Would my 2005 987 have a later engine?

[box100]

In 2008 at 20k miles the engine on my Boxster was replaced by Porsche under warranty (I was told it ‘dropped a valve’ ). bought it 1k later.

I’ve read there were some improvements made by 2008 and wondered if they would have been on the replacement engine? Does anyone know?

Either way I’ve decided to keep it long term, it’s now at 136k and engine seems perfect but it does occur an engine failure would be so expensive to sort it may be the end of the car.

[Paul P]

In 2008 they would have fitted the “most recent spec” 987.1 engine.  So since yours is a 2006 car it likely got the same spec (ims bearing wise) as it originally had.  
 

they changed the engine in a number of ways for the 2009 model year (the 987.2) but it’s not a straight swap and wouldn’t have been done as a replacement.  
 

So I would think you have what the car started with but 20k “newer”. 
 

Given it’s running fine at 135k then it seems you have a solid car.  
 

all mechanical things will wear out eventually and honestly not much you can do to stop than aside from regular maintenance, mechanical empathy (avoid short runs, don’t work it hard when cold, equally don’t “let it warm up” by leaving it idling”, use good fuel, use good oil) and when conditions allow , give it a damn good thrashing.  

[½cwt]

27 minutes ago, Paul P said:

In 2008 they would have fitted the “most recent spec” 987.1 engine.  So since yours is a 2006 car it likely got the same spec (ims bearing wise) as it originally had.  
 

they changed the engine in a number of ways for the 2009 model year (the 987.2) but it’s not a straight swap and wouldn’t have been done as a replacement.  
 

So I would think you have what the car started with but 20k “newer”. 
 

Given it’s running fine at 135k then it seems you have a solid car.  
 

all mechanical things will wear out eventually and honestly not much you can do to stop than aside from regular maintenance, mechanical empathy (avoid short runs, don’t work it hard when cold, equally don’t “let it warm up” by leaving it idling”, use good fuel, use good oil) and when conditions allow , give it a damn good thrashing.  

Sound advice!

Now for the anorak bit - The 2009 engine was new and designated A1 (or 9A1) and is significantly different with a new block architecture and direct injection among other features.  2005 to 2008 the engine was designated M97 which is the larger IMSB that was introduced for the 987/997 ranges succeeding the M96 (some very early 2005 Boxsters did have the M96 engine) that was introduced with the original 986 in 1997 and particularly after the smaller IMSB was introduced in mid 2001 model year that led to the majority of IMSB issues. 

[McDonald]

2 hours ago, ½cwt said: (some very early 2005 Boxsters did have the M96 engine) that was introduced with the original 986 in 1997 and particularly after the smaller IMSB was introduced in mid 2001 model year that led to the majority of IMSB issues. 

I can't find a reference to M96 or M97 on my registration document. Where should I look to see the designation of my car?

[½cwt]

If you have a 2.7 are the last 4 digits of your engine number (on V5 to save you scrambling under the car to check) higher or lower than 61504715?  If higher, the larger bearing M97, if lower the smaller bearing M96.  I haven't tracked down the exact number for the 3.2 but as there was approx. a 50/50mix in production it will be around the same number depending on build batches etc.  Also based on the production volumes the change would have been from cars built in the last couple of months of 2004 (2005 model year i.e. 987 production started in Aug 2004).

The engine number is 8 digits, for a 2005 car it will start 615 for the 2.7 or 625 for the 3.2 and be followed by 5 further digits. Porsche only start engine numbering from 00501, not from 00001.

[BBB]

1 hour ago, McDonald said:

I can't find a reference to M96 or M97 on my registration document. Where should I look to see the designation of my car?

I also have a 2005 3.2S. My engine number is 625 (showing a 3.2 engine) then 06569. From reading around the 3.2 engines got the bigger bearing from 04095, so mine should have the bigger bearing.

My engine code is 9626 i.e M96.26, the same as the 986 engine. I got this information from @T911UK after paying my £5.

EDIT: if you have it @McDonald, the Guarantee and Maintenance owners booklet has a sticker on page 5, which has your VIN and engine code.

Edited August 8, 2021 by BBB

[McDonald]

32 minutes ago, BBB said:

I also have a 2005 3.2S. My engine number is 625 (showing a 3.2 engine) then 06569. From reading around the 3.2 engines got the bigger bearing from 04095, so mine should have the bigger bearing.

My engine code is 9626 i.e M96.26, the same as the 986 engine. I got this information from @T911UK after paying my £5.

EDIT: if you have it @McDonald, the Guarantee and Maintenance owners booklet has a sticker on page 5, which has your VIN and engine code.

Thanks BBB. My engine code is also 9626. I can't make sense of the next bit. perhaps you can decode it:-

[Simon_R]

Your engine number is 62568720. Bigger bearing. 

[McDonald]

9 minutes ago, Simon_R said:

Your engine number is 62568720. Bigger bearing. 

Sometimes I overcomplicate things - I read that 6 as G.

As the car was registered in early April, I feel very fortunate to have the bigger bearing. Happy days.

[BBB]

Sorry to disappoint, you were  correct @McDonald, that is G68720, which is the transmission code. Your engine number isn’t on that sticker, you’ll need to read it from your V5

[McDonald]

3 minutes ago, BBB said:

Sorry to disappoint, you were  correct @McDonald, that is G68720, which is the transmission code. Your engine number isn’t on that sticker, you’ll need to read it from your V5

Engine number 62504628. Bigger bearing confirmed by about 500 numbers - phew!

[½cwt]

2 hours ago, BBB said:

I also have a 2005 3.2S. My engine number is 625 (showing a 3.2 engine) then 06569. From reading around the 3.2 engines got the bigger bearing from 04095, so mine should have the bigger bearing.

My engine code is 9626 i.e M96.26, the same as the 986 engine. I got this information from @T911UK after paying my £5.

EDIT: if you have it @McDonald, the Guarantee and Maintenance owners booklet has a sticker on page 5, which has your VIN and engine code.

@BBB that number you have given will help add to my information on the IMS variations for the 3.2 987, I have the others for the dual to single change for both 2.7 & 3.2 on the 986 (helpfully they are in the official parts cat) and I picked up the 2.7 info for the 987 from various articles..  Do you know the source?

Once I have complete data and can cross reference all sources to be accurate I'll ask if a sticky with all the IMS/engine number info can be put at the top of on of the main topics on the forum as a reference point for all.

Edited August 8, 2021 by ½cwt

[Bferry70]

9 hours ago, ½cwt said:

@BBB that number you have given will help add to my information on the IMS variations for the 3.2 987, I have the others for the dual to single change for both 2.7 & 3.2 on the 986 (helpfully they are in the official parts cat) and I picked up the 2.7 info for the 987 from various articles..  Do you know the source?

Once I have complete data and can cross reference all sources to be accurate I'll ask if a sticky with all the IMS/engine number info can be put at the top of on of the main topics on the forum as a reference point for all.

Would it be possible for a 2004 986 to have been fitted with the larger bearing? My car is a 2.7 registered in May 2004 with engine number 65406205. Although the last four digits are greater than 4715 I suspect because it's pre-fixed by 654 and not 615, as referred to above, it will have the smaller bearing?

[BBB]

Here’s one example of the 625 engine number, from Porsche Club GB.

https://www.porscheclubgb.com/forum/tm.aspx?m=1048885

I’ve seen it in several places, but of course it could be an example of people repeating the same misinformation.

[½cwt]

7 hours ago, Bferry70 said:

Would it be possible for a 2004 986 to have been fitted with the larger bearing? My car is a 2.7 registered in May 2004 with engine number 65406205. Although the last four digits are greater than 4715 I suspect because it's pre-fixed by 654 and not 615, as referred to above, it will have the smaller bearing?

No, the 4 designates a 2004 model year engine, the change happened in the 2005 model year. Porsche model years start on 1 Aug and re tooling between 986 and 987 production would have ended 986 production earlier than normal but would probably have been staggered between the Stuttgart and Finland plants.

[andy987]

Good post!

As a note we had a 2.9 gen 2 with the 9A1 and apparently they are not direct injection, only the 3.4 has that