Question on an 04 Boxster 986

[ghazalif]

I'm looking to buy an 04 986, but it doesn't have its IMS bearing replaced. It's a triptronic so I can't reduce the cost of the IMS bearing replacement by replacing it when replacing the clutch.

What can I do to make the IMS bearing replacement on a triptronic more cost effective?

[edc]

In any scenario to change it the gearbox has to come off and that's a chunk of labour. You can reduce this cost by doing it yourself. You could reduce the material cost by choosing a cheap IMS bearing replacement. You can reduce the cost of the job or eliminate it entirely by buying a more expensive 987.2. Or you could just not do the change at all and just enjoy the car for what it is. 

[ghazalif]

5 hours ago, edc said:

In any scenario to change it the gearbox has to come off and that's a chunk of labour. You can reduce this cost by doing it yourself. You could reduce the material cost by choosing a cheap IMS bearing replacement. You can reduce the cost of the job or eliminate it entirely by buying a more expensive 987.2. Or you could just not do the change at all and just enjoy the car for what it is. 

Fair enough, there's just a ridiculous amount of info online about IMS bearings and it's difficult for me to separate truth from fiction. I'm not mechanically savvy. 

[½cwt]

54 minutes ago, edc said:

In any scenario to change it the gearbox has to come off and that's a chunk of labour. You can reduce this cost by doing it yourself. You could reduce the material cost by choosing a cheap IMS bearing replacement. You can reduce the cost of the job or eliminate it entirely by buying a more expensive 987.2. Or you could just not do the change at all and just enjoy the car for what it is. 

Or go for an earlier 986 form late 2000 or older with the more durable double row bearing.

If the IMS will be on your mind then avoid it.  That said more Boxsters have died other ways than a failed IMS and even if the high figure from the US class action at 8% that's 92% not wot worry about.  What's the mileage and service history like. If it shows a consistent oil change every 12 months for 17 years and has been used without long periods of standing or only very low annual mileages then your risk is much reduced as well.  Strangely higher mileage could be your friend for this particular issue.

Edited June 29, 2021 by ½cwt

[ghazalif]

11 minutes ago, ½cwt said:

Or go for an earlier 986 form late 2000 or older with the more durable double row bearing.

If the IMS will be on your mind then avoid it.  That said more Boxsters have died other ways than a failed IMS and even if the high figure from the US class action at 8% that's 92% not wot worry about.  What's the mileage and service history like. If it shows a consistent oil change every 12 months for 17 years and has been used without long periods of standing or only very low annual mileages then your risk is much reduced as well.  Strangely higher mileage could be your friend for this particular issue.

It’s got 60K miles and it’s an 04 so it’s relatively low mileage. I’m test driving it tomorrow. 
 

I’ll definitely watch out for long idling periods or inconsistent oil changes in its history. Maybe I’ll take a look at older 986s. I can’t afford the newer ones. 

[charlieboy2608]

Peek underneath the vehicle for any signs of oil leaks between engine/gearbox......

[ghazalif]

24 minutes ago, charlieboy2608 said:

Peek underneath the vehicle for any signs of oil leaks between engine/gearbox......

I definitely will. But if there is no leakage the bearing could still suddenly go bad couldn’t it?

[Topbox]

Revolution Porsche in Brighouse and Leeds have lots of IMS Replacement experience, very fair price too. If you want a feel for the cost of reliable IMS replacement they are a good place to start. Also consider it's a 17 year old high performance car, lot of other terminal parts could break and you would have a repair bill in excess of what the car is worth. The scrap value is about 2k for a non runner, so you can calculate your worst possible loss against your purchase price. That thinking may help. Buying a well maintained high miler at lower initial cost makes sense as the higher risk of any failure is almost nil.  Your loss will be bigger of course if you have had the IMS replaced if something  else then breaks. It really is a fine call on the value of having the IMS done. Think about the depreciation you suffer on any new or newish car too. The most likely outcome for most folk here is they buy a good car and have lots of fun without tears.  My 986 bent a couple of valves on 52000 miles.  It was well maintained in my 4 years of ownership but was low miles with sketchy maintainence before. I had my monies worth from it though, no regrets. 😁

[ghazalif]

12 minutes ago, Topbox said:

Revolution Porsche in Brighouse and Leeds have lots of IMS Replacement experience, very fair price too. If you want a feel for the cost of reliable IMS replacement they are a good place to start. Also consider it's a 17 year old high performance car, lot of other terminal parts could break and you would have a repair bill in excess of what the car is worth. The scrap value is about 2k for a non runner, so you can calculate your worst possible loss against your purchase price. That thinking may help. Buying a well maintained high miler at lower initial cost makes sense as the higher risk of any failure is almost nil.  Your loss will be bigger of course if you have had the IMS replaced if something  else then breaks. It really is a fine call on the value of having the IMS done. Think about the depreciation you suffer on any new or newish car too. The most likely outcome for most folk here is they buy a good car and have lots of fun without tears.  My 986 bent a couple of valves on 52000 miles.  It was well maintained in my 4 years of ownership but was low miles with sketchy maintainence before. I had my monies worth from it though, no regrets. 😁

Everything you said makes sense. I’ll contact Revolution Porsche and go from there. 
 

Just like anyone else I’m looking for a level of certainty that simply doesn’t exist.

[Topbox]

3 minutes ago, ghazalif said:

Just like anyone else I’m looking for a level of certainty that simply doesn’t exist.

Indeed, there is is risk in staying in and a risk in going out. Here you risk loosing a known quantity of cash against loosing limitless fun, going places and finding friends, good luck with the car search, keep an eye on the sales here.

[charlieboy2608]

36 minutes ago, ghazalif said:

I definitely will. But if there is no leakage the bearing could still suddenly go bad couldn’t it?

Yes of course but as said by others these are high performance vehicles that at their age will require a level of maintenance.

Please go into this with your eyes open with the potential of immediate outlay-many on here recommend a 2K contingency fund to cover these possibilities.

[brillomaster]

i think thats the best approach... have a contingency fund, be aware that some big bills might come your way, but buy a car that appears to have been regularly maintained and then keep to the maintenance schedule yourself.

my recently acquired 986 S doesnt have any evidence of a IMS change, or a clutch change, and its on 73000 miles now. i figure, the car is over 20 years old now, so if the IMS bearing was going to cause a problem, it would have done so by now, so im not going to change it now as a preventative measure. And as for the clutch, well, it could go in the next 1000 miles, but equally it could run on for another 5 years/15,000 miles without any problems. if the clutch does go, i may look to do the IMS bearing then, but certainly not before.

I also bought it at a price point i was happy with should something go catastrophically wrong, i dont have too much invested.

[mike597]

For me I think the cost of changing the IMS has to be weighed up against what you stand to lose if it fails. IMO it's a very expensive insurance policy against a reasonable unlikely event.  And it only covers you against that one failure mode but these cars could easily hit you with another one. Personally I think a contingency fund is a better bet. 

 

[Downsey]

Stop reading horror stories of failed IMS bearings, and just buy the car and enjoy it.

Chances of an IMS failure are very low. People make it up to be the be all and end all of Boxster ownership. On a 17ish year old car thats covered 60 - 120k, if it was going to go it more than likely would have by now.

[Shazbot]

My '04 had the larger IMSB as used on the early 987 3.2. I had bought all the bits and an IMSB kit from the states made tools to do and when I did the clutch found the larger bearing in place. My car is on 105k and doing fine.

I think the whole IMSB thing has become internet 'fact' . It would appear that most that are affected have been under driven and the bearing goes fairly early in the life of the engine.

There doesn't appear to be any particular pattern to the few (in real terms) that have gone.

Buy it, drive it , enjoy.

[½cwt]

1 hour ago, Shazbot said:

My '04 had the larger IMSB as used on the early 987 3.2. I had bought all the bits and an IMSB kit from the states made tools to do and when I did the clutch found the larger bearing in place. My car is on 105k and doing fine.

I think the whole IMSB thing has become internet 'fact' . It would appear that most that are affected have been under driven and the bearing goes fairly early in the life of the engine.

There doesn't appear to be any particular pattern to the few (in real terms) that have gone.

Buy it, drive it , enjoy.

Any chance you can share you engine number (or message me with it) as the evidence gathered to date indicates the larger bearing wasn't introduced until about 8000 cars into 987 production in late 2004 i.e. in model year 2005.  If yours has a larger IMSB it does throw this into question and might change the advise on offer to others.

[ghazalif]

9 hours ago, ½cwt said:

Any chance you can share you engine number (or message me with it) as the evidence gathered to date indicates the larger bearing wasn't introduced until about 8000 cars into 987 production in late 2004 i.e. in model year 2005.  If yours has a larger IMSB it does throw this into question and might change the advise on offer to others.

Unfortunately I don’t have the engine number. I only test drove the car a couple of days ago

[½cwt]

1 hour ago, ghazalif said:

Unfortunately I don’t have the engine number. I only test drove the car a couple of days ago

No problem, question was to @Shazbot as if it is an original fitment engine it blows up the date change to the larger IMSB being after the start of 987 production in August 2004 with the larger bearing coming in a few months after that.

[jonogt6]

17 hours ago, Downsey said:

Stop reading horror stories of failed IMS bearings, and just buy the car and enjoy it.

Chances of an IMS failure are very low. People make it up to be the be all and end all of Boxster ownership. On a 17ish year old car thats covered 60 - 120k, if it was going to go it more than likely would have by now.

Hmmm I'm not so sure the bearing improves with age🤔. The whole "if it hasn't failed by now" theory simply makes no sense. All sealed bearings fail eventually regardless of what purpose they serve....its only a matter of time.

 

[jonogt6]

17 hours ago, Downsey said:

Stop reading horror stories of failed IMS bearings, and just buy the car and enjoy it.

Chances of an IMS failure are very low. People make it up to be the be all and end all of Boxster ownership. On a 17ish year old car thats covered 60 - 120k, if it was going to go it more than likely would have by now.

Hmmm I'm not so sure the bearing improves with age🤔. The whole "if it hasn't failed by now" theory simply makes no sense. All sealed bearings fail eventually regardless of what purpose they serve....its only a matter of time.

 

[jonogt6]

17 hours ago, Downsey said:

Stop reading horror stories of failed IMS bearings, and just buy the car and enjoy it.

Chances of an IMS failure are very low. People make it up to be the be all and end all of Boxster ownership. On a 17ish year old car thats covered 60 - 120k, if it was going to go it more than likely would have by now.

Hmmm I'm not so sure the bearing improves with age🤔. The whole "if it hasn't failed by now" theory simply makes no sense. All sealed bearings fail eventually regardless of what purpose they serve....its only a matter of time.

 

[Topbox]

4 minutes ago, jonogt6 said:

Hmmm I'm not so sure the bearing improves with age🤔. The whole "if it hasn't failed by now" theory simply makes no sense. All sealed bearings fail eventually regardless of what purpose they serve....its only a matter of time.

 

Indeed, however I think the "hasn't failed by now" is a loose term  implying the IMS fitted is not one of the mysterious ones that failed at low mileage so at higher miles the IMS is no more likely to fail than any other moving part. That's my take anyway, right or wrong. 😁

[Ninesomething]

3 hours ago, ½cwt said:

No problem, question was to @Shazbot as if it is an original fitment engine it blows up the date change to the larger IMSB being after the start of 987 production in August 2004 with the larger bearing coming in a few months after that.

Hhhhhmmmm.... Far as I know the larger bearing can only be replaced by splitting the block...

Be interesting to how many of the failed bearings did so at higher mileages.

Edited July 3, 2021 by JonSta

[edc]

4 minutes ago, JonSta said:

Hhhhhmmmm.... Far as I know the larger bearing can only be replaced by splitting the block...

New short block engine perhaps?

[Ninesomething]

1 minute ago, edc said:

New short block engine perhaps?

Possibly - but if you had an 04 car can you/would you put a later engine in? Dunno. Be interesting to see if the engine number is original to the car.