Well.......I was taking my car to get a well needed wash when all of a sudden I hear a horrible clunking sound from the engine. No cel's and no noticeable loss of power and the sound is not dependent on rpm's, but the noise is very loud. I pull over and put the car into neutral and pop the trunk to see if there is anything visibly wrong. I can see nothing wrong but the sound is decreasing and eventually stops. I turn off the car and then turn it back on to see if the noise returns. The noise is there, but it goes away quickly. At this point I decide to turn around and head for home and schedule an appointment at the dealer. As I am talking to the service writer , I am looking out the window into the garage and to my horror there is a pool of oil about 3ft in diameter underneath my car. Needless to say I am having it towed to the dealership tomorrow. I looked underneath the car and could see oil streaming down from the engine but can not pinpoint where it is coming from. It looks as if it is coming from somewhere higher than what is visible closer to the cabin of the car. Anyone have any idea what it could be?

 

IMS (intermediate shaft failure/seal). Hope not but a new (rebuilt) engine will be needed. What year is your 996? Hope you got warranty. Sorry to hear that....

joel

 

04 with x51 package too. sucks u just got the car not too long ago...has IMS or RMS seal been replaced before?

 

damn, thats the 2nd 40th anniv, I heard of an ims issue. The other one was at rennlist, but they rebuilt it with a new ims instead of engine replacement. Sorry to hear this.

 

Damn, I hate reading about this...

I'm sorry you're having to go through it.
Don't want to be doom and gloom here but a new engine is more than likely what you're looking at.
What a shame to have this problem on an otherwise fantastic "bullet proof" motor.
Even if it is a very small percentage (in the big picture) it's still hard to block out this 996 (3.4 or 3.6) issue.

I don't want to start **** about this subject, not my intention (enough threads on it) Just more of a sad but true kind of thing

GL in all this....I truly hope I'm wrong

 

wow - sorry to hear that, let us know the outcome!

 

The dealer did replace the RMS not too long after I purchased the car. Thank God the car is still under warranty, otherwise I would be pulling my hair out right now. I am just patiently awaiting the arrival of the tow truck right now.

 

Now that's some good news Lockheed

 

Boo Lockheed!
Haha, I work for General Dynamics, good luck with the car man.

 

SWEET!!! Congrats on the new engine and enjoy flogging the loaner Caymen for a few days.

 

So what I have found out today is that I have fallen prey to the dreaded IMS failure. I am pretty sure that I have done some damage in the motor due to the loud knocking noise that I heard from the engine compartment. I suspect this is due to the timing being off from the failure and therefore causing some piston slapping. The weird thing is that the noise did stop before I got the car back into my garage where it subsequently lost a good amount of my freshly changed oil onto my nice concrete floor. The dealer has put in a call to Porsche to find out what they want them to do. I find this a little unnerving as it seems to me that I might not get an engine replacement. What are some other things that I should be worried about now with my motor if it is not replaced. Could there possibly be any pieces of metal floating around and scoring my cylinder walls? Could any reciprocating parts be severely weakened due to this failure? I am just worried that if the motor is not replaced that something else is on deck to go wrong because of this IMS failure

 

typically the squeaky wheel gets the oil. If they are not coming through to your satisfaction under warranty, make a lot of noise. I hope this does go smoothly for ya.

BTW i vote Lockheed... they're one of my customers

 

What is an "intermediate shaft?"

 

Well, good news. I received a call from my dealership saying that I will be getting a new engine. I am greatly relieved that they were not going to try and just "fix" the broken parts. I think while they are in there I am going to put in a new clutch as well. Motor comes in on Thursday.......life is good.

 

Im happy for you man!... did they say what happened?