ims bearing panic
 

Hey guys, Newbie to both form and Boxster. I picked up a 2000 boxster base at a good deal last weekend. I read up on the issues with IMS bearing and was prepare for what I might find during my first oil change. As luck would have it my filter was full of debri. (see photo) I should mention that the last oil change according to sticker on windshield was well over 10k miles and june of last year.
Of course I panicked and ordered replacement bearing from pelican. I began tearing down the car to the bearing and was surprised at how clean the bearing housing was. No leakage and the entire area was fairly cleaned. I found the clutch was replaced not long ago...I'd say 80% life left. When re-examining the filter with a couple of buddys, we found that the fragments weren't metal at all. In fact you could scrape it up and roll it into a ball that eventually would turn to goo. we ran a magnet over the entire filter and nothing. I'm thinking i panicked and my bearing is fine, but what on earth is that debri in my filter? http://986forum.com/forums/uploads01...1365474669.jpg

Could it be really old oil? The only other thing people find in the oil pan is plastic or parts of the timing chain. Both of those are worse than a bad imsb. The plastic pertain to the timing chain guides.

Whatever that is, there is a heckuva lot of that stuff...I would get it checked out with a pro pronto!

Get it analyzed.

Blackstone Labs

Not sure if I would say plastic bits are worse than a bad IMS, it's usually from piece of the timing chain guides wearing, if its dark green or blackish.
If its soft and squishy, maybe some gasket material from some engine work?

That oil was as ugly as I've ever seen. It was also the wrong kind (castro 20/50). The car ran fine when I changed the oil.

I have a hard time believing its plastic since it turns to a gray past when rubbed in the palm of your hand. Then again I don't know what happens to plastic under those conditions. Also this material is shinney silver in color. totally appears metallic till you mess with it.

I am thinking I am going to send bearing back. Then drop oil pan and inspect both pan and sump screen

I should mention that I bought this car with the intention of converting to electric. I just want another 24k miles out of the engine. It is important to me that the engine be in good running condition when I do convert so That I can sell it as such. I see used running 986 motors selling for 3-5k and that will go a long way in electric components.

Trusted Mechanic told me it was bearing material for sure.

Wouldn't bearing material be magnetic? That's how the magnetic drain plugs and IMS guardian works to detect bearing failure.

With all that weird junk, I would definetly do that .

I would have thought metal would be magnetic. He explained it was babbit material, which is not magnetic. He also said that babbit would ball up and turn to goo just like it did. as much material as there was in that filter, he couldnt believe the car ran good before i parked it. He's not a porsche guy and had no clue what an ims bearing was, but said it is bearing material, and if ims bearing is what fails on a porsche then odds were thats the remainants of an ims bearing.

Hmmm -- I would think that bearing material would be ferrous.

What about aluminum shavings -- but that could be coming from anywhere in
an M96 engine. Was there any noise from the timing chains. I could
see where there maybe a tensioner paddle that has worn through the plastic
and is now etching some aluminum.

I would recommend getting it analyzed and then you will at least a know what your dealing with.

Mike

Babbitt is primarily tin (I believe) and is non ferrous. It is used in sleeve bearings, not ball bearings. If you have babbitt material in your, oil the source is likely a rod or main bearing...The IMS is a ball bearing.

If the IMS to crank chain wore thru the wear pad of the aluminum tensioning paddle shown on the right side in this pic of a 2000 Box engine crank housing, it will make shavings like that until it breaks in half. If you remove the chain tensioner right beside the oil filter you can get a peak at the paddle & Maybe see if it is damaged. The chain & wear pad are on the backside, so it could be excessively worn, & you can't see it thru the hole. When you remove the oil sump plate you will probably see more shavings there.

http://986forum.com/forums/uploads01...1365532730.jpg

This is what I was referring to.

You can fit a boroscope through the hole and inspect it as well. We did this once --
found one of the chains (of two) had broken. We saved the engine - but it still had to be torn down and put back together with a new paddle and chain assembly.
The chain broke because it was wearing a groove in the paddle.

That's a lot of shavings -- and my gut says that you would be down to some material
in the bearings that was ferrous (isn't there copper in most bearings -- I know there is on the 944)

Mike

There was a slight tick in the area of cylinders 4 and 5 that I thought might just be injectors. It was faint.

Pull the sump plate and post pics. I have seen this one before.

Email me the pics to jake@flat6innovations.com.com as well since I am seldom on these forums these days.

dumb idea - wasn't thinking, deleted it to save myself further embarrasment... :o