Hi all,

I know the IMS issue has been discussed much in this forum but I wanted to ask the experiences of fellow 2005 Launch Edition 997S owners (I think there are a few on the board) with their cars and what they did to address their IMS worries and/or if they experienced the issue first hand.

I bought mine back in 2009 w/ 21k miles. Now my car is at 50k miles and been pretty much issue free but I have read a couple of threads that always keeps me on the edge.

I change the oil every 5-6k miles and have the LN Engineering filter adapter and magnetic drain plug.

I also have a Fidelity warranty on the vehicle that is set to expire middle of this year.

I'm at a crossroads with the car with an upcoming child this year and I don't want to worry about the reliability of it going forward. One of my friend calls it my "ticking time bomb".

I love the car, but don't also want to get stuck with a $20k bill in the worst case scenario.

If you are in the Bay Area, what shop did you use and which solution did you go with as well as the cost? If you don't want to post that info publicly please feel free to PM me.

Thanks in advance.

 

I had a 2005 Launch Edition, bought with 18k miles on it in 2012, drove it another 13,000 miles with 0 issues & i drove it hard...sadly totaled it in 2013 with 31k miles, i was ONLY going to address the IMS when i was ready to get a new clutch, probably another 10k.

 

Did the Launch Edition have a different IMS or something compared to other early 2005s? I wouldn't have thought so. In which case, just like any early 2005 the IMS bearing can fail at any time. Doesn't seem to be much difference between failure rates on the M96 or M97 motors either.

I had mine swapped out for the LN IMS bearing at around 55k miles, as the clutch was getting replaced anyway. The factory IMS bearing was in good condition, no signs of any failure. The problem is you just don't know if yours will fail, usually, until it is too late.

If you are going to keep the car, then getting the IMS bearing addressed will give you some peace of mind if nothing else.

 

Contact Jake Raby http://www.flat6innovations.com, he is the IMS expert and will be very helpful to you. He normally has 20-30 cars from across the country at his facility in Cleveland, GA waiting IMS fixes.

 

as a launch edition im pretty sure it was built before march 2005, sometime likely in 04.

to the OP, why dont you change the clutch and IMS at the same time right before warranty ends? at 50k miles it may be the ideal time.

 

talk to joseph in oakland. very knowledgable about the situation and very fair with the price when it comes to the install. i would start looking into it before the warranty runs out. as noted flywheel and clutch maintenance is suggested at time of installation.

Zentrum Motors | Joseph Wong | 1225 7th Street | Oakland, CA 94607

 

Thanks for the responses everyone.

I did actually contact Jake Raby and he was very helpful w/ the file he sent along regarding 2005 MY vehicles.

I just wanted more insight from other board members that were in similar situations and whether they ended up doing the IMS Retrofit or IMS Solution?

@Phil_D: I don't believe the Launch Edition had any differences to early 2005 but from the info I am reading from Jake it sounds like the IMS placed in the cars were random.

@thedips: Did you use Zentrum? What solution did you use and would you mind sharing w/ me the cost?

I know over the years on the forum there are other members w/ Launch Editions so wanted to get data points from them if they happened to catch this post.

@myw That's a good suggestion. My clutch feels like the day I got it so would be a waste to replace it. I've had a # of manual cars and 50k miles on a clutch should be nothing? I'll try to contact Joseph and see if he has insight.

I've emailed some of the preferred installers on the list and have been quoted from $2335 to "you probably have the type III IMS bearing design, and for replacement we charge about 60 hrs of labor + plus whatever parts may be needed. The total usually comes out to about $12k-$16k depending on if you decide to do a big bore modification to the engine or not" which had me .

Based on Jake's document the car needs to be visually inspected and I will look to see if I can get it serviced under my Fidelity warranty. That would seem like the best approach but normally warranty work is initiated when something has already actually failed.

I'm still interested in hearing others experience with what they actually chose and the cost.

 

what is your cars build date; and did you check the ims settlment website to see if your car is affected?

 

Where do you actually see the build date. If its on the sticker underneath the front hood, mine is helplessly faded and I can barely make out the VIN on there.

That being said since it is a Launch Edition this was one of the first 337 997 models that were available when the 997 was launched in N. America so I would think it would be the earliest build possible for a 997.

My VIN was actually part of the settlement class but I never submitted a claim since I didn't actually pay anything regarding IMS yet. This was due on 10/15/13 so I don't think I can participate now since deadline has passed...that being said, since I purchased from private party it sounded like I would get minimal coverage.

 

Sounds like you would have to wait for failure and there is no proactive steps you can take as regards to getting coverage from the suit.

http://www.imsporschesettlement.com/faqs/#qq6

 

It's safe to say you have the removable smaller bearing. Get yours swapped with an LN one.

 

From what I understand there was definitely a period around January and February in 2005 that either bearing could be installed and the motor # may not always be an accurate way of knowing. I would guess that a launch car pretty much definitely had the smaller bearing though.

 

My late 2005 is not on the settlement agreement, the vin is beyond the last vin listed. Can I assume the car had the larger bearing installed at build date? Does anyone know for sure?

 

Yes I would assume that.... As a disclaimer the only way to know "for sure for sure" is to visually inspect....

 

X2 However, everything I've read says that the only confusion as to which bearing is in the vehicles is for ones that say they have the smaller bearing and actually have the larger bearing, not the other way around. So you should be good to go. Next time you have the trans out or clutch changed get them to check.