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Sumflow · 04-04-2012, 01:23 PM

When the inner bearing seal deteriorates because of heat, the oil washes the permanent grease out of the bearings case. At low RPMs speed is not high enough to develop an elastohydrodynamic film to overcome surface irregularities. This metal-to-metal contact, leads to the failure of the IMS bearing and subsequently to a blown engine because the cam timing is off.

Little is known about the history of my car, so after all the scare story’s floating around Boxster forums, during a recent clutch cable installation, on #620323 probably the 323rd American Boxster, 68,000 miles. There is a shop here in Hawaii that replaced it as preventative maintenance with LNs lightweight ceramic hybrid bearing, made with tool steel races, and Timken sintered silicon nitride ultra-low friction roller balls.

It took about two hours plus the clutch job which took forever waiting for parts. Combined with the lack of rear grease seals, the new bearing is lubricated by splash, as well as submersion lubrication. Ceramic is designed specifically for poor lubrication, and high heat.

I had a lot of other stuff replaced, water tank, cables etc. Anybody needs a reasonable shop in Hawaii for Boxster's PM me. But you never know. The bearing that we took out was already an LN ceramic.

04-04-2012, 01:23 PM	#42
Sumflow Registered User Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: Hawaiian Islands Posts: 34	Preventive maintenance When the inner bearing seal deteriorates because of heat, the oil washes the permanent grease out of the bearings case. At low RPMs speed is not high enough to develop an elastohydrodynamic film to overcome surface irregularities. This metal-to-metal contact, leads to the failure of the IMS bearing and subsequently to a blown engine because the cam timing is off. Little is known about the history of my car, so after all the scare story’s floating around Boxster forums, during a recent clutch cable installation, on #620323 probably the 323rd American Boxster, 68,000 miles. There is a shop here in Hawaii that replaced it as preventative maintenance with LNs lightweight ceramic hybrid bearing, made with tool steel races, and Timken sintered silicon nitride ultra-low friction roller balls. It took about two hours plus the clutch job which took forever waiting for parts. Combined with the lack of rear grease seals, the new bearing is lubricated by splash, as well as submersion lubrication. Ceramic is designed specifically for poor lubrication, and high heat. I had a lot of other stuff replaced, water tank, cables etc. Anybody needs a reasonable shop in Hawaii for Boxster's PM me. But you never know. The bearing that we took out was already an LN ceramic.