Doug H

Wasn't the 997.1 IMS failure rate in THIS POLL much higher (maybe mid teens) before someone made the decision to combine the 997.2 numbers with the 997.1 numbers? Combining 997.1 and 997.2 numbers would make the 6% completely bunk, understated or meaningless since the 997.2 does not have an IMS or IMS failures. Might as well throw 991s and 992s in there now and really dilute the number down to 1% . . .

Petza914

The other problem with this poll thread is that it also lumps all the 997.1s together - both the small bearing cars and the large bearing cars. It should really have been done like the Cayenne Bore scoring survey with specific model (engine 3.6 or 3.8), model year, bearing type (small or large), track or street car, failure location (track or street), and modified or not.

Doug H

Yep. A poster, CMA???, broke down the 997.1 numbers a while back and focused on those that provided specific posts about the particulars. I think there was only around 290 total posts for MY 2005-2008 that provided the model year, mileage, and whether a 3.6 or 3.8 for both failures and non failures. Seemed like there were only 5 IMS failures on 06 and 07s in the specific posts.

jeebus31

Junk in, junk out. I agree that it's a useless poll.

ecostellodo

IMS Failure
2006 C2S at 117K
Build Date: 10/2005
Car was running fine. Went in for a new clutch and half the bearing is missing!

qikqbn

Is your engine destroyed due to a catastrophic failure, or you just need to replace the bearing? You said your engine was running fine before the clutch job tear down. They make an IMS bearing removal kit for the 2006-2008 model year. It requires boring out the existing case to make the hole large enough to remove the old bearing. Sounds to me like a ims bearing failure, but not a catastrophic engine failure. keep us posted on how you fix it. Hoping for the best!

Petza914

Holy crap !

In the photo, it looks like the grease seal on the backside of the bearing is still intact - at least at the top. If it's also intact at the bottom, I would assume that nothing entered the engine or the main oil supply to the engine. When they pulled the IMS bearing flange and RMS to discover that, was there a bunch of metal shrapnel and the remnants of the other grease seal trapped in there. If so, you might have caught it just in time. Pull the filter and see if there's any metal debris in it, especially ferrous metal debris. Were you running the LN Engineering magnetic drain plug too - what's stuck to that. The missing ***** from that bearing are ferrous (magnetic). I would also pull the sump pan to see if there's anything trapped in the corners or the pick-up screen.

ecostellodo

There is metal on my magnetic drain plug and in the filter. So even if I were to replace the bearing, metal bits will be floating about and ruining the new bearing. It's either sell as a roller, rebuild the motor, or replace. Right now I'm leaning to selling it as is. Needs: new motor, clutch, and slave cylinder.

Petza914

Oh man, really sorry to hear about this - that sucks. What's next - will you get another one, maybe a .2, or another .1 with replaceable bearing?

ecostellodo

Multiple choices after I get over it:
1. Go backwards to the 996 so I can change out the IMS bearing without an engine rebuild.
2. Go forward to the non IMS cars.
3. Only way I would buy a 997.1 now would be a turbo model.
4. Put the money I would be spending in the 1966 912 that I have.

Petza914

An early 05 997 would give you that same replaceable bearing option as going back to the 996, but with the nicer looking car and better interior. If you had a lot of special options on your car and the rest of it was in great shape, you could buy another 997.1 that's not as nice cosmetically, and swap parts from yours to it or vice versa.

ecostellodo

Your right, I hadn't thought of the early 05

The car does have a lot of options. Just have to decide what to do.

DoninDen

My understanding, which could be completely incorrect, was the larger bearings are internal and not accessible without cracking open the case. Doesn't this image show it is the previous IMS bearing?

ecostellodo

It is the larger non serviceable bearing. Even if it was the smaller bearing, the amount of metal on the magnetic drain plug and in the filter would require an engine tear down.

for late night reading enjoyment: https://www.oregonpca.org/wp-content.../ORPCA-IMS.pdf

Petza914

You can gain access to the larger bearing the same way you would the smaller bearing, you just can't remove it from the case without splitting it because the bearing OD is actually larger than the hole in the case. With the larger bearing, all you can do is remove the outer grease seal so the bearing can get better lubrication from the motor oil and not rely on the lubrication sealed inside the bearing, that actually gets washed out by the motor oil.