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Old 03-11-2013, 12:35 AM   #1
sam c.
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Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: idaho falls
Posts: 257
IMS Bearing failure mode?

So I plan on doing the IMS bearing swap tomorrow (at 100k mi) and have been doing a lot of reading for the last week or so. Thanks to some great advice, posts, and write ups on this forum, I def feel a lot more confident then I did even 24 hrs ago.

While researching, I've also been consumed with the IMS bearing failure root cause and the engineering of a simple and permanent fix.

IMHO, Porsche took a very simple component requirement (to center and maintain a rotating shaft), a problem that engines and motors or every type have been doing since the late 1700's with the invention of the steam engine, and managed to discover an absolutely ridiculous and failure prone solution.

With all that said, here's my question (please be gentle and understand I'm a complete noob here and just am wondering everyones thoughts, opinions, and discoveries - especially those of you that have extensive experience in root cause analysis on these engines):

Without getting wrapped around the axle with the details of each individual bearing failure, it seems they all are generally described as the seals fail in some way, allowing oil to wash out the permanent grease packing which starves the bearing of lubrication, causing it to overheat/disintegrate.

Please note that I'm referring to only true IMS bearing failures and not the other failures misdiagnosed as IMS bearing failures (tensioner failures for example).

Do you guys agree with this or am I missing it?
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