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Do you "need" to change IMS bearing every 50k miles (or after clutch replacement) or do you do it once and for all?
I am looking at a 2005 Carrera S that had replaced IMS beraing as preventative at 50k miles and car has 100k miles right now so I am wondering if it is due for a change?
Do you "need" to change IMS bearing every 50k miles (or after clutch replacement) or do you do it once and for all?
I am looking at a 2005 Carrera S that had replaced IMS beraing as preventative at 50k miles and car has 100k miles right now so I am wondering if it is due for a change?
Aftermarket IMS has also failed, maybe contact some of the manufacturers like LN Engineering to see if it needs to. I'd say do it only if you can do it cheaply, like if you're doing clutch work, might as well since it will reduce labor to minimum.
Do you "need" to change IMS bearing every 50k miles (or after clutch replacement) or do you do it once and for all?
I am looking at a 2005 Carrera S that had replaced IMS beraing as preventative at 50k miles and car has 100k miles right now so I am wondering if it is due for a change?
Before you purchase the vehicle, locate the vehicle's engine number. It is a number that commences with M97.
Once you have located the number, you need to determine whether that number falls within a date of manufacture whereby what is commonly referred to as a "smaller bearing" was being used by Porsche.
In this regard, you will need to trawl through a sea of posts on RL to find a useful visual aid that someone has put together that will be of great assistance to you (I know it exists, I just don't know exactly where it is).
I am of the view that if the vehicle's IMS Bearing has been replaced in the past as a preventative measure, the vehicle is more than likely to have the smaller bearing.
As an aside, a "larger bearing" can be replaced but the process is onerous and requires a engine tear down (the engine case being opened).
A retrofitted ceramic bearing will replace the original bearing, but they are guaranteed for approximately 50-70 Kilometres until they need to be replaced again.
The once and for all, all encompassing solution is appropriately named the "IMS Solution".
This process I've outlined above is no straightforward task. It requires time and patience and is a process that I have embarked and completed in connection with my 997.1 C2S.
Happy to provide you with further guidance if necessary.
Both my '05 997.1 S cars have the larger bearing. Early '05s and cars built on Thursday afternoons in months that end in "Y" got the smaller bearings. In all seriousness, the only way to truly know if an '05 car has the smaller or larger bearing is to pull the transmission and look at the bearing flange - larger bearing has the larger nut and is not replaceable.
Original IMS bearing replacements, even those from Raby & Navarro (LN) did have a service life interval. Their current offering, trademarked "The IMS Solution" is an oil bearing just like those in the Mezger turbo motors and is lifetime - that's what you should install if you buy the car and it has a small bearing. If it has a larger bearing, once you pull the transmisison to inspect it, remove the bearing flange and pull the seal off the bearing which will improve the lubrication of the larger bearing since you can't replace it.
Hope that helps. One of my '05s will cross over the 100k mile mark this year. The other I'm planning to keep forever so it doesn't see as much road time - probably only 4k-5k miles / year, but is my favorite of all my P-cars.
Do you "need" to change IMS bearing every 50k miles (or after clutch replacement) or do you do it once and for all?
I am looking at a 2005 Carrera S that had replaced IMS beraing as preventative at 50k miles and car has 100k miles right now so I am wondering if it is due for a change?
Just within the last few days someone posted on another board his used car's IMS replacement bearing failed.
The IMS was replaced at 99K miles and the replacement failed at around 136K miles. The car was regularly serviced. The replacement bearing didn't even make it to 50K miles.
OP: you said the bearing was replaced by the previous owner 50K miles ago...
-do you have a service invoice veryfying that? (Sellers have been known to "exaggerate" )
-if you do have an invoice, does it state the retrofit was an LN ceramic bearing, and/or is there an LN sticker on the car?
-do you have service records verifying the frequency of oil/filter changes since? (The retrofit is an open bearing, subject to wear from debris in the oil)
Given that many OEM bearings have lasted well over 50K, the likelihood of the ceramic LN retrofit actually needing replacement at 50K is probably small. IIRC the small number of LN bearings that failed did so in much less than 50K, so likely due to a defective bearing and/or improper installation (which would include installation in an engine where the OEM bearing had already begun failing and shedding metallic debris into the engine). However if the car needs a clutch, it really seems like false economy not to service the IMSB at the same time.
Depending on how long ago the one in your car was changed, it is most likely the original single-row LN. Since then they have come up with a "Single Row Pro" bearing, which is kind of a 2-row bearing, and IIRC they give it a 75K mile service interval. So there is an additional advantage to changing it out now.
As someone said, the IMS Solution, a plain bearing with an oil feed and bespoke spin-on filter housing, is also available. It costs about a grand more, but is not only good for the life of the engine, it is said to be re-usable if the engine is rebuilt down the line.
Just within the last few days someone posted on another board his used car's IMS replacement bearing failed.
The IMS was replaced at 99K miles and the replacement failed at around 136K miles. The car was regularly serviced. The replacement bearing didn't even make it to 50K miles.
That's the kind of thing I was mentioning. It pays to wonder what kind of pre-qualification procedure(s), if any, were done on that car with 99K on it prior to installing the retrofit bearing. Metallic debris in the engine is the kiss of death for an open bearing.
That's the kind of thing I was mentioning. It pays to wonder what kind of pre-qualification procedure(s), if any, were done on that car with 99K on it prior to installing the retrofit bearing. Metallic debris in the engine is the kiss of death for an open bearing.
In the case I mentioned above, the replacement bearing lasted over 40K miles. For the bearing to last that many miles suggests the pre-qualification was satisfactory or if skipped entirely was unnecessary.
That is I find it hard to believe the replacement bearing would have lasted beyond the first oil change if the engine's clean oil system was contaminated with debris from a failed IMSB.
Just within the last few days someone posted on another board his used car's IMS replacement bearing failed.
The IMS was replaced at 99K miles and the replacement failed at around 136K miles. The car was regularly serviced. The replacement bearing didn't even make it to 50K miles.
Do you "need" to change IMS bearing every 50k miles (or after clutch replacement) or do you do it once and for all?
I am looking at a 2005 Carrera S that had replaced IMS beraing as preventative at 50k miles and car has 100k miles right now so I am wondering if it is due for a change?
Here's the link to service intervals for all LN products.
Note that the IMS Solution is a permanent retrofit, not requiring future servicing.
07-05-2017, 11:21 PM
Question to 2005 Carrera S owners
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