Its the same with one or two of the gearbox bearings - they are sealed, and seem to be the only ones that fail.
Unhappy Boxster Owner
- Thread starter johnbay
- Start date
GOOFY
New member
You may think its only Boxsters that have issues. However take a look at the Cayenne forum and you will see its a common Porsche theme. I really think they need to address the quality of the parts used in critical areas - i.e. bearings in IMS or coil packs. It should not be the case of raiding the VW supplier listing for parts. I am sure their profit margin per vehicle will not be dented greatly by installing better bearings or coil packs etc. We should insist on more attention to these fundamentals as consumers. If it were Toyota we would be making a song and dance, but it seems we have accepted it from Porsche as the price you pay for the privilege (or emotion !) of owning one !
I am sorry ... I have to say yes if you feel like this ... please vote with your feet don't buy another .....
However I will... ( History FWIW : 3 * 944's ; 5 * Boxsters and a Cayenne)
If it was Toyota .. well sorry brakes, floor mats.. electrical systems and a few million recalls nuff said
Audi .. My RS6 C6 has had 4 recalls and let me tell you Audi Service sucks
My Brabus ,,, Mercedes service is THE worst ever ... worse than anything I have ever experienced at Audi or Porsche...
At least when I get the Boxster serviced .. they do what they are paid to ...
Best Regards G
However I will... ( History FWIW : 3 * 944's ; 5 * Boxsters and a Cayenne)
If it was Toyota .. well sorry brakes, floor mats.. electrical systems and a few million recalls nuff said
Audi .. My RS6 C6 has had 4 recalls and let me tell you Audi Service sucks
My Brabus ,,, Mercedes service is THE worst ever ... worse than anything I have ever experienced at Audi or Porsche...
At least when I get the Boxster serviced .. they do what they are paid to ...
Best Regards G
GOOFY
New member
Like I say heart rules the head when it comes to Porsche. Its a great car to drive and own, but the only sad part to the story is where it reads in every forum chapter "make sure you take an annual warranty yearly cause you never know when your engine may blow" . Difficult to explain that one to the partner when just parted £££'s a SH car costing 2 times new VW !
s2rjn
Member
I don't really think the argument '...they are all bad, but Porsche isn't as bad as the others....' stacks up really, ultimately Porsche have been getting away with this IMS for years and all it would take is a campaign to highlight the issue, they'd then have to take it on the chin and offer free repairs for all cars under 100k miles for example - they'd simply have to!
Just look whats happened to Toyota!
Just look whats happened to Toyota!
keithm
New member
+1 here for Audi faoling in the service dept. I have a 2.7 A6 TDI in addition to my Boxster. I did 93000 miles on first set of pads and discs, 5000 miles on the latest set. Had them replaced under warrenty y'day and asked why they failed, warped so quickly? there response, poor maching [
] doesn't exactly fill me with exitement about buying a new Audi [&:]. This main dealer charges £100 ph labour to fit poor parts, unbelievable.My two closest Audi main dealers have now failed me, BMW bekons again [
]As the person making the original posting for this thread, I'd like to thank everyone for their understanding and the useful information on the problems with Boxsters (and other models) intermediate shaft bearing.
It has certainly helped me considerably in understanding the problem and helping me decide how to proceed.
When I bought a Boxster 4 years ago I believed I was buying a high-quality, reliable and performance car. I still have no doubt that the Boxster is a performance car that is great fun to drive, but I now really question its quality and the reliability.
I realise that modern cars are complex machines and a certain percentage will fail due to either design or manufacuring issues. However I do find it unacceptable that Porsche have allowed a design flaw (the IMS bearing) with such catastrophic consequences remain in their cars for so many years (at least 10 years I understand) and that they are unwilling to show goodwill to their customers whose cars fail with such expensive repair bills.
The rather arrogant manner in which Porsche treated me over this matter has made me wonder whether they are really interested in keeping their customers happy (perhaps they atre more concerned about making shrewd investments and acquisitions rather than happy customers).
I would have had better customer service from Kia who would have repaired their car under warranty (7 years and 100k miles).
I have decided that I no longer want to own a car that can fail unpredictably with such catastrophic and expensive consequences, I have therefore (at considerable loss) traded my broken Boxster in for a MX-5. Whilst my new car certainly does not have the performance or the quodos of a Porsche, I'm hoepful it will be more reliable and have more predictable running costs.
It has certainly helped me considerably in understanding the problem and helping me decide how to proceed.
When I bought a Boxster 4 years ago I believed I was buying a high-quality, reliable and performance car. I still have no doubt that the Boxster is a performance car that is great fun to drive, but I now really question its quality and the reliability.
I realise that modern cars are complex machines and a certain percentage will fail due to either design or manufacuring issues. However I do find it unacceptable that Porsche have allowed a design flaw (the IMS bearing) with such catastrophic consequences remain in their cars for so many years (at least 10 years I understand) and that they are unwilling to show goodwill to their customers whose cars fail with such expensive repair bills.
The rather arrogant manner in which Porsche treated me over this matter has made me wonder whether they are really interested in keeping their customers happy (perhaps they atre more concerned about making shrewd investments and acquisitions rather than happy customers).
I would have had better customer service from Kia who would have repaired their car under warranty (7 years and 100k miles).
I have decided that I no longer want to own a car that can fail unpredictably with such catastrophic and expensive consequences, I have therefore (at considerable loss) traded my broken Boxster in for a MX-5. Whilst my new car certainly does not have the performance or the quodos of a Porsche, I'm hoepful it will be more reliable and have more predictable running costs.
I'm new here having lurked for a while and just joined PCGB. 1st post.
I previously owned a 03MY 2.7 and now run a mint 9k miles 550 Anniversary Spyder (which I'm thinking of selling due to lack of use).
I've been a regular on some of the other Porsche forums - and yes there will always be someone who will post of an IMS failure now and again. I don't think its that common but it exists - perhaps maybe on average one post about a failure per month over 12 months - so that's averaging twelve a year on known forums. Compare this to the number of cars sold, and its not that many failures (those numbers not reported on forums notwithstanding).
There has been a lot of talk about this amongst the Porsche community and all feel the same way - but no one seems to be doing anything about it at all. Not with the press/media, nor with class-action or anything.
Perhaps we should show more resolve and action on our part.....and I will be willing to stand up and be counted.
Like another poster, I won't be lining Porsche's pockets anymore if I ever sell my 550 - heck I even get better service and uncontested warranty repair-requests when I visit my Fiat and Alfa dealer.....how's that for irony?
To the OP - Sorry to hear about your mishap with IMS. Good luck with your new purchase.
PS: I had a few written letter debates with Porsche Cars GB's Operations Manager 2 years back when they changed the warranty - and look, they've now changed the price back again!!! To be honest, I don't think that P Cars GB's executive management are 'in touch' with their customers at all - much like our current government - but that is another story!
I previously owned a 03MY 2.7 and now run a mint 9k miles 550 Anniversary Spyder (which I'm thinking of selling due to lack of use).
I've been a regular on some of the other Porsche forums - and yes there will always be someone who will post of an IMS failure now and again. I don't think its that common but it exists - perhaps maybe on average one post about a failure per month over 12 months - so that's averaging twelve a year on known forums. Compare this to the number of cars sold, and its not that many failures (those numbers not reported on forums notwithstanding).
There has been a lot of talk about this amongst the Porsche community and all feel the same way - but no one seems to be doing anything about it at all. Not with the press/media, nor with class-action or anything.
Perhaps we should show more resolve and action on our part.....and I will be willing to stand up and be counted.
Like another poster, I won't be lining Porsche's pockets anymore if I ever sell my 550 - heck I even get better service and uncontested warranty repair-requests when I visit my Fiat and Alfa dealer.....how's that for irony?
To the OP - Sorry to hear about your mishap with IMS. Good luck with your new purchase.
PS: I had a few written letter debates with Porsche Cars GB's Operations Manager 2 years back when they changed the warranty - and look, they've now changed the price back again!!! To be honest, I don't think that P Cars GB's executive management are 'in touch' with their customers at all - much like our current government - but that is another story!
s2rjn
Member
Hi Guys
I've emailed Top Gear in the hope that they are looking for stories for the next series
Maybe we can get this IMS issue highlighted (I doubt it but thought it was worth an email)
If you feel strongly about this why don't you do it too?
top.gear@bbc.co.uk
Got to be worth a try
I've emailed Top Gear in the hope that they are looking for stories for the next series
Maybe we can get this IMS issue highlighted (I doubt it but thought it was worth an email)
If you feel strongly about this why don't you do it too?
top.gear@bbc.co.uk
Got to be worth a try
Best of luck with you endeavours.
But I doubt it will do anything other than add to Clarksons riducule and loathing of all things Porsche.
It could also have a detrimental effect of reducing the value of our cars on the second hand market.
But I doubt it will do anything other than add to Clarksons riducule and loathing of all things Porsche.
It could also have a detrimental effect of reducing the value of our cars on the second hand market.
s2rjn
Member
Yes peter you might be correct in saying this gives clarkson another chance to have a go at porsche and may also hurt our re-sale values but on the other hand porsche might find they have to offer free repairs IMS runied engines and our re-sale values would be restored!
I know its along shot but it only takes an email
I know its along shot but it only takes an email
You have to consider that these repairs will be for 986, 996, 987.1 and 997.1 cars. I suspect that the independent you are referring to is Hartech, who I believe do more rebuilds of these engines that any other independent. Autofarm are the only other company who appear to to offer rebuilds as far as I know.
They made over half a million of these cars, and if only 5% found their way to the UK, then we are still talking about small percentages.
Without wishing to sound disrespectful, most reports of failures are by people who join forums after the event. On the 996 forum I can only recall one intermediate shaft failure in the 6 years I have been a member.
997 and 987 MY 2005 still have the old engine with the intermediate shaft problem. From MY 2006 all engines have a revised shaft, but I believe failures have still been reported.
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