Does this sounds like a money grab?

I've had my 2000 C4 for a year now and there was no evidence or record of the IMS work been done. I was going to get both the IMS and clutch done until I got got a job offer to move from Ohio to Palm Beach, FL. With the money involved n the move and selling the house, funds have been cut for work on the Porsche. I at least want to get the IMS done before the 1000 mile drive. I called two local shops in the area and the larger, more well known shop says, "we can do the IMS for $2400, but the clutch will be $700 more and there could be problems with the fly wheel. So be prepared that there could be a lot of work needed to be done before you leave. The smaller garage, tells me, just because you are close to 64,000 miles doesn't mean a thing. It is all about what you car is telling you and what you find in your oil. Bring it in and we will check it out and if you need it done, we can do just the IMS, but it will save you in the long run to get the clutch done at the same time. We can still just do the IMS if that's all you can get done. The car has been serviced by the bigger shop since 11k miles, but it just sounded like they were giving me the run around. The smaller shop at least was honest and gave recommendations. Decisions, Decisions! Plus does anyone have a good mechanic in the West Palm area?

How about sharing a pic or two of your Porsche C4, then we can bury with opinions about IMSB and clutch?

First shop is being honest although $3200 sounds a tad high. Smaller shop is correct also. Do a oil and filter change just before you leave and if they inspect the filter and find absolutely no traces of metal you should be good for a 1000k miles trek. I think anyone still driving on their original IMSB (guilty) just needs to be hyper vigilant regarding oil changes and filter inspections. I'd say every 3k miles.

Clutches are like teeth, you can ignore a problem but it turns into a root canal. Don't wait on clutches unless you want your root canal to be synchronizers.. Sixty grand is more than enough for a PO to have worn out a clutch depending on their habits. As for the IMS, its cheaper than allowing your Porsche to become an expensive rolling paper weight. 2400 for the IMS is high and 700 for the clutch is a gift, the two cancel out, offer him cash and see if you can get it a little lower. Don't pass on the clutch while it's apart, that would be a mistake.

Where in Ohio are you? Did you try the Indy in Twinsburg? I trust them but they are not cheap.

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Are you related to KK by chance?

My own experience may help..or not. I have a 2002 C4S with 87K miles. Very well cared for and never tracked. My RMS started leaking badly about 2K ago. To replace the RMS the trans needs to be pulled of course...I had the clutch replaced and the IMS updated to the LN Engr. at the same time. My IMS bearing was fine ( it was the original) but once you have the thing apart , it's crazy not to take the next step if it financially works for you at the time. If you do some research you will find that only about 5% of Porsche owners have had the IMS issue. However, no one knows if they are in that 5% or not. Otherwise, if you have no leaks and the engine is relatively quiet at idle, I'd do the oil and filter and head to Florida.

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I am in the Dayton, just south in Franklin.

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No.

Are you insane? I wouldnt dream of risking a 1000 mile trip in a 996. But,, I would certainly replace the clutch and related parts while your replacing the IMSB.

SMH. Is your clutch working fine right now? Is your car drivable as-is? If answer is YES to both questions, drive the car to FL and forget about it. It is just a 15 hour drive. High RPM driving, your IMS will be lubricated for 15 hours. Your car will thank you.

I am actually excited about the drive! I have always wanted to take it on a long trip, even though this is a must have trip. The only pain will be having to slow down to have my wife follow me in her Honda!

Just remember this owner who never went on any forums http://seattle.craigslist.org/est/cto/4454774937.html

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Correct. IIRC you were worrying over a 500mi trip.

I sometimes worry about a 5 KILOMETRE trip!

garyc442, where did you come up with 5%?

In Porsche heaven in 20 years from now, my car will certainly be among the "Most Interesting Porsches in the World" judging by Rennlist. Porsche Campfire: On May 7th 2014 I took my owner for three breaks and one long lunch to his residence for a drink. Now four Newcastles later for the owner, 100 miles wises for me, one base cayenne snub I was completely satisfied with my daily progress as I was parked in garage quietly enjoying my rubber smell and creaking exhaust noises. Porsche and Newcastle Brown Ale, there is no substitutes.

A clutch is NOT like teeth and a worn clutch will NOT damage the synchro rings. Whoever originally came up with his methaphor was on carck and know very little how a clutch works.

Drove my 996 from Canada to Florida, in the winter. No issues at all.

If the clutch is fine then I don't see any reason why you have to do the IMS right now. Your car has made it 14 years without the engine blowing up and I highly doubt that one day of driving is going to make any difference. The one benefit of waiting until you get to South Florida is that there are tons of reputable indy's who can do the work for a lot less money.....

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I know the clutch not connected to the sychronizer bone dude. However, I have seen damage to sychronizers from people taking clutches to the rivets and continuing to aggressively downshift. Maybe the two were serendipity but I sincerely doubt it. Perhaps it is you discounting the effects that the ensuing vibrations of said actions have inside the transmission.

Sparks259: 5%. Of 145,000 M96 996's... 7,250 failures. Ref. The Truth June issue GT Porsche.

Hey these are not my words, seems like corroboration to me: Grinding Gears When Shifting Clashing of the gears while shifting can be caused by an incorrect adjustment of the transmission linkage. A worn linkage can cause the gears to not engage properly. A dragging clutch can cause the teeth of the synchronizers to grind, especially as the transmission is being shifted out of neutral. Other causes of grinding gears include excessive wear or damage to synchronizers or shift forks.

The primary expense should be the labor in pulling the transmission... Once it is down, the clutch, flywheel, IMS bearing, and RMS can all be changed for a small amount of additional labor plus the cost of the parts... Personally, I'd wait until the clutch needs to be done, then take care of the IMSB. If your paranoid about waiting, install a Guardian monitor for hundreds instead of thousands of dollars...

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LOL, I'm sure if that was the case, we'd have a lot more people on these forums complaining or venting about it. So far only 44 have spoken out on this forum through the scientific survey and only a handful on the other forums as well. Of course there are other forums worldwide but I know the US has gotten a good share of those 996's. I love all these new posters lately with a few posts and all of it centered around the IMS. They also seem to come and go. hmmm......

It may be a carefully planned conspiracy to drive the prices back down. If we can time our sell and purchase just right we can probably make more money on the 996 than Jordan Belfort did in the stock market.

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That is 1 out of 20, which means every 20 users/members here, we should see one engine failure due to IMS. C'mon, how can that be possible.

i didn't want to this to turn into a IMS fight, I just wanted some opinions. If you are that one in 20 person, it really doesn't matter about percentages. It just sucks it happened to you. I have found most forums to be very helpful and this one especially. For a guy like me who only has the opportunity to own his dream car 14 years old, I am still gonna do it. I am also the guy who buys things to use them. All of my high priced guns, I shoot them all, no safe queens. I bought the car to drive it and get the stares from people. But that is what we should expect from a $60k car no matter how old. As long as it is well taken care of, I say lets drive them.

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I was just disputing the 5% number and I'm not recommending you should not do the IMS retrofit. That decision is highly personal and it depends on your risk tolerance level. If you worry about IMS, I highly recommend you do the retrofit. It will be well worth the peace of mind for you.

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I've been saying this for awhile and I fully agree. Just like a colonoscopy or prostate exam, up to the individual's risk level and comfort. Just remember, there are tons of other variables in life. Mine will be the day that I decide to get the IMS done, I'll get t-boned pulling out of the shop parking lot and all will be for nothing anyways.

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Let her drive the Porsche and you drive the Honda like a maniac trying to keep up - you'll have more fun then driving the Porsche at a crawl speed. There - solved it for you.

Another advantage to your solution TO-Worker, is if the IMP let go, he could always blame it on the wife. Win-win for you, then!

Oops! In previous post, make it IMS, not IMP.

I would expect the 1-in-20 number to be on the low side for a forum, since forums are where people go to freak out when something happens. For that reason, trying to use the RL poll as any kind of reliable data isn't realistic unless the statistic we're trying to determine is "Number of forum participants who have had an IMS bearing failure." To OP: Do whatever is going to make you enjoy the car. If you need to change the bearing out NOW in order to feel good about the car, change it out now. You got a 911 to enjoy, so take whatever steps are necessary to enjoy it. To people who determine that they just can't enjoy the car due to failure-related anxiety: just sell it and buy a Porsche poster or a die-cast model and something with a new-car warranty.