'02 996 leaks/Loaner car for warranty work?

Hi all, I've had a 2002 996 since Oct. '01, and it has been in the shop 6 times. The first 4 for oil leaks (valve covers) and a coolant leak, and twice for a varioram valve problem (replaced some actuator valve). These all happened within the first 7000 miles. It leaked oil the day I drove the car home off the showroom floor. So far, I'm not impressed. All of these repairs were made at Advantage in Houston in a timely manner, and they provided a Boxster loaner when available, or rental from next door when not. I've since moved to Oklahoma City, where I do very little driving. I just noticed another oil leak. It's been there for a while, but I just didn't notice because of the leaves and such sucked into the garage when I pull in. I made an appointment with the (only) local dealer in town, and was informed that there would be no loaner, but they would reimburse me up to $11 for cab fare! So I have 2 questions: 1. Are there any 996 owners that have had no problems? It seems there are a high number of oil leaks, but I guess only those with problems tend to post. 2. Am I expecting too much to get a loaner car when I bring my 2002 996 for warranty work? Is this SOP at other dealerships? I appreciate any comments. Thanks for letting me rant! Cheers, Maurice

Maurice, to answer your first question, I have an early build C4 Cab (9/5/01) VIN ending in 0712, with 8500 miles and it's still dry as a bone. (I say this because I'm not superstitous, but I do look literally every day. As far as the loaner goes, my dealer is small and has the same loaner problem. Also, maybe it's because you didn't get your car there they give preference to those that do. I'd check and see it it is their standard policy or not... If it's just timing, maybe you could re-schedule when they do have a loaner available. I'm guessing that the "loaner" program is a local thing and not a Porsche requirement. Anyway, good luck. Personally my blood pressure would go sky high if I had problems like yours with my 02 Cab, and I would probably say something I would regret later.

Thanks for the reply. It's good to hear of an oil-leak free 996 engine. Better go knock some wood! I actually asked about the loaner policy. If I had bought the car there, things would be different. I guess I shouldn't have moved until my warranty was up! I definitely won't be buying a car from them, since I already know I'm moving within 2 years. I also called PCNA, and though they encourage good customer service, they do not require it(my interpretation). I do have another car, so just a ride home would suffice. I don't think $11 will get me off the parking lot in a cab. The dealer is actually quite large- they carry about every make- Porsche, Saturn, Audi, Buick, Cadillac, Chrysler, Oldsmobile, Hummer, Mazda, Land Rover, Nissan, Pontiac, and Jeep. Actually, as part of the roadside assistance program that came with the car, I can claim up to 5 days @$50/day for rental car reimbursement from PCNA. You can bet I'll do that every time it's in. Maybe someone will take notice when it costs them money. I'll be quite peeved if it turns out to be the rear main seal, and requires a new engine. I'm guessing that won't be done in 5 days.

I had rear main seal leaks and a damaged engine which was replaced. If I were you, I would complain to your PCNA rep. If you don't ask, you don't get! I was offered a rental car for my inconvenience. I think loaner car policies vary from dealer to dealer.

Loaner is dealer policy. My dealr will give Boxer only if bought a car from them, and rental if you really beg, which is what I do. <img border="0" alt="[crying]" title="" src="graemlins/crying.gif" />

FWIW, I had what looked to be a RMS problem but turned out to be a bad seal in the front differential (C4). The belly pan resulted in the oil moving to the back of the car before it exited the vehicle. Otherwise (knock wood) dry as a bone. It is an '00 with 40k miles on it, so some of them were made according to spec. Good luck

I do know that all dealer policies are different, but I do know that Beverly Hills Porsche has, or at least at one time had, Boxster S cars to loan to people with Turbos, GT2s, and mucky mucks, and regular Boxsters for everyone else. About the oil leak - I have heard from a couple different people that German engineers actually design the cars to leak a very small amount of oil intentionally. This helps keeps all of the seals from drying out and cracking. Maybe I am mistaken, but it might make sense... <img border="0" alt="[cheers]" title="" src="graemlins/beerchug.gif" />

My dealer will rent me a Volkswagon for $35 a day.

TrojanMan...that's interesting. I wonder what the Germans know that the Japanese don't???

These posts just add to so many about Porsche reliability. I got thrashed for posting a question about QC, but it is so hard to believe that even a fraction of the complaints we see on here should be acceptable. My car is supposed to show up in about 2-3 weeks and frankly I am almost paranoid about using the freakin' thing. I mean, in over 1 million miles of driving over the past 20 years, I've never had a leaking seal of anykind....so if my $90K car has one ...when the $16K and less ones never have, I'm gonna bust some chops...of course, unless those Germans really do "engineer" as trojan says.

You must be talking about BOB MOORE. Since they are the only Porsch $tealer in town they can do what they want. That's why you want to have a good relationship with the service writer guy. Good luck, I hope everything goes well. </font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Helvetica">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Helvetica">Originally posted by Maurice Slot: <strong>Hi all, I've had a 2002 996 since Oct. '01, and it has been in the shop 6 times. The first 4 for oil leaks (valve covers) and a coolant leak, and twice for a varioram valve problem (replaced some actuator valve). These all happened within the first 7000 miles. It leaked oil the day I drove the car home off the showroom floor. So far, I'm not impressed. All of these repairs were made at Advantage in Houston in a timely manner, and they provided a Boxster loaner when available, or rental from next door when not. I've since moved to Oklahoma City, where I do very little driving. I just noticed another oil leak. It's been there for a while, but I just didn't notice because of the leaves and such sucked into the garage when I pull in. I made an appointment with the (only) local dealer in town, and was informed that there would be no loaner, but they would reimburse me up to $11 for cab fare! So I have 2 questions: 1. Are there any 996 owners that have had no problems? It seems there are a high number of oil leaks, but I guess only those with problems tend to post. 2. Am I expecting too much to get a loaner car when I bring my 2002 996 for warranty work? Is this SOP at other dealerships? I appreciate any comments. Thanks for letting me rant! Cheers, Maurice</strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Helvetica">

I agree that the QC of current Porsche cars is questionable. However, it may be that they just don't compare as favorably now that the bar has been raised (Lexus, etc). Just think back to the 80's- how many would trade for that level of QC? (I don't know about Porsche in particular, so please no flames!) I do know that my '90 C2 leakes like a sieve with only 70,000 miles on it. The 996 only has a drop/day. I guess it's an improvement! HAHA! Seriously, I know that these cars are not the average point A-point B grocery getter/Camry. I could put up with quirks a lot better if the dealer cared about winning new customers instead of only rewarding existing ones. I have a whole tale of woe w/regards to the 964 and Momentum in Houston, so I'm not just ranting about the lack of loaner from my local guys. They may be fabulous for all I know- except for the loaner, of course. I think it's a bigger problem with PCNA in general. They need to recognize their core group of buyers and treat them with the same respect that we treat the marque. After all, we're the ones giving them our cash, rather than the other way around. I'd love to tell people that even though my really expensive car has been in the shop 7 times, it's not a big deal because they treat me like a king when I'm there and give me another Porsche to drive in the mean time. Sure, that's how it was at the dealer I bought the car from. Now suddenly I'm worse off than the average Toyota/Honda customer (in Houston, anyway). I really don't want the VW dealer experience in a $80,000+ car. A VW for $35/day? I don't think I could rent a VW within a 1000 mile radius of here. They did offer me a $30/day special rate with a local rental place. I didn't even ask what class of car that would be. I can beat that just browsing online for 5 mins. As far as engineering the oil leak in, I really don't think the engineers intended to keep the clutch lubricated (rear main seal) or the engine coated in Mobil 1. P-Zen- I don't want to rain on your parade here. I do love the car and every moment I spend behind the wheel (though less so in OKC traffic). You will love it. Seriously, the car is amazing and the oil leak is really minor... except it just shouldn't be there! For all I know, maybe the leak wasn't really fixed right during the previous 6 visits to the dealer. I do know now that I will get the extended warranty, unless it's absolute crap, like VW's extended warranty. Any experiences with the extended warranty out there? Is it factory or just some local underwriter that varies by dealer?

'02 C4 cab. No leaks of any kind (thank god) but I did have to take it in to the dealer (Rusnak in Pasadena) for a recall on the transmission. They did offer me a rental (buick something) and I had bought the car from them. I asked for something better then the Buick and they said I could pay for upgade to Audi A6. The transmission swap took a week. $200 in rental fees. --Leon

Went to drive my 2002 C4S today, and guess what, 4 or 5 significant oil drops on my garage floor. The car has 8000 miles. This is completely unaceptable. This is my first porsche and my be my last!

The 2002 Carreras got the 3.6 liter engine which shares only about 20% commonality in parts with the 3.4 that preceeded it. Some of the 3.6s have shown minor leaks at the rear main seal. Porsche has put out a redesigned rear main seal that fixes the problem.

I noticed a rear main seal leak at 16K miles on my '01 C2. Rusnak Pasadena fixed it and loaned me a new (less than 2k miles) C240 sedan while the 911 was out of commission. There have been no problems before or since so I'm still relatively pleased with customer service / QC. In contrast, my E36 M3 has 72k miles on it and never a mechanical problem.

Update: Took the car into Bob Moore here in OKC. Diagnosis: rear main seal leaking. They estimate a day and a half to fix. Car has 11,800 miles.

Boxster is standard loaner at my dealer. Even though I did not buy the car from them! They take real good care of me and my car makes the world of difference!!

Just btw the dealer that gave me the loaner literally pulled the window sticker 2 minutes before they gave it to me a 2003 Boxster with 14 miles on it. Fun to drive, but not my 996 Cab. Will give it a workout this weekend!