IMS upgrade Proof is in the Pudding_No talk just action

996 owners do you or don't you. IMS upgrade. We've seen alot of talk about the IMS bearing upgrade, probably as a good thing to do, have you? Our 996 forum is one of the most active so chime in. Have you or haven't you (IMS bearing upgrade) and why. List MY, miles.

KennyPride: MY '03, 29K, in surgery right now for IMS retofit kit.....should be released, once doctor says she is okay to gome home, on Monday.........

MY 99, 50,496 mi., no IMS upgrade....yet....none planned.

Done. in Jan/ 10

MY 99, 79,796 on the clock......no gots

Did it for "Peace" of mind , IMS retrofit, upgraded RMS seal done, MY 00, on Jan 2010 w/ 10K miles on the odo( along with a bunch of other fluid / filter changes, which PO looks like he/she never did).

'99 C4; 17,600 miles IMS upgrade has not been done. Don't have plans to do it at this time.

2001 C2 Cab; 39,600 miles, Will do when the clutch needs to be done also.... And in winter when I wouldn't be out much anyway

MY '00, 98,000km. I did the upgrade a year ago. It started out as a peace of mind exercise, but when we got in there it became obvious that a bearing failure was actually likely imminent. I've previously posted a pic of what we found.

Is a new IMS thread going to pop up every week? lets talk about something else..... how bout them Celtics? BTW: I did it. 96k. A couple of months ago with a post here somewhere.

Will this be statistically significant, and is there any profit involved? I have a new engine, original IMS. 76,XXX miles total, about 35,XXX on new engine.

25k. Will do it when my extended warranty runs out. Right before it runs out! 3.5 years.

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+1

Did it at 105K Rick 99 996C4 87 944S

Can everyone who does this upgrade please post their complete price paid including parts. Please also specify dealer vs independent, and any non related costs such as RMS, clutch/flywheel, or AOS, etc. This will help those of us trying to determine what to expect cost wise. Thanks in advance.

Divot, no statistical significants or profit, but an interesting posts of us that own 996s actually have the upgrade vs those that don't. Interesting how many of us have viewed this post but not answered. It's no skin if you have or haven't just post of what it is.

Have a 2001 C2 orginal engine with tiptronic and 46k still on CPO warranty for 3 more months. Debating between doing nothing, putting in an IMS or getting additional warranty. Do not seem to have lots of extra cash for options 2 and 3 right now.

I've had two 99 996s, 115k and 9x,xxx miles. I'm sharing garage space with 2 other 996 owners at VIR today, at 67k and 110k miles. None of us have replaced the IMS, or plan to. Between those four cars, we've done an AOS, two starters, two water pumps and an oil filler tube. I'm sure they're all about to explode though...

Currently at 62,xxx miles, will replace if trans gets dropped in future but not as of yet.

I did the IMS bearing replacement as part of large 105K maintenance. I replaced: clutch(clutch disk, pressure plate, throw out bearing), RMS, IMS bearing, AOS, cam adjuster pads, chain guides, all 3 chain tensioners, & water pump. I haven't really added up the total cost, but I estimate $2K and did it all my self. Rick 99 996C4 87 944S

MY 03, 29k miles, decided to spend the money on an extended warranty right after purchasing the car. Previous owner had done RMS at 14k miles. PS: it would be nice to have our maintenance on major items collected into a database but who would really bother doing so...I think only carfax really got what it takes to collect that data effectively, may be someday they will add reliability to their reports.

Just shy of 38k on the clock, no IMS upgrade yet. Might do it when the CPO expires in 2/2011. Might buy an extended warranty. More concerned about the odd sounds coming from my starter at the moment. sounds fine on startup, once the car is at operating temp and I start it up, it sounds like it's going bad.

After reading the bearing is sealed and the large number or engines failing now finding out most were IMS related, I wouldn't even start it in the garage without replacing the bearing..... You are truly gambling the bearing will live if not replacing. Think about how many idler pulleys on the accessory drive you've had to replace on your vehicles. Now figure the bearings that always fail on those are sealed. Some (idler pulleys) live well over 100k miles and some, like my 996, had to be replaced around 70-80k miles. I wouldn't expect anymore out of the IMS sealed bearing. Replace with an oil-splashed bearing and have peace of mind that the bearing will never fail......

75k on the clock...will do IMS at clutch time which feels like it will be by the end of this year...

Didn't do it !

So far looks like more didn't than did....

C2 996, 2003. LN IMS upgrade done 05/10 at 44k miles for safety while changing clutch. Upon inspection OEM IMS bearing looked fine. FM

Quotes source post: 7651817

Celtics...tune in later today.

Done when new clutch went in at 92,000kms (57K miles) last month. Wasn't planned and wouldn't have done it if the tranny didn't need to come off for something else, but made sense to spend the extra $500 to do it since the RMS seal was also being updated and there wasn't any extra labour charge for it. Original bearing showed no signs of wear.

Small RMS leak led to upgraded RMS and LN IMS since they were already in there. 2003 w/ 37,000. Needless to say my old IMS was in perfect shape. Glad it was done though.

Quotes source posts: 7651869, 7651743, 7651240, 7652119

For my part, No update to bearing, 2002 C2 55K original motor, acquired in 2007 CPO. I would do it if I had to drop the trans anytime soon, but I don't lose sleep over it. The intermediate shaft is an engine component, how do you know you have a new engine and the original ims? Do you believe they re-used the bearing? interesting. Bruce, how did you know failure was imminent (prior to removal and physical inspection of the bearing), e.g. was there noise? I'd also add, "year acquired", as it seems that the majority of inquiries seen here re: the bearing retrofit are newer owners (BruceP excepted) And was it done during routine clutch replacement

04 C2 6 speed, 46k miles. Not done but till CPO'd. I'll sit on the fence till the trans gets dropped then make a call...

I've got a little over 130 000 km and haven't done the bearing. No oil leaks running 0W-40 or odd noises so I'm hesitant. I'm curious to find out though what the condition of the bearings were of those that have changed over to the "Super" bearing. I drive the car everyday, don't baby it but don't thrash it, just drive it a little harder than a normal car because we can

Dealer (ouch) did it at 45k

Waited for CPO to run out. '03; 35k; ims replaced....and while we had it open....replaced the clutch (disk/pressure plate/throw out bearing) and updated the rms. About $2700.

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Parsing my words carefully, here, I wanted to be careful to say "likely imminent". Two reasons I thought so: When we dropped the engine, it was immediately obvious that the seal had been leaking. It just wasn't enough to have made it out of the housing and on to the floor. Also, the intermediate shaft itself was full of oil (which I know is common and not a certain indicator of failure). Second, my car is in what you would call a high risk group. It's often driven short distances in urban traffic, including in the winter, and only occasionally gets driven long enough to boil the condensation out of the oil. In my mind, the intermediate shaft bearing seal failure combined with the hard use the car gets made it a very strong candidate for failure. There was no indication of any problem before we eyeballed the leak from the seal after dropping the engine.

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I wasn't sure how to phrase this, and thought it might be confusing at the time. It has a new engine, with a new, not the car's original, but OEM IMS, but not an upgraded IMS. Crap, it still doesn't make sense. New engine comes with IMS. I didn't upgrade. New engine with new original IMS, no upgrade. Crap, I give up. Why do I click on IMS threads in the first place?

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I know what you are thinking.... your thinking ""Why, oh, why didn't I take the blue pill?" so while searching for this pic I came across this video and I laughed pretty hard, hope it make you laugh cuz I know all the threads on here about this are not BTW Tippy - 100% spot on IMO!!

Check Point: We have 32 responses of which 12 (replc'd), 10 (not replc'd), 5 still on Waranty, with plans to replc at warranty end (1), or on next clutch job (4). Therefore out of the 32 responses 17 have or are scheduled to replc IMS and 5 still on warranty. This equates to 22 of 32 are protected by IMS replcmt or warranty or plans at clutch job (68%) vs 10 that say no to no stinking IMS bearing and drive it like you stole it!! (32%). I'm honestly surprised at the high # of IMS bearing upgrades!! MY PorscheMileage IMS IMS Still on When Warrant Expires With next replc'd not replcd Warranty /Clutch Job 2003 29K 1 0 1999 50K 0 1 1999 100K 1 0 1999 80K 0 1 2000 10K 1 0 1999 17K 0 1 2001 39K 0 0 1 2000 50K 1 0 2000 96K 1 0 1999 35K 0 1 2003 25K 1 1999 105K 1 0 2001 46K 1 1999 115K 0 1 1999 90K 0 1 1999 67K 0 1 1999 110K 0 1 2000 62K 1 1999 105K 1 0 2003 29K 1 2003 38K 1 2002 75K 1 2001 0 1 2003 44K 1 0 2003 57K 1 0 2003 37K 1 0 2002 55K 1 2004 46K 1 2001 60K 0 1 2002 45K 1 0 2003 35K 1 0

Quotes source posts: 7652838, 7652857, 7652978

I was afraid you'd say this, because I as hoping you saw or heard something without having to drop trans. I too have a "high risk" vehicle from a usage standpoint which was under warranty until about 5 weeks ago, however I have no need to drop the trans (tip), so I'm currently looking for powertrain only warranties which would cover IMS/etc. If I can find a warranty for not much more cost than the updated bearing and my cost in tools and time, I'd prefer the more comprehensive coverage. haha got it thanks for clarifying Don't be surprised, rennlist likely has the highest level of awareness of the issue and the solution (in the outside world, they're still talking about RMS), and the users who've responded to your thread are definitely self selecting so don't put too much statistical thought to this.

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not me, the people on here are pro-active... the general public number would be much much lower IMO - I bet a high % of 996 owners dont even know what an IMS is (unless they had a bad experience with one)

2003 targa, 41,xxx miles, weekend driver only, purchased with CPO in fall '08, have not replaced but will consider when other maintenance (clutch) makes it logical. No leaks, no oil consumption thus far. Total maintenance to date: new front rotors and pads, one oil/filter change, new rear tires + 4 wheel alignment and repair of bent wheels (either bought them with damage I didn't notice or winter pothole damage.) Currently dealing with a mysterious FAIL of the front left turn light. Replaced bulb, worked once then failed... Detailed in a separate thread here if anyone is curious. Please keep me out of the dealer for this!

I'm at 145000 km with estimated 75km on a replacement engine. My plan is to replace the clutch next year, and do the IMS bearing while I'm in there. The bearing is like $700 which is just plain cheap insurance, so why wouldn't I? Like it or not, these bearings do fail. Do a search...it's been documented. Also, not related but since it's come up, my car starts *ok* cold but struggles when hot. From what I'm reading here a new starter may be indicated. I'll probably do that when the trans is out too. I'm do 25K km per year, and I plan to keep this car for at least 5 more years if not longer....so I expect to be a high mileage roll call member pretty quick.

With 68%+ response of "in the know" porsche 996 owners choosing to go with the IMS upgrade, wondering if with the upgrade the 996 proves to be one the most reliable Porsche's yet. Pre-mature but Jake and LN Engineering may have saved the 996 from being the step-child from hell, to Porsche branding.

FS: OEM "single row" IMS bearing, fresh out of '03 996 with 29K.......excellent shape *ducking* as the crowd responds by throwing wet, oily rags, barbs and insults............ shipping not inlcuded.......

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A better statistical sample: https://rennlist.com/forums/996-foru...-registry.html see post 2.

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Jasper - starter is on the engine side, so it doesn't help to have the tranny pulled! Fix it now before you're stranded! oh... have an 02 C2 race car with 95K miles, and I put in the IMS bearing upgrade

30.000 no ims upgrade will do it with the clutch

2004 Carrera Coupe 6spd 15Kmi no IMS replacement no immediate plans

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AEs are all 2004s, x51, and LSD, so no, not a good comparison to the overwhelming majority of motors and drivetrains out there. The assumption by that poster that all problems would have been reported online is pretty flawed in and of itself. You will not develop statistically relevant data using internet self reporting.

Will update with a clutch job whenever that comes around. Hit 92K on the way back from Montreal F1 this weekend on the original IMS.

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I'm ok with this being a self-report thread. Considering it (or any other thread) to be anything remotely similar to "a sample" is inappropriate and misleading.

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Now that is a logical way to consider an extended warranty, especially if you think you'll get rid of the car before the warranty expires.

Replaced @ 101k. The IMS was perfect. (Removed engine/trans and replaced IMS,AOS,WP,VarioCam pads/chains, spark plugs and many other things. The VarioCam pads were very worn, everything else seemed fine, except for the loose spark plugs. Car runs better than ever!)

About 40k miles on second engine. No plans to replace it, but will consider it when doing a clutch or something that provides me with access.

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After an IMS failure and a new engine under warranty I sold the car. I'm buying an 03 turbo. This will be the last time I ever look at a 996 IMS thread on this forum. Best wishes to all of you. The 996's are great cars with the exception of the engine. That's why I'm staying with a 996 but have now permanently resolved the engine issue.

Me, thinking about it along with clutch kit, with 114k miles on MKI. Friend has MkII, '02 with 95k and did it himself. It was probably starting to fail 'cause there was engine oil inside the IMS shaft which is hollow and has no access to outside except through bearing's seal. So its grease was on its way to wash out. Good move, I'll say!

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You're a brave man. If I ever put something like that in writing, the Supreme Being would make sure that I got bitch-slapped with a pyrotechnic, part-spewing yard sale of an engine failure right in the middle of the worst neighbourhood in the city.

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2000 996 / 3.4 with a replacement engine (due to oil / coolant intermix) that was put in in August 2006 with 29K miles. I put almost 55K on this engine, about 40K street and 15K hard track miles. Change my oil (Mobil 1 15W50) after every 2 track events and it analyzed by Blackstone. So far a clean bill of health. I might take the tranny out in the fall (it's too hot in my TX garage right now) just to inspect the IMS / RMS / clutch etc. JP