guruuno

Sorry if I seemed to abandon this post, I actually had it at http://forums.pelicanparts.com/boxster-cayman-forum/766056-2004-boxster-ims-clutch-cost.html Bottom line, 1st garage refunded $1800 for work that did nothing after being in shop for over 90 days. 2nd shop fixed problem within 1 week, new flywheel and missing exhaust bracket installed, and I just did a 800 mile road trip last week, 100% flawless zero issues. Don't want to clog this post, jump over to other link if interested to read about it all. A final note, sure is depressing that when you pick up car from being serviced, you have to go over it with a fine tooth comb looking for anything that might have happened while at the shop. Anything. Dings, dents, scratches, anything. And boy did I find a few things. I sure hope that some day we can hide multiple cover cameras everywhere to prove things. Nobody cares. They say they do, they all profess to, but stuff happens, and you gotta keep looking to prove things. Life.

So, I posted on another forum without replies, so excuse me if it appears I am double posting, as it is quite some time since the original post, without much to ponder. Here we go: OK, I have an '04 Boxster which I had my mechanic do the IMS bearing update + a new clutch, pressure plate, throw-out bearing & rear main seal back at the end of this August 2013. At the time of the service, I had absolutely no issues whatsoever with the car, nada, zero issues. I put about 3,000 miles on since that update and yesterday, I noticed upon exiting Interstate 80 on an exit ramp, cranking along at say 60-65, downshifting, my rpm's when in the 3,000 to 3,500 +/- a few rpm's, I have this odd resonating sound, vibration, rumbling of sorts, while de-accelerating. I was not able to duplicate it to the extreme of it's initial introduction, but I was able to hear and feel it close to 80% of it's original, so I went back to the mechanic, informed him, and the very 1st thing he said was, "You know there is a IMS recall....blah, blah....", to which I replied, "I know, you did mine about 2 months ago!" He looked bewildered, suggested it might be the cat converter, and I made an appointment for next Thursday (I'll post to keep all informed). I guess my question is, if I had no issues prior, and do now after the IMS service, possibly the exhaust system wasn't correctly reinstalled? Or, should I be considering other items that are just the joys of owning a Boxster? I am approaching day 63 (as of 1/23/14) of this car being at the garage, and I am concerned as to how to move forward. I will need to make a decision this soon. The garage states he has done the items as I previously referenced, (and now after new motor mounts, transmission mounts, new flywheel, checking oil pressures, valve timings, etc., etc.....no change), however, I'll obviously need to pay him for all of this stuff he has done and pick up the car, bring it to another mechanic and have them review all of the items at what anticipated ballpark cost? And one would assume to tear apart the car again for the umteenth time to look, see, etc., to assist in diagnosing and hopefully resolving the problem. Reviewing a Google search, I find numerous discussions about this very vibration problem and all sorts of possible "solutions", but none specific to any 1 specific solution (all solutions are different and not 1 specific item is the resolve) and the mechanic has done just about every item listed in all of the forums/postings. I know that this is a very sticky situation for any 3rd party to get involved in and that there is no guarantee a 3rd party can even solve the issue other than concur the problem exists and generate more labor bills?.and I do understand that this is most likely my only option remaining, but I might ask first before I do pull the ripcord?where do I draw the line? I understand that most likely another mechanic would need to disassemble the rear of the car again (ugggh!, how many time can it be taken apart and put back together again and again and again) to dig deep to find any contributing factors, but do I budget another $1,000, $2,000, $3,000 or just sell the car? (in other words; when does one reach the point of no return where it is no longer worth the investment). I'm approaching $5,000 invested as of now since the IMS project!!! Finally, on the advice of my attorney, he states that any 3rd party would become the "expert witness" (if needed) as to the identification of the problem and and potential resolution of the problem, and is that something that a 3rd party would be comfortable with? I really don't want to create any conflict with anyone, all I want is the car to be the way it has been for the several years I have had it prior to the IMS work (just a quick recap: I took my Boxster to my mechanic for an oil change and he alerted me to the IMS issue, which I was aware of..and did not have any sign of having the problem, and I chose to have him do the work to be pro-active thinking it would be less costly to do the entire job with all the extras rather than be on pins and needles worrying if I would become a statistic of an IMS failure). So, after reading all of the postings about the ?3000-3200 RPM Boxster vibration? ( https://www.google.com/search?q=3000-3200+RPM+Boxster+vibration&oq=3000-3200+RPM+Boxster+vibration&aqs=chrome..69i57.437006j0j7&sourceid=chrome&espv=210&es_sm=119&ie=UTF-8 ) has anyone maybe having previously diagnosed similar issue and had it resolved? I know it?s a lot of questions, but like I said, I need to do something, I may have possibly made a bad decision entrusting this other shop to do the work, and now at an additional expense I?ll need to bring it to another mechanic. What to do, sell it, pay for more diagnosing, live with it? Key point is: It never existed before the IMS work. 01-23-2014, 06:27 PM Recommend this thread for the PelicanWiki #14 (permalink) guruuno Registered User Join Date: Sep 2012 Posts: 16 Are these Boxster parts? Oh boy. I figured I'd take a ride (35+ miles to garage) to check on my baby. BIG surprise. I pulled in, did not see car (I was told in early December by the owner after informing him my car doesn't see the weather, is always garaged, and I had concerns about it remaining in a tight parking lot awaiting his next attempted fix)...so he had pulled it into an under the shop storage garage of sorts, never really saw it inside, just the outside doors under the back of the shop.....to appease me I'd think. I initially went to drop off a new Insurance ID card as the old one was expiring and also figured I'd check in and see what was happening. He told me he got the new clutch (last conversation the week before, after all the other stuff he has done which did not resolve the problem, so he said, "oh, I didn't know that this vibration issue didn't occur before the IMS work we did", and suggested he thought maybe it was a bad clutch.), and I said good luck, touch base next week, hope that fixes the problem. On my way out the front door, I saw a buch up Porsche parts laying on the pavement in the parking area (picture attached), and a pickup truck with a boom crane on the back was delivering a junkyard Porsche motor. My heart sank. I thought the worst, but dismissed all negative feelings and went to lunch with my wife. It couldn't be my parts laying on the ground, could it? The motor being delivered couldn't be for my car, could it? Needless to say, this gut wrenching feeling in my stomach said to go back after lunch and ask questions. I did. As I pulled in, the owner was in the front of the shop sweeping ice and water from the pavement. He glanced up to look as I pulled in, recognized it was me, and as I pulled in the back of the shop I parked my car and went up the rear entrance and entered the front of the shop. The owner was nowhere in sight. An employee came by me in a minute or 2 and asked if he could help me. I said yes, I was there to see Dave. He said who are you. I said Bob. About 1-2 minutes later the owner came out of the back of the shop (which is the entrance to the 2 bay garage) with a look on his face like I just caught him with his hand in the cookie jar. He looked like a scared cat. I asked what he thought the timetable for the car was, as it was going on 70+ days there. He walked into the back, pointed to the floor and said, "see, here's your clutch". I looked around, that motor was being worked on (the junkyard motor), and I heard a whirring of either a grinder or a wire brush on a pneumatic tool. As I looked at that Dave rushed me out of the shop and into the front office where I said "what do you think the timetable is and what's the story if this clutch doesn't fix the problem?" He looked like he wanted to cry. He was all red in the face, mumbled something about the EPA and the DEP on his case, employee problems, problems with his daughter, family issues, being there since 5 AM, having work being backed up, trying to get away for vacation and that he can't tell me anything because he is obviously having issues (all blurted out in less than 15 seconds). I asked about the Porsche parts on the ground and the junkyard motor, he said he had a Porsche with a blown motor that he was working on. Funny though, I re-evaluated the property before I left, not a single Porsche of ANY KIND on the property or on the lifts other than mine in the bay downstairs......uh oh? That was like a knife in my stomach. I left, I tried to think that it could all be my wild imagination and not really anything to do with me.....but how, why? So, do I have it flat bedded immediately out of there to another shop? Do I go back with a witness? Do I go back with an attorney? Do I go back with a police officer? Do I forget about it all and wait more, longer and longer (going on over 70 days already).... And, like I had said previously, this shop has an impeccable reputation, Zero complaints, nothing but Bentleys, Porsches, Lotuses, Lambos', Rolls, every high end car for years at the place, with nothing but the highest reputation...hence my choosing them to begin with. I'm probably venting and might be too concerned, but the facts are the facts and what would one expect as a reasonable time to have a repair done, corrected,e tc., or is there more going on that maybe I don't know about? It's like a bad dream. Given the situation, I really don't know if I can ever have the level of confidence in the car after the motor has been removed multiple time with all of this work as stated in my previous posts, and feel comfortable that the car is reliable, correct, etc., or that I'm worse off than if I never had any work done to begin with.....(remember, I went in for an oil change and pro-actively chose to do the IMS bearing to be even more secure in the fact that if anything was wrong, needed to be done, etc., it would be addressed by doing that work as suggested), and now, here I am, close to $5,000 in the hole, not a clue as if any of my parts are replaced or swapped out with a junkyard motor, and all the items removed are laying in the ice and snow...... Thoughts? (oh, and the reason the owner stated last week that he didn't know that my vibration issue was non-existent prior to him doing any work was most likely because he read these posts here, as I'm of the belief that he purchases parts from Pelican...I think, however, the mechanic who worked on the car and test drove it with me to verify the problem was well aware in our conversation that the problem was non-existent prior to any work). I just want my car back, fixed, and the way it should be...

I am approaching day 53 of this car being at the garage, and I am concerned as to how to move forward. I will need to make a decision this week. The garage states he has done the items as I previously referenced, (and now after new motor mounts, transmission mounts, new flywheel, checking oil pressures, valve timings, etc., etc.....no change), however, I’ll need to pay him for all of this stuff he has done and pick up the car, bring it to another mechanic (????) and have them review all of the items at what anticipated ballpark cost? And one would assume to tear apart the car again for the umteenth time to look, see, etc., to assist in diagnosing and hopefully resolving the problem. Reviewing a Google search, I find numerous discussions about this very vibration problem and all sorts of possible “solutions”, but none specific to any 1 solution (all solutions are different and not 1 specific item is the resolve)….and the mechanic has done just about every item listed in all of the forums/postings). I know that this is a very sticky situation for any 3rd party to get involved in and that there is no guarantee a 3rd party can even solve the issue other than concur the problem exists and generate more labor bills….and I do understand that this is most likely my only option remaining, but I might ask first before I do pull the ripcord…where do I draw the line? I understand that most likely another mechanic would need to disassemble the rear of the car again (ugggh!, how many time can it be taken apart and put back together again and again and again) to dig deep to find any contributing factors, but do I budget another $1,000, $2,000, $3,000 or just sell the car? (in other words; when does one reach the point of no return where it is no longer worth the investment). I'm approaching $5,000 now!!! Finally, on the advice of my attorney, he states that any 3rd party would become the “expert witness” (if needed) as to the identification of the problem and and potential resolution of the problem, and is that something that a 3rd party would be comfortable with? I really don’t want to create any conflict with anyone, all I want is the car to be the way it has been for the several years I have had it prior to the IMS work (just a quick recap: I took my Boxster to my mechanic for an oil change and he alerted me to the IMS issue, which I was aware of..and did not have any sign of having the problem…., and I chose to have him do the work to be pro-active thinking it would be less costly to do the entire job with all the extras rather than be on pins and needles worrying if I would become a statistic of IMS failure). So, after reading all of the postings about the “3000-3200 RPM Boxster vibration” ( https://www.google.com/search?q=3000-3200+RPM+Boxster+vibration&oq=3000-3200+RPM+Boxster+vibration&aqs=chrome..69i57.437006j0j7&sourceid=chrome&espv=210&es_sm=119&ie=UTF-8 ) has anyone maybe having previously diagnosed similar issue and had it resolved? I know it’s a lot of questions, but like I said, I need to do something, I may have possibly made a bad decision entrusting this other shop to do the work, and now at an additional expense I’ll need to bring it to another mechanic. What to do, sell it, pay for more diagnosing, live with it? Key point is: It never existed before the IMS work.

OK, I have an '04 Boxster which I had my mechanic do the IMS bearing update + a new clutch, pressure plate, throw-out bearing & rear main seal back at the end of this August 2013. At the time of the service, I had absolutely no issues whatsoever with the car, nada, zero issues. I put about 3,000 miles on since that update and yesterday, I noticed upon exiting Interstate 80 on an exit ramp, cranking along at say 60-65, downshifting, my rpm's when in the 3,000 to 3,500 +/- a few rpm's, I have this odd resonating sound, vibration, rumbling of sorts, while de-accelerating. I was not able to duplicate it to the extreme of it's initial introduction, but I was able to hear and feel it close to 80% of it's original, so I went back to the mechanic, informed him, and the very 1st thing he said was, "You know there is a IMS recall....blah, blah....", to which I replied, "I know, you did mine about 2 months ago!" He looked bewildered, suggested it might be the cat converter, and I made an appointment for next Thursday (I'll post to keep all informed). I guess my question is, if I had no issues prior, and do now after the IMS service, possibly the exhaust system wasn't correctly reinstalled? Or, should I be considering other items that are just the joys of owning a Boxster?