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

[RobertKing]

Karma? Actually, at just over 111,000 miles, and the fact that there is no
consistent data on which vehicles definitely have dual or single row bearings
I'd say, luck of the draw.

Thing is, from 2000 through 2004, some H6 (m96/m97) engines
had dual row bearings with the redesigned intermediate shaft and some had single
row bearings. There is no way to know which your particular engine actually has
without pulling the transmission and IMS bearing. Even then, you have no way
of knowing which intermediate shaft design your engine has.

In that same period, Boxster, Cayman and 911's all had the same possible failure.

Complicating things further, there were 3 different versions of the intermediate
shaft. All 3 could and did, use either type of bearing. The sad thing
is, a few companies are making a lot of money, selling "redesigned" bearings.

This would be great except, they only warrant the bearing against failure for 2
years or 24,000 miles. The stock bearing generally lasts at least that long. Usually
much longer.

96/97 through 2000 had an average failure in the 1 to 2% rate. Late 2000 to 2004
saw that failure rate increase to 8% or so. Seriously, how many 911's have you heard
of with this failure? Same engine, same bearings, same intermediate shaft designs.

Model year 2001 saw only 2093 failures out of 26,165 units built/sold worldwide. Only 211 in the USA. You have better odds of contracting some fatal disease or being hit
by a bus.

[JFP in PA]

Originally Posted by RobertKing

Karma? Actually, at just over 111,000 miles, and the fact that there is no
consistent data on which vehicles definitely have dual or single row bearings
I'd say, luck of the draw.

Thing is, from 2000 through 2004, some H6 (m96/m97) engines
had dual row bearings with the redesigned intermediate shaft and some had single
row bearings. There is no way to know which your particular engine actually has
without pulling the transmission and IMS bearing. Even then, you have no way
of knowing which intermediate shaft design your engine has.

In that same period, Boxster, Cayman and 911's all had the same possible failure.

Complicating things further, there were 3 different versions of the intermediate
shaft. All 3 could and did, use either type of bearing. The sad thing
is, a few companies are making a lot of money, selling "redesigned" bearings.

This would be great except, they only warrant the bearing against failure for 2
years or 24,000 miles. The stock bearing generally lasts at least that long. Usually
much longer.

96/97 through 2000 had an average failure in the 1 to 2% rate. Late 2000 to 2004
saw that failure rate increase to 8% or so. Seriously, how many 911's have you heard
of with this failure? Same engine, same bearings, same intermediate shaft designs.

Model year 2001 saw only 2093 failures out of 26,165 units built/sold worldwide. Only 211 in the USA. You have better odds of contracting some fatal disease or being hit
by a bus.

Sorry, but that is way off the mark. All 97-99 are dual row IMS bearings; 2000-2001 is a transitional period when it could go either way, and the ONLY way to know it to visually inspect the IMS flange, which will 100% confirm which style is in the engine. From 2002-2004, ALL engines were single rows; and 2005 is another transitional year where visual inspection is required to see if it is a single row or the third design, non serviceable IMS. From 2006 to 2008, they are all non serviceable type, as were all replacement engines after 2005.

As for failure rates between Boxsters and 911's, the failure rates were identical; around 10% or so for the single rows, and around 2% for the dual rows. Estimates for the third design are more sketchy as most failures were covered under warranty. Best guess from those outside warranty is 1-2%

[thom4782]

Just got an email from LN. It had a link where Jake Raby talks about extending IMB lifetimes. Really interesting stuff...

https://www.pca.org/news/2018-01-05/pca-spotlight-extending-life-your-original-ims-bearing-0

[Ciao]

Originally Posted by thom4782

Just got an email from LN. It had a link where Jake Raby talks about extending IMB lifetimes. Really interesting stuff...

https://www.pca.org/news/2018-01-05/pca-spotlight-extending-life-your-original-ims-bearing-0

A good meta analysis of how to extend the original IMS bearing posited from an expert in the field of maintenance