Cost to do RMS & Tie Rods

My 2003 C4 (w/ 45K) has a seep in the RMS when I bought it 2 weeks ago. Now it's dripping noticeably on the garage floor. The Las Vegas Porsche dealer quoted me $1400 to fix it--anyone know what an independent repair shop might charge (I'm in Bozeman, Montana--so I can't shop around). Also I just noticed a slight knock in the steering when I turn the steering wheel back and forth--tie rods? Anyone know what this might cost? Thanks, John

Are they putting a clutch in there as well? That price sounds about right for a dealer, but most indy's will also put a clutch in there for that price. Sorry I can't help with the steering knock?

As far as I know I don't need a clutch yet. When do they tend to fail?

Unless it was abused, it should not need a clutch yet. At 50k my RMS was replaced and they put in a clutch at the same time. You have to remove the clutch and everything to do the RMS, so the labor is paid for. The only adder is for the parts, so if there is any question most will just do it.

I'd also go with a light weight flywheel... performance is great and there is less counter weight on the crank. It does have a bit of a gear rattle though when you do them, but I like it... Cheers Aaron

if you bought it 2 weeks ago bring it back and get your money back. replacing the seal will only fix temporarily, it will leak again. its a known problem with these engines it wasnt fixed untill i believe the 997's and the only real true fix is to replace the engine. porsche has developed many seals to try and fix this and at my last check they havent got it right. the reason the clutch will probably have to be replaced is due to oil contamination

That is not an unreasonable price, especially for a dealer. The C4 trans is more labor to remove. The leak can be from the RMS or intermediate shaft seal (IMS). Both show at the bottom of the bell housing. Neither will foul the clutch, the IMS is below it and the RMS is behind the flywheel. It would have to be a massive leak to reach the clutch. That said it is not impossible. The indy that changed my IMS also replaced my dry RMS with "the latest update” with my blessing. The new one leaked from week one. The second has been dry for ~6k miles. They put the first one in without the special tool. They bought the tool for the second one. I would replace the clutch while you have it apart. The clutch probably has another 15- 20k in it but if you can afford to, replace it while everything is apart. You might be amazed by the reduction in effort and how smooth a new clutch pack is. The labor was $900 the parts were ~$1300 on a 2003 C2. This was covered by my, mandatory in NJ, 3 month 3k mile warranty from the car dealer.

I have put over 30k on my replacement RMS and it is still dry. Of course now that I say that it will start leaking. As stated above one issue may be people trying to install them without the proper tool.

Well, things have gone from bad to worse. When I bought the car I had a Porsche dealer inspect it--they said it was a "good car" but had a a few issues, the main one being the RMS leak. I took it in to a local mechanic here in Montana who's very trusted and he reported that car had been driven "very hard." It seemed to him to have been auto-crossed and also driven on a lot of gravel roads as the undercarriage was quite beat and had dirt and gravel impacted into it. The RMS leak was the tip of the iceberg--her said the trans had been very recently pulled--his guess, based on some rear end knocking and clutch chatter was that the flywheel was shot and that someone had opened it up, decided against repairing it, and hastily stuffed it back together--hastily because the trans nuts were rounded off. He also found that the guibo joint was cracked. He found a leak at the front differential at the output seal that had been there for a while. And that the bushings in the rack are worn out. He also said it does have a harsh ride, rougher than others they've worked on and thinks the shocks are shot (the car also seems to bounce about some when driving). The memory seats also don't retain settings. What's keeping me up is that I had a dealer inspect the car to prevent any surprises like this. Not only did they miss a number of issues, but they didn't seem to put the pieces together which said this car has been driven hard and isn't a "good car." I certainly wouldn't have bought a car that was this beat--another project is the last thing I need right now. And it seems like all of the items that were missed will cost $4-6K to fix and I'd still have a car that had been mistreated and would seem likely to have other issues in the future. Do you have any thoughts about what my options are since it was an authorized dealer that missed so many things? John