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Last(?) IMS thread for the year - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners

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YOUR RESEARCHLast(?) IMS thread for the year - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners

Leading reported evidence

Use oversized bearings

Performed · outcome unconfirmed

No successful repair reported for this finding.

0
Reported fixes: 0
Unsuccessful attempts: 1
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Discussions that performed work without a confirmed outcome: 1

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Performed · outcome unconfirmed
Once Porsche moved to the oversized third generation IMS bearing, factory reman five chain engines used the oversized bearings.
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Last(?) IMS thread for the year - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners

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Leading evidence: 'Use oversized bearings' (no explicit attributable resolution; this is a reported action or suggestion). Across 1 matching discussions, the most frequently mentioned possible cause is 'transitional version' (1 discussions; 0 report identifying it and 1 suggest it). The most frequently discussed action is 'Use oversized bearings' (1 discussions). For that action, 0 discussions report a resolution and 0 report an unsuccessful attempt. No action has an explicit, attributable resolution report under the current rules. These are forum reports and suggestions, not a confirmed diagnosis.

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transitional version

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Identified cause: 1
Suspected cause: 0
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Discussions that suspect a cause: 1

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Suspected cause · Original poster
I thought this IMS appeared in the newer 3-chain engines, but this is a 5-chain, probably a transitional version, from 2004 I believe:
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Last(?) IMS thread for the year - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners

Frequently discussed actions (1)

These are separate views of the same evidence. Frequency alone does not establish a fix, and these counts must not be added together.

Use oversized bearings

No successful repair reported for this finding.

0
Reported fixes: 0
Unsuccessful attempts: 1
Discussions

Read evidence and context

Discussions that performed work without a confirmed outcome: 1

0 original-poster resolution reports. Counts can overlap; they are not unique people or a success rate.

0 discussions have direct query context; 0 report a fix in that context. Other evidence may inherit the discussion’s subject.

Performed · outcome unconfirmed
Once Porsche moved to the oversized third generation IMS bearing, factory reman five chain engines used the oversized bearings.
Original post Read captured discussion
Last(?) IMS thread for the year - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners

Reported and suspected causes (1)

These are separate views of the same evidence. Frequency alone does not establish a fix, and these counts must not be added together.

transitional version

No successful repair reported for this finding.

0
Identified cause: 1
Suspected cause: 0
Reported fixes

Read evidence and context

Discussions that suspect a cause: 1

0 original-poster resolution reports. Counts can overlap; they are not unique people or a success rate.

0 discussions have direct query context; 0 report a fix in that context. Other evidence may inherit the discussion’s subject.

Suspected cause · Original poster
I thought this IMS appeared in the newer 3-chain engines, but this is a 5-chain, probably a transitional version, from 2004 I believe:
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Last(?) IMS thread for the year - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners

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Counts describe captured discussions, not unique people or a diagnosis. Author identities are not reliably stored. Exact duplicate evidence is counted once across matching discussions; one discussion counts at most once per action/state. Multiple repairs reported together remain a combination. Suggestions and failed attempts do not establish a fix. Matches cover whole discussions and can include related faults, model variants and incomplete threads.

5 eligible posts · 0 unverified posts · 1 discussions match the subject in their title or opening post.

986Forum: 1 discussions

0 evidence records excluded for query context · 0 excluded by outcome qualification · 0 adjusted by outcome qualification.

0 acknowledgements have no verified action link; they do not establish a repair result.

Generation: 20261027T025149Z · outcome-qualification-6. Deterministic extraction; no AI model inference. How we use sources

POST 1 / ORIGINAL POSTEROriginal post

Happy New Year to Everyone! So, here`s the potential last IMS question for the year: does anyone know the number of the non-serviceable IMS bearing? I just traded this 3.2 S engine basket case and surprisingly it came with this kind of IMS (bearing is missing). I thought this IMS appeared in the newer 3-chain engines, but this is a 5-chain, probably a transitional version, from 2004 I believe:

POST 2Original post

2005 3.2 M96 for Boxster S was the transitional year for the large non serviceable IMSB. https://lnengineering.com/products/the-definitive-guide-and-faq-for-porsche-ims-bearings/my06-08-porsche-cayman-boxster-911-ims-bearing.html?limit=8&mode=list

POST 3 / ORIGINAL POSTEROriginal post

Yes, I came across that too, based on that info the engine should be 2005 or newer. Now, looking at the Bentley manual, looks like the 3-chain engine with the redesigned variocam came out in 2003, but this engine is definitely a 5-chain. It`s possible that this IMS is not its original. Or perhaps this was a factory replacement engine which Porsche built after 2005 with the newer IMS but with the early variocam system to match the DME

POST 4Original post

Quotes source post: 650238

Once Porsche moved to the oversized third generation IMS bearing, factory reman five chain engines used the oversized bearings. If this was a factory reman, the engine numbers on the oil sump rail would indicate it is a retread.

POST 5 / ORIGINAL POSTEROriginal post

Quotes source post: 650239

Yes, that`s exactly the case. Engine number has "AT" in it. Mystery solved

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