Can replacement IMS bearings still go bad? Buying advice wanted
 

Hi Boxster experts,

I'm very keen to join the 986 club and get a Porsche Boxster, and have found one that looks pretty great. The car has done 80k miles, but the current owner has the full service history, and a number of parts have been replaced.

That includes the IMS bearing with an "LN Engineering M96 IMS bearing for dual row IMS". The bearing was replaced back in 2014. Is the replacement bearing still at all likely to fail, or should that now last the life of the car?

The other thing was some white smoke on start up. It didn't smoke for ages, probably only 10 seconds or so, but it was still somewhat concerning. Is this a sign of possible bore scoring, or is it perhaps just a new air/oil separator needed?

The engine made quite a lot of ticking noise after parking too, but no weird sounds that I could hear when driving. Is that just the engine parts contracting as they cool down?

I'd appreciate any advice, and hope to be in the Boxster club soon!

From LNE website:

The white smoke is likely the AOS and the ticking is just the exhaust cooling (normal).

FWIW the LN Single Row Pro installed in my 2003 S at 42,000 miles failed at 77,500 miles. If there are any debris particles in your oil and they happen to get splash lubricated into the IMSB, the harder ceramic ball bearings will use them to grind up the relatively softer steel bearing cage and races. Who knows if the original IMSB that I had replaced would have lasted?

Any part can fail. Due to the part itself being defective when manufactured, the installation being incorrect and/or the environment it was installed into being slightly out of true. The dual row, even with the original Porsche sourced and used, had a low failure rate. The LN dual uses better materials. Having been working for 7 years, some of those variables are probably not a concern. If the oil was changed regularly no matter the mileage I think you are good and something else is liable to fail before that bearing. In other words, I wouldn't be worried about it. After all the rest of the car is a bit long in the tooth already.

LN's warranty is there for legal reasons and marketing. It doesn't imply that exactly at those limits any large proportion will fail.

Buy on maintenance history and the fact that an expensive IMS replacement was done is a good sign.

Just don't confuse replacement intervals with a warranty.

According to LN's website, the IMS Retrofits are guaranteed for 2 years, 24K miles.
While the replacement is "recommended every 75K miles or 6 years"

https://lnengineering.com/products/the-definitive-guide-and-faq-for-porsche-ims-bearings/ims-retrofit.html

A well maintained car ... ++++
A dual row +++
A replaced bearing and other parts ++++
White smoke water in the tailpipe condensed into a warm pipe that is now heating up. Yawn if 10 seconds. As long as there is no smell of anti-freeze or use of coolant.
Ticking is cool down.

Buy Buy Buy Gotta be really rare for a NZ car. Right island?

I'm certainly hoping to buy it! It's got new shocks, control arms, bushes, brake pads, water pump, battery, fluids been done. Might need an air-oil separator. The top has been replaced with a new one as well.

Right island, you mean same as me? It's a 20 minute drive away from my house!