Warranty Issue - Help Required!

My C4S is currently being serviced at Porsche Newcastle and I have just received the inevitable call to tell me that my RMS is leaking again. Problem is that this was replaced 11 months ago under the Porsche warranty but I have since allowed the warranty to lapse and the dealer is telling me that warranty repairs are not covered under the usual 12 months parts and labour warranty, however if I had paid for this repair myself it would be? Surely this can't be right/legal? The service manager appears to be on my side and is querying this with Porsche UK as it seems to be their policy not the dealers? Has anyone had any similar experience/issues with failing warranty repairs after the warranty period has lapsed? Any advice/help would be greatly appreciated. Glen.

From my experience, it seems that although Porsche parts are guaranteed for 2 years, if a part is replaced under warranty then the manufacturer does not have to 'warranty ' the replacement parts, The exception is if you pay only a 1p towards the work, then its warrantied But as an individual, porsche have a good will scheme for the RMS , they have a table and dependent on age of vehicle, mileage no of services they should reduce the labour parts bill for the repair, then as you have paid towards it, you have a 2 year warranty on your RMS

I'm afraid warranty repairs have no warranty on them at all (unless your whole car is still covered by the warranty of course.) The warranty on parts and repair is to the person that paid for the work - in this case Porsche, not you! This is the case for all manufacturers and all warranties as far as I know (and I work for several manufacturers, and have conducted warranty audits myself in the past). However, get a second opinion on the RMS - I had the same as you and took it somewhere else and it turned out the crankcase bolts hadn't quite been torqued up enough, causing a slight leak... They were corrected and it hasn't needed a single drop of oil between services since (nearly 40,000 miles!)

Thanks for the replies guys. The dealer has now put in a request to Porsche UK for a goodwill gesture but it still seems a bit dubious to me that they can change the rules depending upon the circumstances in which the original work was undertaken. Certainly I was not given the option of making a voluntary contribution towards the costs in order to assure a warranty on the work. The car is a 2002 model with 45,000 miles and a full PSH so hopefully it will be considered a valid candidate for the good will scheme. Any idea what percentage I would be expected to pay (20, 40 50%)? Ideally I would prefer to pay nothing but as you say it might be worth contributing something this time in order to secure a further 2 years warranty on the parts. I am picking the car up later today and will I guess have to wait for a response from Porsche regarding the RMS (however long that usually takes?) but in the meantime I think a trip to my local specialist for a second opinion is a good idea.

Policy Claims do sometimes work. So lets hope your Dealer can swing it for you. Regards Big Bob. Mind you there is a moral to the story dont let your extended warranty lapse until the 9th year or 120000 miles.

Just heard back from the dealer and Porsche are offering to pay 100% of the parts and 40% of the labour as a goodwill gesture but I might still be looking at a bill of around £500 depending upon which parts need to be replaced. A few questions then: Is this a good offer? A quick search on the forum seems to indicate that in some instances Porsche have paid up to 90% of the labour costs. How much does a RMS usually cost to repair at an OPC? The dealer estimate of the remaining costs seems to indicate this an £800+ job. Is it worth Contacting Porsche AG direct to negotiate a better deal? Does anyone have any contact details for them? Any comments/assistance gratefully received.

Forgive me if I am wrong but the RMS is a simple seal a bit like a round rubber disc??? i.e. costing about a quid. The cost of replacing the RMS is the labour charge - about 7 or 8 hours at the OPC which equals c£800. Hardly a generous offer from Porsche to pay for the parts. Tell them you would be happy to pay 100% of the parts if they pick up the labour charge

I would def push for more labour contribution. Also worth considering getting the clutch done if you did not the last time to maximise the benefit from anything you end up paying?

I actually had the clutch replaced 2 years ago the first time the RMS failed, this is now the 3rd RMS failure I have had and judging by the documentation that came with the car it has been replaced at least once previously. Maybe I have just experienced bad workmanship from my OPC or maybe I just have 'One of those cars' but I get the impression that any fix is just a temporary one.

The question is is it the seal thats at fault or the casting of the engine block If its the latter the seals bound to go again Apparently they are using the 6th generation of modified seals I have had it where the rms has gone for the 2nd time, but infact its been the intermediate shaft which has gone, the previous time they did the rms but not the intermediate shaft all in I'm the one who gets shafyted because i allways pay, no goodwill from Porsche to motor traders- ''its part of your preparation costs and were not subsidising you'' unquote Porsche GB despite the fact i nspend £60/80K

I seem to recall that last time it was the intermediate shaft that had failed and the time before that it was the RMS, this time they are saying they don't know until they strip it down? Are these things totally unrelated or just two different parts of the same thing? Does anyone have the number for Porsche UK I am not happy with the offer I have received and would like to take this further than the dealer?

Very interesting. I had a throttle housing fail (on a BMW), which was replaced under warranty. The warranty expired shortly after, but the throttle housing went again about 10 months later. BMW dealer replaced all of this FOC under the part warranty, which was automatically included on any work that is carried out, regardless of whether it's under warranty or not (ie. irrespective of whether the warranty or I was the recipient of the original work). Now, I don't want to disagree, because you and Mark clearly know what you're talking about, but in this case (with BMW), they paid out and stated it very matter of fact(ly)....of course, it's possible they made a mistake, but I would think this is unlikely...I saw this because I have had other work (also done under warranty) and they always said that this part is covered under part warranty for 2 years (might be 1 year, but fairly sure it was 2). Now this is no means is praise for BMW, because I strongly dislike their product and won't buy a BMW again...2 BMWs, both new, both with serious engine failures after 4 years...both not covered with warranty. This was the 3rd BMW and guess what, yes, after a further 4 months the throttle housing "went again". Upon further inspection, it wasn't the throttle housing that had been failing at all, but a problem with the crimping in the wiring loom, which happened when the car was built, ie. a known manufacturing fault, which was detailed on their "PuMA" dealer maintenance system. So, despite the fact that a) it was a manufacturing fault and b) they hadn't diagnosed the fault properly when it was still under new car warranty, I ended up paying for it myself (well, they gave a me good will gesture of 50% parts, 0% labour). The wiring loom, just like the RMS is a relatively cheap part, but a large amount of labour. One thing I did find with BMW was that the quote system (at the dealer) automatically tells you how long the work will take, but because the dealers have different hourly rates, it was much cheaper to shop around. For example, Farnham was considerably cheaper than Guildford (by about £200). However, I am fairly sure that the OPC around here (being all PCGB owned), will have very similar rates. If it's out of warranty, I would get it done at a reputable Indy, as the saving will be on labour, not parts. However, I would add that I think your offer from the OPC, about the contribution is very reasonable and I would pay it and then follow up with a letter about your displeasure afterwards (to Porsche Germany...don't bother with customer service). Cheers, GD

Hi Glen - sorry to hear of your woes - in response to your query, no its not a good deal, the parts (seals) are about £40 and the labour will be c£600. you could get a complete new clutch, RMS and Intermediate seals done at a good indy for that price. I'd take the sensible approach and get the same job costed at an indy before making a decision. - Simon

Glen, if you do want to take this further, then search on here for my thread called something like "warranty argument - advice needed". It gives the name of the head of Porsche GB, who I wrote to directly when I had a warranty argument. I ended up speaking to the head of customer services at Porsche GB. They didnt change their stance on my particular argument, but they did pay up (£250?) and also sorted something else for free (£170). If I was you, I would be taking this to a good indy to firstly check the RMS does need doing, also cos it will be cheaper, and also cos I would rather a warranty on the work done from an indy than Porsche. Good luck, Josh