IMS video on PCA Jake Raby

[Cook&Dunning]

There is a very interesting series of videos on PCA. This is the 3rd installment.


https://www.pca.org/news/2018-03-27/four-stages-ims-bearing-failure

[svandamme]

so mixing oil brands is cause for shrinking the seal?

Seems a bit far fetched to me

[JFP in PA]

Originally Posted by svandamme

so mixing oil brands is cause for shrinking the seal?

Seems a bit far fetched to me

No, but it can accelerate it.

[svandamme]

how ?

[cnavarro]

Originally Posted by svandamme

so mixing oil brands is cause for shrinking the seal?

Seems a bit far fetched to me

The primary cause is the grease seal is rated only for 250F degrees and with intermittent 300F. The seal is exposed to oil that exceeds these temperatures that cause it to become brittle.

[svandamme]

nooo that's not what the dude said, he saidd that mixing oils has a bad influence on IMS failure progression. around 4m20, "oils mixed with other oils, somebody not sticking to the same brand"

He says that causes the seal to become brittle , and fail. So he's blaming oil changes with different brands to the stage 1 of the IMS failure mode.

Which sounds like BS to me.
To be honest, his entire rambling presentation sounds like a snake oil sales pitch to me.
terms like "ferromagnetic fuzz that goes through the engine like liquid sand paper"..
a lot of scaremongering ...

[cnavarro]

Originally Posted by svandamme

nooo that's not what the dude said, he saidd that mixing oils has a bad influence on IMS failure progression. around 4m20, "oils mixed with other oils, somebody not sticking to the same brand"

He says that causes the seal to become brittle , and fail. So he's blaming oil changes with different brands to the stage 1 of the IMS failure mode.

Which sounds like BS to me.
To be honest, his entire rambling presentation sounds like a snake oil sales pitch to me.
terms like "ferromagnetic fuzz that goes through the engine like liquid sand paper"..
a lot of scaremongering ...

Well, they couldn't go outright and say that the reason was because M1 sucks, well could they? Long drain intervals with crappy oils too contributes to this. Remember, originally Porsche was recommending 2 yr or 24k oil OCI.

There are many contributing factors, not just one.

[svandamme]

Sorry, but they did not say bad oil , they said switching brands is problematic.

So if by your suggestion the issue is Mobile 1, then basically all they do with the "don't switch oil brands" is make people not change from M1...

Which is a good business model off course if you are in the engine rebuild business.

[stealthn]

Sorry but Charles and Jake have forgotten more than we will ever know on the subject, I thank them for all this information.

[svandamme]

It's still a vague statement without anything more to support it...
And I just don't take things on face value

[mikefocke]

I did not interpret the video as suggesting that you stick with the same brand oil for the life of the engine across all oil changes. But more that a fill and top-ups should be the same brand and additives package. Don't just grab some half full oil off the shelf of indeterminate age and additives package and add it mid fill life.

[JFP in PA]

Originally Posted by svandamme

It's still a vague statement without anything more to support it...
And I just don't take things on face value

While the biggest problem for the IMS seals is temperature, the newer non ZDDP oils contain some unusual compounds in their additive packages that do not play well with each other. As all oil compounders treat their formulations like they were a state secret, it is impossible to tell who is using what. In the auto repair trade press, there have been a series of articles about how mixing these newer oils can exacerbate seal hardening and oil leakage on just about any engine, even lawn mowers, so the problem is real for those of us that have to deal with leaking engines every day................

[svandamme]

Then he really should have elaborated on that

[JFP in PA]

Originally Posted by svandamme

Then he really should have elaborated on that

He is a man of few words...................

[Bilmar72]

I don't believe Jake has to elaborate on anything. He has given his opinion, viewers can do with it as they wish.

[Brian in Tucson]

Originally Posted by JFP in PA

He is a man of few words...................

The video had some good points, I guess. But like lots of videos online it rambled on so much it was hard to stay with. My fault, I guess, I'm an older gearhead and I tend to be impatient with the newfangled videos.

As it turns out, my old 01 engine had a failing, but not failed IMS bearing seal. there was a lot of leaked out oil on the lower back side of the engine when I pulled it out.

[Jeff Alton]

Brian, the seal in your bearing was leaking or the IMSB flange seal was leaking oil into the bellhousing area? Two very different situations.

[DWBOX2000]

I stopped worrying about this a while back. I think someone wise on the board wrote something about swapping in a 3.4 3.6 if the ims ever goes. Not that I have the money to do but I saved up my 10g to buy my car, I'll just do it again and end up with a faster car to boot. It will take a while for sure. Other Porsches have their own set of problems that cost even more to fix so not sure why the big deal about the ims. Heck I always wanted a 2011 boxster spyder. To fix the brakes on that car would cost about what my car costs. Getting back to point of post, it's an interesting video but I won't lose sleep over it. Geez, haven't thought about my IMS all summer. Thanks a lot guys. 😄
Now you guys have me worried using M1. Well not really.

[Nick Triesch]

Just save up and buy a 2009 Cayman.

[svandamme]

Originally Posted by Nick Triesch

Just save up and buy a 2009 Cayman.

Will see in due time if those timing chains, spinning at twice the speed, compared to the older Porsche engines, don't introduce their own kind of problems...
They are not a serviceable item either.