1st year 996 IMS bearing issue

[bob deluke]

Sold my 911S after a 10 year oddessy. Looking at a low mileage 1999 996 Cab. Is IMS issue something I can use in price negotiation if it gets to that point? From what I have read, the bearings were double row in MY 99 996 and failure rate is relatively low. What does the 996 brain trust think? Car has 59K miles.

[JFP in PA]

If the car has its original engine, it will be a dual row. That said, these also fail, just a lower rate. As we do PPI's for customers, I can tell you that a quality retrofit (not all retrofits are equal) car draws more money than one without; but I can also tell you that owners that do not know, or care, about the IMS issue tend to be intractable on their pricing. We have had more than one buyer walk away from a really nice car without a good retrofit to buy a lesser car with one because the owner would not budge on the price because of the OEM IMS.

[bob deluke]

Great point. The seller has priced this car rather high because of low mileage and condition. I think it is a good negotiating tool that I intend to use. If seller won't budge off selling price, I'll walk away. Thanks for the info..

[tonythetarga]

Keep in mind that, as I have read here many times, lower mileage cars have a higher failure rate than ones driven more frequently and had frequent oil changes. Does this owner have oil change records that are done at least once a year? Forget the number of miles between changes. If you wait 3 years to get to 7 or 8 thousand miles to do a change, your hurting the engine.

[bob deluke]

thanks Tony,
I'm well aware of the ims problem, so I'll be well armed when I look at the car this weekend. From talking to the owner, I don't think he works on the car, has a mechanic do the work. Don't believe he has a wealth of Porsche knowledge. Will reveal all after this weekend. Maybe he'll let me cut the oil filter and inspect for metal chips??LOL..

[JFP in PA]

Originally Posted by bob deluke

Maybe he'll let me cut the oil filter and inspect for metal chips??LOL..

If he doesn't, run away, quickly.........