Over 90,000 Miles? What Do You Attribute to The Success of an Original IMS

[78F350]

I gently caress the dashboard for a moment and close my eyes before turning the ignition key. *This only works if you have the full leather interior.*

[Oldcarguy]

+1 for pure luck and I’m not kidding.

[thom4782]

Luck is the bottom line, but there are several actions one can take to improve their odds for a longer life.

1) Preserve the integrity of the bearing seals for as long as possible to keep the bearing grease from washing out. This means frequent oil changes; ensuring the car gets up to operating temperature for 20+ minutes when driving; and not letting the car sit for long periods with the IMS seals submerged in acid contaminated oil. Here, clean oil is one's best friend when rolling the IMS dice.

2) Alternatively, open the car up and remove in outer IMS seal to allow oil to lubricate the bearing.

My 01S followed strategy one above up to 120K miles when I changed out the single row bearing for the IMS Solution. The original one looked pristine until I removed the outer seal and noticed the grease was gone. I consider myself lucky and I am convinced my plan allowed the daily driver to reach 120K without an engine destroying failure.

[Oldcarguy]

Originally Posted by thom4782

. . . My 01S followed strategy one above up to 120K miles when I changed out the single row bearing for the IMS Solution. . .

If I keep my 986 for the long term (and there’s no reason to think at this point I won’t) I’ll have my LNE single row classic removed and update to the LN IMS Solution the next time the transmission is pulled or maybe sooner just for the satisfaction of putting this subject to bed.