LN Engineering IMS Retrofit Bearing Failure

[vsl_london]

Another day, another IMS bearing failure. This time however, it's with the newer LN Engineering IMS retrofit bearing.

A little background: I had purchased my 2000 C2 back in 2015 at 74k miles. One of the things that pulled me to this exact example was the extensive service history.

The car had the IMS bearing replaced by RPM Technik back in 2012 (65k miles) for the LN Engineering single row retrofit bearing.

In my ownership, I had kept up with preventative and regular maintenance, changing the oil and filter every year, and fitting some improvements like the deep oil sump and spin-on oil filter conversion (also from LN Engineering).

This July (@82k miles) however I noticed that there were a lot of metal (almost aluminium looking) flakes in the oil when I was changing it. So, fearing the worst, I took the advice of RPM Technik, and had the car flat-bed over to them for an inspection.

Best case scenario: the IMS bearing is on the way out; worst case: the engine is eating itself. As it turns out, I got a break of good luck, and while I had the clutch changed the IMS bearing was taken off and lo-and behold it had started to fail. There was a little play in the shaft, and grinding noise coming from the bearing when spun up.

I've kept the bearing as a memento, and have taken a small video to show the noise that the bearing makes. Will post the link on HERE once it's uploaded.

The sump was also dropped to check for any foreign debris, but luckily I was given the all clear. Must've just caught it in time before the bearing completely failed and grenaded the engine ....

An interesting note from RPM Technik: it turns out that originally (as far back as 2012) LN Engineering were offering a lifetime (or engine life-time) warranty on the retrofit bearings, however recently they had quietly changed that to a 2 year/24k mile limited warranty. As for why they did that, I will not speculate but you can figure that out for yourselves...

I reached out to the LN Engineering support team and got the rather snarky reply: "We have never offered a lifetime warranty on any IMS product, but even so, the IMS warranty for that bearing expired years ago."

Anyway, as per recommendation I had gone with the new EPS cylindrical bearing, so here's hoping it will hold up a bit longer than the LNE.

So as a precaution to others who had the LN Engineering retrofit bearing fitted, please be on the lookout for failures, despite their original claims, those bearings are not a lifetime fix. Yearly oil changes are a life safer, even if you're not covering high mileage.

I'm quite curious to hear from others who may have had similar failures with the retrofit bearings.

[tr7v8]

Wow lucky escape, lucky you do oil changes every year, one of my pet points.
What oil make & viscosity do you run? I know Hartech only warrant their rebuilds if run on 10W/60 Millers Nanotech.
I always run my Boxster on 15W/50.

If you read some of the IMS failure stuff from the USA they all refer to the single row bearing being overloaded exacerbated by very thin oil grade being specified by Porsche. Also compounded by the bearing being shielded & trapping the crap in.

[vsl_london]

Wow lucky escape, lucky you do oil changes every year, one of my pet points.

Thanks! That and clearing out the rads/condensers on a yearly basis is the main concern, as I learnt that the hard way

What oil make & viscosity do you run? I know Hartech only warrant their rebuilds if run on 10W/60 Millers Nanotech.
I always run my Boxster on 15W/50.

I'm quite partial to Mobil 1 X3000 5W40 myself. If I recall correctly I just followed some recommendations from RPM and Revolution-Porsche, but I know I can spend whole days roaming the forums for discussions about oil viscosity I've been keeping an eye on the engine condition by sending off the oil for an analysis every other oil change to Blackstone Labs. So far it's been holding up pretty well and I haven't had any leaks through the RMS (knock on wood) and the oil pressure is spot on (even around fast corners thanks in part to the new oil sump baffles). This last oil change though, definitely didn't need to do an analysis to see that something was wrong

The 10W60 seems quite viscous though, for running in the English climate? That's coming dangerously close to the oil I'm running in the classic mini I heard that's ideal for the air (oil?) cooled Porkers, but for the later ones as long as the engine cooling is in good condition it should be fine on lower weight oil.

If you read some of the IMS failure stuff from the USA they all refer to the single row bearing being overloaded exacerbated by very thin oil grade being specified by Porsche. Also compounded by the bearing being shielded & trapping the crap in.

Yeah, I figured the uprated bearings would be a little less susceptible to that, but clearly that's just not the case. I'm hoping that the new cylindrical bearings would be able to more evenly distribute the pressure from the engine vibrations.

[tr7v8]

Wow lucky escape, lucky you do oil changes every year, one of my pet points.

Thanks! That and clearing out the rads/condensers on a yearly basis is the main concern, as I learnt that the hard way

What oil make & viscosity do you run? I know Hartech only warrant their rebuilds if run on 10W/60 Millers Nanotech.
I always run my Boxster on 15W/50.

I'm quite partial to Mobil 1 X3000 5W40 myself.
Not a great fan of Mobil anything never have been.
The 10W60 seems quite viscous though, for running in the English climate? That's coming dangerously close to the oil I'm running in the classic mini I heard that's ideal for the air (oil?) cooled Porkers, but for the later ones as long as the engine cooling is in good condition it should be fine on lower weight oil.
Barry has done a massive amount of research on these so I tend to listen.

If you read some of the IMS failure stuff from the USA they all refer to the single row bearing being overloaded exacerbated by very thin oil grade being specified by Porsche. Also compounded by the bearing being shielded & trapping the crap in.

Yeah, I figured the uprated bearings would be a little less susceptible to that, but clearly that's just not the case. I'm hoping that the new cylindrical bearings would be able to more evenly distribute the pressure from the engine vibrations.

I assume you have the oil fed bearing. Seems a logical move and probably what should have been there in the first place.

[vsl_london]

I assume you have the oil fed bearing. Seems a logical move and probably what should have been there in the first place.

Good question, I'd need to clarify that with RPM Technik. I know that the EPS bearing can be oil feed by punching a small hole in the IMS front cover inside the oil pump housing, but not sure if that's been done on mine. (https://www.europeanpartssolution.com/i ... pgrade-kit)
But that would definitely be the way to go

[laurat]

As for the replacement EPS cylindrical roller bearing, it seems like a step forward, and hopefully it will last longer than the retrofit bearing. The additional preventative measures you’ve taken, like keeping up with yearly oil changes, are definitely important in avoiding future issues, as any small debris or wear from the IMS bearing can lead to major engine damage. You can check more bearing info at https://www.tradebearings.com