Letter to editor- Latest Panorama, p28 says we should wait for IMSB to fail

Believe it or not, there is a letter to the editor in the latest edition (#798) of Panorama, that claims, with no experience, but he did the math, to prove that we are all better off waiting for the IMS bearing to fail and then repairing or replacing the engine. He cites his own analysis here: KCRPCA JulyAug 2022 (flipbuilder.com) (also p28 in this) which assumes that you can be back up and running after an IMS failure for as little as $10k, or $20K at the most! I'm surprised they published such rubbish, but let's set the record straight. How much did it cost to rebuild your engine after an IMS bearing failure or how much is the estimate? His analysis doesn't include the cost of the impact of the initial failure or the loss of use.

https://www.sunsetporscheparts.com/o...00996tx?c=az0x You can buy a shortblock for 9k from Porsche. 20k is not outlandish if you don't pay for an overpriced rebuild.

Bronto, Correct me if wrong, but these figures only apply if you do all the work to remove and replace and for the short block, assumes the bearing died peacefully in its sleep?

11k seems like plenty of labor and parts to refresh everything while you're in there.

Porsche gets $12.6K for a long block motor. This assumes your IMSB failure does not result in damage to the core that eliminates it’s value as a core. If the crank or case is damaged, I believe you then lose the credit for the core charge of $3.6K. Maybe someone who has bought a factory long block can confirm what is required to receive the core charge credit.

It depends on the Dealership Parts Manager, they are the ones who will get charged back from Porsche if the core is rejected.. But the Parts Manager at the Dealership I worked for would accept any core as long as it didn't have a rod hole in the case.. His belief and mine too is that Porsche doesn't even look at or use any of the old parts, all indications is that the "remanufactured" shortblocks are all new parts, even the cases..

Pretty sure my new shortblock from Porsche in 2020 was, in fact, pretty darn new - I don't think it was actually a reman. My shortblock was 9k, but then I paid for investigation, removal, and a bunch of performance extras. You can easily pay 30k USD if you start doing a bunch of stuff "while you're in there." My build was over 30k USD by a reputable shop here in Canada (sending to FSI at the time didn't make sense due to COVID, the border closure, etc.). -Matt

I think the prudent choice, assuming no other indications, is to replace it when you have access - maybe you're doing the clutch, maybe you're doing something else - that's going to be best bang for buck. However, I'm kicking myself for not doing it as a just in case....

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Assuming the heads didn't eat any of the IMSB bits.

I get his point, and would also add that since replacing the IMS bearing doesn't bulletproof the engine, you could argue that spending the money on doing so is a waste.

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Doing so buys more smiles. The rest is what it is.

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^^^This

I swear you could rob an American garage with just the IMSB in your hand, you people are so scared of it there, even though numbers don't back up the "fear factor"

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Please leave Jake Raby alone sir.

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Hah! The IMS class action lawsuit against Porsche settled in 2014. It brought imsb failure to the center stage. As a 996.2 owner, it was a no brainer to swap in an aftermarket imsb from LN when my indy dropped my engine for various service and maintenence. Last thing I wanted was to grenade my engine on the track or when making a long distance drive from Chicago to Philadelphia and back. My philosophy is pretty simple. Keep your oil fresh (bore scoring) and key parts fresh (imsb, aos, water pump) which have been identified as catastrophic failure points, and then drive the hell out of it. 8% means that out of 100 996.2 owners that still have an original IMSB, 8 will fail. Don't know about you, but I would prefer to spend the $25-40k for an engine rebuild on something else.

And don't forget to pay attention to the injectors, Cars that are not driven regularly can have fouled injectors pretty easily.. Over fueling is one of the ways scoring occurs. FWIW, I paid the freight for a good rebuild, and its night and day a better driving car now.. I'm still in to the whole car for less than many other choices.. For instance a lot of 1/2 ton full size pickups with a turbo 4 cylinder are more than a 996 with a rebuilt engine.. Heck I can get 2 for the price of a new ram or silverado..

Agree on the fuel injectors and other suggestions. Bore scoring can be mitigated. For the fun, handling, performance and analog feel that you get with the 996, not to mention where we are on the S curve for pricing, it's tough not to put money into servicing, maintaining and upgrading a 996. Pound per pound it's one of the most attractive sports cars on the market.

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lol... What country are you from and how long have been around M96's?

His basic assumption, one of costs, alternatives and probability, is correct. He does ignore two major points: 1) the individual impact to the owner of a failed engine (all the probability analyses in the world mean little to the owner staring at an aluminum boat anchor) and 2) the true whole costs of a catastrophic failure (inconvenience, downtime, value of the owner's time in dealing with the issues, etc.). Taking a strict interpretation of his approach, few of us would need auto insurance as the chances of an at-fault accident are small...gross oversimplification, I know. I am a bit surprised that this article is in the mag, but the intent of any publication is readership and attention so... Back in the day, I appreciated my engineers, and I always had one of my financial analysts review their cost analyses :-)

For a bit of clarity, this article is in a regional newsletter and not the national Panorama. I don't believe that the PCA US would publish this in the national magazine.

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A car (Porsche) is the second most expensive thing most people will buy except a House.. You can buy a house in Flood Zone for a lot less money, and think that a flood is not likely to happen and calculate the odds... OR you can do like this guy did...

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Now THAT is F*ck*n AWESOME !!!

Amagari, PCA US published a letter-to-the-editor in the current national issue of Panorama with the summary of the article that appeared in his regional newsletter, but I think the result is about the same. Wingwheelshulls said it best when he said that his analysis would lead you to conclude there is no reason to get car insurance. In other words, they did sort of condone nonsense and many of us found it surprising!

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Hopefully Pano will receive a lot of feedback from members about this foolishness.

Gotta look at the bright side of all this. There will be plenty of rollers for sale and parts on ebay as engines fail. If these cats are too cheap to replace a relatively inexpensive part, they aren't paying for a substantially more expensive rebuild or swap.

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I don't think the letter to the editor they published did anyone a favor. The failure rates quoted are inaccurate and as I've brought up many times before, even the values from the Eisen class action suit are woefully out of date. As the cars get older, the failure rate will increase. That said, there are certainly cars that shouldn't be retrofitted since the car just isn't worth investing that kind of money in it. Every owner needs to make the decision for themselves what their risk tolerance is and long term plans for the car. The original article published in Der Sportwagen from the local PCA region is lacking in hard numbers and those quoted are unrealistic. First, the cost to rebuild one of these engines is not $10k. Second, $20k doesn't get you a new crate engine from Porsche. You need to add in the costs for engine R&R and all the ancillaries that need to be replaced. You also have to consider that some core components might be damaged from a failure and will add significant cost. If the failure occurs at speed, the whole engine can be rendered useless and Porsche will not accept that as a core. Add in the core charge and you might be all in $40-50k for an engine from Porsche. Plus he's considering an engine for his Boxster is the same price as a 996 engine, which is not the case. Lastly the author was upset about his bearing having a service interval which was news to him. They have always had a service interval with exception of the IMS Solution which has been available for almost a decade. Nothing new here.

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Yup, you'll end up with what we call bankrupt cars that aren't worth fixing.

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Porsche does not offer longblocks any longer. Those prices listed are for a shortblock. Core charges are indeed low for base model Boxster engines, but when you get into 996 and later 911 engines, the core charges are in the mid to high teens, if not higher.

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Parts cars, basically.