I'm thinking about buying my first Porsche, a '01 Boxster S 6-speed. The car is super mint, on its second owner and has only 17k miles.

One of the few unknowns to me is the failure of the intermediate shaft carrier, one of the main bearings, or/and RMS (the RMS is relatively easy, but it may be an indication of bigger problems). They're all related as far as I understand.

I have a general idea of what the problem is but I can't find any reliable solutions of the problem. Furthermore, I can't find what causes the problem - someone told me that it's the lack of oil changes over time but I am not sure if I want to believe that.

Could someone point me toward any articles, or websites, or perhaps personal experiences of deal with this problem?
Thanks!

If you care to read, the story of how I came upon this car is on my website, here: http://www.carguydad.com/a-boxster-tale/

Thanks!
-Kamil

 

I don't know if there's a surefire way to prevent an RMS/IMS failure. Both can be fixed, though I've read if the IMS fails during operation the repair bill will be extremely costly. The RMS itself costs next to nothing, it's all about the labor to have it replaced. As for the IMS the most detailed information I have seen is on http://www.lnengineering.com/ims.html

I thought of the same issues before buying my first Porsche a few months ago, 02 Boxster S and thus far I'm loving every minute of it..

 

You can't fix IMS because once it's broken it grenades the whole engine. Ask me how I know this.

Best thing to do is to buy the retrofit kit from Raby, or prepare to pay for a new/used replacement engine. Or just avoid Boxsters all the way to 2005, and get a 2006 or newer since they have the most up to date IMS.

 

Or get a 2009 and no more IMS

 

Thanks for all the help. I came upon the LNE Engineering link last night while searching. I'm totally on the fence about the car at this point, will probably nix the idea.

A shame really, this is a very nice example (even if I dont love the color) and I recently drove the '11 Spyder and '11 S for a good amount of time and totally fell in love with them once again. An '09+ is out of question for me, I refuse to have monthly payments.

Thanks again.

 

Don't be afraid. Great car!!!! Although the IMS issue us scary for sure, most never have a problem. Also - no cars, especially sports cars, are perfect.

 

I had the same concerns, though purchased my 05 Boxster S back in April.

I paid cash and also did a lot of research on warranties.

I ended up getting a warranty by Fidelity for about $2200 for 3/36K miles.

My water pump went the next day after purchasing the warranty and they paid for it no questions asked.

The IMS and RMS are also covered under my warranty. I made sure of it.

Research some extended warranties and that might help you make a decision.

The best warranty companies I came up with were Easy Care, Preferred and Fidelity.

Call your Porsche dealer and find out what a warranty will run. If you go with the warranty company they sell you should have no problem getting work done.

Do your research and email me if you need anything else - steve@onlineformals.com

 

Check out flat6innovation.com. I've had three M96 cars and recently upgraded my current 01 986S to flat6's 3.6 performance upgrade with L&N engineering internals.

 

sorry that is flat6innovations.com

 

I've decided to pass on the Boxster. Story:
http://www.carguydad.com/a-boxster-tale-part-2/



Related, Porsches of ages from a recent event:
http://www.carguydad.com/porsche-day/