Who that produces an IMS

Hi all,

New owner of a 2002 C2, bought the car as an impulse...long story...had a friend who is a mechanic check it out and also have the service history...all checked out. After I brought the car home I Goggled the vehicle and the IMS bearing issue showed up many times.

As many I am now a bit worried about it. History (I live in Alberta, Canada) vehicle has 60,000 km or 40,000 miles. Clutch replaced at 50,00km, IMS flange seal also replaced.
At 20,00KM RMS replaced.
I phoned the dealer the work was done at and asked if the bearing was replaced with the clutch and they couldn't confirm it was...

Now my question, should I assume the IMS bearing wasn't done and replace it now or assume the opposite...confused and over analyzing this.

Bruce

I have an '03 986 and blew the IMS. Cost me C$6k, parts alone to execute the repairs to the car. The IMS failed at idle, so the damage to the engine was fairly minimal -- bent valves, broken timing chain, busted IMS etc....so if you figure in the fact the mechanic spent 40 hours or so tearing the engine apart, putting it back together, machining the heads etc., it is usually a $10k job for minor damage.

Let's say the IMS lets loose at higher revs. We're now talking busted pistons, cracked head, you're probably looking at a new engine which from Porsche is around $22k or more. Or if you can find a used one, maybe you could get a decent rebuild for say $15k, with labour to install (and remember, you don't have a core -- so the cost may hit, with labour about $25k).

Or you can spend say $2k or less to replace the IMS with a proper bearing, and you can sleep at night knowing that your IMS is good.

Then all you have left to worry about is your RMS, cylinder lining cracks.....

From everything I've read, there does not exist such a thing as the 'proper bearing'.

You can replace the bearing with a new steel bearing, or a new ceramic bearing, or the next 'new and improved' bearing that Jake Raby might announce within the next year.... I'm not dumping on Jake or anyone else who comes up with a 'new' bearing. It's just that I've lost track of the number of 'ultimate' bearings. The fact that there continue to be 'new and improved' ones tells me all I need to know about whether there is, indeed, a 'proper' bearing. There isn't.

None of them address the fundamental problem of inadequate lubrication, should (or more accurately 'when') the grease escape(s) the seals

For my money, I'm going with Pedro's DOF, which gets to the heart of the issue.

hasn't sold their solution as the right one? I can show you about 6 who have made such claims compared to one that hasn't (Pelican says theirs is just a OEM quality replacement but hasn't any advantages).

Who has published stats on the number of test cars they used before public announcement of the product and their mileage and the condition after tear down? No one has that I know of. I've asked for it publicly and privately.

How many have been installed and for what length of time is about all we have as info and not all vendors will give you even the number they have sold. Then you troll the forums and see if there are messages reporting installs and then how many problem reports exist. Closest you can come to fact IMHO.

And, while we tend to lump IMSs together, recall that there are 3 generations of IMSs Porsche used and some vendors have a product for all 3 and some for only 1 or 2. Testing and longevity in the wild might be different for vendor A's 1st gen product versus their 2nd gen one. How do we know?

And some of the newly announced products from a vendor might have been in development and test longer than a product from the same vendor that has been in customer use for years longer!

I had two engines fail.... and while one was not the IMS, and the other was a possible, IMS failure but not known, I am justly paranoid. Therefore, it would be reasonable, to a paranoid me, to replace my IMS should I still own one of these cars. If I did own one, I would do it. Then comes the issue as to which one? You are correct in your analysis but...... let's say I want to pull the trigger? I am faced with the reality of indys out there making solutions. I would end up just picking one that made sense to me. For me, it would be a DOF solution, but that is just me.

The fact that this science data is not available is just the way it is. While I would want a tested product from Timkin or Dana or whomever..... they just don't exist. Buying from indys is just this way. Heck, I look at all the race prepping done in garages all over the place and it makes my skin crawl..... are those roll bars tested? What about those dry sump deals? What about the way I attached belts to my Boxster by slipping the flange under the seat rail.... really? This stuff goes on and on and they are just solutions from indys and you buy on faith after you do your due diligence.

Peace
Bruce in Philly

Thanks, I'm kind of thinking the same thing...

All of a sudden they are very strongly suggesting I 'fix' my IMS. Great guys, race prep... but really felt like they were being opportunistic by the hard sell. $1600 to R&R with an L&N bearing. I politely declined after asking them how many failed bearings they had seen. "Um, ah, er, none, though a few that looked a bit worn". Thanks, but no thanks (for now).

Clarification: I don't doubt for a moment there are IMS 'issues' and failures. It's my mechanic's hard-sell FUD on the issue to which I'm objecting...

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