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On 7/12/2018 at 8:52 AM, dporto said:

I recently turned 150k miles on my '99 C4. I did The IMS Solution at 147k (in addition to cam chains, tensioner pads, clutch, water pump, etc...) I've got about 152k now...

 

Wow! Who said these cars wouldn't last long!? ha! 147,000 miles? I love it! 

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I'm original owner of 1999 996 C4. My engine went bad at 120,000 miles. Threw some fault codes, camshaft issues, sounded bad .... Decided to get rebuild at Flat6 and opted for Stage 2.. just got car back last week. It's incomparable to original engine- sound, power, etc. are all amazing. I'll keep you posted but looking forward to my new old 1999 C4 !

Edited by KK911C4
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  • 2 weeks later...

Bought my ‘00 in June at 105K. P.O. had done a lot of preventative maintenance including KN oil filter and using DT40 every 10K. Did a KN IMSB, AOL RMS, and second clutch while in there. IMS looked perfect! What a fun car, though admittedly I miss the “thunk” sound when closing the doors and the smell of leather/gasoline/oil of the older cars (944 included).

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  • 2 months later...
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On 5/28/2017 at 12:29 AM, RayLeone said:

2003 C4S Original IMS. Daily, year round driver.  Having some misfire issues right now, at 261K.

Updated Mileage: 288,565. 

2018 Round trips included NY to Seattle and NY to New Orleans.  Still not driving as much as I'd like. #4 cylinder down to 75%.  Trying to hold out to 300k before rebuild.

IMG_20190211_083141577.jpg

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  • 1 month later...

1999 C2 Manual

Bought last October with ~114k

No maintenance history, original IMS.

 

Going through and doing maintenance now and am sitting at 115k miles. Runs like a top with minimal oil seapage from sump plate. Debating if I should go full retard and Upgrade IMS along with other bits or see what my luck brings with the original 2 row IMS

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1 hour ago, DGI said:

1999 C2 Manual

Bought last October with ~114k

No maintenance history, original IMS.

 

Going through and doing maintenance now and am sitting at 115k miles. Runs like a top with minimal oil seapage from sump plate. Debating if I should go full retard and Upgrade IMS along with other bits or see what my luck brings with the original 2 row IMS

Evil wins when good cars are IMS'd. Take care of your car and you won't have an IMS problem. IMS problems happen to garage queens that were not properly conditioned during initial run in.

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57 minutes ago, RayLeone said:

Evil wins when good cars are IMS'd. Take care of your car and you won't have an IMS problem. IMS problems happen to garage queens that were not properly conditioned during initial run in.

Thats precisely the conclusion ive come to in my research. Engine has to come down for maintenance anyway. Assuming the RMS/IMS is dry when that happens, its not getting replaced 

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8 hours ago, DGI said:

Thats precisely the conclusion ive come to in my research. Engine has to come down for maintenance anyway. Assuming the RMS/ IMS is dry when that happens, its not getting replaced 

119k on a 20-yr old car implies that it was not exactly a daily driver.  If you don't have any history on it, assume that at some point in its life, it sat for weeks at a time - possibly longer.

 

Hopefully you'll have a good mechanic advising you on this.  They won't really know the condition of the bearing unless they remove that outer plate and take a look.  The condition of the outer seal is not the end of the discussion.  It could have been replaced in conjunction with a clutch replacement.  The condition of the seal on the bearing itself is your first step to determining if the bearing is still viable, and even then, you don't really know unless you pop off the bearing seal (which is irreversible), so it's a catch-22.  My mechanic removes the bearing seal on all Porsche engines with an IMS and relies on engine oil lubrication, and he says he's never had a failure.  He's been working on these engines since the 996 was first being raced in the late 90's. 


They should also change the water pump as preventive maintenance if you have no maintenance history on it.  A water pump failure is a disaster in these cars because the impeller is plastic and it gets chewed up against the block because when the water pump bearing fails, the axis of the pump shaft is no longer perpendicular to the block.  The result is that little bits of plastic end up getting circulated through the coolant system as it's failing, which results in these bits entering the cylinder heads and sometimes getting caught in the small passages, creating hot spots that crack the head.

 

Good luck!

Edited by jmj996
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33 minutes ago, jmj996 said:

119k on a 20-yr old car implies that it was not exactly a daily driver.  If you don't have any history on it, assume that at some point in its life, it sat for weeks at a time - possibly longer.

 

Hopefully you'll have a good mechanic advising you on this.  They won't really know the condition of the bearing unless they remove that outer plate and take a look.  The condition of the outer seal is not the end of the discussion.  It could have been replaced in conjunction with a clutch replacement.  The condition of the seal on the bearing itself is your first step to determining if the bearing is still viable, and even then, you don't really know unless you pop off the bearing seal (which is irreversible), so it's a catch-22.  My mechanic removes the bearing seal on all Porsche engines with an IMS and relies on engine oil lubrication, and he says he's never had a failure.  He's been working on these engines since the 996 was first being raced in the late 90's. 


They should also change the water pump as preventive maintenance if you have no maintenance history on it.  A water pump failure is a disaster in these cars because the impeller is plastic and it gets chewed up against the block because when the water pump bearing fails, the axis of the pump shaft is no longer perpendicular to the block.  The result is that little bits of plastic end up getting circulated through the coolant system as it's failing, which results in these bits entering the cylinder heads and sometimes getting caught in the small passages, creating hot spots that crack the head.

 

Good luck!

Excellent tips! Thank you.

 

full cooling system overhaul scheduled in the upcoming months already

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  • 2 months later...
  • 3 weeks later...

I acquired a 2001 C4 cabriolet about 5 weeks ago. Has just over 73,000 miles on it. Had an oil leak so I took it to the mechanic and he ended up replacing quite a few other items; driver side window regulator, motor mounts, air oil separator, coolant tank, around a dozen various gaskets/filters/belts, spark plugs, and some smaller items.

 

The mechanic took his time so I only got it back this week. Still need to pick up some new tires and get the driver's seat reupholstered. Everything else looks and works great so far and it's a blast to drive! Unfortunately, I put the top down yesterday and the rear window motor/pump appears to have now failed which is a bummer...

 

The mechanic also disconnected the battery so the radio required a security code which is what led me to this site. A user named Loren was able to provide the code and I got the radio working! Thanks again!

Edited by Dademurphy
Misspelling
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2002 996 purchased five years ago with 60k miles. It’s at 119k now. Was a daily driver until a year ago when I started commuting on a motorcycle. 

 

Oil change once once a year .

original IMS. 

Water pump failed at 100k miles. 

Fuel pump failed at 115k 

 

 

Edited by NikitaUCLA
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  • 4 weeks later...

A couple weeks ago I purchased my first Porsche, a 2000 996C2.  It had 88, 000 miles on it.

 

Previous owner had it for 10 years and averaged 3300 miles/yr.

My plan is to average  6,000/yr for 3 years, sell it at 106,000 miles, and then purchase a 2010 997.

 

If I have nothing else, I have a plan.

 

IMG_5826.thumb.JPG.0e56aaa40c0a10b0cd5c6c4d907cc4e1.JPG

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