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I have a 2008 997. 1s with a 190k miles. I pulled the tranny to do a clutch replacement and RMS Etc. RMS look good but the IMS seal was leaking. There was crud all around the IMS flange and few drops of oil, but there was no oil leaking out of the transmission. I guess you would call this seeping and not leaking. Here's the questions.
1. Should I just leave the whole IMS alone. It's leaking already. Isn't the leaking oil im seeing now similar to what i will see if i removing the seal. I would like to avoid removing the seal because it sounds like a lot of work to replace the seal. Locking cams Etc is it really worth it. Just to remove seal?
Sounds like you have seal confusion. There are two; one on the cover that keeps engine oil in the engine which is seeping on your car, and one behind the cover on the bearing that keeps oil out of the IMSB.
Originally Posted by RNBM
2. If I do remove the seal how much oil leaks out. Am I going to start to see oil leaking out of the transmission housing.
If you remove the seal that is on the bearing and remove/replace the seal on the cover, you should not have any leaking.
Originally Posted by RNBM
3. If I do remove the seal should I try and repack the bearing with grease. Didn't know that I could repack the bearing with grease while it's still in the engine. I've only packed bearings with grease by Rolling them in my hand.
Absolutely not. The oil will wash it out almost instantly.
Here's a photo borrowed from LN (hopefully this is OK with Charles):
At left is the bearing with seal removed. At right is the cover with the seal in place.
Replace seal on right, remove seal from bearing on left. Image search for IMS bearing 997 yields a ton of pics.
Thank you for the reply. Hope you don't mind me asking some follow-up questions.
You did help clear up for me that the Flange seal is what keeps the oil from seeping out engine. I thought it was only the IMS bearing seal that kept the oil from leaking.
From your response, I have both the IMS bearing seal leaking and the Flange seal leaking.
I'm trying to figure if its worth the effort to remove IMS bearing seal and fix flange.
Questions:
If the IMS bearing seal is leaking, what benefit will there be by removing the IMS seal? Why not just leave it alone. Won't leaving a leaking IMS bearing seal be the same as removing it?
Is the Flange seeping an issue? I'm not leaking through the transmission housing. If I see leaks on garage floor, I can always pull tranny and do at that time. (so I don't make a mess of garage).
Can you replace the Flange seal, or do I need to install an new Flange?
Last question: Am I correct that I will need to lock CAMs to remove IMS bearing seal and fix Flange?
Thank you for the reply. Hope you don't mind me asking some follow-up questions.
You did help clear up for me that the Flange seal is what keeps the oil from seeping out engine. I thought it was only the IMS bearing seal that kept the oil from leaking.
From your response, I have both the IMS bearing seal leaking and the Flange seal leaking.
I'm trying to figure if its worth the effort to remove IMS bearing seal and fix flange.
Please don't take my very brief answers as gospel. There are a ton of posts on this issue. Conventional wisdom is that the seal should be removed from the bearing to allow oil to replace the grease.
Given that you are right there, I'm quite surprised that you would consider ignoring both an obvious leak and a chance to mitigate a weak point of your engine.
Originally Posted by RNBM
Questions:
If the IMS bearing seal is leaking, what benefit will there be by removing the IMS seal? Why not just leave it alone. Won't leaving a leaking IMS bearing seal be the same as removing it?
There are many theories on this, but the most common is that the leaking seal allows oil into the sealed bearing, which washes out the grease and then stagnated. Lack of fresh lubrication destroys the bearing.
Originally Posted by RNBM
Is the Flange seeping an issue? I'm not leaking through the transmission housing. If I see leaks on garage floor, I can always pull tranny and do at that time. (so I don't make a mess of garage).
It's leaking. The tranny is out. Why would you not fix it now?
Originally Posted by RNBM
Can you replace the Flange seal, or do I need to install an new Flange?
The seal can be replaced without changing the flange.
Originally Posted by RNBM
Last question: Am I correct that I will need to lock CAMs to remove IMS bearing seal and fix Flange?
Yes. You need to remove tension from the chains before you remove the cover.
Thank you for the reply. I really appreciate another opinion on this.
I will most likely remove the seal and replace the flange seal.
The reason I was hesitant is because it is quite a bit of additional effort (not to mention amount of research required before I'm comfortable to perform this repair).
Locking Cams, checking timing after completed. Some of the post mention removing the spark plugs to check timing. (i.e. A lot of effort.....)
I thought that the leaking IMS may already be mimicking the seal removed and therefor a waist of time..
I have 190K+ miles and from the looks, the IMS has been leaking for at least 100K of them. (I'm on the original clutch, so first time looking at this area.)
I'll post back in a month or so when job is complete.
Hi everybody! What is not clear to me, do the cams need to be locked in otder to take out the ims flange and replace the seal?
Absolutely! You must first put the engine in TDC, lock the camshafts, and remove the chain tensioners BEFORE removing the IMS flange. Basically, you follow the same procedure as you would when replacing the IMS bearing.
Lastly, Jake Raby in this thread does not recommend replacing the outer seal of the IMS bearing; but rather, removing the seal to allow fresh engine oil to lubricate the bearing.
+1 on locking down the engine/camshafts. You will also need to buy the camshaft plugs, which look like a green plastic cap, they are destroyed when they are removed in order to get access to locking in the camshafts. I think there are 4 of them.
For the IMS flange cover they do offer 2 choices on fixing leaks or seepage. You can buy an entirely new flange cover with new seal for around $200. Or you can just replace the rubber seal on the flange itself for $20 bucks.
06-28-2018, 10:37 AM
