voda

Tech Notes in June Excellence pg 58 "As time goes on, small amounts of oil will work into the bearing (IMSB) and disolve the grease. With the outer IMS bearing seal removed, engine oil can easily enter the bearing.....allowing continuous splash lubrication."

In summary, it is being recommended that the outer IMS bearing outer seal be removed to prevent IMS failure. Thoughts on this recommendation?

myw

im sure some have run that method, but majority of late 05+ -> 08 owners havent bothered.

Fahrer

I would not do this. It is outer part of the bearing that moves and the centrifugal force will ensure not oil remains in the bearing. In any case, if you were able to do this ( meaning the trans is out of the car to replace the clutch, etc.) I would go with an aftermarket pressure feed system.

Fahrer

I plan to continue driving my car until the oil gets hot ( for 45 minutes, min) and change the oil once per year ( I drive it about 3500 miles per year). This should keep my 2008 out of trouble.

voda

Quote taken directly from Excellence Tech Notes:
"...the single most important step in improving the life of your IMS bearing is to remove its outer seal to allow lubricating oil into the bearing."

Para82

Someone shoot me in the face.

myw

i hear you !

floatingkiwi

For making such a useful post on an interesting info gathering thread? Sure.

voda

+1
Thank you. I don't quite understand any ridicule, etc., surrounding this subject since this seems to be a legitimate topic (the legal system took it seriously in the class action suit, but what do "they" know?...Obviously not as much as Para82 who probably should have been consulted in the matter and may have offered up a novel approach).

The topic has been around the block, but now seems to have a twist since this recommendation of:

"...the single most important step in improving the life of your IMS bearing is to remove its outer seal to allow lubricating oil into the bearing."

has been made by a respectable periodical that is devoted to Porsche and has thousands of subscribers who rely on the information presented.

Furthermore, this is a forum devoted to the 997. What gives?

gota911

Not sure I would feel comfortable going that route.

I was not comfortable with the potential of an IMS problem in my 996, so when it was time to upgrade to a 997, I skipped the 997.1 and got a 997.2, which does not have an Intermediate Shaft, so there is no potential for the dreaded IMS "death rattle."

Robocop305

My buddy's 2005 had his IMS bearing replace and the Indie shop removed the seal to better lubricate the bearing. So far so good.

myw

jake raby (the defacto voice/expert in this topic) has recommended this ims seal removal method. i'm sure it has its merits and is effective in helping the ims bearing from goign kaput.

however like i stated before some have run this method while the majority dont bother. and most importantly, there is no way to get solid statistical evidence to really find out the number of people who have run this method .... and even IF/WHEN a late 05-08 ims failure occurs, how can you or anyone ever confirm that IF the ims seal was removed, this would 'undoubtedly' prevented the ims failure from happening.???

how could any of these chance statistics even be quantified to answer your question to your satisfaction?

i have seen and spoken to owners of late 05-08 997.1 owners that had the ims fail (yes its rare but does happen), yet i have seen a 996 owner with the original weaker ims bearing not fail for 200km (120k miles). go figure.

unfortunately, there really is no solid empirical data; there is no "removed ims seal" registry database to track ims failures after the seal has been removed. there may be a few of these failures pop up on the forums but i dont think it will ever provide the irrefutable numbers/evidence that you are looking for.

these cars have been around for 10 years now (15 if you count the 996 with similar engines), if there was a perfect answer to these ims questions, respectfully speaking they would have been answered by now.

the common conclusion will be to either

- if early 05 swap the ln bearing, keep it above 2500 rpm
- if late 05+ do nothing, and keep it above 2500 rpm
- if that doesnt help you sleep remove the ims seal or like another poster mentioned install an aftermarket force-fed ims lubrication system
- if still can't sleep at night pony up the extra 10-20 grand and buy 997.2

otherwise you will continue to be asking what if's on top of what if's.... while the pages and pages of internet 911 forum history from the past decade lead to the same old conclusion.

cajuncroc

With regards to removing the seal, my concern is that if the IMS bearing was made to be lubricated with grease-how will it react to be lubricated by oil? I would assume the viscosity, lubricity, additives, etc are different between the two. Are grease and oil lubricated bearing tolerances, hardness, etc the same?

mgordon18

Is this moot for late 05-08 cars? Could you even get to the seal without tearing the engine down?

myw

good point, its possible the majority can't even feasibly do this