It's my turn now... (RMS)

To my dismay, my car went just a little incontinent on my driveway yesterday. Classic RMS drip btwn engine and tranny. So it will be off to the dealer next week. What will make this interesting is I decided to go bare when the warranty expired last year ( 4 months ago ). The $3000 extended warranty vs. a typical $700 seal replacement ( hopefully ) swayed me. Just hope the concentricity test passes. Any encouraging words out there. "There, there, Mommy will make it fell better" will even help at this point... Not that I'd do this, but anybody know the consequences of this type of leak over time if it wasn't repaired. Does the leak keep getting worse? Does the clutch suffer? Hmmm, I should probably get my avatar act together to be a little less frivolous and perhaps incriminating...

Dan, I would ask the dealer to cover this as a warranty item as this is a known manufacturing defect of this engine. If they refuse, I would ask to speak to the regional customer service representative. If you still don't get a satisfactory response, depending on how far you want to take it, you could ask an attorney to write a letter to see if they become receptive to picking up the expense. If you don't have it repaired, it could leak into you clutch area and ruin that - it may have already. Just because you get it fixed, doesn't mean it can't re-occur. I have had two leaks on two cars. Both second time fixes occurred within a few thousand miles of the first fix leading me to believe that it may not have been done correctly the first time. Since the second fix on my current car, I have gone 8K miles with no problems. And I hope that it passes the concentricity test because if you need a new engine and they stonewall you, big $$$$.

dnitake, I would be interested in knowing how you are treated. I was told by my local P-dealer that if you were the original owner of the car and RMS issues developed post warranty period, Porsche would take care of you (presumably because Porsche is silently aware that this is an issue with 996 cars). If I were you, I would do exactly what CCL ACAB is suggesting: demand that they fix it under warranty. What I am afraid of is that given PCNA's reluctance to openly own up to this design flaw, you may actually need a new engine and they may tell you that all you need is a new seal. Then a few thousand miles later ...here you go again! And by then, given the age of the car, you may be on your own! Some people would argue that older cars break and that different models may have a propensitive for a certain part/item to break. The difference is that the RMS issue appears to be built-in as a result of a design flaw. I predict that how Porsche addresses the RMS issues after warranty will have a great impact on the resale price of 996s.

Dan, that sucks... what was the mileage on your car when you noticed the leak?

Took mine in for a 44k service and since I put the ROW M030 kit, I also put the engine protection plate, which masks the RMS leak evidence. Sure enough it was leaking. Repaired by the dealer at no cost and they told me I now have another 2 year warranty on the RMS. Go figure.

is that 44k miles or kilometers?

My local Porsche dealer told me the same thing as nicoff posted. I don't think that you have anything to worry about, but if by chance you do, escalate it.

You should definitely try to get your dealer to ask his regional rep to authorize the repair as a matter of customer good will. Obviously, things may differ around the country, but my service manager has told me that his rep is quite good about authorizing warranty type repairs after the warranty has expired.

Wow, thanks guys. I knew there was reason this is my board of choice... I still feel like a lamb to the slaughter but w/ at least a set of brass knuckles in my pocket. My car has 25K miles and as the original owner, has never been tracked; only taken on private roadways for instruction in emergency driving techniques :-). The thread regarding warranty vs. overrev code will be a cliff hanger for me. I don't believe I have ever had a type 2 ( downshift ) overrev, but there is no arguing w/ the DME. Not that it would cause a seal problem, but rather dampen the goodwill posture. Fingers crossed. I told my wife of the "wet spot". "It's because of the [(paraphrase) emergency driving safety school], isn't it?". I could honestly say it was not, unlike the unusual turnover in "defective" tires. I will keep y'all posted as hopefully a future very satisfied owner. Hoping my local Porsche dealer here in San Jose won't be put to the test... I wonder if Harley's VRod has an RMS problem ;-). Would hate to **** off the Hell's Angels... Dan

Gotta play to win...

...I too installed the engine protection plate from Gert when I installed the X74 suspension. Knowing very little about how/why, I can almost see that having that plate back there could mask an RMS issue. Any advice on how to detect an RMS leak with an engine protection plate? Wouldn't there be some obvious seepage, or would that be too late? And, what is the result of an un-noticed leak? Engine failure and replacement? If that is the case, that plate might be coming off. TIA!

44k miles

LOL on your 'post-warranty plee for help' avatar. That made me laugh out loud Absolutely go for the good-will repair. I really wish (among others I'm sure) Porsche would step-up and admit there is a problem and take care of it. I HATE reading, time and time again, about Porsche and their worldly profit margins of late.

So far, it looks like my good luck avatar might be helping. Heard PCNA will cover a good portion of the cost of the RMS and intermediate, something within my threshold of pain. Still need to have the work started though, so it's not over. The service guy was telling me I don't put enough miles on my car, and the only time he has seen the RMS problem is with low usage cars and the cost will be around $1000. After a several second "Nice try..." kind of stare, I started prepping him for his conversation w/ his manager and the district rep. Questions in the form of rhetorical statements: I'll have to get the specifics from the dealer, but I presume there is a warranty on the service work should it happen again within a certain time period. I would also like to get the results of the concentricity test ( fat chance if they have it ). I have read the limit numbers online somewhere, but I don't recall where or what they were. Not sure if the test is GO/NOGO test or whether they actually quantify the number. I didn't really appreciate having to push for some PCNA help. Like if I just rolled over, I'd be out $1200. I hope I don't have a problem if the whole motor needs to be replaced at some or all of my expense. Can you say 1-800-60M-NUTS? Still a happy Porsche owner Dan PS. To be clear, RMS or no, this is still one awesome handling sports car as I came to learn at the Emergency Awareness Seminars. I am only sad these guys are taking away from my understeer abatement program fund just when I almost saved up enough.

So far, it looks like my good luck avatar might be helping. Heard PCNA will cover a good portion of the cost of the RMS and intermediate, something within my threshold of pain. Still need to have the work started though, so it's not over. The service guy was telling me I don't put enough miles on my car, and the only time he has seen the RMS problem is with low usage cars and the cost will be around $1200. After a several second "Nice try..." kind of stare, I started prepping him for his conversation w/ his manager and the district rep. Questions in the form of rhetorical statements: I'll have to get the specifics from the dealer, but I presume there is a warranty on the service work should it happen again within a certain time period. I would also like to get the results of the concentricity test ( fat chance if they have it ). I have read the limit numbers online somewhere, but I don't recall where or what they were. Not sure if the test is GO/NOGO test or whether they actually quantify the number. I didn't really appreciate having to push for some PCNA help. Like if I just rolled over, I'd be out $1200. I hope I don't have a problem if the whole motor needs to be replaced at some or all of my expense. Can you say 1-800-60M-NUTS? Still a happy Porsche owner Dan PS. To be clear, RMS or no, this is still one awesome handling sports car as I came to learn at the Emergency Awareness Seminars. I am only sad these guys are taking away from my understeer abatement program fund just when I almost saved up enough.

No need to take the plate off. The plate might mask the RMS leak for a little while, but not for long. Gravity still works and the oil will make its way around the plate. For most people, having an RMS leak is not a time critical issue: it would probably take a very long time before the leak could do any other damage (e.g., clutch). You did a very good thing getting the plate (I have one, and I have also had an RMS failure that I noticed even with the plate). I am a fairly sane driver, but I have a few scrapes on my plate at this point. Thank God it was there. In short, better to "mask" an RMS failure for a little while than risk losing your engine due to contact with something hard (which I am certain PCNA will not cover no matter how nice your avatar is).