996 2002 ims bearing

Gavin944s2 · Feb 2, 2014

hello, I realise this has been done 100's of time , but ....... will a 2002 911 996 fsh car need it done with 72 ,000 miles recorded ?
? I don't want to chance a catastrophic failure , & would be on my toes ,as there is no evidence in the paperwork or poc or specialist s/h of it ever been done !
the car is 260 miles away if iam to buy it..all looks well, its just this dan IMS bearing issue. Thank you . G

Richard_Hamilton · Feb 2, 2014

There aren't many owners, relative to the number of cars out there, which will have had the IMS bearing changed as a preventative measure. You might find cars with rebuilt engines, which will likely have had the bearing upgraded after a failure. As for whether a 72000 miler will need it doing, that's a 'how long is a piece of string' question. Having got to 72000, it is probably less likely to need doing.

If you are really going to lose sleep over it (and most of us don't) then someone like Revolution Porsche will fit an LN ceramic bearing for about £900+VAT, but bear in mind that LN put a life expectancy on them. Another possibility is the IMS Solution bearing with direct oil feed, but that costs considerably more. Or you could fit a warning system like the IMS Guardian, which would give you the chance to save a failure from being catastrophic.

Gavin944s2 · Feb 2, 2014

Great advice there buddy, much appreciated. Who does the ims guardian & is it worth while ? Atb Gav

Richard_Hamilton · Feb 2, 2014

I'm a bit biased as far as the Guardian is concerned, but to me it makes total sense to fit a warning device, on the basis that 95% of engines will not have a failure, so why spend £1100+ when it may not need it. http://www.wrightune.co.uk

drmeng · Feb 2, 2014

I did spend 1200 on new ims and seal - here is my rational
basically there was a fix and for me the guardian would warn but not prevent or significantly reduce risk if my engine had goen or the I had fitted the guardian and it stopped a catastrophe I would still have had to spend 1200 on new ims for £5-600 for the guardian I decided to go the whole hog and put in a on ims at Autofarm
The truth is if the Porsche goes I would not have the fund a to repair it the porsche is a one time dream having sold my fire blade sports bike due to kids

At the end of the day everyone has to to look at their individual positions I had considered the guardian seriously and would recommend it

thirteeneast · Feb 3, 2014

But a replacement bearing is not a permanent fix?

And therefore I too am now biased toward the guardian, and then replace the bearing "if" starts to breakdown.

For all we know maybe the bearing you have is going to be better and outlast any replacement bearing.

Much to the annoyance of any "after-market Bearing manufacturers/scaremongers".

G7TTR · Feb 3, 2014

It may not be a permanent fix but may help when selling in a market that has plenty of 996's with no IMS upgrade.

thirteeneast · Feb 4, 2014

More often than not new buyers know nothing about IMSB failure and they wonder why its been replaced.

I know Porsche have made some mistakes, but I have to say the idea of Mechanics designing Engine parts and testing scares the crap outa me!.

Stuart Mackay · Feb 8, 2014

Owning a c4 with only 27000 miles, and although unlikely to fail at that mileage, to me as an engineer, it is far better to have some warning of possible damage occurring rather than play the russian roulette of will it -won't it?; so I have opted to fit the IMS guardian solution as supplied by wrightune.

I am currently installing this as part of my winter upgrades to the dashboard area, the kit seems to be of excellent quality is very well thought out, includes very good instructions and when installed will give an OEM look because the warning light is supplied to fit within one of the blank oval switches in the dash centre console.