SKM

A friend's 2003 Boxster recently experienced an IMS faliure, ruining the engine. He can not afford to repair it and wants to sell the car as is. What's it worth?

It's a 2003 Boxster (non-S), silver/black, 80K miles, no paintwork, 17" wheels, basic options. Average condition.

Thanks in advance.

Macster

Been 6 months or so but a non-running Boxster in otherwise reasonable condition worth about $3500. This has probably come down since then but I can't say by how much.

Figure a dealer installed factory sourced engine can run $12000 to $14000 (depends upon the dealer and how good a bargain, if any, you can swing, and it may cost even more: I heard of an 04 car getting a new engine at a cost of $19K though Porsche goodwilled the engine cause the car had so few miles (less than 15K IIRC).

So for $3500 for the car and another $14K or so one for around $18K ends up with an 03 with essentially a new engine with 2 years, 24K mile warranty.

Or work the numbers backwards and assume the car's in good condition for an '03 car with 80K miles on it and a "runner". Then determine its current hypothetical market value and call up a good nearby Porsche dealer and get a hard quote to have the engine replaced and subtract that from the value you came up with.

This is the value of the car.

But almost certainly with 80K miles other things will need attention: CV boots, half-shafts, clutch, flywheel, so you want to err on the conserative side.

You could easily spend another 10% of what you put into the car to take care of incidentials.

And of course there are at least up front cheaper solutions, sourcing an engine salvaged from a wrecked car is one. One might even install a larger engine say a 3.6l engine from a Carrera of that vintage. There are issues doing this but they have been solved. But it costs money. And the sourced engine may be about to blow up.

Sincerely,

Macster.

txhokie4life

I'm always looking for 986 and 996s with engine failures.
Just finished up several projects.

If you were closer I would pay between $2500-$3500 depending
on the condition of the car.

Philly is a long ways from Texas and the transport would cost too much.

mike
Lone Star Rpm

TIM COSTA

I would be interested for $3500. The other option would be have your friend stuff a 3.6 in it. I have a 2.7 in my garage that has about 30k miles on it and has had both the IMS and RMS replaced. I might be talked out of that for the right price.

Thanks,
Tim

budmanv24

I might be interested. Pm me with details.

Todd Holyoak

I would suggest they throw it on ebay. My guess is they will see significantly more than the $3500 suggested above unless the rest of the car is absolutely trashed.

-Todd

cvstar9

Would it be interested in parting it out? I'd be interested in the interior.

smshirk

Parting it out should bring a lot more than 3500 if it is in decent shape with popular colors. You can also fix the engine with a 2.9L upgrade and have something worth keeping. That would be my choice.

Macster

I'd be remiss if I didn't advise you before you accept any estimate of the car's salvage value to first get some quotes.

Call or contact Oklahoma Foreign. I had a brand new (< 2500 miles on it) 08 Cayman S with a salvage title that OF made a very good offer for, above what other valuation estimates I had received. I contacted another place in Florida, the name escapes me. It's quote was less than OF but still higher than other quotes I had received.

Parts Heaven in Hayward CA is where I got the $3500 I mentioned, but this was a few months (or more) back.

Check out ads in back of PCA magazine for businesses that buy Porsches for salvage.

I'm not saying this is the way to go, only that you need some reliable and a current numbers to help you or the owner arruve at the best decision.

Sincerely,

Macster.

ivangene

I most likely wont come back and re-read this but wanted to say something and this was about the best place I could find to put it without upsetting the troops or starting another blinking IMS thread


SO my observation is that in the last 6 months I have seen what looks like a higher number of 986 owners heading in for the IMS upgrade PRIOR to having issues than I have seen in the 996 camp... I wanted to congratulate you all for thinking ahead, being pro active and taking what could be a big deal and fixing it before it becomes one...



You folks are doing the right things....WTG, happy motoring!

skijop

I had the same problem recently - 03 triple black bloxster 83k w/ IMS failure - fielding all options on what to do w/ the car....

Macster

Bummer.

Check out Mike Focke's web pages I think you'll find a link for same at Pedro's Garage.

Mike covers the alternatives.

Essentially, you've got this:

1) Buy a new engine from dealer and have dealer install it. Costly. Shop around if you can though, cause sometimes dealers offer discounts on this.

Anyhow, the labor/engine comes with 1/2 year 24K mile warranty.

The car remains essentially stock and the engine R&R requires no modifications to the car.

The car retains whatever resale value it had before this. In fact you might argue the resale value went up some. But you'll never get your money back.

2) Buy a new engine from the dealer and have an indy shoip install the engine. The biggest expense is the engine though so you won't save much. And if the new engine proves to be bad out of the box (rare, but it has happened at least once I have heard/read about) or develops a problem shortly after install, it can be a bit of work to get the engine warrantied.

3) Buy a replacement engine from a Porsche salvage specialist. Risky because you don't know the condition of the engine. The engine should be sourced from as near the same car as yours, so the engine drops right in and requires no mods/customization.

4) Buy a replacement engine from a Porsche salvage specialist but buy an engine from a 996. The engine will be larger, 3.6l and more powerful. The drop in is not without some extra effort but many shops have done this and if done right the car is even better than it was before.

5) Either (3) or (4) above but have the engine gone through by an indy Porsche engine rebuilder. This can involve simply cleaning the engine to replacing the water pump, oil pump, plugs, coils, addressing any leaks, to doing the IMS bearing upgrade to even tearing the engine apart and rebuilding it almost from the ground up. How much this costs depends upon what you have done, what needs to be done.

6) Sell the car as it where is. This has pluses and minuses (same can be said for all of the other options).

Read the pages at Pedro's Garage for I might have overlooked something.

Regardless, you want to avoid rushing into a decision. Read all you can, learn all you can on this subject, and when you have enough info you'll make the right decision.

Best of luck.

Sincerely,

Macster.

onefastviking

I have a spare motor and might be interested in buying the car from you if the price is right and I can get it shipped for not too much.

Let me know,

budmanv24

Ditto. skijop, if you;re interested in selling as-is pm me.

goldsc78258

PM me a price if he wants to sell