So far my checks look good

[Dennis Nicholls]

I've had my 2000 base 986 for two months now. I've put on a little over 1K miles since I've owned it. Present mileage is 52K. So far I've performed the following checks.

- Changed and inspected the oil filter twice at 600 mile intervals from the last oil change. Filters look good with no metal debris.

- Durametric reports over-rev R1 4023 and R2 0 (zero). Sounds good to me.

- Engine serial number has a "Y" in it, indicating "most likely" a dual row IMSB.

- Cleaned and scrubbed the "weep hole" where the engine mates with the tranny. I wanted to get the old brown cosmoline off the area so I could more easily detect any oil leaks if present. So far no signs of oil there at all.

- Last week's Durametric readings of camshaft position deviation are as follows:

-- Cam pos dev bank 1 -4.42* at idle and 2K rpm

-- Cam pos dev bank 2 -4.25* at idle and 2K rpm

I drove the car 20+ miles before the test so the engine was fully warmed up. In both cases I watched the graph and numeric display for a minute or so and there were no changes in the numbers reported. These aren't "good" numbers but IIUC they aren't "terrible" numbers either, as the spec is purportedly +/- 6*. I'll keep a log of the deviations with age and mileage to see if there are any rapid changes.

Anything else I should check now? I'm putting off the "pull the tranny" exercise until summer since my age makes working in cold weather difficult. I've got a new clutch and RMS, and have a spin-on filter adapter on order.

Edited March 30, 2014 by Dennis Nicholls

[JFP in PA]

I've had my 2000 base 986 for two months now. I've put on a little over 1K miles since I've owned it. Present mileage is 52K. So far I've performed the following checks.

- Changed and inspected the oil filter twice at 600 mile intervals from the last oil change. Filters look good with no metal debris.

- Durametric reports over-rev R1 4023 and R2 0 (zero). Sounds good to me.

- Engine serial number has a "Y" in it, indicating "most likely" a dual row IMSB.

- Cleaned and scrubbed the "weep hole" where the engine mates with the tranny. I wanted to get the old brown cosmoline off the area so I could more easily detect any oil leaks if present. So far no signs of oil there at all.

- Last week's Durametric readings of camshaft position deviation are as follows:

-- Cam pos dev bank 1 -4.42* at idle and 2K rpm

-- Cam pos dev bank 2 -4.25* at idle and 2K rpm

I drove the car 20+ miles before the test so the engine was fully warmed up. In both cases I watched the graph and numeric display for a minute or so and there were no changes in the numbers reported. These aren't "good" numbers but IIUC they aren't "terrible" numbers either, as the spec is purportedly +/- 6*. I'll keep a log of the deviations with age and mileage to see if there are any rapid changes.

Anything else I should check now? I'm putting off the "pull the tranny" exercise until summer since my age makes working in cold weather difficult. I've got a new clutch and RMS, and have a spin-on filter adapter on order.

Add a magnetic drain plug if you do not already have one, it helps alert you to ferrous debris if it starts to occur. I would also definitely add an IMS upgrade while doing the clutch, and also change the AOS while the tranny is out and it is in the open.

[Dennis Nicholls]

Actually there's no sign of RMS problems and my clutch is working just fine. The whole reason for the "pull the tranny" exercise is to determine "for sure" whether I have a single row or dual row IMS bearing.

[devin357]

Just a "heads up". My dual row IMS failed at 58,000 miles. If I had the transmission off for whatever reason I'd certainly upgrade the IMS. It's just not worth the gamble. Luckily, I replaced mine just before catastrophic failure, but I still don't know how much damage was done from the tiny bits of metal that flaked off the bearings before I caught it.