Pls help: RMS vs IMS failure?

[Jake Raby]

The oil that comes out from a RMS leak, is the oil going around the bearing or through it?
Along those lines...

When the outer seal begins to be compromised engine oil is allowed into the bearing. This oil washes the permanent lubrication from the sealed bearing. As time goes on the oil will seep through the inner seal and into the IMS tube little by little.

Fast forward a few thousand miles and the inner seal becomes further compromised, along with the outer seal, the release of oil that has accumulated inside the tube is what ends up on the garage floor as it bypasses the OE bearing flange in the center. This oil is nasty black because it has been caught up inside the IMS tube through many heat cycles.

If it is going through it, do cars like mine that had 4 RMS repairs prior to the IMS replacement have a less chance of failure?

An RMS and IMS leak is much different and not related.

Should a very leaky RMS be replaced?

Yes. It also must be absolutely proven that the leak is from the RMS, not the IMS as the symptoms are virtually the same. If it is from the IMS then the bearing must be changed ASAP since the release of oil is the first sign that the IMS is beginning to go.

Do cars that have a single leak and then never leak again have a greater failure rate because there is oil going through the bearing, but at a slow rate and therefore not washing completly through

?
Perhaps, but I still think you may have the IMS and RMS confused.