Upset with my OPC - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners

My 02 Boxster S is currently sat at Officical Porsche Centre, Liverpool (UK), having the Rear Main Seal repaired. I got a phone call yesterday telling me that the car also needed a new clutch. Cost to me normally £850.00 + VAT (17.5%). However, as they are repairing the RMS failure under warranty, they won't charge me labour. Also, as I've only had the car for 4 months or so, they will pay half the cost of the part. However, this still leaves me with a bill of nearly £200.00. The reason I am upset is the fact that a couple of days after collecting my Porsche in late December, I booked the car in because I thought there was a problem with the clutch. The car juddered slightly every time I moved off from standstill in 1st gear. It only had 23k miles on though. When the car was checked, the OPC came back to me saying there was 'no fault found', and the juddering I was experiencing must be a charateristic of my car. I thought this was a bit odd, but, being new to Porsche, I took their word for it. I've put up with the juddering since then, and it's not got any worse, or better. Now the car has gone in again, they just told me that the clutch needs replacing, and they know this because the car is juddering when moving away from a standstill - basically exactly what I told them within days of collecting the car. I have the warranty, but apparently, seeing as I have done 5000 miles since I bought the car, they are treating this as "wear and tear". When I reminded them that I reported this problem practically as soon as I collected the car, explaining the symptoms exactly as they are now, they just told me that as far as they were concerned, there was not a problem back them. Now, is there anything I can do here? I know they have the records that I reported this problem back then, as they have admitted that much. However, just because they said there was no fault found back then, they are refusing to cover this under the warranty. I know it's not a huge amount of money, but there are other things I'd like to spend this sort of money on (like my wife's birthday in 2 weeks!!). I could only just afford to buy a Boxster really, and I can do without this sort of expense if possible. However, more than anything, I'm annoyed in principle. I reported this problem straight away, and they did nothing, probably because the cost would have to be covered by them under the warranty. Now they are asking me to pay, because the problem is still there, but now they think they can use the "wear and tear" excuse. I'm really angry about this - it's not on at all. Any advice? Cheers guys!!

Is 200 pounds worth fighting about? There is also the principle issue, but it is hard to say whether the clutch was bad or not. If it was me, I would probably put up a mini stink, and then pay up, as in the greater scheme of things, you are getting a new RMS, and a clutch, and probably new oil and tranny fluid for 200 bux Thats just one way to look at it.. Mike

have to agree, That's allot of work and expensive parts that were fixed for that amount of money. Anyone know if the RMS is usually covered under most extended warranties? My six month power train warranty is set to expire soon. I had the car checked out by my local Porsche service center and they reported ZERO problems. I'm wondering if they checked the RMS..

OK, I agree that £200 is not a lot of money for the work being done. However, this problem was evident, and reported as such, when I collected the car from the dealer having purchased it. I just don't see why I should have to pay £200 (which is not far off $400) for a problem with the car that was evident from the beginning. This should have been picked up on the used car charter - if it was done. Normally I would just pay up, but in the 4 months I've had this car, I have had the roof mechanism fail, RMS failure, wheel bearing failure, clam-shell misalignment, and now this. I'm just starting to get a bit upset!

PAH, it is indeed a downer that you've had all these problems with your Boxster in such a short time. I have dumped $7,000 into my 1997 in less than a year, but my car had been trashed by three owners, had high mileage, and already had an engine replacement. What I neglected to do was to have a very, very experienced mechanic look the car over before I bought it. Did you take your boxster off-site to a shop specializing in Porsche repair to have the car inspected? They may have caught these things for you and you could have passed on this particular car or forced the sellers to repair all these things before you took possession. I tell you what—these rampant RMS failures are just wrong. Porsche should have been forced to recall and fix all of the out-of-round crank shafts that produce the RMS failures, even if it meant losing money for the company and stockholders as well. Not owning up to such a stupid mistake is one sure way to lose customer loyalty, which is all Porsche has going for it these days.

Aren't they fixing the RMS for free in this case?? What else can they do? Recall every car and replace all the RMS, even if they are good? It is my understanding that only a small, but significant percentage of cars experience this, and most are taken care of either under warranty or goodwill??? Correct me if I am wrong. Mike

The car was purchased from an official Porsche dealership, so I thought I would be safe. However, my Dad owns an accident investigation company, so we got one of his engineers to take a look at the car to be double safe. He checked as much as he could, even using a machine to check the thickness of the paint (checking for accident damage). The car really was in top condition. These problems (ok, they are not too bad, more annoying than anything) have all occured since I bought it, with the exception of the clutch judder. I guess it's just unfortunate. At least everything (up to the clutch) has been covered by the warranty Porsche offer with used cars. I still love my car though, and wouldn't consider getting rid - I just hope it doesn't cost me a fortune in the long-run. As for RMS - it's really, really worrying me. From what I have heard, it's not the seal that is the problem, it something more serious (crankshaft) that causes it to fail. I'm just going to worry all the time now that the seal will fail again. I have no option but to extend the warranty when it expires, otherwise I'll be paying out big money, as it seem my car could be prone like so many others. Even after an RMS failure, are Porsche not prepared to replace out-of-tolerance crankshafts? Do they just keep replacing the seals? Cheers Paul

PAH, if the clutch problem had been detected early on how do you think that would have affected the situation? Was your Boxster still under warranty? It seems to me that the Porsche Centre just prolonged an inevitable repair. This may just be a round of bad luck but if it continues I would consider trading up for a slightly newer Boxster. Some cars are just cursed I think.

I think if the RMS re-occurs you have documentation of when it happened, and Porsche will have to take care of it, as they did not fix it right in the first place. I think their policy is to replace the seal once, and if it happens again you get a new engine. Mike

Although it's a bummer, a clutch is a wear part similar to brake pads. To me an analogy would be that after buying the car you're having braking problems, and they replace some sticking calipers under warranty. While they're doing that they discover that the brake pads are low, and they'll replace the brake pads for 50% of the part cost (since they were low when you bought it), and no labor charge since they're putting new calipers on. In that instance, it would seem very reasonable to me to pay for half the part.

Only in the US UK warranty is only 2 years too. Berny is on his 7th RMS and its leaking again (996) !! We have a Porsche master tech now working at a local independnet (well respected and huge success racing 996s). He is going to try a GT3 RMS seal, but fit it in reverse, as the GT3 one has a slight lip built into the rubber sealing ring. Only problem id there is no part number for the GT3 seal, and its motorsport issue only

Is Berny local to NW England? Do you know if his 7 RMS replacements have been done at Mann Island in Liverpool? Cheers Paul

7 seals.... Geeeze... I think its time for a new engine Soon you will have to replace all the bolts as they wil be worn from being removed all the time eheh Mike