If your Boxster was involved in an engine replacement - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners

How would you know if your 15 year old car you bought a year or so ago had been involved in the Porsche lawsuit ? Would a car-fax tell you or is there a site to look up the VIN ?

Here's some reading for you..... IMS Class Action Suit 2001 through 2005 owners win Update Mar 12 - Rennlist Discussion Forums

The serial number on mine had some special letters in it that indicated it was a Porsche factory rebuild. Mine is a 99 and then engine cratered with the PO in 2008 with 37k miles on it and was replaced at that time with a rebuild direct from Porsche.

7. If my Class Vehicle has not experienced IMS related engine damage, am I included? Yes. Under the terms of the settlement, if your Class Vehicle experiences the condition after mailing of Class Notice you may be eligible to receive payment for repair of the IMS related engine damage, including the cost of replacing or repairing the engine. However, no Class Member will be entitled to any payment or reimbursement for any IMS related damage occurring to a Class Vehicle more than ten (10) years after the vehicle was placed in-service , or after 130,000 total miles on the vehicle, whichever comes first. Since all of our cars are outside the 10 year limit (986's), I do not believe we are covered? I think at this point it boils down to buyer-beware.

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A Porsche factory reman engine will bear either "AT" or "X" in its serial number.

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Does anyone know if engines replaced by the factory (in 2007) had an upgraded IMS bearing to prevent failure or was it just a replacement with another engine that is prone to failure? I'm looking at a 2004 Anniversary that had the engine replaced in 2007. I was told that it had an updated IMS from the gentleman selling it but two different dealers don't think that that is the case.

I think the 2007's still had an IMS bearing although I think it was larger and hence improved but not sure if they are still experiencing similar IMS failures.

Any replacement engine sold after 2005 has the oversized bearing.

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My understanding is they still experience failure - but so far I think the estimates are only 1-2% May change as the cars age and more data is available. Still, 1-2% chance is pretty slight - I would argue that all engines have a chance they will blow up due to something. Lots of ford, toyota, honda engines have gone kaput for one reason or another. With so many moving parts and variables, it happens.

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Third generation. Replace only by splitting the case of the engine case to extract. Low probability of failures so far. Replacements available through total shaft and bearing replacement thru LN.

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I would state this differently; Yes, all engines ultimately fail. Yes, high mileage engines will see groupings of typical failure modes. Yes, all engines (even low mileage) can fail for one reason or another on occasion. But no, is NOT normal or typical for a well maintained, low mileage engine (<75K miles) from any well known modern car manufacturer to have a critical engine component fail at a rate of 1%-2% which results in the destruction of the entire engine. This definitely does NOT happen to Honda's or Toyota's (won't go out on a limb for Ford's ) If the IMSB failure rate was in any way related to safety, there would have been a mandatory recall. But since the issue is reliability related, owners had to sue Porsche. And won. That alone is a pretty special circumstance and not at all normal or typical for most car manufacturer's. Now, with that being said, like Giller, I am quite comfortable with a 98% change of success.

Toyota has been known to manufacture engines that cause sludge build up and will toast the engine at a way higher rate then 1-2% chance. Toyota Broadens Sludge-Repair Program | The Center for Auto Safety

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Yes. Well thought out and makes sense. My only argument would be that there are few cars that maintain such low mileage as our Boxsters as many of them are garage queens. This alone is pointed to as a big reason IMS can fail. I wonder if you let other engines sit idle with little drive time if they too would have issues and problems? It seems to me that the folks on here who drive their cars the most, have the least problems? This makes it very difficult to compare apples to apples. But I don't disagree with your overall sentiment.

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Yeah, crazy isn't it. The car breaks if you don't drive it lol.