Macster

AFAIK there is no difference in oiling requirements for the ceramic bearing. At least I could find none at the IMS Retrofit web site and other sites offering info/details on the retrofit bearing. The splash lubrication the open bearing receives from whatever engine oil is used appears to be quite adequate. There shouldn't be much if any difference in oils needs otherwise to meet he special needs to the hybrid bearing one could be faced with using an oil that might compromise the rest of the engine's oil needs.

I found interesting though I did find several cautions about using a forced oiling solution, basically the forced oiling/direct feed solution should not be used.

Also, I find it hard to agree with a bearing change at every clutch job. For one thing this is an artificial schedule as clutch wear and life has no bearing (no pun intended) on IMS bearing life.

Schnell Gelb

Here is a link of 19 pages that goes into great detail on the subject and related issues.
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/boxst...sign-idea.html

GVA-SFO

Very interesting theories ! (reading the "Pelican forum" link)
The single side seal (bearing would be lubricated by splashes from the crank side) could explain why the engines/cars that have been driven hard would have less chances to fail, ..than the ones driven by "calm grandfa’s" !

Well, as it looks to be a "rear & longitudinal" effect, I mean may be, "accelerations", or better, at this state, it would be interesting to know the inside dynamics of the oil movements, i.e.: which movement do create the best splashes ?

And trying to create these on purpose, on a regular base, this like any track driver would never exit a track without making the last or so laps using minimal power and brake, but maximum air, to cool down as much as possible. ..Or, like any 2 stroke go-kart driver would not remember to clog the air intake with his hand, without lifting right feet, when braking, to increase lubrication at ends of straight lines (to have the engine sucking max gasoline mix in order to extra lubricate and cool !)

Or the question : What driving behavior with a M96 would to help splashes on the IMS bearing ??

Schnell Gelb

Buried in the 19 pages was a suggestion that ceramic bearings of the correct grade(Ball surface/hardness) would get adequate lubrication from splash/oil mist ,presumably with an inner seal only.

GVA-SFO

If Jake is reading the post, he may chime in, and tell us.
But, it could be possible that the technology/concept used, is kept "secret" (each installer would for sure know), i.e.: only one seal on the outside, and splashes/mist lubed, or : (??? I doubt) one seal on each side, and pre-lubed, ..for the life time of the ***** !
By the way, if lubed by splashes, I get the feeling with these double row kit, the inside (crank side) ..should get more lube, ..than the row that is on the clutch side !!!

Definitively a strange design !

I was writing on another topic (Panamera), as my car got the very infamous "coolant pipes blow up" known pretty much by all V8 Cayenne owners, that having this problem (with our Cayenne some years ago). Getting it again with the Panamera was making me thinking that the German engineers are not making the same progresses as the German soccer players !!

mikefocke

My understanding is the expected/recommended life of the ceramic bearings varies according to the number of rows (1, 1.5, 2), the materials used and the cleanliness of the oil.

The lube for the LN bearings (which are all one seal) is immersion/splash/residue at start and mist underway.

I'm assuming that the recommendations for the single row bearing are conservative (the whole point is to save the engine after all) while the current expectation of the LN double row is virtually lifetime. The double for single row (really about 1.5 rows in terms of bearing surfaces) should be somewhere in between but there are few of them installed so the data is a little sparse. (I don't believe a few test cases proves much at this early stage of deployment.)

Watching the forums. I haven't seen a bunch of late in the use life failures, most reports are very early implying some variation at installation (improper installations or contamination). You could always see failure in any bearing at any time in it use life due to contaminants from another failure.

I've never seen any info on how much lube a row farthest from the open seal gets but it must be enough based on the lack of reported failures. Interesting conjecture. Now how would you measure that?