Newbie worried about engine leaking oil

Bought a 996 with 145.000 kms after reading somewhere that at this time I should be good regarding the 996 problems. Now I realize the car is leaking oil. Hopefully is not one of those big problems. I Hope any of the more informed guys here can lend a hand and point me in the right direction. I don't want to spend money that I dont have out of fear. I think you guys can imagine my frustration. I don't know of mechanics also, so this makes this specially challenging. Thanks in advance for any help you can provide

Ick. Clean it up first, then you'll have a better chance of pinpointing the source.

I would fix that and not let it go...

Yeah clean it up and try to pinpoint it first. Mine is in the early stages of the dreaded RMS leak but I cleaned it all up first so I could see where it was dripping from. Seems like a lot of drips in the second pic but how long has it been sitting?

RMS leaking. Chances are even a new seal, the latest and greatest iteration by Porsche themselves, won't solve it. Clean the area, keep an eye on it while you regularly drive the car, get to know it and find out if you start to like it so much that you want to fix it. An alternative is just to drive the thing and live with it as many air-cooled 911 owners have done for years.

You read somewhere that this car with X number of years or X number of miles should be "good?" Just curious because this isn't a fine wine.

Quotes source post: 19592314

I am a sucker for cars who need some love. The only problem is that I am not rich so this can mean a lot of time in the garage until I can pay to solve this (if is very bad). I will clean it first. The question now is once that is clean, how do I know if it is the RMS failure or if it is something worse or different.

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Well, regarding problems like the IMS that supposedly show before 140.000 kilometers

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It has been seating for a week exactly now :/

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Can I drive it even when is leaking? Doesnt it mean that if I drive it soon enough the whole engine will be destroyed and I would need to pay 25.000 for a repair?

Yes, you can drive it. You see 3 drops on the floor, take a bucket full of water and throw that on the floor and compare the two. A bucket full, that's how much oil is in the sump. No way it will leak out in an amount that is significant wrt engine wear and tear, let alone total engine failure. Apart from that you have an oil dipstick and a gauge at start-up that tells you what the oil level is so ample opportunity to fill up to an oil level between min and max.

Quotes source post: 19592149

What year is the 996 and do you know if the IMSB was replaced, when it was replaced and what it was replaced by?

If it starts leaking a non-trivial amount of oil you'll notice it sprayed/misted all along the rear bumper, that's been my experience at least. For a leak which only drops one or two drops at rest I never had this happen, once it started flowing a bit more I'd get the bumper spray. At that level of leak I've had it drop one or two bars on the electronic oil level gauge in an hour or two of driving, if something royally let go and you started puking oil I'd expect enough of it would hit something hot that you'd see noticeable smoke out the back, you'd certainly smell it once you stopped.

Quotes source post: 19592558

I wish it worked like that. The IMS bearing can fall apart at any time. Just because the car has 140km on it does not mean it won't fail. It's possible that someone trying to sell one of these babies, made up that little nugget in order to sell his or her car in a hurry.

Quotes source post: 19592558

Unfortunate that rumours like that are still spread around. There might be fewer cases of high mileage IMS failures, but plenty are still being reported. Looks like you should start saving your pennies for some work. That looks like a decent amount of oil leaking. Could be RMS, variocam solenoid, oil cooler, or any number of other things with a car of that mileage. Can you drive it? Sure. Will the car stay together forever in its current state? Not a chance. Nobody can tell you how long you've got, but it's clear you've got a problem and if it's not solved, something is bound to fail. These are 20+ year old cars. They will always need a few thousand dollars/pounds/euros contingency fund for when things break (or a few 10K for an engine rebuild when bore scoring finally gets the better of it - unless you've got an early 3.4L) If you can't afford to have a tech diagnose it now, I personally would park it until you've saved up enough to have that done (unless you feel confident figuring it out yourself, but I'm guessing you wouldn't be posting about it if you did).

It could be either the IMS or the RMS. The RMS can leak for years and all you do is add oil. The IMS bearing can leak, and then one fine day it explodes into a full engine rebuild. That is why I would fix it and not let it go without investigating. However, it is your car. You have the ultimate say.

@OP: The IMS bearing can wear, develop play and then suddenly break in a catastrophic way, potentially causing so much collateral damage that almost nothing can be used for a rebuild of the engine. The bearing itself won't leak, though. If anything, the seal around the flange that holds the IMS bearing can leak.

Quotes source post: 19592970

Well I have one that was first registered in december 1998 which I guess means is from the very early versions. Are those somewhat having better luck? Thanks for all the inputs. I really appreciate the help and the non judgamental opinions.

If this is a 996.1 ( you don't convey that info) it could be the AOS Bellows that will deteriorte and leak oil sometimes severely after 10-15+ years.in that area... As others have said, clean it up thoroughly then monitor it for the first sign of wetness ...

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Yes the early 996s seem to have lower failure rates for both the IMS and bore scoring but still not a guarantee. Good luck!

Quotes source post: 19597840

The 996 ims bearing issue isn't as much of a problem with the earlier dual row bearings, but they still do fail and the problem will only get worse as these cars age. As long as you are diligent with your oil changes and inspecting the sump and filter, you can usually catch these bearing failures in the early stages. If you decide to just monitor the situation, I'd just recommend putting on one of our spin on oil filter adapters so that if you do get any debris, it stays trapped in the filter, otherwise with the stock filter arrangement debris that settles on the bottom of the canister can and does go back into the engine when the bypass opens. You can also add a filtermag and magnetic drain plug for extra filtration.