Another 996 IMS related question.

I've read a ton of board posts here in PP and other forums, but haven't found solid answers. My situation: I'm the second owner of a 2002 C4 Tiptronic which is running perfectly fine and is in great shape. That said, it's about to hit 60K miles and I'm seriously wondering about getting the IMS replaced. Questions: What have other owners -on this board- of C4's have done; replace or roll the dice? What is the average cost of getting the IMS replaced through a reputable shop? C4's being AWD, and mine being a tiptronic on top of that. What reputable shops are recommended around the San Francisco South Bay area? (I'm in San Jose) What other services can be done at the same time? Or, how can I tell if the engine was replaced at some point because of the recall? I've been a member of Pelican Parts for over 10 years, since I had my 82 911SC (miss it like a mother...)

I am in a similar situation... Have had a 2000 996 for about 13 years... 84k miles and clutch is starting to feel soft and releasing pretty late... Have been shopping around in the MD area and prices seem close to 3k for ims/rms and clutch replacement... Keep us posted on how things go... I need to pull the trigger in the next month or so since I have started tracking the car (mine is a manual) good luck! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

The cost of the IMS parts is easy to research. Even our host carries them. Last I checked LNS ceramic bearings are in the $700 range, but there are other options now like pressure fed bearings, and new entries into the ceramic bearing game, so prices may vary up or down by a few hundred. Once the cost of the parts are known, then it's down to how many hours to install them, at typical shop rates of $100 per hour. If the clutch is being done anyway, then it should be only an extra hour or two to do the IMSB job. In fact directly replacing a stock IMSB with an aftermarket piece is only about a half hour job, but lets assume even a reputable shop will round up to an hour or two. Whatever - it's only $100. Long story short, replacing the IMSB should add about $1000 to a clutch job. Now...if you aren't replacing the clutch or i you have a tip, then you'd be paying to remove and reinstall the transmission and clutch/flywheel/torque converter. That's like a 8 hour job in real life, but a shop will probably buff that up to 10. In fact while you are in there you should probably be replacing the RMS and you will need new flywheel bolts, and a new slave cylinder, and the air oil separator is easy to reach so you'll want to change that.....it's rare that you would be going in that deep and *only* replacing the IMSB. That's just bad economics. I expect you'd be up at $3000 once you are out the door, but you'll be good to go for another ten years so money well spent.

Thank you Jasper, very helpful information and breakdown. I do have a tip tranny and will replace the oil separator, and I'm sure some other things while my Mechanic is in there. Cheers!

The tips do take a little longer to remove/install as you have the flex plate/converter to deal with. The front drive shaft is a few minutes worth of work to remove. Replacing the AOS at the same time yields little labor savings, but they aren't expensive so not a bad idea to do all at once. Definitely replace the RMS if you have the flywheel removed. No brainer. As you have a tip, no slave to worry about, but I would not replace a functioning one just because it was unbolted from the gearbox (but still hydraulically connected) As you have a Tip, you have a tougher decision to make as you are not going in to replace a clutch anyways. It all comes down to how comfortable you are with the current bearing. Most never fail, some do, and when they do it is expensive. As you know there is tons of hype on the internet that says you must change it or it will cost you an engine. So, do your research and decide if it makes sense to spend the money and replace it. The economics might look poor from the prevention side, but hindsight after a failure suggest they would have made a lot of sense. Don't want to start any IMSB wars on your thread, but we replace them every month. We are yet to replace one that appears to be on its way out. That doesn't mean they would not have failed shortly, maybe failed in another 100k miles. I have seen motors locally that were diagnosed with IMSB failures where no real diagnosis took place. Those stories ends up on the internet as more motors with a failed IMSB... Cheers

Thank you Jeff, I took the plunge and had the IMS replaced, along with a lot of other stuff that my mechanic found it needed to be replaced. My car started miss firing and took it to Bay Area Motorworks in Cambell, the guys there found that the valve lifters (tappets) were making noise -at least on one bank, and I decided to have all of them replaced, along with the sparkplugs, sparkplug tubes, AOS, tensioners, and various hoses that are easier to get to with the engine out. $$$, but the car is running like a champ. The bearing itself was in perfect condition and did not need replacement, but I feel more at ease by having it done. Cheers!