What did Porsche do in 2009 to make the car safer to buy in respect to the IMS issue?

So what did Porsche engineers do in the 2009 that makes it a safer buy in respect to the IMS issue? Love my '70 t Targa but want to buy a daily driver and am torn between an '05-08 or stepping up to '09.
Your info is greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
LH

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[Casey at Pelican Parts]

The 2009 and later Sports Cars have an engine which is completely redesigned. The "MA series" Carrera engines MA1.01 3.8 DFI , and MA1.02 3.6 DFI engines do not use the worrisome intermediate shaft design with roller bearing at the rear. There are other nice things they did to the engine including use of real gaskets for valve cover and oil sump instead of the cheapo liquid gasket utilized on the M96 and M97 engines.

Here is an article written by our friends Tony Callas and Tom Prine on the subject of the difference between M96 and MA series engines.

http://www.callasrennsport.com/996-vs-997-and-beyond/


- Casey

[Luislang]

My 996 Carrera is a blast to drive but, like all other early 996 owners, I have been thinking about replacing the IMS bearing. Before spending $$ I wanted to get better information for this decision. I contacted the law firm that led the IMS class action lawsuit against Porsche.
They provided the following information:
1. Cars built before May 4, 2001 are excluded from the lawsuit.
2. Cars built after February 21, 2006 are also excluded.

During discovery, records showed that IMS failure rate before and after the respective dates is less than 1% while, for those in that period, the failure rate is 4-10%.

There is even an on-line tool where one can enter a vehicle's VIN, and it will tell you if the vehicle is included or excluded from the settlement.
I spoke to Porsche NA service rep. who provided pretty much the same info except the earlier date being April4, 2001.

I was delighted to learn that my P-Car is excluded from the settlement. Now I can really drive it hard!
PS - GT2,GT3 and Turbo cars are not affected by IMS problem.

[JFP in PA]

Just because it was excluded from the lawsuit does not mean it is immune to IMS failure. There were multiple reasons for exclusion in that suit, including the car simply being more than 10 years old.

As for the GT and Turbo cars, they carry a totally different engine (Mezger design), which uses a solid oil fed bearing, not unlike the LN IMS Solution.

[Luislang]

That is not correct. Cars were not excluded on age- only on Porsche's own records of failure. Ask the lawyers yourself.

[JFP in PA]

Originally Posted by Luislang

That is not correct. Cars were not excluded on age- only on Porsche's own records of failure. Ask the lawyers yourself.

I did, they were the ones that told me that.