I knowmany have seen the web posts and many like me have received the stack of paperwork for owners with potential VINs affected.

HERE'S A SOLUTION - BE PROACTIVE PORSCHE! Why wouldn't Porsche or these lawyers think to offer a proactive solution option. Get a LN Engineering retrofit IMS bearing and Porsche would cover the labor at a factory store. This would drive sales that offset their costs to repair. I mean I would probably go in there have the IMS replaced and throw in the clutch since they have it tore apart already. And being in the automotive business for 15 years - I would have my upsale pitch and program all in place to do just that.

Example: "Hey Mr/Mrs pissed off 997/997S owner (M96) Porsche is paying us 100% of the labor costs to install your new IMS bearing and do an oil change (needed). We will replace your clutch while we have it all tore apart for an additional $500 bux. Dealers would love this model more than this slap in the face 50% - 25% coverage for those that already got burnt. Yes this should be in place for those who already lost out and more importantly confidence in the Porsche Brand. But like any business its always better to be proactive and preventative.

Just hate that Porsche hasn't owned up to this problem - killing our values, resale, and most of all piece of mind.

I start my car everyday listening for that strange rattle or odd sound! And I pull out of the garage and monitor the heat of engine and don't rip through the gears or power until it heats up to 200+ degrees. Just a shame...this is why I bought a Porsche and not a **** box Lambo/Ferrari. Want to drive a bullet proof real exotic. I love my 997S and will replace the IMS when the clutch needs replacing. I am at 31,233 miles on my 2005 and fingers crossed the IMS lasts that long.

Oil changed every 5-7k miles. Always search for shavings in the dropped oil (always clean). Now I hear that doesn't matter as oil shavings aren't always present on engines where IMS failure occured.

Anyone have any real sound advice. My take is statistics rule...if there were 6,000 911's sold YoY from 2001-2005 and X number of cars failed (IMS) what is the statistical chance it will happen. Am I sooner to win the BIG GAME before the IMS fails or is it a 20+ percent chance. Can anyone answer the percentage question with some kind of confidence? I have looked all over the net and spoke to my certified Porsche mechanic and I get mixed answers.

Gun_show

 

My car is a little newer yet still I worry about it as well. I was informed that changing the oil every 3-5k, third radiator and 160 thermostat would help prevent IMS issues. That's what I've done and so far so good....pushing 55k now w/o problems and is a DD

 

So at this point what are you going to do with the lawsuit? I'm thinking of excluding myself as I agree the terms are terrible - particularly the % they cover and the 10 years from date of service. I have a 2005 built in Nov 2004 so my 10 year date of service is probably out next Dec. I've already replace my bearing 3k miles ago and all is well. Are others out there thinking of excluding themselves?

 

Answer to your question is NO for all the reasons you're already aware of.
The answer to your dilemma is to forget all the IMS BS, drive the car like you stole and if it brakes get it fixed or sell it for parts. Anything short of that just makes you miserable and being miserable isn't good. Being miserable isn't why you bought a Porsche in the first place. Oh, one other thing, spend less time reading all the "Help, my Porsche just blow up because.....(fill in the blanks)" posts on sites like these. Makes you crazy.

 

You're making two big assumptions to base your recommendation on.

1. You assume the LN Engineering is better and would hold up in a typical OEM durability test.

2. You also assume the application of the existing bearing is correct.

 

Viger-gunshow - If you feel statistics rule, here's some research that can help you.

This is the link to the law firm's class action declaration. http://www.imsporschesettlement.com/...ffs_motion.pdf
Point 13 states the following:
--
Discovery and investigation establishes that Porsche adopted a single row design for the IMS in 2001. The payment of warranty and goodwill claims of owners of Porsche vehicles with this design of the IMS (all Class Vehicles) spiked up to between 4% to 8% of all such Vehicles in the United States, and 4% to 10% of all Class Vehicles in California. Warranty claims for Porsche Boxster and 911 vehicles relating to IMS issues, which had different versions of the IMS, have uniformly involved claims of far less than 1% of such vehicles.
--

The probability of one of getting cancer or a heart attack are much higher than an IMSB failure. So you've got bigger things to worry about if you want to worry about statistics.

One could just as easily have a serious car accident at any time, but that doesn't stop me from enjoying my car! Neither does the IMSB!

 

On the other hand, I do agree that Porsche should have (and still should) provide a more proactive solution for all affected cars. Such as a recall to install an improved version of the IMSB (doesn't need to be the LN version, one of Porsche's own design would do), especially on the 2001-2005 cars that have the single row bearing which seems to have a higher rate of failure.

 

Last year I sold my 03 996 because I was always afraid of the death rattle. The car only had 20k miles, I loved the color combo, got the wheels I liked, and I only had about $35k into it. I didn't need a clutch yet and didn't want to spend the money, but I look back now and it would have been a lot smarter and cheaper to just put the LN bearing and new clutch in it early and keep the car. I would encourage you to do the same, replace it now, you will do it sooner or later anyway. It's saving you almost nothing by waiting yet its costing you the enjoyment of the vehicle in the meantime.

In the end I think I got caught up too much in the IMS hype on the Internet. You always hear about the tiny percentage of engines that blew up but not the hundreds of thousands of blissfully ignorant people that didn't know about the IMS issue at all and just enjoyed their cars and didn't have a problem.

 

I also have an early 2005 build and decided to just do the LN Engineering replacement, rationalizing not only the potential cost savings of spending a little over $1,000 now versus the potential cost of a new motor, but also the peace of mind of not having to worry about if and when the IMS was going to fail. Interestingly enough, the mechanic gave me the old bearing and it didn't appear to have any deterioration. But I don't regret my decision. OP, I agree with others that, while there is statistically a chance yours could fail, you have to avoid the paranoia that can come from reading people's posts on the internet.

 

I knew California was going to bail on the States.

 

They called out California because 30% of Porsches sold in the US are in California.