I'm looking at a used 911 Cab with 101K miles $18K, manual trans. The carfax is clean and it appears as though it was service properly at Porsche. At around 20K miles they removed engine for a service or repair. Any idea what that might be? After that the same owner drove it another 80K miles. Second owner drove it barley 3K miles in 3 years and traded it in on a new Lexus or something. I have not read about IMS issues. If I bought it and wanted to change that IMS, what would it cost? Anything elso to worry about? Seems like a great price. Thanks
Just a few cents worth from experience with a 986. Suggest find a good indy Porsche shop that will do a PPI and get an estimate from them for the IMS upgrade job. The 04 has a single row bearing and failure is possible. The trans has to come out so it's normal to also replace the clutch, possibly the flywheel, and the RMS. My 986 was around 2700 for that scope of work. The 996 is a little different but expect that would be in the ballpark. There's a number of other things to check for on the PPI including any coolant leaks, CV boots, motor/trans mounts, suspension components, any codes, any signs of accident repair (Carfax isn't 100%) etc. Pelican site has some write-ups on the IMS job so you can see the scope. Best of luck.
Thank you! That repair price doesn't seem so bad.
Here is another issue. The used car dealer says rear wheel drive but the Carfx says AWD! here is the VIN. Does it tell us?
WP0CA29974S651529
I looked at the listing, it's a Carrera, not AWD. IIRC, in 2004 there was only the 4S in awd (and turbo of course). The 4S had the turbo's wide body and very easy to spot. Now if you find a C4S cab, that's a special car.
Here is another oddity. The dealer Carfax lists this as 3.6 liter. Shouldn't this be a 3.4 liter?
Significant changes came in for 2002. Body work changed most notably the headlights. Engine displacement up to 3.6l with variocam plus for 320 hp. Some interior upgrades and glass rear window for the cab.
Not car-model-relevant, but scary.
I just checked out a 2005 Boxster for sale online. I asked some questions, including whether the IMS had been done. The response (sadly) "sorry, I don't know what an IMS is". Yikes! Needless to say, not going there!
Why? Most Porsche owners don't know anything about the mechanical side of their cars. That can work in your favour. All things being equal (collisions, service records, etc.) I would factor a $2800 IMS change into my offer for the car, especially if it had really low mileage.
I called, emailed, test drove quite a few 986s a few years ago. Can't recall the number maybe a dozen. Two that went to PPI stage. Not a single private owner or non Porsche dealer knew what the IMSB was.
