Is my IMS Shaft toast?

You Tube Is my IMS Shaft toast? I think it is.

If memory serves there's a stop in the hex hole to stop the hex oil pump key from falling into it. Sounds like your hex drive fell inside the IMS shaft.

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I think you're right. Here's what's inside: You Tube I could pull the IMS bearing, but I was hoping to keep it on the shaft. This engine is for education purposes, and I'd like to use the bearing to practice using my LN IMS Pro tools. I'm fairly certain that the 2.5L IMS shaft doesn't fit the 2.7L The bearing on the oil pump end is smaller on the 2.5 than the 2.7. It should work for my purposes, but kinda sucks that they sent me a defective IMS shaft. It was guaranteed, so perhaps I should see if I can trade it for a good 2.5L shaft. At least then I'd have a good 2.5L shaft in case someone (me?) needs it in the future. In the pictures, the oil pump shaft was stuck in the end. I'm guessing someone dropped it before packing it since the box doesn't look that bad and it was well packed. .

Here's me paying around disassembling my partial M96 engine to try sticking the IMS shaft in it. You Tube

Love the videos!

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Agree. Sounds like a single item in there. Hex drive for the oil pump sounds like a good guess. Edit: watched the other video. Absolutely the hex drive for the oil pump. No doubt. That cap should prevent it from going in the shaft. Some vendors (EPS) provide a punch to pop a hole in that cap, and a drive key with a slot to help oiling. It doesn't seem to be popular but some people love it... (I have a new unused EPS eternal fix kit that I bought a couple of years ago, but ended up going the LN route, figuring for the costs involved LN had a better reputation, so was less risky to me.)

Is there a way to replace the cap? The seller has gone dark on me. I think someone did it before it was packed. It was well packed and the box was not in bad shape. The pictures the seller posted had the hex drive showing.

I think you are going to have to pull the bearing. Maybe contact LN and see if they offer a service to fix it with or without bearing removal. I would reverse the charges on this part.

Here's what I'd do, since this is just for a trainer , not for real use. Pop out the IMS bearing with your LN tools. Tip the drive key and cap out of the end. Use a long wooden dowel to tap the cap back into place. Reinstall the bearing.

Still waiting to hear from the seller. I was hoping for a good IMS Shaft. Although it will be ok for what I have planned. I just wanted a shaft so I could install IMS bearings to practice with my LN tools. I’d like to find a damaged IMS Solution so I could perform the install of that too. I’d like to have done it once before doing it for real in my next car or a customer’s car. Certainly someone has had an engine failure (chain, intermix, rod, etc) that spread debris enough to damage an IMS Solution. Just finding them would be tough.

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Yeah, good idea! A long wooden dowel with something sticky on the end to hold the cap in place might work. Then I�ll reinstall and uninstall the bearing until it falls apart.

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There's two people I can think of that may be able to help you, why not ask them? (there's a pile of them in their shops..)

That cap is friction fit and isn't meant to be popped out and then re installed. I would return it to the seller. You paid for a good usable part and this isn't one. 2 weeks ago I've used the tool the remove the bearing and since the intermediate shaft was out of the engine, used a giant drill press to manually press the new bearing in. There really isn't much to it that needs practicing. Can't be that much different to use the tool to install it. The concept is the same regardless what you use.