New Jake video series Focus on: IMS Bearing failure

[JohnIreland]

Seems strange that a guy who buys a 996.2 with only 29k miles wouldn't have rushed the car for an immediate bearing upgrade. I guess lots of people still don't know. Makes me wonder about all those low mileage cars being sold on auction sites...and for premium dollars. How many of those buyers will now become very disappointed owners. The real price premium should be for cars with over 90k or even 130k and still on their original bearing or with recent upgrades.

[B3DAWG]

[gnat]

How do you own a 911 for 18 years and only put 29k on it

I feel like terrible owners with only about 80k on her 01...

These cars want to be driven.

[B3DAWG]

How do you own a 911 for 18 years and only put 29k on it

I feel like terrible owners with only about 80k on her 01...

These cars want to be driven.

Fascinating interview. This was his retirement "fun car" and only drove it only on the weekends. He had intended to pass it down to his children, but that changed. You'll not want to miss it. Should be ready for prime time by the end of the month. Lots of other things happening at the moment.

[B3DAWG]

Guess I can't even please my own 996Outpost brothas. On well, I gave it my best.

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[Dr_Strangelove]

LOL, b3, you have a finely tuned sense for drama. I'll give you that.

[JohnIreland]

Jake has done an amazing job of identifying the problem and providing ways to address it. The last I remember reading (and new numbers may be available) about 30,000 retrofits are on the road, and about 3,300 Solutions. That out of a total 996 production (not counting turbos and GT2 and GT3) of 146,449 911s (according to "996 the essential companion"). I don't think anyone has stats on how many 996s have crashed or became junk...but for the sake of discussion lets say 10,000. Add that to the replaced bearings and we have 43,300 accounted for. That means there could be as many as 103,149 original engines with their original bearings still on the road. And many owners (an exact number isn't known) that replaced their bearings, reported that the original was in perfect shape.

Based on reading the LN Engineering website, it appears that the dual row retrofit was cloned and used by Porsche for their own retrofit in 2017. If the Retrofit is superior to the original OEM bearing, and if a very large majority of original bearings are still on the road, then the retrofit should have an even longer potential life. Obviously it wasn't the best design choice Porsche ever made...but even now over two decades later, they are still out there and working.

It feels to me that the IMS bearing is now settled science and old news. I'd be more interested in hearing about what other daily driver/stock street motor technology Jake has come up with or is working on. With a few select improvements, what could be the extended life of our motors?

[B3DAWG]

Jake has done an amazing job of identifying the problem and providing ways to address it. The last I remember reading (and new numbers may be available) about 30,000 retrofits are on the road, and about 3,300 Solutions. That out of a total 996 production (not counting turbos and GT2 and GT3) of 146,449 911s (according to "996 the essential companion"). I don't think anyone has stats on how many 996s have crashed or became junk...but for the sake of discussion lets say 10,000. Add that to the replaced bearings and we have 43,300 accounted for. That means there could be as many as 103,149 original engines with their original bearings still on the road. And many owners (an exact number isn't known) that replaced their bearings, reported that the original was in perfect shape.

Based on reading the LN Engineering website, it appears that the dual row retrofit was cloned and used by Porsche for their own retrofit in 2017. If the Retrofit is superior to the original OEM bearing, and if a very large majority of original bearings are still on the road, then the retrofit should have an even longer potential life. Obviously it wasn't the best design choice Porsche ever made...but even now over two decades later, they are still out there and working.

It feels to me that the IMS bearing is now settled science and old news. I'd be more interested in hearing about what other daily driver/stock street motor technology Jake has come up with or is working on. With a few select improvements, what could be the extended life of our motors?

Thank you for that thorough analysis of the Porsche M96/M97 IMS bearing fiasco. Just when you think the problem is solved and over with, you read about another report of OEM bearing failure like the man we interviewed in the video. Pete was the original owner of the Porsche 996 in the video and knew nothing of the bearing problem until it happened. He would have been a clear case for engine replacement under the class action lawsuit. If they had properly recalled his car, that car today would have had the most robust bearing - the 6305 "M97" bearing. But they never alerted him to the problem. They chose silence and omission. Remember, the class action lawsuit was a "settlement" and that's what Porsche wanted. Anything to avoid scandal like GM exploding gas tanks, Ford's Firestone tires, or VW's "dieselgate".

I thought the whole discussion was over too, but then I noticed a new Facebook forum dedicated to the Porsche bearing topic. It currently has 2700 members. Wow! The topic is far from over and people still there is nothing wrong with the single row 6204 OEM bearing... until it's not. Hopefully, this video series will bring the discussion to rest, but I'm apprehensive about it. Why? Because Jake invented all the bearing tools and retrofit kits and so there will still be people out there that don't trust him and feel it's all hype. Oh well. We'll see.

[32wildbilly]

Thank you for that thorough analysis of the Porsche M96/M97 IMS bearing fiasco. Just when you think the problem is solved and over with, you read about another report of OEM bearing failure like the man we interviewed in the video. Pete was the original owner of the Porsche 996 in the video and knew nothing of the bearing problem until it happened. He would have been a clear case for engine replacement under the class action lawsuit. If they had properly recalled his car, that car today would have had the most robust bearing - the 6305 "M97" bearing. But they never alerted him to the problem. They chose silence and omission. Remember, the class action lawsuit was a "settlement" and that's what Porsche wanted. Anything to avoid scandal like GM exploding gas tanks, Ford's Firestone tires, or VW's "dieselgate".

I thought the whole discussion was over too, but then I noticed a new Facebook forum dedicated to the Porsche bearing topic. It currently has 2700 members. Wow! The topic is far from over and people still there is nothing wrong with the single row 6204 OEM bearing... until it's not. Hopefully, this video series will bring the discussion to rest, but I'm apprehensive about it. Why? Because Jake invented all the bearing tools and retrofit kits and so there will still be people out there that don't trust him and feel it's all hype. Oh well. We'll see.

There is a (The) Solution to this problem...

[gnat]

There is a (The) Solution to this problem...

Yeah and the dual version was released like 3 months after Goldie was pulled

Was all set to install the Solution and my shop had it on hand, but then they found it was a dual row bearing. Now I'm approaching the age boundary for the replacement and have to decide if I really want to drop the transmission again to replace what I expect is another perfectly good bearing. I really wish I had never swapped the bearing to begin with