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As Matt says, there is a butt-load of conjecture about the 996 engine issues on web forums. As well as IMS, some early models suffer from cracks in heads and others from engine block cracks at cylinders. Before I bought mine, I talked with Hans Hoffman at RAC (formerly Ruf) about it. He was a service writer at a P dealer before RAC and runs service there now. He told me that he used to see a few 996's with IMS related bad engines, but none have come through his shop in quite a while. He also said he had seen more 3.6 problems than 3.4. There was an article in a British mag a couple years back that estimated (I think) about 5% of the 996's are affected. The 996 engine issues continue the Porsche tradition of an engine Achilles heel just as the 2.7, 3.0, 3.2, 964 and 993 all suffered.
LN/Raby, Pelican and Casper engineering all offer replacement bearings that can be fitted at clutch change time with a trans drop. Cost for clutch and LN is roughly $2500. That goes a long way to prop up the peace of mind for a lot of owners.
BTW - the first gen 997's have IMS issues as well.
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