IMS seal leak = engine rebuild?

Hi, I'm looking for opinions on the above- my water pump failed and the car had to be recovered to OPC for repair, while it was there they highlighted an oil leak which I was aware of (minor service at Northway in nov concluded that it was the rms and was fine to leave until another job necessitated removal) OPC say it's actually ims that's leaking and needs an engine out repair doing. So my question is - if the engine has to come out anyway, is it worth going the whole hog and booking Hartech to do a full rebuild. Car ticked over 100k as I drove home considering this. OPC quote £2400 for just the ims seal work, so at the last quoted prices that's already 20% of what a base Hartech rebuild would cost. Clutch is 15-20k miles old so not in need of changing. Assuming I can afford it this year (I bought the car expecting to have to do it sooner or later, although I'd hoped to get more than 2 years to save up for it) What's the wait time like for Hartech atm? It's my main car so I not being able to drive it for months would be an issue, I can drive it currently but with the ims seal failing it seems like tempting fate to use it much. Anybody else been through this recently? Btw if I go down the Hartech route I'd be following any and all recommendations they make once they open up the engine, and if any scoring is present I'd be getting all 6 liners replaced.

How can they say it's the IMS without dropping the gearbox and removing the flywheel etc? You don't need to remove the engine to replace the RMS or IMS, unless there is something else to do as well.

Yes good point - it just goes to demonstrate that a full engine rebuild at some time (especially before the crankshaft wears out) can become more cost effective than trying to fix individual problems peacemeal especially if the IMS is the old type and can be improved on during a full rebuild. At your mileage there will be all sorts of things reaching the end of their life - each of which could cause another failure. The prospect of getting back a better and more reliable long term engine wit more performance is also something to sweeten the pill of cost. At least it is worth considering whoever you choose to fix it. Baz

Thanks both, Baz, what's the waiting time like on a rebuild at the moment? The car is a 2000 C2 manual 3.4 L I wouldn't be looking for a capacity increase so hoping my pistons are OK.

My ims seal has leaked ever since new. Happens about a couple of years after a clutch change and had it sorted out come next clutch change. Well to be honest, it's never the seal, it's the 3 bolts holding the cover plate on. This has to be one of the most common problems on the 996 and most will tell you - so long as you don't have a puddle on the drive, forget about it. I'm now on something like the 5th clutch and about to tickover on to 163k miles........and yes - the bell housing has a weep on it. Engine is yet to be rebuilt.

It's impossible to say what is actually leaking until the gearbox is removed so OPC is Not correct . With a manual car the engine doesn't need to be removed .. only with a Tip box does it need to be removed for this job ... again OPC is incorrect . Rms , bolts and Ims seal .. usual practise to replace all of them unless it's obvious one of these is leaking . you have the option of just doing this .. in effect .. if you don't have a drip of oil on the floor every 60 seconds then it may not even need doing .. there needs to be a sensible leak to warrant this job let alone an engine rebuild . 10 litres of oil aint going to leak out via a damp patch on the gear box !!! The bolts though have a sealant on them that once replaced should not leak again .You can add some 5900 loctite to be sure . For this job .. an engine rebuild is certainly not warranted but if you wish to then the car needs to goto Hartech .. OPC will not remove an engine and then ship it off to a third party repair company .. sorry but they won't . It's best if hartech have the car though imho as they can do the entire job . I'll leave Hartech to say what wears out at what mileage as that's not what i do nor advise on . Engine out and coolant pipes / a/c pipes are often replaced .. even if no issue its best for the long term as both of these req an engine drop to replace . Ill also add o/s/r brake pipe .

Re wait for Hartech. Best to call Grant. I was initially told 2-3 months but managed to get in earlier.

Appreciate all the replies, I did call Hartech and spoke to grant about it. His view was the same as most here- no way of knowing where the leak is from without looking inside, not a cause for a rebuild in and of itself. He did caution me about bearings at the mileage it's on which is fair. For those interested they're currently taking bookings for March. Looking through the history the clutch has about 25k on it now so unlikely to need attention soon so hopefully back to my original plan of getting it rebuilt in a year or two.

As others have said it could easily be RMS or IMS cover. If the oil leak is fairly minor then leave it all as is. Sounds like the OPC is hunting for work.

I had a leak which I assumed was IMS or RMS, until I took the gearbox out for a rebuild and they were spotless. It was coming from higher up and dribbling it'[s way down to the round bolt hole at the front of the bottom of the engine. I'd wait for the next time the box needs dropping.