A failed IMS bearing can cost you up to $15,000 for a new motor or $9,000 for a junk yard motor to replace your blown up motor. Don't let this happen to you! What can be done to prevent an IMS failure?

 


There is no quick or easy fix. Like with many aircooled engines, many get torn down and rebuild BEFORE an engine failure so that engines can get upgraded. Short of a pre-emptive rebuild, the best preventative measures that can be taken are to be religious with your maintenance schedule. But keep reading, there's more that you can do.

What can be done is to change your oil more often. We recommend oil changes for the M96 and later engines (as we do for air-cooled engines) every 5,000 miles or 6 months. If you track your car, you should change the oil after every race weekend or every other event at the bare minimum and should also consider used oil analysis to monitor the health of your engine.

Use a higher viscosity motor oil. There are several Porsche approved oils that are 5w40, rather than Mobil 1 0w40. Use of an oil that isn't API SM-rated with more Zn and P or an oil with moly extreme pressure anti-wear additives may improve engine life. Castrol Syntec 5w40 is an API SL rated oil that carries Porsche approval and is an excellent choice, and easy to get locally. Motul 8100 5w40 is another excellent Porsche approved lubricant. By no means should you use any oil thinner than a 0w40 - do not use 0w30, 5w30, or 10w30 viscosities!Also, make sure you drive your Porsche as it was intended to be driven! We like to see the revs kept above 2,500 rpm - higher rpms provide better protection than lower rpms for the IMS bearing . Just make sure you're engine's warmed up first before putting a large load or high rpms on it! What can be done to check for a failing bearing?

First of all, there's no need to loose sleep over IMS failures. There are a few simple things that can be done next time you're having your Porsche serviced to give you some peace of mind before you take the plunge and have an IMS retrofit kit installed on your car. First, check the filter for any debris whatsoever. If there is any very small pieces of plastic (bearing seal) and/or any magnetic debris that may also be shiny or appear to sparkle, that's a good sign that the bearing is going bad. Any oil leaks at the rear of the engine should be checked out immediately - it is common to think you have a RMS leak, but in fact, a failing bearing will allow the IMS flange seal to leak. Another thing that can be checked is bank to bank camshaft timing deviation, more so to see if there is fluctuation in timing values when they should be constant. Lastly, any technician who knows what a failing water pump or idler belt bearing sounds like should be able to use a stethoscope to listen to the IMS for similar problems. The IMS bearing should be checked or replaced at around 60,000 miles as this is the magic # for when the bearing failures start to occur. This can be done with a clutch replacement or as a repair on its own.With a clutch job - $2400.00 Tiptronic bearing only replacement is $2200.00.