targa996

I pulled the ims out of my '02 at 63k since I had bad rms leak anyway. Did rms, aos and oil cooler o-rings .. So cost of doing ims at that point was basically the cost of the part. My old bearing was fine btw. To me this was like taking out $650 insurance policy on $20k engine ...

With 3.4 engine there are plenty of other things that could fail before 100k miles and chances are that with regular oil changes you would be fine at this point, but if you need to do clutch anyway why not do it because although the failure rate might be exaggerated on boards like this - it is a weak point in the design - and relatively small insurance cost to replace at that point ...

jasper

I think Dennis C nailed it on page 2 and that gnat has picked up on that advice.

It's insurance plain and simple.

The IMSB represents a risk which is difficult to quantify, and there exist options to mitigate that risk.

Frankly the cost of replacing the IMSB is so low I just can't understand why a person wouldn't do so. I suppose someone could believe that they are actually increasing their risk by replacing the IMSB, but golly in that case I'd be thinking about a Toyota or something.

In my case (FWIW) I left my bearing alone when I changed my clutch because my engine was factory replaced in 2005 with the new style "big" bearing equipped engine. There's no way to change it without splitting the case.

I sleep well at night because so far I have only heard of *one* failure with this type of bearing. If you know of more, please let me know.

500

Hello Macster, that was a good post. I agree that this kind of usage is definitely a risk factor. It may not fully explain all failures, but it must be a contributory element.

One question though... I can't figure out what "SF" stands for in this context?

fpb111

Sexy Female
Some Fokker
Stinky Finger
Silly Fairy
Suave Fellow
San Francisco
Saint Francis
Summer Farfegnugen

Macster

Oh, sorry. SF in the context of my earlier post and what the tech said stands for San Francisco.

targa996

"Silly fairy" - same thing

500

Thanks!!

(Although I liked the idea of silly fairy too...)

AA717driver

I've got 1,000 miles on my '04 since getting it in Aug. The total mileage is 64k. I was a "bearing hawk" originally. Now, I think I'll wait until the clutch needs replacing to do the IMS solution or bearing replacement.

I've got a 2-year/24k mi. warranty so I'll sleep a bit better but, after all, we're not driving Hondas and high-strung machines break occasionally.

Sorry to be blase but...

TC

j_five

I was about to drop mine off this weekend (2001 26k miles) but thinking now I may get a 3yr 36k extended warranty http://www.aaautowarranty.com/nasc-silver.asp
instead for $2000 and replace the ims at a later time with the clutch... hmmm... Decisions...

TexAg911

+1 on the warranty

LordVicious

Warranty over IMS swap is a no-brainer.

targa996

Yeah ... Think what else can go wrong