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Hi all, I came out to my car this morning and there was a puddle of oil under the bell housing area. When I was driving last night I heard a weird sound at one point(metallic but almost like something bounced and hit the under side of my car) but it was in a spot with fairly rough road and didn’t think too much of it. My engine wasn’t making more noise than usual and it was running okay as far as I could tell.
My engine has about 120k miles on it and a previous owner did an IMS bearing retrofit but I don’t know the exact time. I was planning on doing it next winter.
I’m first going to look at the oil/filter. But either way I’m going to pull the engine.
IF this is the start of an IMS bearing failure and it hasn’t gotten bad enough to cause any valve train problems can I just replace the bearing? Or will it need a bigger tear down?
If the car marked its territory from an IMS related failure, it's going to have to come apart to be repaired. Unfortunately, FOD (foreign object debris) will have spread through the engine and even if you manage to replace the bearing, collateral damage will have likely already occurred or the IMS could have been collateral from some other failure within the engine.
Pull the filter and then drop the oil pan - that will paint the picture and shed some light on possibly what occurred.
I think the IMS bearing retrofit comes with a sticker that is supposed to be affixed to the car somewhere. If you can find it, perhaps you can find more information about the last retrofit.
I think the IMS bearing retrofit comes with a sticker that is supposed to be affixed to the car somewhere. If you can find it, perhaps you can find more information about the last retrofit.
Hi all, I came out to my car this morning and there was a puddle of oil under the bell housing area. When I was driving last night I heard a weird sound at one point(metallic but almost like something bounced and hit the under side of my car) but it was in a spot with fairly rough road and didn’t think too much of it. My engine wasn’t making more noise than usual and it was running okay as far as I could tell.
My engine has about 120k miles on it and a previous owner did an IMS bearing retrofit but I don’t know the exact time. I was planning on doing it next winter.
I’m first going to look at the oil/filter. But either way I’m going to pull the engine.
IF this is the start of an IMS bearing failure and it hasn’t gotten bad enough to cause any valve train problems can I just replace the bearing? Or will it need a bigger tear down?
thanks
Doesn't sound like the IMSB failed or the engine wouldn't be running ok and the engine would be making less than pleasant sounds. I've heard a couple of Boxster engines run that were diagnosed with IMSB failure and the engines did not sound healthy at all.
You could have hit some road debris. The oil sump plate may have been cracked. (I hit a piece of concrete block and it bounced up and hit a converter, left a big gouge in the sheet metal, but did not puncture the converter's outer layer of metal. What it did do is cause the converter brick to become loose which led to an intermittent P0430 error code and eventually I replaced the damaged converter.)
The plastic engine oil filter housing could have been hit and may be cracked. The puddle of oil doesn't have to be engine oil either.
Up to you but what has occurred doesn't really point to an IMSB failure. Certainly the source of the oil needs to be found and addressed. The underside of the car, the engine, transmission need to be carefully checked for any signs of impact and possible damage.
If you want to preemptively replace the IMSB you can do that, too, of course.
You all were right; does not appear to be the IMS. I overreacted. Engine oil is clear and no noise of any kind. Probably just the RMS. I’m going to drop the engine to straighten out the RMS. I want to enjoy the fall in my car and not worry about my clutch getting fouled.
I am seriously debating what to do about the IMS since I’ll have the engine out. It’s got an LN bearing but I couldn’t locate the sticker shown to get more info. I’d probably be inclined to use a pelican parts OEM style bearing due to budget right now; and it seems stupid to pull a LN bearing for a single row steel ball bearing but at the same time; then I know it is new and those bearings do tend to last 40,000-50,000 miles.
If the trans is pulled, look and see what bearing you have. It is possible the IMS was never replaced or just the seal to the housing was replaced but not the bearing itself or you could have any number of replacement bearings given that you don't see a sticker indicating an LN serial number.
08-14-2018, 10:55 AM
IMS question
