RMS & IMS replaced. 1 week of warranty left

[ehesler]

i took my 2000 996 with 28,000 miles on it into the dealer for a partial 30k service and they repaired 2 leaks: RMS and IMS. the warranty on the car expires next week.

i do most of my own service per loren's instructions and noticed some oil on the block when i changed the oil. the car, however, has never dripped. i never noticed a drop on oil on the ground. the leak appears to have been contained to the internals.

i have read the threads here regarding the rms/ims issue and it appears that it is terminal. obviously, it is fixed for now. what about the future?

a few questions:

1. since the car will be out of warranty by the end of next week, should i be looking sell/trade the car due to the fact that the RMS/IMS may leak again out of warranty?

my alternative is to keep the car until the balloon payment is due in 2/2007 and then turn it in. my risk is keeping a known leaker for over 2.5 years!!!

an extended warranty is not an option. as i understand, rms/ims leaks are not covered due to the problem being manufacturing related. also, it is a pre-existing condition and deals with a rubber part, again not covered in extended warranties.

2. how long does the re-seal hold? (what are your experiences?)

3. if the leak materializes again, can i simply keep adding oil to keep the level up?

4. how have others addressed their out-of-warranty rms/ims issues?

please help.

thanks.

[Loren]

My RMS was fixed in Feb 2002 with just under 10,000 miles - no problems since. Most folks don't have another RMS problem - I haven't. In several cases Porsche has fixed 2nd and 3rd RMS failures out of warranty and even replaced engines that were 5-6 years old. IMHO any car can have a problem or two and this issue is no better or worst than other cars. If you enjoy the car - then keep it if not - then sell it. Personally I think a lot of folks are over-stressing about RMS issues for no reason. It really is only a problem in a small percentage of cars and Porsche has fixed or replaced engines at no cost in almost every case.

[Scouser]

Well I know I go on about it but.....

My car goes in for it 4th RMS in less than a year on Friday.

I explained to Porsche UK (customer care center) that on rennlist & renntech I have read about engines being replaced in cars with problematic reocuring RMS's in the US. They said that that may be so in the US but it is NOT the case in the UK. Porsche UK said that they have never replaced a 996 engine because of RMS problems.

I have now learned to live my RMS problem. I love the car, it doesn't have any effect on performance and so far (touch wood) I haven't lost a clutch to it.

[Loren]

Well I know I go on about it but.....

My car goes in for it 4th RMS in less than a year on Friday.

I explained to Porsche UK (customer care center) that on rennlist & renntech I have read about engines being replaced in cars with problematic reocuring RMS's in the US. They said that that may be so in the US but it is NOT the case in the UK. Porsche UK said that they have never replaced a 996 engine because of RMS problems.

I have now learned to live my RMS problem. I love the car, it doesn't have any effect on performance and so far (touch wood) I haven't lost a clutch to it.

Sounds like Porsche AG needs to straighten out their policies.

From the PCNA TSB 1/03 1359 Crankshaft Seal - Flywheel Side (R & R Procedures) (dated March 7, 2003):

The following applies:

- When checking the installation position of the crankshaft, if the special tool 9699/1 cannot be placed with slight resistance in the crankshaft housing bore, the engine must be replaced with a replacement engine.

[bet]

Scouser,

I have read about your exploits with the RMS problems in the past. My sympathy with the lingering issue. Is your car still in the warranty period? If not do you have to pay for each one of these “repairs” or is Porsche paying? If the car is still in warranty has there been talk about repairing the RMS problem outside of warranty? Obviously you have a well documented problem with 4 repairs and I wondered if someone is standing behind the work.

Edited May 19, 2004 by bet

[Guest]

Holy cr*p, Berny. I didn't realize you had so many problems with your Pcar. I'll add you to my auto prayer list! :)

[Hroussard]

Now here is a good one. I got my car C2 coupe 1999) back from the 30K miles services and I asked them to check my RMS. They said it was fine. The service guy looked at me and said " AHH ..so you know about the RMS issue " Then he said..yes there is a very small fraction of the older Porsches 996 who have this problem but Porsche considers the engine to be just a replacable part like an exhaust system and they do not consider it to be a part of the car ( like USA based companies do). He said that Porsche will modify the original records of the car to "erase" the old serial number of the engine so that it no longer exists in their database.

That also means there is no record of how many they have replaced...if they do not maintain the replacement database....

Oh yes, and the service was 795 dollars which included changing the sparkplugs, 10 quarts of Mobil 1 synthetic 0-40 and the usual other items.

HarryR

[Scouser]

bet,

I bought the car from a guy who went chapter 11 about 2 weeks after he bought the car. It had 560 miles on it so I became the second owner. But technically I have had the car since new. ANd it has been meticulously serviced, garaged and treated like a baby since. Never tracked.

Shortly after it ran out of warranty I noticed a drip of oil on the floor of the garage: 27, 000 miles.

They "so call" fixed it under their good-will scheme. I had to pay £230.

Since then it has had two more RMS replaced at no cost to me. This 4th one (at 37,000 mls) I am not certain about as technically it is exactly a year since the first RMS problem and that was guaranteed for a year.

So technically I am now out of warranty. There is possibly zilch chance they will replace the engine (as they should) but if they wanted to go down that route I am fairly certain they would want to charge me for it. Or at least have me pay a handsome amount towards it under good will. I love this car but it is very doubtful I would buy another pcar. The after service sucks here in the UK. For a car of this calibre I expect better engineering and a more fair service system. So whatever, it's Porsche AG's loss. If they would have treated my problems right from the start I would be looking at a 997 now. Instead I have my name down now for the new Aston Martin AMv8. I don't know if AM are any better than Porsche but I sure am going to give a try.

Don, keep praying for me mate. Thanks. BTW: Holy cr*p to you too. I didn't know you owned a speedster too. I saw your site the other day. Double holy cr*p! You lucky sob. Two gorgeous pcars :notworthy:

[X911CarreraX]

does any leak of oil have to do with the RMS and having an RMS problem?

[Loren]

No, no necessarily. Oil can also leak from the front pulley or the valve covers or the oil seals around the spark plugs. The RMS (rear main seal) is the only oil leak that requires engine removal to repair.

IMHO none are very common.

[X911CarreraX]

Theres like oil around where you unscrew the bolt so that the oil can come out when u do an oil change, seems like theres oil on the block. It seemed to have stopped leaking after i changed my oil though...

[TD in DC]

Those of you who have also experienced the infamous RMS leak might appreciate what just happened to me. Since I have a 16 month old daughter and two week old twin boys, I was forced to sell my Boxster S and 4.4X5 to get an '02 Targa and, egads, a Toyota Sienna XLE Limited AWD. The other day I was walking across my garage (which usually is spotless and has a painted floor) when I suddenly pulled a few moves that would have made Martha Graham proud. When I went to investigate what could have inspired me to do such a thing, I discovered an oil puddle that looked suspiciously like an RMS leak, except it was on the side of the Sienna! With only 900 miles on the Sienna, the oil was not very noticeable because the oil was clear. I promptly took the Sienna back and was stunned when the service tech began explaining that the Sienna had a faulty RMS, ha ha. I explained that, as a Porsche driver, I am familiar with the drill -- annoying but not a big deal. I cannot believe that the RMS curse at my house has extended to my other cars. Moral of the story, RMS is contagious so make sure you keep a safe distance between your Porsche and your other vehicles -- practice safe parking. ;)