What side is the noise most prevalent?

Hey Jeff - the noise is on the Driver's side.

Pull the #6 plug and compare its color to one from the other bank.

I will if able... It would be nice if it were something simple like collapsed lifter (or two) but who knows.

It very well may be a lifter, and hopefully that is what it causing the noise. But checking the plug is fairly easy and can quickly rule out a worst case scenario.

Cheers

Update time... I am a little sad, but also relieved. The guys at PRO Motorsports in Burbank was interested in taking the CS off my hands. I will miss it, for sure, but I did not love this car like my 1987 Carrera. Maybe some day down the line I'll take another Porsche into my stable. For now I will enjoy my Victory Octane as a daily driver.

Drive safe.

So, what was the verdict if any?

Don't buy any cayman/boxster/911 from 98-2008 is my verdict.

I have been contemplating selling my 944 turbo and 944 n/a to pickup a cayman, but between the ims failure, cracked blocks, d chunks, I think my 951 and 944 are my best buddies in terms of reliability and performance compared to any 996/986.

944 parts are cheap and repairing them is frustrating at times, but they are very simplistic builds , mind the 25+ year old electronics and wiring.

I see so many people dumping their 911's, cayman's, boxsters with bad engine's. This obviously kills your resale for the 3 aforementioned vehicles from 1999-2008.

Knowing my engine could grenade at a moment's notice would make me dump the car asap, especially when replacement engine are insanely expensive($6-10k) and really a bad money decision to fix.

I blame porsche at the end of the day, they have screwed over owners, and any future owners of these beautiful cars. Shame on them.

I'd really like to see you try to buy a 1998 Cayman, especially as they were not produced until 2006......

As for the early M96/97 engine cars losing their value, those without IMS retrofits will suffer, while those that have been retrofitted hold theirs, particularly those with the permanent IMS Solution installed.

No news from the shop that bought it. They said they wanted to rebuild the engine anyways (permanent fix to IMSB, address any "while we're in there" items). I'll check in with them in about a month, see what they've done.

Right, my mistake 98 boxsters. Either way, my condolences. Buy a 944 and keep you car out of the garages that love seeing m96/97 engine car's come in on flat bed's.:D

Actually the retrofits dont mean sqwat. They fail as well. But for the most part IMS failures are rare these days. But other things are failing like valve springs and rod bearings.

I am starting to think the M96/M97 design has a few character flaws. D-chunking, valvetrain problems, IMSB... I don't think I would ever gamble on that again.

If I do come back to buy a Cayman or Boxster from that generation, it will get a LS6/LS7 swap, and I will budget accordingly. I am a fan of the 2006+ body style and the handling was superb. But I won't risk the catastrophically expensive engine failure (again).

By the time you invest $40k in properly swapping an LSX into a modern Porsche, you could have had a multitude of other cars.

I've posted it many times, you gotta pay to play. If you can't afford a potential issue that costs you thousands, you shouldn't own a Porsche. Every Porsche made has problems that can be super expensive. filly might be singing a different tune if he paid a shop to replace his clutch, rebuild his torque tube, and clean up the damage from a snapped timing belt. I love both my 911SC and 986S, but frankly the SC has the potential to cost me way more money.

As the owner of an '03 986S Tiptronic, I second this statement. Mine let go at 106k - so much for the conventional wisdom "if it's good at 30k it's good at 230k". Owned it since 2004/

Porsche left us with ticking time bombs and only stepped up to the plate if they failed in a specific window. I'm sure that the Class Action lawyers were paid handsomly. The rest of us, not so much

CB

Actually they do mean quite a lot in terms of resale values; we do PPI's and have seen several cars that were commanding a premium because of the retrofit, and the buyer's happily paid it, particularly if the car had the IMS Solution retrofit.

As for retrofits failing, we have never seen one of ours fail in the eight years we have been doing them, and have not heard of another shop losing one either. I have read (online) about failed retrofits, but they were using either off the shelf or aftermarket steel replacement ball or roller bearings. Of the more than 25,000 LN ceramic hybrids installed, last time I spoke with Charles Navarro, few than 15 had failed, and most of them were traced to improper installation or the ingestion of metal debris from another engine component failure. If memory serves, only one failure remained unresolved at the time of the conversation.

As for fewer IMS failures still happening, I also would not count on that; we had one in the shop last week, and are expecting a flatbed with another car we suspect had a failure as well.

After the rebuild and DOF IMS retrofit, it's running strong. Looking forward to 14 more years! I think it's worth it.

Not sure if you meant it, but that came off quite a bit snobbish Matt. I'm no stranger to the cost of ownership with the Porsche brand. I've owned quite a few over the years (as have you). However the 986/996/987/997 platform by far was the most expensive in all regards and the least DIY-Friendly.

I had stated before that IF I went back to that generation of Porsches, it would be with an LS-7 swap and I would budget accordingly. Probably find a clean roller with a blown engine and go from there. Realistically, I'll probably get another 914 or 944. With a 914 there's plenty of conversion options and for 944s they're just plain fun to drive. I would have kept the Cayman S had I not been in the house-buying process.

Sadly this has been a learning process. I was able to buy the car, drive it for a number of years, enjoy it, and walk away when it went kaput. I consider myself lucky as there are many more stories where the same (or worse) happened and the owners ate the $20k+ to fix it. This generation is just not worth it IMHO.

Not intended to be snobbish, just reality. Any Porsche can cost you a LOT of money. Sorry you lost the lottery on this one, I've owned quite a few 98X and 99X cars and they've all been incredibly reliable and enjoyable.