Another IMS Solution?

[fivepointnine]

Wayne said any day now, he had a post where he said the production pieces were sitting on the desk in front of him

[thstone]

Originally Posted by Steve Tinker

Listen up people - as we all know, nobody knows the true IMS failure figures, but lets assume its a generous 2% of all M96 engines fail - and frankly I question even that failure rate....

The Flat6 / LN Engineering retro fit have had a 3 possible failure rate in +/- 4,000 installs - and most installations being performed by out of state independant shops which cannot be a guarantee of 100% correct installation practices. Yet even my rudimentry mathamatics equate this ratio of 3 in 4,000 installs to a miniscule percentage of failures!! A hell of a lot better than the original.
You guys have more chance of flying to the moon than having a LN bearing failure .......
zzzzzzz I sleep (more than) OK after my install nearly 2 years ago !!!! zzzzz

Most of the 4,000 LN bearings are still relatively new and have low miles (as a population in comparision to the >200,00 Boxsters built over the cars 12 year history with a bearing issue).

All failure trends start small. The question is what the trend does as the part ages and wears.

Hence, my question about the age and number of miles on the three failed bearings. Were they some of the earliest bearings sold? Do they have the most miles? Were the cars driven hard or easy? Manual or tip? Or do these failures appear to be somewhat randomly distributed in age and miles like the OEM bearing?

Inquiring minds want to know...

[tonycarreon]

Originally Posted by landrovered

Can we get confirmation from Wayne that Pelican is actually planning to release an IMS bearing retrofit?

the product page is up Pelican Parts - Product Information: PEL-IMS-1

and the description ( Project 14: Intermediate Shaft Bearing Upgrade - Page 1 ) says:

Originally Posted by pelican's website

The Pelican Parts Intermediate Shaft Bearing Replacement Kit is a less-expensive solution to the excellent LN Engineering kit. The Pelican kit replaces the factory bearing with a very similarly manufactured bearing (and with an improved seal and updated center bolt). This one kit will work with either the single or dual row IMS on your M96 engine (1997-04) or your very early 2005 engine that doesn't utilize the newer oversize bearings. We recommend that the bearing be replaced each time a clutch replacement is performed (every 40,000 miles or so).
The Pelican Parts Intermediate Shaft Bearing Replacement Kit includes:
• Improved center bearing bolt
• Outer race spacer (for engine with double-row bearings)
• Inner race spacer (for engine with double-row bearings)
• Replacement intermediate shaft bearing
• Center bolt O-ring
• Center bolt nut
• Long center bolt spacer (for engine with single-row bearings)
• Short center bolt spacer (for engine with double-row bearings)
• Snap ring (for engine with single-row bearings)
• Spiroloc snap ring (for engine with double-row bearings)
• 3 new micro-encapsulated cover bolts
• 3 M6x25mm installation helper bolts
• 3 M6x1x25mm set screws
• Updated 3-groove flange seal
• O-ring for older style flange seal

The Pelican kit also uses the stock intermediate shaft bearing cover as a way to reduce the total cost of the kit.

[landrovered]

A great tech write up by Wayne, thank you for that.

[claytl]

if the engine is making noise and oil leaked out of bell housing is it possible to change ims or is it to late and new engine required?

[JFP in PA]

What you describe would lead me to say that it is questionable. Pull your oil filter, if it is full of metal (common when these things crap out), you would need to get all of the metal out of the engine or it would simply destroy everything over time. If that is the case, you either need a rebuild or another engine.