anybody try the pelican ims retrofit kit?
 

I know you typically get what you pay for so what do you all think of this? I am not due for a clutch but its so much less expensive and might be worth the peace of mind what do you all think??? $165 compared to $849

I'm confused, your post doesn't contain a link to this very inexpensive part. Can you please post the link, I don't see anything that price at pelican.

It's a single row bearing with a non contact seal. I bought it for the mounting hardware and replaced the bearing with a fully sealed high temp 6204 viton Nachi. I wouldn't use it in a dual row engine.

sorry bout that, here it is

Pelican Parts.com - Pelican Parts IMS Bearing Retrofit Kit

The bearing is described as similar quality to the original single row bearing. A spacer is supplied if you are replacing a double row one. As said above I wouldn,t use it to replace a double row one but would consider it an acceptable replacement for a single row (but NOT an improvement like a ceramic one might be.) Whatever you do DO NOT USE PELICAN flawed installation instructions. Use the ones from LN.

Personally, I fail to see the logic in skimping on a part that can kill your engine in a heart beat. The Pelican bearing is basically the same as an OEM single row unit; so the moment your car hits the ground after installing it, you have exactly the same probability of failure that you had before you took it apart. Just because it is new, the odds have not really changed as many single row IMS failures occur when the car has low miles on it. If you are paying someone to install it, most of your expense is going to be labor, not parts, regardless of who's bearing you install, so why go cheap on the parts?

^ The literature published about the original IMS states that the seals are compromised due to the type of service environment the bearing operates within, the grease washes out, and the lack of sufficient lubrication kills the bearing in a short period of time.

Therefore, the age of the bearing is a factor more than the mileage because as the bearing ages, the seals dry up. The occurrence of failure in low mileage cars supports this theory (more inactivity, less oil circulating around the bearing, etc.). From what I have read, I don't think anyone has seen either a single row or dual row bearing fail based on pure mechanical loading conditions, so it always has to be lubrication related. The fact that Porsche switched from a dual to single row bearing also supports that - and they have the type of design and testing data on the M96 that most engineers would salivate over.

So your statement that the "the moment your car hits the ground after installing it, you have exactly the same probability of failure that you had before you took it apart" is false because you will have refreshed the seals and eliminated any degradation with time that has occurred with the original bearing.

And I have four customers that had OEM IMS failures in less than 6K miles on new vehicles. While their engines were replaced under warranty, it also says that being brand new does not exempt the OEM style bearing from failure, so it is more than just the seals failing over time. One of the guys that suffered an early fail had the one in the replacement engine go less than a year after it was installed (as soon as he got his second replacement engine, he drove the car to another dealer and traded it in).

As for pure mechanical failures, we (and others) have seen a couple where the center bolt of the IMS was found lying in the bottom of the bell housing. And while the bearing was tore up from the bolt failure, the balls did not show the normal severe galling associated with long term lubrication problems. So there are different ways these things can crap out, and they can a do die young, which I think is one of the factors contributing to the general belief that low mileage cars are more susceptible than those that accumulated a lot of miles quickly.

Porsche's own data in the class action noted that the expected rate of failure for the single row bearing was around eight or so percent, with no caveat for the age of or mileage on the bearings.

I agree with B6T, the probability of failure from seal degradation is much improved with a new bearing. There are other ways the IMS system can fail, but that doesn't mean a new bearing will have exactly the same probability of failure as an old one.

Oh crap, I started an ims debate didn't I? Well, I am cheap! If I can save money doing something I will which is why I asked. I would take the car in to get it done and if the LN retro fit is superior than it is worth the extra money. I have 1 year or 10,000 miles left on a warranty so I'm not as worried. Yet! Thanks for the input

This is pretty simple.

OEM and OEM-like IMS's fail - total cost is $165 + labor + cost of replacement engine + installation labor. LN IMS's don't fail - total cost is $849 + labor. So if you want to roll the dice, the dollar delta is the cost of a replacement engine + installation labor - $684 difference in the price of the parts.

To sum up: the bet is: $684 v $,$$$s to replace a failed engine.