Newbee IMS Question for 2001 S

[SilverSSS]

Originally Posted by geraintthomas

Bloody hell. There's far too much worry about the IMS, and it's laughable in some cases - I'm not implying this to you don't worry, it's in general. There's been a few people who have started threads with subjects like "Car won't start" or "Lumpy idle", and people will literally jump on the IMS band wagon. In fact, one was started a month or two ago of a guy who had his engine give out on him on a road and it failed to turn over again. Several people basically said it may the IMS and it just turned out to be a faulty AOS.

Do an oil change and look at the oil filter. If there aren't any metal flakes, put new oil and a new filter back in and just drive the damn car, but drive it like it was meant to be driven. Don't stress the engine while cold, take it over 5,000rpm regularly within reason when the engine is up to temp, drive it when you can and don't garage queen the thing for special occasions. It's these cars that aren't driven often that fail. Rubbers seize when they don't get used, crack, let grease out and that's when things start to fail. Including the rare but blown-out-of-proportion occurrence of a failing IMS bearing.

Before anyone says anything, I'm not saying they don't fail. I'm simply saying that it's not common at all for them to fail, and when they do it's more the cars that aren't driven regularly.

My opinion? If there's no metal in the oil filter, you regularly service/get your car serviced, and you drive the car regularly, then don't worry. Don't mess with it, just drive and enjoy it. You could go out tomorrow and the cam chain could snap, or someone may write your car off while it's in a car park (that's happened to me). Or, and I completely agree with the above post, you could get the new IMS bearing installed and it'll fail. That's happened to a few people. There's also been a few instances of that small percentage of people where the seal has failed on the IMS bearing, oil enters the bearing and results in a bearing that gets permanently lubricated by the oil, which brings that percentage of failure even smaller. If people worry as much as they're told to, I'd be surprised if they'd even walk out of their door in the mornings for fear of being killed by a lawn mower.

There's a guy on here with a Boxster with over 300,000 miles on the engine. He didn't even know what an IMS bearing was. Drive it the way it's meant to be driven and just enjoy it

And if you're still worried, just install an IMS guardian. Under $200 and gives you peace of mind.

So i pulled and opened up the oil filter, at about 5k miles, there IS metal in it, very small amount, tiny amount , maybe 2-3 pieces total on every 3-5 pleats or so. Flakes range from virtually microscopic up to maybe 1/2 mm in diameter. normal or cause for concern?

[JFP in PA]

Originally Posted by SilverSSS

So i pulled and opened up the oil filter, at about 5k miles, there IS metal in it, very small amount, tiny amount , maybe 2-3 pieces total on every 3-5 pleats or so. Flakes range from virtually microscopic up to maybe 1/2 mm in diameter. normal or cause for concern?

Are they ferrous (attracted to a magnet)?

[SilverSSS]

Yep. first thing i did was got out my rare earth magnet. to me, it seems normal, but i've never opened an oil filter before in my 30 years of working on cars.

[JFP in PA]

Originally Posted by SilverSSS

Yep. first thing i did was got out my rare earth magnet. to me, it seems normal, but i've never opened an oil filter before in my 30 years of working on cars.

If the bits are ferrous, you have a problem somewhere.

[SilverSSS]

Originally Posted by JFP in PA

If the bits are ferrous, you have a problem somewhere.

IDK,, that filters there for a reason, i would imagine you'd find some in any filter after 5k miles. Nothing to compare it to, though. Have you ever cracked yours open?

[911monty]

Originally Posted by SilverSSS

IDK,, that filters there for a reason, i would imagine you'd find some in any filter after 5k miles. Nothing to compare it to, though. Have you ever cracked yours open?

I'd imagine JFPinPA has cut his share open. It is routine and not something new. For comparison this is the metal caught by a Filtermag on my engine at last oil change 4,100 mi, 93k on engine.

[SilverSSS]

911monty,, those tiny dots distributed randomly around the inside of the metal cylinder your holding right? That's about what I'm seeing> Thank You So much, i feel better, seemed normal to me. you have to put eyes on it, and that's not always possible, T/Y.

[JFP in PA]

Originally Posted by SilverSSS

IDK,, that filters there for a reason, i would imagine you'd find some in any filter after 5k miles. Nothing to compare it to, though. Have you ever cracked yours open?

I open about 20-30 oil filters a week in the shop; we see some synthetic bits (sealant or chain wear pad materials), a bit of aluminum (not unusual for an all alloy engine), but rarely do we see ferrous bits (other than the very fine black material caught by the FilterMag shown above). When we do find ferrous material, we become concerned and start looking further; quite often, what we find is not good.......