To continue from the IMS, RMS, WTH? blog

The Lapis Blue beauty showed up right on time. A 2002 Porsche 911 996 C4S with Savannah Beige full leather interior, manual with carbon fiber trim package. She was everything I dreamed of an more! What a fantastic vehicle! Something other worldy from the previous vehicles I had owned. The front end so low, the rear tires so wide, the experience so sublime, the road handling leaps and bounds better than the mustang. The manual gearbox was wonderful, confidence inspiring and solid. I immediately started reading the forums for minor bolt on upgrades and maintenance that I should be aware of. What kept showing up is this IMS and RMS. For those who haven't been privy to the posts about these mythical acronyms, here is what they stand for and described the best I can. I will start with the more benign acronym, RMS. The Rear Main Seal. This is the seal that rides around the crankshaft sealing any oil from the crankcase from the transaxle area. There was a problem with the RMS in varying years of 996 and 986 vehicles. There seemed to be some vehicles with the problem and some without. The symptom was oil seepage between the engine and transaxle. These were replaced under warranty, but typically failed again sometime after. It seemed to be an issue with the alignment of the crank and the RMS seal as it was installed with the crank case causing abnormal wear and failure of the RMS. The next acronym, the Intermediate Shaft, and more specifically the bearing the supports the shaft. The intermediate shaft design was different for the 996 and 986 M96 engines in that a roller bearing was used instead of a plain journal bearing. There is some internet lore about the causation, but possibly due to misalignment as well between the shaft and the crankcase and also due to the bearing rating for this type of service and the sealed bearing/service life of the car. Cars that were used more seemed to be ok, but none seemed to be completely immune. The IMS failure is what strikes fear in Porsche owner's hearts of that vintage and turns normal human beings into purchasers of whisper 2000's to listen for the "death rattle" of the IMS bearing. I, admittedly, became the owner of a whisper 2000, nah, just kidding.... only half :) To be continued..... #porscheradiatorgrill #porsche911 #porscheCayman #Caymanradiatorgrill radiatorgrillstore.com #porsche911radiatorgrills #porscheIMSbearing #PorsheRMS