I have a 997 that was delivered in January '06 which was built mid to late '05. I sent car to dealer to get minor maintenance and mentioned oil leak and it's the RMS. I'm on board with replacing RMS, but my question is should I also replace IMS?

Service advisor mentioned the IMS was re-designed in '05 and my model "should" have the new version. Should I fork out an additional $2.3k to just have peace of mind? Much better than later option of new engine crate plus installation, but might have been waste of money.

Thoughts? Thanks in advance for your insight...
Steve

 

Manual transmission? If yes, wait on the RMS fix until the clutch goes. Then do the clutch and RMS together, perhaps IMS preventative too. A minor oil drop or two on the ground and occasionally topping off the oil is much cheaper than dropping the transmission twice.

 

Thanks for quick response. It is a manual transmission and the clutch is in good shape. The service advisor mentioned that there were no shavings in oil filter which seems to be good sign for IMS.

 

You have to see the IMS on your 05 to determine without question if is a high failure risk ("old" version). If it is the upgraded model it is a huge job and you are wasting money to do it. Failure rate is low to none. If it is the old version and you are to be a long term owner I would consider it. To repeat, production date is not sure sign of which bearing you have. Tech must inspect with tranny down. Wait until you do RMS to check it out.

 

is RMS leak being repaired now or are you thinking of doing it? How many miles on car/clutch? If you've not started repair yet, may want to consider the advice from other member to wait until you need clutch to repair RMS.

If you're going to repair RMS, i'd go ahead and get new clutch kit at same time since car is 7-8 yrs old. If you have older bearing i'd definitely get the fix as its minimal addt'l labor cost when trans is out (and cost of new bearing) for peace of mind-
If you have newer larger bearing, i believe it entails much more labor to take apart engine to replace bearing- i wouldn't think it's worth the $. I saw ad for larger bearings that removes rear bearing seal & adds oiling to bearing- (not sure how effective this is or cost).

 

Car and clutch have 25k miles. It seems that the clutch is in good shape, but would concur that I'm a dope if I didn't consider replacement since transmission is already dropped. It would be heavy expense to have to pay for dropped transmission twice; however, if the IMS needs replacement, that's a hefty expense, but much better than the alternative.

 

Any thoughts on estimates for the cost of a new clutch given the fact that the transmission is already out?

 

i had '02 996C2 with about 25k miles & an RMS leak few yrs back- Fidelity covered labor for RMS leak & i got a new porsche clutch kit from Sunset Porsche for $500. It was no addt'l cost to install it- Unfortunately i didn't know dealer also installed the IMS retrofit & did not get that replaced (other than dealer installed the new IMS cover). I always kicked myself for not being more aware.

since your trans is out already - buy new clutch kit & get that installed -s/b about $500 for parts & no labor- if you have the old type bearing- i'd say go ahead and get it replaced with new from LN Engr or Jake Ruby- If it's the newer larger IMS bearing, don't believe you'll be able to do anything w/o taking eng out & apart- Do call LN Engr and/or Jake Ruby to verify what they have & advise for larger bearing .

 

About $1,000.00 perhaps $900.00 (parts alone).

 

There's a thread here that lists which serial numbers have which old/new bearings. Find it and check your number on the tranny --- obviously, visual inspection has the final word.

If it were me, I would get it changed if it's the old one. Piece of mind for many years is well worth the extra cost. If it helps, just amortize the cost over 5 years.

Of course, others would say that the never-ending failure threads are over exaggeration and the chances are pretty slim. Ignore the recommendations, listen to your instinct, and do what your allowance and peace of mind could settle for. Cheers!


Here, let's pretend it would be $2,000.00 for the retrofit: $2k/5years/12 months = $33.33/mo or $1.11/day.


Plug in the real cost and I bet your daily cost would be much much lower.


Go figure!

 

Lastly, I think the 997 engines are $18,000.00+!!!

Why move Vegas to your house? Do you like rolling the dice every time you drive your car?

 

Couldn't agree more on the Vegas comment especially considering the $18k for a new engine before labor! Thanks also for your insight on clutch costs.

 

I believe I got lucky since mine has the upgraded IMS. Sounds like the upgraded IMS is difficult to replace and although I realize no parts are bullet proof, I'm assuming I'm good to go.

Now the question is whether or not to replace clutch at 50% wear? Seems like a good idea, but maybe I just wait it out and again inspect IMS when I replace my clutch in another 20k miles. Thoughts?