Guardian in use?

Has anyone benefited from the IMS Guardian type systems. Has the alarm gone off or not. I have looked through the IMS Threads and I can see a few of you have them fitted but has anyone saved themselves thanks to these devices? We can get them over here now and I was investigating the success rate O_Sr

I have it installed on my 2003 996 with 41K and hope to never hear it go off. Typically people who have purchased this device want an early warning of engine failure based on all of the threads about the infamous IMSB. Each time you start the car you can test to see if the audible alarm is functioning properly. I do recommend you purchasing this because it is more for peace of mind. So I have benefitted from the device because I'm not as worried to drive and enjoy my 996. Hope this helps.

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Its a bit like smoke alarms you hope to never hear it. But with all the IMS Bearing miss information & folklore, in truth I only know of one person (directly know, Its clear there has been more!) in the UK that has had an IMS failure, more and more cars are topping 100000 miles on the clock surely IMS failures should be going up as motors get older. Now to counter my own argument I know the issue is now addressed by more and more owners with IMS changes when the clutch is done and IMS upgrades. But some must still be running stock. If these alarms have been fitted to lets say 1000 engines and one has been saved by early warning that would be good. I just wondered if the alarm had worked for anyone? or even given a false alarm perhaps! O_Sr

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Actually it's long been an argument that the failures are more common in lower milage cars that weren't driven much. While it's not 100% as there have been such failures, associated belief is that if the motor has hit 100k without a failure then it's probably not going to fail. I don't think that's an argument to never replace the bearing, but I'd have far less concerns about a 100k motor with the stock bearing than a 20k motor. I would bet most are still running stock as most owners aren't on the internet obsessing over it Many 996s are still in the hands that just think it's great to have a Porsche, but aren't at the enthusiast level where they follow much if any information. In my experience when I meet a 9x6 or 9x7.1 owner outside of a car related event and we start talking, they have no idea about the IMSB, bore scoring, or any of the other common ills. They just drive their cars and enjoy them.

We will receive an alert on the IMS Guardian Hotline about once every couple weeks. With the IMS Guardian on the market for the past 5 years, we've saved around 20 engines from total failure, and more were caught in very early stages. Unfortunately the system has been used many times by folks who find the issue with the system, then remove the system and sell the car to an unknowing buyer. This is one reason why you won't read of IMS alerts online, because people don't want to admit they had an alert, because someone reading that post might be a future owner of the car. This has happened DOZENS of times, and I have even busted people doing this red handed several times. Especially when they sell their 996 on eBay, then a few weeks later they sell their "used" IMSG system (sporting its serial number) on Ebay, and their car pops back up again (failed) from a new owner and its VIN matches the warranty registration of their original IMSG purchase serial number. More digging found their log book entry from the IMSG alert hotline, right down to the symptoms that matched the failure the new owner had experienced. The new owner then investigated and found pieces of the orange power wire under the carpet of his car, further proving what had happened. That one got real interesting, really fast and the saga continues today. I can't tell you how many times the system has been used for this, but I know how many times I have caught it, and most failures find their way to our logs, no matter where in the world they may occur. I hate that the system has been used for this, but we can't control what people do after we sell them the system.

Whoa, that's cold. When I bought my 99, of course I was scared spitless of a IMS issue. So, I put the car on the rack, took off the filter, and inspected it, then drained the oil through a cloth rag, and inspected that, then dropped the pan(yes, I know it's not a pan) and inspected the innards down there. No indication of any IMS. Pretty sure if a scumbag seller tried this with a car that had the Guardian removed, I would have caught something with my process, but certainly never any guarantee if the damage was just starting and the oil was fresh. I'm going to install a chip detector soon, and I'll be one of those people who don't have it recorded in some journal by VIN, or whatever. Not for reasons concerning dumping the car if it starts to fail, I just prefer my privacy a bit more than most.

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I hadn't even thought of it like that, I'm not wired that way I guess. Gnat's answer was pretty good. I suppose some of us now fall into the early stage enthusiast and the long term 'classic car' owner. I see the guardian idea as a bit of an insurance policy and with no offence meant would expect the designer / supplier to big it up. I was hoping before your message that an owner that had saved a big bill with the alarm going off to highlight the IMSB failing would happily declare the fact that it worked for them. But having read your thread I see that might not always be the case. Thanks for taking the time to reply O_Sr (I was replying to Flat6 I crossed with DocMirror's post.. )

Jake, every time I hear you tell this story it pisses me off, and the fact that other RL members think it's perfectly suitable to dump a time bomb off at Carmax - since they're only sticking it to an "evil corporation" and not a human being - pisses me off further. How someone can rationalize away the fact that they're intentionally passing a $10,000-$20,000 problem along to that car's next owner is beyond me. I always wonder where the line between "business trying to make a living" and "evil corporation that deserves to be screwed over" falls...

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It was very tricky dealing with this with privacy acts and etc in place. In fact we couldn't, and still can't disclose any of this to the buyer of the car or anyone else with names or numbers. The buyer, or the seller never figured out what I knew for sure. The buyer found the orange wire first, and had already seen the IMSG install video as he planned to install the system in the 996 he had previously owned, but was killed in a crash before he could do it.. Once he told me what he found, then I started figuring it all out for myself.. He never knew I figured it out, and neither did the seller. The prior owner took the car back, and it looks like that one is over with in a few weeks. All the owner had to tell the PO was "I found some orange wire and a decal in the glove box", and things changed very quickly. Now I look for used IMSG systems on Ebay all the time. Google alerts is a great tool. Thats what most people would expect me to do, but its not the case in every situation, so I won't pretend that the device is magical. Does it work? Absolutely. It also requires the driver to take action and think practically, and that means not continuing to drive the car while the alert is sounding without first investigating the issue that lead to the alert. People "drive cars to death" all the time because they want to avoid a tow bill. That tow bill can cost 20K+if they just keep right on driving. No device keeps that from happening, and it has happened.

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Finding a lump in your lymph nodes doesn't mean you don't have cancer, but it may mean that you have time to do something about it. I think this is kind of analogous to the IMSG - no, you aren't out of the woods just because the Guardian goes off, but you're potentially a lot better off than you would have been not knowing.

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I had a lymph node flare up a few weeks back... It let me know that I was probably going to have the same stomach flu that my whole family had. So, I started pounding vitamin C and drinking a ton of water, and getting more sleep... I never got sick and the lymph node returned to normal within a week.. I've had that same lymph node flare up just before the flu before, so I knew what was coming... Its all about paying attention and doing things before you HAVE to. Engines or humans work the same way.

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So in the UK is this correct :- Wrightune are sole UK distributors of the IMS Guardian system? Thanks for all the advice, still surprised no one actually comes forward saying how well they spent there money? O_Sr

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When the alarm goes off it means you have a hefty bill due though if you can shut it down fast enough maybe slightly less hefty. I'm usually not too happy with something/someone that tells me I have a $10k+ bill due. Just sayin

I know what you mean gnat but that's no different to the dentist giving you an xray.... it just means you can clean you own teeth for a while longer. Or when a fault code flashes up on a reader. I suppose the alarm means you get to rebuild your motor rather than risk someone elses.. O_Sr

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There have been some posts on forums about this, where the IMS alert has happened. I have 1/2 dozen or so Testimonials from owners saying just that. I have purposely not posted them, because people would just think they are fake, anyway.

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It works both ways Jake, to some measure, as not a single person has jumped on the thread and said "whoa there Neddy" I brought a #### and it let me down. So silence can be golden. In the middle of all that is people have them but have not had their motor fail. Thanks for all the replies. I assume they are easy to fit, I'm guessing a control box at the switch end, fused power 'in' and then cables through to the sump pan detector. O_Sr

After having flown aircraft for over 30 years and over 13000 hours with chip detector-equipped engines, I can tell you they're worth their weight in gold. Many alerts, most just fuzz on the plug, but several times with slivers requiring the engine be repaired. The one major engine failure showed pieces almost big enough to read the part numbers!