Hi guys,

Some of you may recall I bought a high mileage 997.1 TT (85k miles) back in early November of this year. When I had it inspected (PPI), it had an area wet with oil but no drips. They cleaned it, but the leak is so slow that for weeks it still looked bone dry.

Interestingly, given the tech's attitude ("hey, it's got 85k miles, a tiny leak like that is not a big deal on a high mileage car" - and other similar comments), I got the impression that the guy was trying to be nice to my wallet and suggested fixing it when it's an issue.

It turns out, however, the car is CPO's until early Jan 2013 (so yeah, 2-3 weeks left). It now shows just a tiny wet spot.

In any event, I had PNA update me as the current owner and confirm the CPO coverage. Armed with this, I plan on bringing the car in and just have them fix it. A few questions for the resident experts:

1) I'm a bit disturbed that they wouldn't have just jumped all over the leak at PPI with CPO coverage. I suppose it's possible they didn't realize it was still covered (2007 with 85k miles). Still, a bit ****ty, IMO. I'm well within my right to have them fix the leak no matter how annoying, right? I mean, hypothetically, even if it just a $5 seal, too bad they have to drop the engine to fix it, correct? I would expect this for sure under the original warranty, but is the CPO that comprehensive as well?

2) The only other issue the car has is that when you press in the clutch pedal you feel a slight vibration the last half of the pedal travel. The previous owner had it looked at and the tech said it was a worn pressure plate spring finger. Otherwise the clutch grabs perfectly fine and works great. I assume if the diagnosis is correct this would considered a wear item and not covered under CPO, correct?

3) The car appears to be on the original factory spark plugs. I know, it blew my mind as well - the dealer should be ashamed to never have brought it up to the previous owner. As a matter of earning goodwill, I am considering paying the dealer to do it.

4) In the event the small oil leak requires an engine drop, should I jump at this to have them replace the clutch? What other things should I tackle in the event of an engine drop? Are there hoses and other seals I should have them replace?

I want to keep this car 100% stock.

Thanks guys!

 

where are you having it serviced?
if the motor is out i would do anything it needs now to save the labor $ later

 

Really if the engine is out everything would be on the table. Clutch, hoses, plugs, packs, belt, inspection of coolant tank, etc.

 

The car was bought (as a CPO with 38k miles) and serviced at Prime Porsche in MA. In all that time, there has not been a single warranty claim against the CPO warranty.

 

For #1 the factory may require the leak be more severe. In some cases a leak isn't a leak worthy of fixing if fluid is not hitting the ground or fouling some other part of the car.

For a car out of warranty the techs (and I've used this before with other cars before owning Porsches) are of the mind if the fluid isn't hitting the ground or fouling the underside of the car or bushings, or hoses, or wiring, etc. it ain't a leak worth fixing.

The above does not apply to fuel, brake, power steering, clutch, coolant, and possible tranny fluid leaks. This leaves just engine oil.

Now with my 03 Turbo a selector shaft seal was spotted leaking on the 6-speed. There was no tranny fluid hitting the ground but there was considerable wetness around/below the seal. The tranny was replaced under its CPO warranty.

More recently, the tech spotted what appears to be the RMS leaking. It is not leaking bad. In fact until the car was in the air and the tech pointed the signs of a leak out to me I had no clue. The leak obviously isn't bad and the tech told me it can wait until it either gets worse (which it may not) or when the tranny has to come out for say a new clutch. That this Turbo has over 100K miles on it could suggest the clutch is due to be replaced soon but my 02 Boxster has over 262K miles on its original clutch so maybe not...

For #2 that reads like the clutch accum is bad. It dampens the pulses arising from the power steering pump. I felt something similar when the accum. on my 03 Turbo went out.

There is a test to see of the accum is working ok. It involves with the engine off depressing and releasing the clutch pedal and counting these.

The clutch pedal should not get hard until some say 10 some say 30 times. My experience is that if the accum is bad the pedal will get hard to depress after just a few of these press/release cycles. Also, no need to test this every time you get in the car either.

Another test is to after the pedal gets hard start the engine and let it idle 20 seconds then turn it off. The pedal should be easy to work again and should not get hard for another 10 or more press/release cycles. This tests the ability of the power steering pump to pressurize the accumulator.

For #3 many a car is on its original plugs after elapsed time let alone miles should have the plugs changed. I would advise you to get the plugs changed soon.

As for #4, sure whenever the tranny or engine has to come out the old while you are there mind set kicks in, within reason. The clutch/et al needs to be checked and renewed. Any signs of a coolant tank leak, or any engine leak needs to be addressed.

Hoses and such... the techs tell me the hoses are very long lived. My 02 and my 03 cars are all on their original coolant hoses. I asked a tech about renewing the Boxster's and he said nah... the hoses just last and last. He checks them whenever I have the car in for service and when he finds a weak one or one that shows signs of going bad he'll let me know and then we can take care of them then. Until then...

 

Excellent. Thanks for the feedback!

 

OK. I tried this. The pedal gets stiffer (2-3 times the effort) after about 4-5 pumps and remains that way through 30+ pumps.

Starting the engine as suggested brings the effort back down, but once again, it takes about 3-5 pumps and the pedal gets stiffer again.

It doesn't get stiff enough to not be able to move it, but it certainly requires a lot more effort.

Does this makes sense to you? I guess the question is what is "hard to depress?"

Thanks for your help. Oh, I also just spoke to the previous owner (he is a co-worker), and he said that once the tech moved hydraulic fluid fro the front reservoir to the back. This reeks of an accumulator issue to me that they were just trying to avoid getting into.

Thoughts?

 

accummulator most likely as said by Macster

edit: just read your last post, why would the dealer want to avoid doing the work? makes no sense. Find another dealer who is happy to have your business.

 

I don't get it either. As I mentioned, my only guess is that the tech may have incorrectly assumed that car was not under warranty, and so felt that it didn't merit spending however many thousands it would cost to correct this out of pocket. But to not check for warranty coverage first is unacceptable. It just sucks because these guys are 5 minutes from work and less than 10 minutes from home.

They certainly have not impressed me nearly enough to go to them with post-warranty work over a couple of highly regarded Porsche independent shops in Metro-west Boston.

 

ira porsche in Danvers has been great to work with!

 

That's an hour drive for me, but I'll keep it in mind. Thanks.

 

Dropped the car off today. Predictably, the dealer was surprised when I mentioned it was under warranty, and even explicitly asked if I had recently purchased warranty coverage. I told him no, that it was STILL covered under the CPO warranty and that PNA had my info updated and they confirmed the coverage. He paused uncomfortably and moved on to ask other questions (how long could they keep it, etc).

That they had no idea it was covered and had even charged the previous owner for a simple fix that should have been covered under warranty, explains all their well-intentioned "don't worry about this or that for now" comments in the past both to the previous owner and to me during PPI.

Let's hope I get the correct phone call later today about how they will need it for a week to fix the accumulator.

 

Update: Slave cylinder and accumulator will be replaced. Small oil leak was a small seal that was replaced. I should get it back soon, but I'm in no hurry since it is the dead of winter. They said none of the work required an engine or tranny drop, so no advantage in getting any preventative work done.

Got a quote for spark plugs - $1070. Holy crap. Called Bill at Eurotech and he said $600 + materials. Sounds much more reasonable. He is building some GT3 racecars now, so he said to bring it in the spring. I'll have him mount my new PSS's then.

Hopefully the accumulator/slave cylinder also fixes that weird feeling at the end of the clutch pedal travel. We'll see.

 

Never closed the loop on this. Sorry. Final update.

Car was fixed. No clutch issues at all. I now realize what people say about the TT having a light clutch. I preferred the "broken," less-assisted clutch feel. I thought that clutch effort was the normal one and felt any less assist would be crazy, but it obviously had little if any assist.

If the accumulator goes again, I will definitely put in the GT2 version.

Anyway, despite the high mileage (86k), the clutch grabs just fine. That's what happens when 90% of the miles are hwy miles.

Up next in a few weeks: Plugs, fluid changes, and all matter of filter changes.