Turbojamie

Personally I could never understand the grease vs oil in the bearing debate. For example BRP / Rotax on their 2 cycle snowmobile engines went to a greased bearing in their crank shafts on the two outers PTO and MAG, the center bearings remained oil fed. Guess which bearings fail 10 / 10 times? The greased ones. They have since moved away from this setup and back to a fully oil fed crank the same as the other 3 sled manufactures. IMO the more oil in that bearing the better off it is.

MikeinBloomfield

That's fine, but in this case it appears that the "good" way to lubricate these bearings is happening by accident, rather than design. Some bearings are obviously not getting enough lubrication this way, obviously, or these cars would be worth more. It certainly makes The Solution more interesting, though.

gnat

Well, it's certainly one factor and definitely the cause for some of us to be skeptical of low mile cars, but there are unfortunately other factors (like the machining of the case, other parts shedding debris that gets in there, etc..) where no amount of oil or grease is going to save it.

Volkert

The low mile cars which then probably has been sitting for longer periods of time, combined with extended oil change interval (leading to acidic oil sitting in the IMS tube) and lack of spirited driving all contribute IMHO to failing IMS bearings. My thinking then is that the same can then happen to a high mile car that has been sitting for the past years etc etc. So regular driven cars is key and how can you check that with many ownerships?

I think topic starter did the only sensible thing and that is to swap the bearing with the clutch change (which was due). What you then hope for is that it wasn't necessary. That is good. With that mileage all bearings will have lost the grease and are relying on engine oil for lubrication.

AzDropTop

It seems strange Porsche would use a Plane bearing on the other side of the IMS and this little ball bearing one on the other. Scott from Mcilvain showed me a dual row from the early cars and it was twice as wide. Why go from that to the single row? A lot of questions for the designers...In a very selfish way I am happy the cars have had issues, no way I could have purchased one if they didn't.

gnat

Certainly a car that racked up 80k in the first 3 years and then 10k over the next 10 is almost as suspect as the one that only ever saw 10 or 20k. The main difference there is that with the higher milage one you at least have a good idea that it probably has a properly machined case while the lower version may just not have run enough to expose the problem.

As critical as I am of CarFax and the like, this is one of the places it can actually be useful. If you see from the registration info that there were years with very few miles, then it would be worth questioning. If you instead see that the milage was well balanced over it's life, then it's a much safer gamble.

Sneaky Pete

Sure am glad the current car has the "Solution" is all I have to say.

rolex11

I see this all the time, and it is incorrect.

EPS make a cylindrical roller bearing that in direct oil fed through the IM shaft from the oil pump.

They consider it a life time fix. Is it? Who knows, but they do advertise and claim it never needs replacing.

I had it installed in Feb. of this year.

That said, I consider myself the most handsome, smartest, richest, lady killer, romeo extrodinaire that has ever walked the planet earth. Am I? Who knows.

Turbojamie

Agree if not for this "flaw" I would have never owned a 911. Still think its way overblown and I sure didn't worry at all about mine. I still would be more leery buying one that has been refit.

dporto

Un-filtered oil injected directly into a roller bearing (i.e. lots of moving parts to fail). Also a fairly deep groove cut in the oil drive hex key - which has been known to fail without a groove cut in it. I hope it works out well for you, but my $ is on the Solution.

rolex11

Not debating which is better, cheaper, pricier, tastes better, smells better, improves erectile dysfunction better, etc., etc.

Just pushing back on the only permanent fix claim...

The only real permanent fix is to get a 996 without the IMSB, i.e a turbo...

Boom...drop mic....fist pump...walk off stage....

Sneaky Pete

Couldn't disagree more.....your fix has a roller bearing and uses un-filtered oil. The real fix has a plain bearing and uses filtered oil. Apples and oranges. Don't trip over the mic.......

rolex11

OK, pay attention class...

You are arguing the merits and particulars of the design, durability and reliability of the two options...Great, knock yourself out...

However....Final clarification....

I am simply pointing out that there is a manufacturer, in addition to The Solution, of an IMSB retrofit that the manufacture considers to be permanent.

Class dismissed...

gnat

To my knowledge, of the two that make such a claim, only one's developer has shared information about how that claim was derived.

808Bill

Like the blind leading the blind...