The Truth on the 987 Issues

Hey guys new to the forum, BUT I've been looking at these cars for a long time. At first I thought about the 986 for the price and risk the IMS issues, that is not my thought anymore. I figure maybe put a little more up front and try to avoid this issues. This car would be my work car getting to and from for the most part. I have been looking and I know that the 2009 is when the IMS is no longer in the motor but that is outside of the price range. So I am stuck pre-09. It seems that the 08 doesn't have many issues and I am thinking of the S model. Can you guys give me a run down of any known issues with that year? I'm sure this has been beat to death on the forums so even a ref to a previous article would be great. Thank you all!

Welcome. Search the titles of the 987 Boxster/Cayman Problems and complaints subforums. I know that sounds like a lot of work but if there are issues beyond the normal IMS / AOS things, they will be there.

Water pumps need replacing anywhere from 4-6 yrs. That's it. Unless you plan to do DEs. Then you need to do a few things to protect yourself - those are documented elsewhere. It is possible to DE a 987.1 (06-08) if you don't beat them like a rented mule. I have 2 987.1Ss - one is a semi-garage queen, the other is an all-weather / DE car. Both have approx 50K mi on them and have been two of the most reliable cars I've ever owned (I'm 57 and have owned a lot of cars).

According to Sapientoni, if you never let the oil level get low, you should never have IMS issues. The IMS would alway be lubricated from the sump because it is located below the oil level. What he says makes sense. I hope he is right.

Besides the water pump issue (my 1st lasted about 18K miles and less than 2 yrs - now on my 3rd) there are shifter cables, AOS , MAF issues. While these are no way near as critical a failure as IMS , they will impact someone who needs a reliable daily driver. Plus, with an 8-9yr old car (assuming 2008) there's going to be loads of other expected and unexpected things needing repair/replacement. Just stating this since the OP wants/needs this car to be primary transportation. Might get lucky, but count on spending $$$, regardless of how low the car's mileage.

Forums are great places to find out issues, but not the best to determine failure rates, especially a forum like this where people tend to drive their cars pretty hard. One place you might want to look is TrueDelta -- Real Car Owners Driving Real Car Information , which compiles repair data. When I bought my 987 a couple years ago there were a couple other places I found repair rate data, but I was unable to find them now. Consumer Reports tallies data nicely, but seldom has enough data to rate Porsches. Just checked and they only had data for Boxster model year 2013, which got an excellent by the way. The only repair my 2007 Cayman with 50k miles has had was to replace a faulty spoiler switch and fix a slumping gasket around the middle brake light. Of course there have also been maintenance items like oil changes and brake pad replacement. Search the forum for replacement of water pumps and you'll find some divergent opinions. I do not intend to replace mine until it starts leaking.

Were your two water pump failures seal leakage or impeller-shattering?

Be aware, though, that TrueDelta gets its data from here and the other forums they solicit members to submit data. So a percentage of the data, which we don't know but I suspect is not insignificant, comes from forums.

I had a '07 Cayman (base) with about 37K miles when I sold it (moved to a CGTS). Good advice on the water pump -- treat as a maintenance item, don't wait for it to fail. At 35K I changed the AOS (Air-oil separator) as I was getting a bit too much blue smoke on start up. I did 2-3 DE's a year (drove at 85% and had fun) and had no problems with leaking, IMS , etc. Tell you this, the guy that bought my car got a great deal and a great ride. You can find similar cars in great shape/condition. D

As already mentioned, take your time to research the forums. Wealth of info there. I would like to add my 2 cents to this. My 07 Boxster base has 51K miles - no issues whatsoever so far. Previous owner replaced WP. I do not consider True Delta as reliable source. If you are planning tracking the car or DE be ready for surprises and higher maintenance costs. If you are NOT planning to work on your car, maintenance and parts for these vehicles are expensive. Tires are also not cheap and these cars love to eat them. Base vs. S - it seems the Base 2.7 engine has less issues than S. I may be wrong but the likely reason is less power and these cars are more rarely raced or abused. Parts for the Base are more readily available and cheaper including entire engines. The late 07 and 08 987 with the large IMS bearing have pretty much no IMS issues if maintained properly. HTH and good luck!

Just an observation, the only people who talk about the IMS are people who just joined P-9 and are scared of it. It's really not an issue.

Already spreading BS and the New Year just started? Really? The OP is smart to educate himself on the 987.1 issues as they are real and can be dang expensive to fix if you are one of the unlucky ones. And not all engine issues make it to a forum. I found a couple clist ads that mentioned replaced engines that I suspect never saw the light of day on a forum. Good luck to the OP. Eddie

I went down this path a year ago. I did all of the research I could online, talked with Porsche shops, PCA members, etc. I decided to let my PPI and the experience of people more knowledgeable in H6 maintenance be my guide. My 987.1 's engine had low miles, but frequent all-synthetic oil changes, a replaced water pump and no track time. I do sometimes wonder if I am going to just end up unlucky. I really want to keep my car for ten years, as it embodies everything that I want, and have the ability to pay for. Sure, a 991 Turbo S might be preferable, but that's not in the cards for this lifetime. I have a new MAF and AOS on the way, LN Engineering spin-on oil filter with magnets, Numeric cables , fresh brake fluid and GT3 master cylinder , stainless steel brake lines, IPD plenum and relatively new coil packs and plugs. I feel like the typical offenders are covered. Another thing that I encountered, which isn't spoken of very often, is the "D-Chunk" cylinder wall failure. I have seen reference to the majority of reported cases coming from automatic M96 Boxsters, where full throttle launches were done. This may contribute to hot sports, cylinder bore scoring and premature failure. So, I don't do drag racing launches. I just drive like a motorcycle, avoiding full throttle until 2nd gear, keeping revs up and letting the engine properly warm up and cool down. I am hoping that these are keys to a long lifespan.

987 is complete bullocks.. stay away...

Can you tell me what is the deal with the LN spin-on oil filter? I understand the benefit of the magnetic drain plug (got one) but I don't get the spin-on filter. I have always preferred cartridge filters - you see what you buy, they in general have larger filtering area and better oil flow respectively. I don't know, maybe I am wrong. So why do people buy this thing?

You only need to be concerned if there is blue paint on the side of your engine block, those are the motors that will surely fail. :hilarious:

Reference http://www.planet-9.com/987-cayman-...nd-boxster-chat/69768-do-you-have-blue-paint-engine-7.html?highlight=blue+paint

I also think that a big advantage is to put strong, heat resistant magnets on the metal filter body. That will show you a much larger amount of any ferrous particles suspended in the oil, while removing such from the oil stream. Also, the spin on filters are easier to replace, cleaner and as previously mentioned, don't have a plastic housing.

Here's a nice explanation: Oil Filter Bypass or Not + Oil Pump Relief Valve - ******** Discussion Forums I also got 1.4 million hits for "automotive oil filter bypass design" :-D

I have an 07 and it has been trouble free since brand new. I don't track the car and it has low milage.It has been more reliable than my previous Mercedes and BMW . I had an 05 Boxster that had some issues with the canister and oil regulator pump. I also had a squeaking clutch pedal that had to be replaced.

Thanks for the link, but I didn't see anything like a consensus agreeing with the statement "at start-up with the canister filter, a filter bypass occurs so unfiltered oil is circulated in the engine." The bypass is triggered by high oil pressure. Are you all saying that cold oil causes over-pressure? If so, I'm glad I live in Florida. Wouldn't a spin-on filter also have this relief value? It is necessary to protect the engine if/when the filter is clogged.

Getting close to 32k miles on mine and zero problems.

Wondering what your concerns are with TrueDelta.

I 2nd this. I have an 06 with 50+ track days/75k miles and have had zero issues with it both as a track car and as a DD for the first 5 years I owned it. The minor things that I have replaced have all been far and few and cheap. The whole IMS scare is all bs and shops are laughing all the way to the bank. It has been the best modern car I have ever owned and is probably the best all around sports car in the world.

I have put on 30k miles in the last 2 years on my '06 CS and had been trouble free until about a month ago when my clutch went out. $3300 later and my car shifts much better. I hear that at about 65k that the clutch might need replacing. Other than that it has just been little stuff that is easy to fix if you like to get your hands dirty.

My car is in the shop for clutch replacement .. 145,000 miles, original clutch and flywheel.. Those who claim you will need another clutch at 65,000 miles need to re-learn how to drive a manual transmission car. My local shop charged $2738 for Clutch + Flywheel + RMS + IMS Seal + IMS Flange FYI for anyone contemplating this service....

Could you elaborate on this a bit? I'm envisioning a few neodymium magnets slapped onto the outside of the filter housing...Never heard of this being done before.

Well, when I did the LN Engineering spin on filter adapter, they were bundling FilterMags ( FilterMag International | ) in the kit. It now appears that they are not. I've used magnets on my Volvo filters, and as most say, it's unlikely to hurt. It might also be snake oil. Most people who have done their own oil changes on engines with magnetic drain plugs have noticed a thin silver paste that accumulates. One supposes that it is ferrous particles which are too small for the filter to catch. Magnetic fields can trap very small particles that cellulose filter elements may pass. It may mean nothing. It may let you feel that you are doing everything you can for your car. I don't have all of the answers. I liked the marketing, and suppose that there may be something to it, as I have definitely seen metal sludge on a drain plug. If it does nothing, it is a go-fast sticker. Shrug.

I appreciate the thread. I'm in a similar position as the OP, can't afford a 2009+ Cayman , but don't want to buy a Gen. 1 car due to possible reliability concerns. In my search I'm finding many 987.2 S that I can afford ($25K) with high miles, 70,000 plus. After reading a dizzying number of threads, it seems the consensus is to stay away from high mile cars because they're on the verge of minor/major repairs. The ONLY acceptation to this advice, in general, is to have rock solid service records from the day the car rolled off the lot to present. Then, if those records show exquisite maintenance AND the PPI is spotless, maybe the car will be as trouble-free as a car with 70K miles can be. This is great advice EXCEPT those cars (in my experience of spending three months looking for a Cayman S ) are EXTREMELY scarce. And when one becomes available you've got to see the internet ad within five minutes of it being placed, or it's sold. Maybe I'm just venting my frustrations, but I'm beginning to question if a Cayman will ever be in my garage. Yes, I would like a cracker with my whine!

Yep. The flip side is that when these outstanding examples are priced $5-10k over the average market, people balk endlessly at the price. Not sure what's all that scary about high mileage or 987.1s. As long it's not the first run of 2005 IMS bearings, you're unlikely to be in for anything catastrophic, right? The other well-known issues offer symptoms and are reparable for hundreds, not thousands. So worst case, you buy a car for $20k and dump $5k into it in the first year. Then you know the exact work that was done, have a good understanding baseline condition of the car, and probably have an example that drives at least as good as when new. As long as the engine numbers are good and the transmission isn't starting to balk, I wouldn't be afraid. Then again, I bought a 30-year-old engine-swapped 911 that was someone's race car for years and kissed a couple barriers at speed, so what do I know...

It depends on the car. I see no reason to mess with the clutch until it slips or the pedal stays on the floor. I thought the air/oil separator showed risk-free signs of failure over time (if you're not tracking the car) such that it could be postponed until it was a real problem, but my research here is preliminary. I also thought the water pump and serpentine belt going was non-catastrophic if you keep an eye on the temp gauge, but I guess who can be trusted to be that vigilant, and you'd still be stranded, sooo... If the car has its original suspension components and is approaching 100k miles, you might just go from good handling to handling you didn't know was possible by replacing all the bushings and the shocks. Maybe not. I wouldn't go down the hole of "upgrades" until I put thousands of miles on the car and had a specific behavior I was trying to contentiously affect. Apart from that, these cars are relatively young. No need to replace brake lines, fuel lines, rubber bits, or seat belts as a matter of course. I try to put miles and months on a car before spending real money on anything non-preventative, 'cause sometimes stuff that bothers me at first stops bothering me. When I pick up my next nice car, I'm gonna have the paint professionally corrected, detailed, shined, and coated with CQuartz or Opti-Coat or some such. Seems like it does wonders for protecting the paint, and I intend to keep this next one for years.

Never heard of having paint corrected. What is this? What is done? Is it like a new paint job? Cost?

It's just a term for detailing. Clay bar, compound, buff, polish, protect...

The thing is from talking to some folks an 08 987.1 with high mileage is anything over 40k miles. Lol What do y'all consider high and or low mileage? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

100k is high miles for me. When I was looking, Two years ago, I wanted a 40k car. Ended up with a 60k car because I wanted an S, black in and out for $25000 . No regrets so far. I see ads for cars with 150k that say low miles and think, thats low miles ???.

Interesting question about how everyone perceives "high" or "low" miles. I'm looking at buying a Toyota Prius right now. In my price range the cars have around 100-130K miles. I consider that low miles. But if a Cayman of any year had that many miles, I would consider it HIGH miles.

It depends on the car, but it mostly depends on condition and maintenance. My E30 M3 had 171k miles on it when sold, and it was still pulling strongly and eagerly to redline, never having been opened up. My '95 air-cooled 3.6 has well over 100k, many of them on a track, and I believe the case is uncracked. My E39 M5 has almost 140k miles and pulls like a freight train with minimal oil consumption. My 944 nearly exploded at 80k miles due to my ignorance of the timing belt, but went to 140k with no major issues after that was taken care of (several times). I'm about to buy a 987.1 S with 80k miles, a knowledgable owner, and recent records. I ain't worried. Truth be told, I fear miles 0-20k more than I fear 100-120k...By now, the issues with the M97 motor seem well understood such that a particular motor is unlikely to explode unexpectedly (on the street), and will probably just gradually degrade with commensurate oil consumption, leakage, or rough running that will indicate time for major work. If I'm wrong, tell me now... Little things can go wrong, but that's very specific to how a car was used. Suspension components are wear items. These cars are still quite young, so seals and what not are probably fine. Rust is much less of a concern compared to...well, most every other car I've ever purchased. My main concern has always been rust, and these cars just don't seem to have much yet...