Its been asked many times before "How reliable is a 997.1?"

My 2008 997.1 has 110k miles on it and so far my experience has been exceptional as a daily driver, problem and worry free, up until my last service. During my last service, I noticed a small oil leak coming from the rear main seal and thought might as well replace and inspect a few items while doing the RMS.

Items on the list:
Real Main Seal
Inspect IMS
IMS seal
Clutch & Flywheel Kit
Clutch Release Bearing
Clutch Screws
Flywheel to Clutch Bolts
Front and Rear Rotors
Front and Rear Pads
Caliper Bolts
Front and Rear wear Sensors
Lowering Springs
Front and Rear Strut Mounts
Oil Change
Transmission Fluid Change
Idler Pulleys

My Observations:
RMS - It was very minor leak, probably could have gone several more thousands of miles before becoming an issue. Went over 100k before needing to be replaced.


IMS - Pulled the IMS cover and the bearing grease seal cover. Inspected the bearing, smooth operation, no spalling, no play, no burnt oil. When the grease seal cover was removed a good amount of oil gushed out, this was a good sign that it had plenty of lubrication. Did a fair amount of research and talk to some experts on everything IMS and since the IMS is not serviceable I will be leaving the grease seal cover off as recommended. Mine is an 08 with the newer style bearing, 100k miles and bearing is in great shape.


Clutch - Still had life left on it, it has about 60k miles on it.









Rotors and Pads - Rotors and rear pads were last replaced 80k miles ago, fronts were replaced again about 50k miles ago. I was surprised the fronts went that long considering I was told they would only last 30k miles.









Strut Mounts - I will update once I get them off, figured I might as well replace them since I will be doing new lowering springs.





Transmission Flush - I have a slight 2nd gear grind, per another member that had the same experience flushing the transmission fluid got rid of the 2nd gear grind. I will post feedback once I get it back on the road.

Idler Pulleys - One of the idler bearing was making a noise, decided to replace all three. Belt had some chunks missing from it, last replaced about 60k miles ago.

Overall, I am extremely pleased with the reliability of my 997 as a daily driver.

 

Wow! These are amazing results. Truly instill confidence. My 05 997 has ~92k miles now. I have a decent amount of service records. Hopefully it will run for a long time

 

Good post.

Actually, the fact that a bunch of oil came out of the IMS bearing when pulling the seal means that seal was already compromised and oil was getting into the bearing, which washes out the beating grease. Usually with the seal in place, enough fresh oil can't circulate through and that's what compromises the larger bearings, so it looks like you did that early enough and will now prolong the life of the bearing. Good call on not reinstalling the seal.

If it's time for some brakes, I have a set of rear Sebro slotted rotors and front and rear Hawk HPS pads available for sale. Marry them to some new fronts and you'll have essentially new and upgraded brakes too.

 

Sorry I already purchased all the parts and already started the installation. I should have checked the marketplace first but thanks for the offer.

 

Finished up all the scheduled maintenance today, along with new H&R Springs.

My observations

Transmission:
2nd gear grind is gone after changing the Tranny Fluid. The old fluid still had looked very clean when drained but after putting in new fluid the 2nd gear grind is all gone. I used Porsche PTX fluid, at first it didn't seem like anything was different but once the fluid got warmed up, the 2nd gear grind was gone.

Clutch:
I am not sure if Porsche updated the clutch kit but what I can say is clutch pedal feel is a big difference. Every since I purchased the car, it has always had a very stiff clutch pedal. Now after changing the clutch, pressure plate, clutch bearing the pedal feels light, easy, no longer stiff. It is like night and day, big improvement.

Rotors and Pads:
Just went with Porsche Stock Rotors and Pads and did a brake flush. It will take a few miles to bed them in but they feel really great, brake is a little squishy but this is expected, this should go away after a few miles.






H&R Springs:
Can't really tell and difference in ride quality, it feels the same on the road. The ride height looks much better and just the right amount of wheel gap. I am sure it will take a few miles for the springs to settle but very pleased with the results, ride quality feels the same and seems that I got roughly a 1.5 inch drop.

 

Nice work. I wish I had the experience and know how to do similar work myself. Need to find some local Porsche gurus to do some DIYs with.

And our 911s are looking like twins.

 

Yep they do look like twins, once I get it cleaned up I will post some pics. What type of tail lights are you running in the rear?

 

Depo LED fronts and rears. Have had them for two years and they look great with no errors.