IMS in car repair on any 2006

[Idaho Red Rocket 3]

I am looking at buying a nice 2006 with only 27K miles. It has a build date of 10-05. Do any early 2006 cars still have the ability to replace the IMS bearing on the car without engine teardown ?

[Spinnaker]

According to the LN Engineering IMS upgrade page:
http://www.lnengineering.com/ims.html

According to PET, here are the engine numbers for single or double row bearings* up until late 2005 then 2006 and later engines which received a larger, non-servicable single row bearing. *Courtesy of Scott Slauson http://www.softronic.us.

Boxster: Double Row: up to 651 12851 (M96.22) up to 671 11237 (M96.21)

Single Row: from 651 12852 (M96.22) from 671 11238 (M96.21)

996: Double Row: up to 661 14164

Single Row: from 661 14165

HINT: WE DO NOT RECOMMEND RELYING ON ENGINE NUMBERS ALONE TO IDENTIFY WHICH TYPE OF IMS YOU HAVE

***(WooHoo, my 100th post)***

[MikenOH]

I have a mid-October 2005 build and would guess it has the single row bearing. Supposedly, the transition took place in mid-October on the engine assembly line but that's not etched in stone. A fellow on another board that has a 2006 Cayman S had some engine work done and found out his November build car had the single row bearing when they were in the engine.

The only way you'd know is to drop the tranny and look at the size of the bolt on the flange holding the bearing.

[stephen wilson]

I'll have to check the build date, but my '06 has a (M96.25) 616 06468 engine code. But, as mentioned, I guess the code is no gaurantee.

[mikefocke]

in a note to me October 4th in a discussion that began on the subject of what year of car would be best to buy if you were planning to immediately do the IMSR

"The MY02-05 should be a single row bearing, but like I have on there(we were discussing his web site...mike), we have seen some MY05 cars with the new style IMS (MY06-08m, which cannot be serviced because the bearing is a larger diameter than the hole in the rear of the case) and even some with dual row bearings (I don’t have an explanation for that!). But being that I’ve only ever seen 3 engines that don’t fit the norm, I’m willing to generalize that the MY05 is single row.

Yes, the housing bore in which the bearing resides, along with the casting for the sprocket and IMS flange are significantly different in the MY06-08 cars with the revised (3rd) IMS.

If the IMS has a dual row bearing or smaller single row bearing, both can be serviced with our retrofit kits."

[Jake Raby]

Never rely on the numbers.. They are wrong all the time.
One MUSt separate the transaxle from the engine and visually inspect the IMS flange.
if the nut in the center of the flange is 13mm, it can be retrofitted..
If the nut is 22mm reinstall the tranny and hope for the best as nothing can be done.

This is even the case for 2005 MY cars, they can have either bearing.

Also if you didn't buy the car new it could have had an engine replacement post 2006, if this occurred you will have the newer style bearing and can't retrofit the engine. All reman engines post 2006 got the new bearing.

[lifeisgood]

What can we do with MY06 and later? Mine serial is M9626 xxxxxxx. Have you seen any 06 and later with IMS issues?

[mikefocke]

For the '06 (assuming it has a rev 3 design) "The last option, our IMS Upgrade, requires engine disassembly and the complete intermediate shaft to be sent in to us to be reconditioned and upgraded with our triple-bearing upgrade."

In other words...drop the engine, crack the case open, remove the complete IMS, ship it, get an upgraded one back, reinstall, etc.

[Jake Raby]

Originally Posted by lifeisgood

What can we do with MY06 and later? Mine serial is M9626 xxxxxxx. Have you seen any 06 and later with IMS issues?

As Mike stated, nothing can be done shy of a teardown.

Yes, the later bearings are failing, I know of two in the past 3 weeks. When these bearings START to fail, the engine is compromised completely.

Now that 06 MY cars are going to be steadily ending their warranties over the coming year more reports will surface..

[Idaho Red Rocket 3]

Thank you all very much. Not sure I understand the series of engine numbers, but I'll find out what engine number is in the car to compair against the list.

BTW, which size bearing is NOT replacable while engine is intact ?
Single ?
Double ?
Something Else ?

[Jake Raby]

The non-replaceable unit is the large diameter single row bearing. It has a 22mm retaining nut.