputations.)

Jake is the guy who originally developed the LN bearing transplant tools and methodology. He has done hundreds. He also rebuilds engines with lots of aftermarket parts and builds more robust and higher HP engines.

Having said that, if you are on the left coast, there are experienced IMS replacement mechanics a lot closer.

Ray S

Jake fixed my car last year (chain tensioner failure). He runs a very tight ship and did absolutely everything he said he would with my 996.

The car now runs great again. Very satisfied customer.

Flat6 Innovations

Thanks, Ray.. Was glad to hear that things were good to go when Dean called you to follow up last week. I really enjoyed performing my evaluations on your car!

ltusler

+996 on all comments on Jakes rebuilds. Just ran over 200 miles on the Brainerd International 13 turn 2.5 mile short course on Friday. It was an open track day with some of my customers and verdors taking 4-5 lap sessions with me. The car simply runs and runs and loves every minute of it.

Navin R Johnson

I'd think long and hard before I put 10 - 15 K in a car more than ten years old, all the other parts on the vehicle are old too. If you truly love the Anniversary addition then fix it, otherwise dump it as a roller or patiently disassemble it and part it out. Best of luck whatever you decide, my issue with replacement is the fact that the next engine has the same weak point and still spins many chains.

Flat6 Innovations

Not if replaced by a Flat6 Substitute like we created for Lon.

The very first thing that I communicate to my potential engine purchasers is my solution makes ZERO sense unless they have an attraction with the car that goes much further than money.

The only time going to an engine solution like mine makes sense is if you NEVER plan to sell the car and you have years of flawless performance for return on investment. The first thing that I say to these purchasers is "How much do you love this car?" If they respond "Not a lot" I don't even give them my option or what it costs.

Spending more money for a Porsche engine, than the entire vehicle is worth is nothing new. Years and years ago we were stuffing 10,000 engines in cars that might be worth 5-8K.

These are great cars and other than engine issues they don't really have any other quirks. Because of this more people love the cars more than their wallet than you would think. I have an 8 month backlog for my engines at the present and the least that one of those is costing as a full reconstruction is 18,750.00. The people that want to keep the car want to eliminate all the deficiencies and they look this way to do that.

BUT if you want to sell the car broken, we pay fair prices for broken cars and assume them just as they are. I don't care how bad the engine is scattered, we have people on wait lists looking for a car with a blown engine so they can take advantage of our engine program and do so for a bit less money. If you want to sell it broken, follow this link.

http://www.flat6innovations.com/comp...hase-worksheet

Navin R Johnson

I have an 8 month backlog for my engines at the present and the least that one of those is costing as a full reconstruction is 18,750.00.

The ability to overcharge people for a silly decision does not validate their decision. From a purely economic standpoint putting 19 K in a ten year old car worth maybe 11-15K running is stupid. Ms. Cleo probably got rich on phone seances that doesn't mean the people who enriched her didn't make a foolish economic decision. There is a guy in my town who charges $400.00 for a brake line flush, lot is always full of Porsches, he has a waiting list too, a waiting list of uninformed suckers.

Flat6 Innovations

Some may agree, but many don't based on the facts sitting on my build board right now. This is why the choice to invest this much money into the car can't be anything more than the person's love of the vehicle. A mix of about 50% of the vehicles are dual purpose track cars, so some purchasers get value from the added performance and track sustainability alone, Ltusler fits into that category.

So you are calling my current purchasers "fools" because they love their car more than their wallet? I am sure they'd love that.

Actually, they are informed- Well informed. They are informed that a OEM replacement engine costs the same, isn't hand built, isn't application specific and has the same inherent flaws as the one that just left them on the side of the road.

They are also informed of what we do, how it is done, what it includes, how long it takes and exactly what it costs before I ever get a dollar of their money. No stress, no games and its all their decision from day one. I don't hold a gun to their heads and I make damn sure that this engine is exactly what they want.

Keep in mind that the very first reconstructed M96 engine that I built for a purchaser cost 15,500.00- the big difference was back in those days a brand new Porsche replacment engine (not a Reman!) cost 5,5750.00 for his car. He had been down that road twice, didn't get the return on investment he was looking for, and then looked to me.

Its all a choice based on the individual. Lots of the people I deal with come from the aircooled Porsche world and understand what these cars are about- to others they treat the car like their Honda or Toyota and they don't value the car in anyway other than the blue book states. Those people generally sell their car broken and I have been known to buy a few.

The heart of a Porsche always has been and always will be it's engine- no value the worth of the vehicle, the engine is the most critical component. FYI- The cost of a new (early) GT3 engine today from Porsche is also more money than the cars are selling for and most people don't know that.

Navin R Johnson

Jake, This might shock you but I don't care about what your customers say or how they spend their money. For that matter, I am not against you making a profit, this is the USA, make the stack as high as you can, that's the game, right? I've owned my own business, I've seen myself the differing styles, mine is just another opinion, it's not going to change your appointment book so relax.

PS I said the uninformed suckers were in my own town paying four large for a brake fluid change, you sir are the one who connected "suckers" with flat six not I. A quick search I found ten Boxsters for under 20K, draw your own conclusions mates.. When you can easily replace the entire car for less than the engine job one should pause and say hummmm.

Flat6 Innovations

Thanks for the clarification as thats certainly now what I gathered from your initial post.

Perhaps I did that because the information earlier in this thread wasn't about brakes or people in your town who were paying too much to have them done. Your use of this comparison in a thread where my engines had become a topic would only lead one to assume exactly what I did- That the people who spend more on an engine for their Porsche, than the car is worth are "Uninformed suckers".

Anyway, no huge deal- we both know where we stand and I respect your opinion.