Took my car in for the 15K mile service. Talked to the service advisor today. He's going down the list of repairs made. He's like, blah, blah, RMS, blah, blah... I immediatley panicked.

He said they noticed some oil pooling around the rear main seal. I never had a drop in my garage. He said it was just barely dripping out and pooling, so they replaced it.

I asked if the machining was off around the seal. He said that they measured it, and it was not. He did say they replaced the seal. I asked if it was a new design in the seal. He said he didn't think so. I asked what was to stop this from happening again? He didn't really have an answer.

Now dont get me wrong, the service guy was very cool. I'm just a little concerned that this is going to be an ongoing problem with this car for as long as I own it. Uggghhh.

I wish Porsche would give us a free pass of lifetime repairs on this problem, since it's obviously a serious design flaw.

So who else is with me in the RMS club, what was your mileage, and did it ever happen again? I'd love to gather up a list and send it to Porsche NA. I know Rennlist has an active thread going over there.

 

I'm probably the only one with this attitude towards the RMS situation.....If all I have to do to get this much pleasure out of a vehicle is very occasionally do a clutch replacement, and at that same time, replace the rear mains seal , which costs VERY VERY little, if you're in there doing the clutch anyhow, I say "BIG DEAL." I've had exotic cars that cost me MUCH more to maintain than this PCar......I've also had 4 other PCars, without the RMS deal, and NEVER enjoyed one as much as this.....

Drive it.....love it.....don't worry about it!!!!!!

 

Deputy
I had mine at 6500 miles.
I now have 11,500 and have had no further issues .
It was an easy fix at the dealer and my car has always run very strong, so it seems to be a non issue with performance,more of a hassle than anything else.
I do agree on the lifetime warranty idea though, because eventually if you are keeping a car like this long term its gonna cost you.

 

I've had six between two Pcars.

 

You are most undoubtedly not alone Mr. Landis....not at all. After all the leaks I've had between the two Pcars (6 RMS, 2 ISS, and 1 Cam Cover and we won't even go there with how many replacement engines! lol), I've decided to heck with it, I love my car too much to be bothered with it. The fun factor far outweighs the trouble...to me.

 

how often are you changing clutches Landis? i know i don't need them every 15K. most every manual i've ever owned has gone at least 60k before needing a clutch.

the dealer bills 8 hours of labor plus parts for the RMS. I enjoy the car, but it will still **** me off if I have to chunk out $800ish every so often because of a known design flaw. i know that this is a forum where people buy titanium lug nuts and $100 carbon fiber key chains, but $800 is a lot of money to me.

from my experience on here, most people on this board probably don't keep their cars long enough to go out of warranty or develop these kind of problems. however, i'm just making average money so i'll be driving this car for a long long time

i find it frustrating that porsche has not come up with a solution to a known problem that has been occuring for a number of years. i go out of warranty in five months and i'm already sweating it. i was going through my pcar file the other day. i tallied up repair expenses (warrantied) that have taken place over the past couple years and i was shocked at how many little repairs have taken place since i've owned the car. i have a bad feeling that this is gonna get ugly when it goes out of warranty. i can only hope that most of the kinks have been worked out. i guess i'm just expecting a little more out of car that had a 100K sticker price. on the bright side, at least it's not a ferrari. i'd have to live in a cardboard box to keep one of those running

 

I bought my car with 60k miles and no warrantee. Here 's to hoping the gamble pays off. I was sweating the RMS at first, then decided, what the hell. With 60k and no un realistic (reported) repairs, I was probabably gonna be ok.

 

Deputy,

My car had the RMS changed at 4500 miles, not because it was leaking, but I had a defective transmission. I had a burl on a synchro that made you have to rev match 2nd a bit too much. Not common but porsche replaced it. While the dealer was in there he said they might as well check the machining and change the RMS (it was all apart anyway) and put in the new self-sealing bolts since my car was an 03. The dealer ate the cost of the RMS and the bolts since they were not leaking(so they could not claim a warranty repair to porsche).

Hopefully that is the end of it. Porsche has had many TSB's on the recurring RMS issue to solve many of the problems where cars were getting 2-3 seals replaced in a 3 year period. Some of which include that many diagnosed RMS's multiple leakers were not RMS, but leaky bolts in the same area and some engine case leaks. Also it was very common until early last year for replaced RMS seals to be crushed when installed with a mallet by some mechanics at dealerships. Porsche changed the installation procedure/tools.

One big thing they did was require that the dealer measure the seal area with a special tool and that the dealer send the bad seal back to porsche for analysis. If the dealer did not they would not be reimbursed for the labor and new engines if they claimed an out-of-round sealing area. This scared many dealers into taking much more care with the RMS issue and doing all the steps porsche states. From what I have heard this has done a lot to solve the recuring RMS issues. However many cars still have the issue from the factory. According to PCA, it appears related to the weight of some engine/drivetrain components pulling on the seal and the use of synthetic oil. Personally I think that's BS because then every 996 or boxster would have the issue and there are some who've broken 100k on their boxsters and 996's with no issues and some with 6k on 10 month old cars who have it. I just don't think the PCA guys like to be stumpted.

Don't sweat it. The only repair/maintenance that bugs me for 996 is the stories of clutch life. So I try to keep 2k available since I've been told don't expect 100k+ miles out of these clutches like the old 911 ones.

Cheers,
Corey

 

I just find it strange that I had an 01 Boxster and never a single repair. That thing ran like a top and we put a bunch of miles on it. Guess I just expected my 996 to be just as reliable, if not more so.

I'm fortunate that I have a good reliable mechanic in the Tampa area (C2 Design) for when the dealer finally stops picking up the tab.

 

Wife's '02 Boxster had RMS at 25,000. 11,000 more miles and no re-occurrence.

 

It's quite common to have an RMS on a Boxster, but really, the commonality is the M96 platform, which both the 986 and 996 use. You probably just got lucky with the Boxster. They are out there, just not very many of them I'm afraid.

 

Hey Andrew, you're in good company. I dropped the GT3 at the local dealership last week after finding a couple oil spots under the car. Much to my dismay they found an RMS leak. Hopefully this is just a one time occurance and not something that is going to repeat. I have made the best of the situation though, while they have her apart I am having them install the GT3RS LWFW and clutch. Hopefully pick her up today.

 

Go, girl!!!!!

 

Knock on wood.....2 Pcars no RMS.....But I have had a new engine in my 996...My Boxster was such a solid car...almost wish I still had it in addition to the 996...I still may pick up an early Boxster once they hit the $10-12k mark....A steal for a fun little car....

 

Had almost the exact same thing happen to me when I had her, dropped her off for the 15k mile service and was informed after I picked her up that she had an RMS leak... Never saw a drop before or after that.