IMS Question

[Joe B]

The big question for those of us with the non-removable-without-opening-the-engine bearing (I have a 2003 S with a 2006 engine) is what to do, or not to do.

I've decided that about all I can do is drive it and forget about the IMS bearing. I drive the hell out of it, and love to get in and go anywhere. 95,000 miles (60,000 on the new engine) and so far so good. When (or if) the engine blows up, I'll ship the car to Jake Raby !

[pjv]

I think it comes down to how you feel about the risk of it failing. My 04 Tip with low miles seemed a high risk to me (at 8% failure rate), so I had the IMS Solution installed almost a year ago. Since then I have had much more enjoyment from driving the car, so to me it was worth the considerable expense. If I had a car with the dual row or later single row bearing, I probably would not have done the upgrade. And my old single row bearing was still OK, but fairly dry and did not spin freely, so I suspect it was on the way to failure.