Porsche Club RMS Survey Letter Recieved

got a letter today requesting info about my 996. is something be done at last?

Have you been hibernating or in prison or something??? Check it out in the world's largest thread within this very forum....[:-]

didn't realise a survey was being conducted?? when did you get notified?

See NicD's post at http://www.porscheclubgbforum.com/tm.asp?m=76854&mpage=3ð"«¾ Post #45 cheers...

If you really want to know the background, here are a few threads to get you started. (Make yourself a coffee, and find a comfy chair first...) http://www.porscheclubgbforum.com/tm.asp?m=76854 http://www.porscheclubgbforum.com/tm.asp?m=79810 http://www.porscheclubgbforum.com/tm.asp?m=74016 http://www.porscheclubgbforum.com/tm.asp?m=62548 http://www.porscheclubgbforum.com/tm.asp?m=70613 http://www.renntech.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=15&st=0%EF%BF%BDentry24 Read carefully, we'll be asking questions to test your knowledge after...[ ]

Not promising anything can be done but we will try our best! Funny thing, a member Mike rang me today, said coincidence, just received the Survey form and his 996 had just been serviced and guess what, he had an RMS leak!

I'll be fascinated what comes out of the survey. So difficult to tell whether this is a real problem in the sense of affecting a significant number of cars, or whether it's the internet equivalent of an urban myth - there are so many theories as to the underlying cause. My 996 has had a slight RMS leak probably for the last 6 months or more, at present being an Ostrich, hoping for the best, and probably get it sorted at next service - scary prospect, what with getting the alignment of engine and gearbox checked, and clutch well-being assessed you can't help but think something expensive is going to turn up. By the way, anyone know how you tell whether the clutch plate has got contaminated with oil (supposedly one of the main risks)?

Mike, I imagine the clutch will start to slip, if contaminated, but while I am sure this has happened, I have not seen such a case, so not common.

I was told by one of the OPC techies that the leak has to be fairly bad for the clutch to be contaminated.

I agree with what Mark said. In fact despite what we have read (and I have written) I have yet to hear of anyone having to replace a clutch due to oil contamination. I did however hear of one guy who had to have his flywheel replaced due to the RMS leak. In most cases the leak shows up as a weeping rather than a proper dripping leak. This is often seen as oil "sweat" or "smear" below the bellhousing with maybe one or two drips per month. Certainly not requiring any oil top ups because of it. In fact more oil is probably used up in a hard run than you would ever get from an RMS leak. When you take the gearbox out for RMS replacement there is typically no more than a tablespoon of oild in the bellhousing. The main issue is how it leaks and what it infers. The current seal they use in an RMS replacement has a rear internal spring behind it which closes up around the crank. I believe this is the 3rd seal type they have used. So this infers that for most RMS problems its notthing more than a bad seal or the seal is badly seated. On the other hand if the block is warped then the leak is typically comong from the outer part of the seal; if the crank is warped or has wobble then the leak typically comes from the inner part of the seal. In both these cases the only answer is a replacement engine or a rebuild and the long term effects could be that the engine self destructs. Also bear in mind that the seal only lieaks during cool down periods. When the engine warms up or is hot the seal and the metals contract. When you shut off the ignition and the engine cools down that is when the seal and engine metals constrict with the possibility of warping and/or oil finding its way past the seal.

As I said, it'll be interesting to see from the survey how much of this is urban myth - no cases of clutch contamination after all, one flywheel. So how many engine replacements have there been? Horrendous if you're one of the unlucky few, but I want to know whether it's worth sleepless nights worrying, I'm not going to lose sleep over a few drips of oil on my drive.

We have only had about 100 forms returned so far and I have not seen them yet so far too early to comment on results, but I have had many members ring me for a chat about the survey

I was lead to believe that one of the early signs can be a "squeaking" noise from the clutch when it is engaged under high load (at speed, or in too low a gear etc).

Grip the steering wheel, engage gear and increase revs to about 6,500rpm. Now look out of the passenger window. If a) the scenery is stationary. or b) you can smell a nasty smell from the back somewhere. it means your clutch plate is probably knackered. In all reality most clutch bellhousings will have fine contaminants present if you take it apart to look. Unlikely that oil, unless a very serious leak, could get onto your clutch plate, although the environment inside the bellhousing when hot would not exactly be oil free!