Leaking tip gearbox oil pan cover

2003 C4 Tiptronic - 83400kms Has anyone experienced this(see pics)? The dealer has done the following: - torqued the bolts around the oil pan correctly - replaced the rubber seal - about 1000 kms ago Last they said that maybe because of age the oil pan itself is no longer straight hence the oil leaking or seeping. It's really annoying and I've been at this for 12-18 months with no resolution. Would be interested to hear if anyone else had this and managed to resolve it? I'm going to dive under there, check how much leakage is there and clean it up. The car will go in for an oil change next month so they can check this while it's in the dealership.

I would recommend that you get a can of engine grime & gunk cleaner and clean the area around the pan and were the gear selection lever shaft resides. Once area is clean drive and have a good look around and see if the Tip fluid is from the pan or from the surrounding area of seal from the gear select lever / rod. (see attached picture) it's item 7. Had that go bad on a similar BMW transmission and looked identical to your leak. The rubber section of the seal can wear after time. Actually looking closer at your picture it appears as though your pan is bent on the lip edge. Perhaps that could be the issue. Might have to drop pan and recountour the bent/rolled section.

Had similar issue, it is not oil pan seal. transmission is made by mercedes and it is very famous for connector seal leak. porsche does not sell the connector seal, my mechanic got my seal from mercedes dealer. Later we found that cheapest seal can be found in Jeep/dodge/chrysler dealer as they use same transmission with all hemi engined cars developed under daimler time. seal is $15. the connector seal is located right above the pan and when it leak, it looks like pan gasket issue.

Thanks all for your feedback. I'll dive under the car again when I've got the time. Currently been confined at home due to work building being thoroughly checked for structural integrity following a big earthquake early Monday morning. @laphan - have you got a P/N or approximate location of where this connector seal might be?

FWIW - I know the last thing you probably want to do is throw more money trying to fix a leak, however, I hate leaks and as such would just spring for a new oil pan, gasket and filter...put it all in and be done with it. It does look like your pan has a roll in the sealing surface and I doubt pounding it out would solve the problem. Sometimes the best solution is just to get the new part and move on. New pan here http://www.autoatlanta.com/porsche-p...section=340-01 You could shop around the part number to see if you can find a better price, but all in all, it's not that much.

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I was just going by based on the dealer's advice. I think what was highlighted by Device2 was how bad the lighting was when I took the picture. I cleaned up that area after posting here, and couldn't feel that it wasn't straight. If it was bent the dealer would've told me - they only said that potentially the pan isn't straight anymore with an instruction to observe. I think the next step is to replace the pan as you've suggested. They haven't been charging labour for this work so far because it's an ongoing issue. I supplied the parts myself i.e. the seal and new oil filter. Edit: clicked on the link and 400 odd dollars? Bloody hell :-)

The oil pan is pretty thick. it is not that easy to warp it. also the rubber seal is very well designed in these mb 722.6 transmission. I do not belive the pan is the issue unless you hit something and bent. I had to call around and most mechanic wanted to change oil pan. for any tiptronic mk2 (mercedes 722.6) issue, do not go to porsche specialist or worse dealer as porsche policy is to replace tranmission for any issue (they treat is as a complete unit and do not provide repair parts). find an independent mechanic who specialize in late model mecedes + AMG and has porsche PIWIS system. in mercedes, you can get away from adjusting trans fluid level by dipstick but not in porsche (electronic reader only). here is the part number and instruction for the famous plug issue. many people wait until the fluid becomes low and tranmission start to slip or having issue with shifting. some burned their control module (short after cables soaked in oil). Make sure you get the revised part number or issue will come back. http://www.mercedesmedic.com/722-6-transmission-plug-diy/ if you look at the picture, you can see the plug is located right above the oil pan and gasket.

Thanks laphan much appreciated. The indie had also suggested that I should be contacting a Merc transmission specialist. Luckily there should be one 15 mins drive out in one of the outlying suburban areas.

Does anyone know what this box is (see pic)? It's (also) apparently been seeping oil as can be seen in the picture below. Maybe it'll only need it's bolts tightened?

I've stared at this picture for quite some time and cannot put the location of the picture in context. Maybe another picture would help. I would say though, simply tightening (should be re-torquing) those Torx head screw like bolts...well, I would be very careful doing that. With another picture so we can actually tell where/what that is, we might be able to dig up some torque specs. Likely it is not very much. Also, since it is underneath the engine (?), there is a lot of things up above that can leak oil.

It is pretty hard - unfortunately I don't have a lift so to get that picture I have to spend an hour raising the car, putting wooden blocks under the rear tire to give me enough clearance, undo the floor tray. Even then it was a very tight squeeze. And 30 mins putting everything back to where they belong. Fortunately I manage to find a picture from Pelican Parts site. The item of interest seems to be the 4WD transfer thing (case)? It's the one located next to the gearbox and covered by the floor tray as shown below. It has the short shaft connected to it.

This time I am hoping that I am wrong. It looks like a leak from rear cover (they call it transfer case cover even on 2 wheel drive version). Mine is carrera 2. My previous owner had this issue before I purchased my car. They had to remove the engine and transmission to fix it.

@laphan, lets's hope not or it would be just a case of tightening the bolts. I don't have the tools hence will give this to the dealer to do. It's seeping rather than leaking...

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Make sure they don't over tighten them, happened to m​​​​​e on my manual box. Indy used a rattle gun/air wrench and when I went to the dealer to change the clutch they spent hours getting the bolts off... Had to have a specialist check the threads too. ​​​​​

@dan_189, hopefully they'll read the torque spec before doing the work .... Most likely I'll take this to the dealer instead of indie. Maybe.

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Should be fine, dealership usually knows the go.