The IMS (intermediate shaft) Bearing is a common failure on 996, Early 997, 986 Boxster and early 987 Boxster and Caymans.

As you will be able to read anywhere the roller ball bearing design wears prematurely and the sealed greased bearing because of the movement allows oils to wash away the grease and the bearing will eventually fail. This failure is a gradual process and isn’t something that will be perfectly fine one day and then just fail completely the next.

There are a couple of tell tale signs to warn the driver of this bearing failure.

As the bearing first starts to fail small fragments of metal are released around the engine. The oil filter will catch these small partials so when the car has its oil and filter changed its always worth checking carefully in the pleats of the filter for any metal particles. You can also install a magnetic sump plug which will pick up any metal particles that end up at the bottom of the engine. This then obviously would be checked every time the oil is drained.

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Another sign is an oil leak will appear between the engine and the gearbox. Obviously this could be the rear main oil seal but without wanting to panic anyone could also be the where there is play in the IMS bearing stopping the seal from doing its job.

As the bearing continues to wear the oil leak will get worse.

Finally when there is excessive play in the bearing the engine will develop a rattle and in some cases put the engine management light on as the engine timing will show as incorrect before finally collapsing.

Once collapsed the engine will require a full strip/build and will be in the thousands to repair depending on what is found once stripped.

Cost to install the EPS bearing with all the associated parts and labour normally works out around the £1500 mark.

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We also offer a full fitting kit which includes this bearing, and has all the parts which you need to complete the job