missmy993

A while back I posted pics of my opened up oil filter showing lots of metallic glitter sized bits (they were ferrous) from my ’99 C4 w/ almost 100K miles. In terms of the IMSB many advised that the end was near. After that discovery I hardly drove the car and when I did I worried a lot. Well, I finally took my car to my local P-car dealer and had the bearing replaced with the LN bearing. It turns out the bearing was just shot. The tech could not believe the bearing was still in one piece (a testament to the ultra strong NKG bearing-ha). There was a ton of movement in the bearing and the thing sounds like a jingle bell when I shake it. The tech told me I should buy a lottery ticket as this was my lucky day. Seeing the bearing there is no doubt I dodged the bullet. Here are some of the things I found after all of this:
Its hard to believe, but the P-car dealer was $400-600 less than all the indy shops I had quote the install. My car was done the next day and I had a new Audi A4 as a loaner. The price was under $1800 and included an oil change. Had I hung around the dealer I could have had cookies and probably could have taken a test drive in a new Boxster. I should have had the install done when I had the same dealer install a new clutch a few years ago but at that time I was in “this is not a big issue and won’t happen to my higher mileage car” camp.
The tech said he has done at least 300 LN bearing installs and the service manager said they do 5-10 per year.
My car sounds different when I start it up. I’m sure I had the growl but just did not notice it as it happened over time.
It would be a good idea to tear open and inspect the oil filter at frequent intervals, perhaps 3-5K miles, looking for ferrous metallic glitter like bits. This would cost an oil filter, a ½ qt of oil and ½ hour of time.
Yea, I can drive my car again.

dennis hiip

Shouldn't you flush the crankcase with clean oil/drain or do something to get all of that fine metal out of the motor to limit any possible damage? I'm happy for you in preventing catastrophe.

Imo000

If the filter looks good, you don't need to replace it. Just put it back and top up the oil.

OGWGFIW

Yep, I would want to at least drop the pan to know that it is clean there. Would also be putting in the LN magnetic drain plug.

Flat6 Innovations

No, it couldn't be.. The IMS bearing failures don't really exist... They are fictitious occurrences that are just made up by the fear mongers.

:-)

awrryan

What's an ims bearing failure? Common problem? What's the fix?

dotframe

I try to stay away from these threads because I hate to add fuel to the fire, but its Friday and I'm bored.

The indy I go to has a motor on a stand right when you walk in the office door with the shredded bearing pieces sitting on top of it. It seems to be a pretty common issue around here in central texas. Not sure about the rest of the country.

I'm sure there are tons of these that don't fail. I personally think swapping it out with a clutch is cheap insurance.

Pac996

Lottery ticket? Yah right.

Hurdigurdiman

You took a big gamble even to drive the car after you first discovered the debris in the oil filter. I will keep checking mine until I need a new clutch and do the fix then.

perryinva

+1 on dropping the pan and cleaning it out. I'm surprised the dealer didn't do that, as it is fast and easy for them. That's the sort of thing I'd hope the Guardian would pick up before it got to a critical point.

street rod

Nice ending to the story which could have easily gone the other way. Now go get the powerball ticket.

kdieter

Hallo Jake. It was surely worth the money to me to have your bearing retrofit, especially as I needed a clutch anyway, and mine is a single-row bearing.

But now I am hearing that you feel the single-row LN bearing is inadequate, and have developed a new design, but that it will not be generally available for perhaps a year or more. LN's website lists five total failures, but does not specify how many total single-rows have been placed in service. Is your Solution because of your desire to reduce failures to zero (as is the case with the double and triple-row LN bearings) or are the single-row LN bearings failing a lot? Do you think the single-row LN (because of ceramics and thicker spindle) is as durable as the large single-row MY2006-2008 Porsche steel bearing, or less? I have thus far 11k miles on the LN, drive about 8k miles/year, change oil (5W-40) every 5k. How serious is this problem? Thanks.

Flat6 Innovations

Hardly any of the bearings have failed, but those that have failed are ALL single row, because the bearing is simply not robust enough. The ceramic technology makes for a better bearing much more resilient to wear, but its the best that can be done while retaining the original bearing design, maximizing the real estate that Porsche gave us inside the IMS tube assembly.

The five total failures is correct, we know that at least two of them were due to installer error and possibly a third.

Hear this:
There are no issues with the current LN bearing; we simply know that the OEM single row design is inadequate no matter what when using a ball bearing. This is the reason we have been working since January of 2009 on the true solution that does not utilize the original design.

This solution does not require further maintenance after installation.

trapperdog

Hmmmm... what is THE "solution???" I know you won't say so let's guess. First one to get it right gets a free install at your shop...

I'll go first:

How about... roller bearing instead of ball bearing?

CDLVancouver

Im thinking gear