Survey of failed IMS replacements
 

I know a lot of people have had their IMSB replaced, but how many of those replacements have failed?

Post your model, IMSB type, when replaced, how many miles on car now, how many miles since replaced, and whether it failed:

2000 Base, LN double row ceramic, 10/14, 65,500 miles on car now, 6500 miles since IMSB replaced, working fine

2002 S Tiptronic, 142000 miles when replaced 2012. 25k since replacement. Original IMSB had no signs of wear

Have replace two the the LN ceramic bearing. Boxster S about 4 years ago and have put 30k on it since and the Carrera about 8 months ago and have put on 3k. Both had the seals fail and the grease wash out.

31,000 on a rebuild with a new LN ceramic kit. About 40-50% of mile on track. However there were many improvements made and a lot of weight dropped inside the engine while rebuilding.

986s had L&N ceramic for 20k miles then changed to final solution for past 10k. 996 has had L&N bearing for 25k. No problems with any of them. Neither of the originals had failed.


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99 986. My original double row was failing. Seals leaked, bearing grease gone, oil in IM shaft. Bearing was still intact, but balls had worn down making bearing very loose.

Replaced with Vertex IMS bearing including oil pump modification. Also added non-bypass filter and filter mag. 17K on it as of now.

I replace my oil filter every 3K and check it for debris. So far, so good.

2000 S dual bearing, replaced with LN Retrofit as precautionary action. Original was in good shape at 50k. Sleep better. 😴

I have never seen a sealed LN ceramic bearing, or one with grease in it.....

Knock on wood, 2003 S with 122k miles on the original bearing. Looked at getting "The IMS Solution" put on it, but the cost was over $4k. No way I'm putting that kind of money in an engine with 122k miles on it.

2001 986 S, dual row bearing.
Replaced mid 2010 with LN dual row ceramic @ 71,000km (44,000 miles) currently @ 110,000km (69,000 miles).
The original bearing had no visual wear, but unusually had only one seal fitted from the factory!!

My problem now is that the ceramic bearing has been in service for nearly 7 years and LN recommend replacing the bearing every 75,000 miles or 6 years - does this mean I'm on borrowed time.....

I am in the same boat exactly with time and mileage let me know what you find out..

No more so than with the original bearing...

I'm referring to the original bearings.

2001 S - had IMS Solution (permanent fix) installed when engine was rebuilt 10K miles ago.

Working fine. Original single row IMSB had not yet failed at time of replacement but did show signs of wear. Also all grease had been washed out of the bearing.

IMSB replaced with 32K a year and half ago with LN ceramic. Piece of mind and smart move. Original bearing was greaseless and had slight wear.

IMSB replaced at 120K with IMS Solution. Original single row greaseless but otherwise OK.

2003 Boxster S, original IMSB, 96,000 miles, my daily car, no signs of failure, and no plans on changing it.

Ever.

Can you edit and add one more item to the Poll? I'd be curious to know how many IMS bearings replaced that had wear.

If you have a survey, it should be divided into three surveys as the characteristics of the three generations of bearings is quite different. And since LN has 3 ball bearing SKUs...single, double and Single Pro.

As for some background on loose or looks/felt fine original bearings that were removed, do a search using the forum search function for IMS and JFP as he runs a shop and has done a whole bunch.

:rolleyes: JFP returns "Jackson Free Press" in Google. I'm not joking... LOL

.... and IMS returns pretty much all the same thing; some Gore-Gallery stuff nobody wants to see. Btw my bearing is in the 1st survey category, of course (cough's)

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