mikefocke

My AS Boxster's sticker said L92U X1. You ordered X1 for $805 in 2001

"had a 'bearing' put in". Who attempted it and what was their prior IMS experience? Ln doesn't sell to DIYers. Flat6 is the only installer of their "The Solution". Casper is trying to limit their sales to experienced installers too. Smart. Just got back from my wife's pre-op briefing by the guy that will replace her knee. He has done thousands. Experience matters when you are inside a body or an engine. Testing matters too when selecting a kit to have installed. Yes the new kit might be cheaper or even turn out after years to be better but it also may prove not as good in the long run of real world use. Do we really know yet? Do you select the new and relatively untested or the one with thousand of car/years in real world use? How much is saving some cash worth? How much risk to the rest of the engine are you willing to take?

Fuses blow because there is too much current going through them. Generally a bad connection, So the question is with 3 sub-circuits blowing, what could be the common element. Voltage regulator? Ground?

It takes money to get the kind of motor you want. Either buying used or one that has all new improved parts. Figure ~$6-10k used and then add another ~$1-2k for doing updated parts before you install it (RMS, IMS, AOS, water pump, clutch). oklahomaforeign has a 2002 3.6 they will sell you but understand you'll get ~80k miles on it for your ~$10k. Or spend 2 to 3 times that for the full bore Raby everything improved version that approached 400HP.

You could "bore" the engine to 2.7 and put in stronger sleaves. Then do the IMS and have only 20 of so other known failure causes to prevent. You are dealing with an engine designed 20 years ago with materials from the same era.

So what are the 1st to 2nd shift problems you see and maybe someone can help with those. The alternative is to find a wreck and buy the trans with lots of other parts as JFP has described.

Can you get to a 3.6 from a 3.2 block? Yes you can as an example wander over to lnengineering.com and look in their modified engines section. I know it is a bit far to send an engine but it will give you an idea of what they consider necessary and the aproximate pricing.

And aren't the half shafts different? Rubber boot failures on 6 speed versus 5 speed because of angle IIRC.

What you are seeing is that the 3.4 of the same electronic control era is the easiest no fuss replacement. Anything newer and you get into custom stuff. IIRC, Pelican in the US has a chart/article on the complexities of the various replacement options.

Are there 3.6s in a 986? Yes. But it wasn't simple, cheap and they were highly mod'ed engines from Flat6.

I don't like the sound of the diagnostic approach taken by your shop. Aluminum flakes can come from the block and aren't a sign of IMS trouble. Though they can get into the IMS and cause it to fail, the IMS isn't the original cause of the failure but rather wear somewhere within the block. Now metalic steel magnetic flakes are a sign of possible IMS failure and if they are circulating within the motor, other troubles will surely follow if the engine isn't rebuilt right. Which leads to my next concern, the experience level of the rebuilder, his reputation and exactly what is he going to do for the $6500 quote. There is an enormous difference between the expert and what he'll do (and he won't even work on it if it isn't to be done the right way) and the guy who just claims to know how to rebuild an engine. Ask how many M96 engines he has rebuilt, what he is going to do to assure that all the debris is out of the engine and not lurking to cause another problem. And if he doesn't know all about the LN ceramic bearing, run like heck to someone who does before you let him touch your engine because he can't be an expert and not know.

List here of wrecking yards

Do some reading here .... it will give you an idea of the complexity of the systems you are dealing with, some pictures, flow charts, etc. My similar problem was never really resolved but I do know the mechanic inspected and tightened all fittings and the problem was gone for 5 years. Even he wasn't sure he had found the problem and I left his shop with the admonition to come back if it happens again. But as JFP has said, my problem cause could be totally different than yours yet for the same codes.

Only addition I would make is Hartech in the UK also uses the no seal method. I don't think we have enough samples of anything running in enough cars under enough conditions with enough mileage and sufficient data gathering to be able to tell what bearing is "better" or how long they will last and maybe by the time we have that info we won't care. All we know is the originals with the original lube method did have a high rate of early failures in some model years. I think all we can know is how many of what kind have been installed to date and what their sellers are willing to tell us. So far only the LNs are out in significant numbers and lengths and only LN has been upfront in telling us results. As to ball versus other types of bearings, materials, oiling vs lubing method, just filtered versus crankcase versus greese ... I think all we can do is listen to the reasonings they were selected and see if the reasons seem to make sense. The only thing that seems obvious to me is to not do what is already known to fail at relatively high rates. Another trend we are seeing is towards professional installation as opposed to DIY. You are predisposed to take the risk because you want to experiment.

The wise man knows what he can do, what he can learn to do and what he is better off paying the professional to do. I've been following the IMS issue on 8 Boxster forums, 3 continents, daily for over 5 years and publishing web pages on it, talking to all sides and challenging every provider to try to ascertain the facts particularly in the area of testing and thus probable long term reliability. Yea, I was rather pointedly challenging Jake and Charles, Casper, Wayne, etc on-line and by private exchanges. I published comparison charts that were vetted and listed every supplier I could find here. Yes, I've seen lots of failed attempts and postings from some who should never have attempted an IMS replaceemnt in the first place. Are some DIY'ers successful, undoubetedly. It's the ones who don't have a clue that can't read directions, who ignore important steps that get in trouble. I've seen JFP and others try to help...frustrating. If I'm paying that much for something, I want one with good instructions, good support, good reputation, from an outfit that is liable to be around, and which comes complete. I don't want to be piecemieling a kit together myself or trying to fabricate tools, that is why I'd only be willing to pay for a complete solution with tools, well developed proceedures that have gone through multiple revisions and incorporate lessons learned, installer training and support, etc. And those things cost money to develop and support. I don't expect something for nothing. I've been the manager with responsibilty for a low volume product both production and support and I understand the pricing and the time demands issues involved in putting out a product to a first time user. I'd rather discount to someone doing his 20th than sell one at full price to the first time user. You lose your shirt and your reputation on the first timer. I've said from the begining that I want the heart doctor who has been doing these for years to be doing mine, not some intern. (When I had a serious health issue, I chose someone with records of the last 12k proceedures his group had done and who required a year of specialized training in just one simple proceedure before letting a doctor loose on a patient unsupervised. Some were doing the same proceedure after a weekend seminar.) Likewise messing around with my engine internals. I've had an engine let loose at speed, something I now try to avoid lest I be in front of an 18 wheeler at the time it hapepns. And in the end, your car, your money, your risk, your choice. Good luck in whatever you decide.

Articles with pictures on the subject of tops authored by Maurice, the expert, here

If the problem turns out to follow the sensor, look to using the Bosch part with pigtail attached at the factory which is the appropriate length for the problem sensor. My '01S passenger side front sensor got tired around 57k miles. About a year later, just for fun, I replaced the other front sensor. Seems those are the most common to fail so swap the fronts first from side to side as JFP suggests and see (hope) if the problem code shifts. A table of cross-referenced O2 sensor part numbers is here.

To each his own. Your preferences are right for you.

I'll assume you had a -124 in the car originally. You should be able to tell from the VIN number or by looking at the old part. Then you thought they put in a -125-0 or -125-1. The ECU programs itself after a short period of running time and begins then using the learned paramaters rather than a set of baseline paramaters. If the MAF is then giving it different values from the ones it expects because the MAF is not the type it is expecting, the ECU can get all confused. Which explains the first 50-70 miles good as it is running on a basic program, not trying to use the learned paramaters because it is still learning. Once it thinks it has learned, chaos. As Loren inplied above, a ECU flash mismatch with the MAF is a suspect. http://sites.google.com/site/mikefocke2/checkenginelightcausedbymassairflowsensor has a table of the Bosch part numbers and the Porsche part numbers which should allow you to remove the MAF you have now and see what you have. Once you know that, then you can determine the revision of the ECU flash you will need to have. If you find out anything different than is in the table at the end of the web page cited above, please send me a PM and let me know.

Waiting is tough, isn't it? Hopefully it is not oil but transmission fluid and a trans is an easy thing to source. Consider doing the IMS while they have the trans out if it turns out to be that. At least you'll have a distraction tonight.

Of course, there is the lingering question of what caused the C8 fuse to blow in the first place. Fuses aren't supposed to blow unless excess amps go through them. And they are supposed to be sized so that normal operation doesn't blow them. So something abnormal lurks.

Part of either the P63 or P64 option packages in a 2001 and there weren't a lot of changes between 2000 and 2001.

And the part price to the installer has now been posted on a rather sparse web page at http://www.imsretrofit.com/ims-solution/ And the other pages are rather emphatic about discouraging DIYers for even the original LN kits. They really want to drive owners to experienced installers so they can concentrate on developing new products for us. On that site is also the first description of the guardian Jr I've seen.

The initial customer installs were done on Jake's highly modified engines (so there have been some running around in the real world for months) and the next stage is to allow a few trained and trusted shops to do the installs but not to let DIYers at them for at least a little while. The parts are much more expensive than LNs current kit parts. Jake has asked that we not contact with him about this part until the official publication of details thru the press. He wants to do the roll-out right and doensn't have time for phone calls and emails too.

As teaser comments and then pictures with descriptions have been (in the last 2 weeks) posted by Jake ... Jake said the Solution will be described in a Porsche publication next month. And asks that you not try to contact him about the product until that time. If he and Charles are to do the launch right, they can't be answering phone calls and emails. He has also said if you don't intend to keep the car 'almost forever' (my words, not his...I forget the term he used), use the current LN parts. Big difference in price and availability to the DIY community too. Those who have been getting the Solution (yes there are other than his to-Canada-and-back test car running around with the Solution in them) have been, to use his description, spending more on his engines than just replacing the car or engine would cost because they love their cars (and may have personalized or otherwise improved their cars already). I have no idea why Casper faded from the online scene. About 6 months ago I asked them for info about their bearing for inclusion in a comparison article and heard nothing from them. There have been others who attempted to develop and market a part or kit, but they too seem to have faded from the scene for reasons JFP has suggested. I have often commented, in response to those who complained about the cost of the original LN kit, about the production cost of a part like this being only the tip of the iceberg. Having done it myself, my production costs were about 1/10th of the total product life cycle costs when including development, certification, testing, documentation and installation and user support. If you price only based on production costs, you go out of business rather quickly because there is no profit.