One of the charming things about the great peoples of the South is they are great story tellers. Wonderful while strolling the golf course. On the other hand, while lecturing, stories cause mind drift. Again, great video series! Thank you.
Getting ready to have my ims fixed on 2005 C2S. I am finding all the traditional ball bearing and cylindrical bearing kits in the mid $2000s range for installation and parts. The killer is the IMS solution ranging from $4100-$5800. Everyone wants $700+ more for the labor vs the other bearing installation, even though Jake publicly states that it only requires 0.5 hr more at most of additional labor. I guess we take it twice, once from Porsche and another from these private shops that know the people that want the best kit, aren’t only willing to pay the approx $1,000 for the kit but also willing to spend an extra $700+ for 0.5 hour of labor, just because they can. So much for the friendly Porsche community.
That's what I keep thinking. Also, Jack Ruby's products are not warrantied unless you go to a shop so if you DIY no support. This is why the shops support him. The part is marked up incredibly high too.
I'm in the middle of a rebuild on my air cooled engine, and looked into this IMS bearing issue out of curiosity. The installation video to retrofit this kit is a ground ball in comparison. I'd do this upon my first engine drop for the clutch or something else that you do "while you're there". Great series on this issue for sure.
I believe that all the air cooled Porsche Mezer engines did not have this particular IMS bearing issue only because all the IMS bearing that they had were oil fed unlike the water cooled engines for the 986 and 987 water cooled M96 and M97 engines only the water cooled engines from 1997 to 2008 Had the same as bearing failure which was a sealed bearing it has its own oil unlike all the old air cooled flat six engines that had IMS bearing yes but all of those were oil fed by the engine itself so it made for little to no failure rate as long as you change the oil of course unlike the newer water cooled engines which all have a sealed bearing in that case these solutions they are talking about are for the M96 and M97 water cooled engines with the sealed IMS bearing not the air cooled engines that was the big problem for Porsche with the new water cooled engines they went away from the oil fed bearings back when they change from air cooled to water cooled flat six engines in 97 hope this bit of information helped
I went with the Porsche dealer. I have a 99 911, which is outside this discussion because their IMS bearing fails much less frequently than the later models and was outside the class action suit. Nevertheless Porsche tells me that the IMS seal tends to leak around 25 k miles along with the RMS seal. Their solution seems to be to periodically check for any oil leak between the engine and transmission and replace both seals, plus check the condition of the IMS, clutch, flywheel while in there. When there is a leak its about 10 hours labor to go in and take a look. I've had this done at 60 k and 85 k. In both cases the bearing and housing was fine. They just replaced the seals (for the IMS it was the 3 point flange thing). In the first case the clutch and flywheel were done and replaced also. I've had the car for 6 years and change the oil every year before storing it. I went with the dealer because they are close me and give good service. These other solutions are excellent but there is no substitute to periodic inspections.
Looks like an infomercial for Jake Raby. Not a mention of the EPS cylindrical bearing, over 5000 sold with no failures. Would be nice if PCA could actually be objective.
I installed a DOF kit on my M97 engine from TuneRS for peace of mind. Made my own cam lock tool out of plate stock aluminium. M97 engines (05-08) use a larger single row bearing that isn't serviceable without disassembling the engine (i.e. splitting the case). Like they showed in the video, on M97's at least remove the grease seal if you don't do anything else.
Great video! But it would be nice to get a recording of the sound it makes when it's going bad, so you don't get it cornfused with something else and then have a catastrophic failure.
I thought the whole point of IMS failures is they fitted a sealed bearing BECAUSE oil doesnt get to that bearing very easily ( the other end it does) so how would removing the seal make it better????
Nice vids. Correct me if I'm wrong, based on the video, the solution for factory bearing is to remove the grease seal, as easy as that. How do you reseal the IMS flange after?
@@porschephile2k3 had to go look through my service history file and you are right, it is the EPS Eternal Fix that has been fitted to my car. There wasn't a significant difference in price but my garage is a prestigious third party Porsche specialist and they used EPS, garages using LN Engineering were 100-200 miles away... And my garage said that they would happily fit the LN Engineering kit for me if I also paid for the tools required to fit it. Lastly, the LN Engineering requires drilling a hole through the crank case and the EPS doesn't. Not sure I like the idea of the crank case being drilled. EPS requires a minor fuel pump mod and is reversible although I am not sure why anyone would want to reverse it.
Sounds like PCA forgot about discussing the DOF kit from Tuners. I have this on my 02 Boxster. PCA should do some information on this one as well as a few other brands of IMS updates that were not even mentioned. Looks like a paid advertisement from Mr. Raby.
@@PorscheClubofAmerica after thinking it over, I have decided to have the IMS bearing replaced. Thanks to your program and your response it helped make my decision.. Thank you.
I’ve been thinking of purchasing a 2007 Cayman S with lowish miles and in great shape but this ims bearing problem has made me reconsider. I guess I’ll have to start looking for a 2009 or newer
It's been a year since your post, so I'm not sure if this reply will still be relevant. In the event you've put off the plan to swap an IMS, or haven't received an answer elsewhere until now, rest easy. No need to be concerned by all the hype and propaganda spewed out on TH-cam over the IMS; particularly since you have a Turbo. The X50 powerplant that's shared by your car, and the GT/RS variants, all use a solid (bearing-less) metal bush instead of the IMS found in the M96 and early M97 engines. Suggested proactive maintenance on the Turbo: Modifying the connection of the coolant lines into the tapers of the aluminum housing, centered behind engine console just forward of the firewall. The coolant line fittings were glued into the housing. Over time and/or exposure to excessive heat, the glue has a reputation for degrading; resulting in catastrophic coolant loss. The simple no-cost DIY permanent solution is to drill and tap small screws into the housing to secure the coolant pipe fittings. The other method is applying JBWeld to the fitting sleeves, and a small bead around the outer perimeter of the housing before re-inserting the pipes. I know of guys who track, that employ both methods as the fix. Like most e-z fixes, the biggest issue is the time and patience required to access the area in need of fixing. A couple hrs. vs $10k w/o labor on a new engine? I'd think so.
My projector's color wheel failed because of a bad ball bearing so I updated to an air bearing color wheel which spins on air without friction and more reliable. I'm not sure if air bearings are suitable for engines.
Whoever told him someone couldn’t remove a bearing was an idiot. Even Porsche says it’s removable lmao. Too funny. And LN sells those toolkits for a RIDICULOUS price. I made one for around $35 using a friends LN kit as a example. Even the bearing and cover is RIDICULOUS. $500 for a bearing and cover is robbery. But it’s basically the only option for most people who don’t know how to source their own bearing and stud.
Seems any non-DOF retrofit could also fail, maybe at a lower probability, but electric monitoring would still be required ... so, why not just stick a low cost electric monitor on the car and skip the non-DOF IMS upgrade... or do the DOF IMS retrofit which actually fixes Porsche's engineering screw up, that screw up being their naive assumption that a sealed greased up bearing could be a long term reliable bearing inside an engine, LOL. The IMS Guardian has been around for years, but seems expensive, and requires an elaborate install .... would seem that a simple low cost monitoring product could be made which just plugs into the OBDII port, or this monitoring function could be added for free to something like a COBB Access Port unit, since it is already capable of monitoring camshaft positions (COBB: please add).
Hello, i want to be sure that i understood your explication. Really is it a good idea to remove the external seal of the bearing, it allow a best lubrication by the motor oil. Thank in advance.
Who else here has not replaced, or had any issues with their IMS? or should I ask, who had a catastrophic problem before replacing? I'm thinkng, 90% of this is hype.
This guy has a swollen head, I’ve been racing sprint cars for years and building engines. I made my own ims bearing puller on my lathe. Car runs great.
It'd be helpful to discuss the pricing and the success rate for each of those IMS bearing options.
They are ripping people off!
@@cecilnoriega7276 can you elaborate?
@@Galladex price gauging.
HOW ? @@cecilnoriega7276
One of the charming things about the great peoples of the South is they are great story tellers. Wonderful while strolling the golf course. On the other hand, while lecturing, stories cause mind drift. Again, great video series! Thank you.
Getting ready to have my ims fixed on 2005 C2S. I am finding all the traditional ball bearing and cylindrical bearing kits in the mid $2000s range for installation and parts. The killer is the IMS solution ranging from $4100-$5800. Everyone wants $700+ more for the labor vs the other bearing installation, even though Jake publicly states that it only requires 0.5 hr more at most of additional labor. I guess we take it twice, once from Porsche and another from these private shops that know the people that want the best kit, aren’t only willing to pay the approx $1,000 for the kit but also willing to spend an extra $700+ for 0.5 hour of labor, just because they can. So much for the friendly Porsche community.
That's what I keep thinking. Also, Jack Ruby's products are not warrantied unless you go to a shop so if you DIY no support. This is why the shops support him. The part is marked up incredibly high too.
He said it's 1/2 hour MORE to install the RMS = Rear main seal, easy to confuse RMS with IMS..
I'm in the middle of a rebuild on my air cooled engine, and looked into this IMS bearing issue out of curiosity. The installation video to retrofit this kit is a ground ball in comparison. I'd do this upon my first engine drop for the clutch or something else that you do "while you're there". Great series on this issue for sure.
Glad you enjoyed the video. Be sure to subscribe!
I believe that all the air cooled Porsche Mezer engines did not have this particular IMS bearing issue only because all the IMS bearing that they had were oil fed unlike the water cooled engines for the 986 and 987 water cooled M96 and M97 engines only the water cooled engines from 1997 to 2008 Had the same as bearing failure which was a sealed bearing it has its own oil unlike all the old air cooled flat six engines that had IMS bearing yes but all of those were oil fed by the engine itself so it made for little to no failure rate as long as you change the oil of course unlike the newer water cooled engines which all have a sealed bearing in that case these solutions they are talking about are for the M96 and M97 water cooled engines with the sealed IMS bearing not the air cooled engines that was the big problem for Porsche with the new water cooled engines they went away from the oil fed bearings back when they change from air cooled to water cooled flat six engines in 97 hope this bit of information helped
These vids are so specifically informative. Thanks for doing them.
I went with the Porsche dealer. I have a 99 911, which is outside this discussion because their IMS bearing fails much less frequently than the later models and was outside the class action suit. Nevertheless Porsche tells me that the IMS seal tends to leak around 25 k miles along with the RMS seal. Their solution seems to be to periodically check for any oil leak between the engine and transmission and replace both seals, plus check the condition of the IMS, clutch, flywheel while in there. When there is a leak its about 10 hours labor to go in and take a look. I've had this done at 60 k and 85 k. In both cases the bearing and housing was fine. They just replaced the seals (for the IMS it was the 3 point flange thing). In the first case the clutch and flywheel were done and replaced also. I've had the car for 6 years and change the oil every year before storing it. I went with the dealer because they are close me and give good service. These other solutions are excellent but there is no substitute to periodic inspections.
I installed a hybrid ceramic bearing in my 986 Boxster. I might like the one with forced oil line with plain bearing system even better!
Just getting into all your content. Phenomenal work and so informative. Thank you so much.
Looks like an infomercial for Jake Raby. Not a mention of the EPS cylindrical bearing, over 5000 sold with no failures. Would be nice if PCA could actually be objective.
You can now buy a replacement from Porsche that's a fix. Dual row.
I installed a DOF kit on my M97 engine from TuneRS for peace of mind. Made my own cam lock tool out of plate stock aluminium. M97 engines (05-08) use a larger single row bearing that isn't serviceable without disassembling the engine (i.e. splitting the case). Like they showed in the video, on M97's at least remove the grease seal if you don't do anything else.
Great video! But it would be nice to get a recording of the sound it makes when it's going bad, so you don't get it cornfused with something else and then have a catastrophic failure.
I’m thinking about purchasing a 1999 911 that’s got replaced with dual row ceramic IMS bearing, is this a good replacement part?
I thought the whole point of IMS failures is they fitted a sealed bearing BECAUSE oil doesnt get to that bearing very easily ( the other end it does) so how would removing the seal make it better????
Nice vids. Correct me if I'm wrong, based on the video, the solution for factory bearing is to remove the grease seal, as easy as that. How do you reseal the IMS flange after?
In the process of deciding which solution to go with for my 2003 911 996 .. thanks guys
Ok but advantages and disadvantages of each? And brands? Last one is LN engineering if i remember well.
Last one is the IMS Solution invented by Mr. Raby himself.
@@porschephile2k3 I went for a cylindrical one lubricated by engine oil... My Porsche specialist recommended that one and already had the tools
@@Photoandcargeek is it the one from EPS? I just looked it up and it looks interesting and more cost effective.
@@porschephile2k3 had to go look through my service history file and you are right, it is the EPS Eternal Fix that has been fitted to my car. There wasn't a significant difference in price but my garage is a prestigious third party Porsche specialist and they used EPS, garages using LN Engineering were 100-200 miles away... And my garage said that they would happily fit the LN Engineering kit for me if I also paid for the tools required to fit it.
Lastly, the LN Engineering requires drilling a hole through the crank case and the EPS doesn't. Not sure I like the idea of the crank case being drilled. EPS requires a minor fuel pump mod and is reversible although I am not sure why anyone would want to reverse it.
Sounds like PCA forgot about discussing the DOF kit from Tuners. I have this on my 02 Boxster. PCA should do some information on this one as well as a few other brands of IMS updates that were not even mentioned. Looks like a paid advertisement from Mr. Raby.
Fantastic series, guys.
i have a Targa 2002 with 28k miles on it. purchased it new and have never had an issue.. Should I have the IMS bearing replaced?
At minimum, you should be checking closely for metal debris during oil changes and consider sending oil sample out for analysis.
@@PorscheClubofAmerica thank you so much.. I will do just that. I follow your videos and find them very educational.
@@PorscheClubofAmerica thank you very much! thanks for all your great videos
@@PorscheClubofAmerica after thinking it over, I have decided to have the IMS bearing replaced. Thanks to your program and your response it helped make my decision.. Thank you.
@@PorscheClubofAmerica not many know of this, glad you share it.
So which is better?
Thank you for the onscreen text at 5:09 That's what I came here for :) (2007 Cayman S)
I’ve been thinking of purchasing a 2007 Cayman S with lowish miles and in great shape but this ims bearing problem has made me reconsider. I guess I’ll have to start looking for a 2009 or newer
Should I be proactive and change the IMS bearing on my 2007 Turbo 997 if the failure rate is only 1%?
It's been a year since your post, so I'm not sure if this reply will still be relevant. In the event you've put off the plan to swap an IMS, or haven't received an answer elsewhere until now, rest easy. No need to be concerned by all the hype and propaganda spewed out on TH-cam over the IMS; particularly since you have a Turbo. The X50 powerplant that's shared by your car, and the GT/RS variants, all use a solid (bearing-less) metal bush instead of the IMS found in the M96 and early M97 engines. Suggested proactive maintenance on the Turbo: Modifying the connection of the coolant lines into the tapers of the aluminum housing, centered behind engine console just forward of the firewall. The coolant line fittings were glued into the housing. Over time and/or exposure to excessive heat, the glue has a reputation for degrading; resulting in catastrophic coolant loss. The simple no-cost DIY permanent solution is to drill and tap small screws into the housing to secure the coolant pipe fittings. The other method is applying JBWeld to the fitting sleeves, and a small bead around the outer perimeter of the housing before re-inserting the pipes. I know of guys who track, that employ both methods as the fix. Like most e-z fixes, the biggest issue is the time and patience required to access the area in need of fixing. A couple hrs. vs $10k w/o labor on a new engine? I'd think so.
My projector's color wheel failed because of a bad ball bearing so I updated to an air bearing color wheel which spins on air without friction and more reliable. I'm not sure if air bearings are suitable for engines.
And about DOF made by TuneRsMotorsport ?!
Without pulling the old one first, how do you know if you need a dual row or single?
Check your engine for the engine code. Certain years had single/dual.
The oil fed bushing kit costs just shy of 2k for the part alone.
Where is the info that intimates which engine is installed in a 2006 986( I think) Porsche Boxster,viz: M96 or M97 please?
Whoever told him someone couldn’t remove a bearing was an idiot. Even Porsche says it’s removable lmao. Too funny. And LN sells those toolkits for a RIDICULOUS price. I made one for around $35 using a friends LN kit as a example. Even the bearing and cover is RIDICULOUS. $500 for a bearing and cover is robbery. But it’s basically the only option for most people who don’t know how to source their own bearing and stud.
What are you going to do with those barrings? I am in the market for one. :)
Seems any non-DOF retrofit could also fail, maybe at a lower probability, but electric monitoring would still be required ... so, why not just stick a low cost electric monitor on the car and skip the non-DOF IMS upgrade... or do the DOF IMS retrofit which actually fixes Porsche's engineering screw up, that screw up being their naive assumption that a sealed greased up bearing could be a long term reliable bearing inside an engine, LOL.
The IMS Guardian has been around for years, but seems expensive, and requires an elaborate install .... would seem that a simple low cost monitoring product could be made which just plugs into the OBDII port, or this monitoring function could be added for free to something like a COBB Access Port unit, since it is already capable of monitoring camshaft positions (COBB: please add).
I recently took delivery of of a 997 4.0 by Jake from Flat6innovations. Let me know if you guys want to review my car, I’m in Miami,FL
Hello, i want to be sure that i understood your explication. Really is it a good idea to remove the external seal of the bearing, it allow a best lubrication by the motor oil.
Thank in advance.
Hi just bot a Porsche 996 Carrera 4 ,and as 89000,00 mile ,it is time to change the IMS and whit IMS will be the right one to be replace .
SUPER. AWESOME. TNKS
Thanks for watching!
Thanks, great info.
Who else here has not replaced, or had any issues with their IMS?
or should I ask, who had a catastrophic problem before replacing?
I'm thinkng, 90% of this is hype.
I think it is the price of failure that worries people most - do you want to take the chance because its gonna fail one day?
🙋🏼♂️
This guy has a swollen head, I’ve been racing sprint cars for years and building engines. I made my own ims bearing puller on my lathe. Car runs great.
All of these seem like factory replacements, the only actual solution is the oil lubricated units. All sealed bearings will eventually fail
This video was too slow for my 80 year old granma's coffee klatch.
2002 porsche
So let me get this right: Let's take a simple air-cooled engine and convert