rednerrus

hi all, is this rms/ims leak? is this significant enough to worry? should i get my seals repalaced?

jdog

Looks like it to me, but I can't confirm as I have never seen a leak "in person".

Ericginpa

Looks like it. If it's engine oil its either from the RMS or the IMS. unfortunately the trans has to come out to see. So plan on doing both anyway

Barn996

How much oil is left on the garage floor? Put a pice of cardboard under your Porsche so you can guage the amount of oil leaking.

rpm's S2

Old wisdom was that a leak like that was RMS and you could wait a while if you put up with the stains in the garage. A good dealer tech I know used to describe these sorts of leaks as "Porsche external rustproofing."

I suspect those days are over and that sort of a leak now requires immediate attention.

logray

Seen pics that are a lot worse than that. If the car isn't using a ton of oil, I would just keep monitoring the oil and the severity of the leak.

You can clean the area and then monitor.

XR4Tim

It's not that bad, but I would deal with it now. If your IMS is leaking, it's a good sign that the bearing seal is gone, and your bearing is going to be next. Use this opportunity to upgrade the bearing before engine damage occurs.

Byprodriver

+1 on this. Probably should remove & inspect oil filter too.

Capt. Obvious

How long have you had the car? Was the RMS ever replaced by you or previous owners? Chances are it's the RMS rather than the IMS cover leaking (could be either/both, though). I've heard some cars have very minor clearance issues (or something like that) with the crank that doesn't affect safety/longevity of the motor, but causes the RMS to never quite seal 100%, so no matter what you do you always have a small RMS leak.

rednerrus

I dont see any leaks on the garage floor, I'll try putting a cardboard box under it. I only noticed it because I had my mechanic friend inspect the car and I told him about the rms/ims problem, he's not a porsche guy but he figured out where the ims would be located, then showed me and bam.. we saw the leak.

Ive had the car for only 2 and a half months. The previous owner had the ims and and rms seals replaced before around 2003 I think. I got an oil change 3 weeks ago, and It doesnt seem to be losing oil.

logray

The older RMS seals were not as good as the new PTFE seals which came out around 2004 or 2005. The new PTFE RMS design from 2005 ish IIRC (came from Cayman or Cayenne IIRC) does not leak.

Early on there were reports of just a handful of cases which had out of round crank bores and so no RMS would seal, the engines were replaced by Porsche. Haven't read about any of those happening recently (in the past 8 years or more).

If the RMS was replaced in 2003 it could have been an older design that was more prone to leaks.

The IMS flange seal would have been the new design in 2003, but it can still leak. I like to use a little flange sealant in addition to the factory seal to prevent leaks. The IMS flange seal has nothing to do with bearing failure, but it does allow oil to leak out of the crank case.

Again though, seen pics of leaks much worse than that... would pull the filter and oil as bypro suggests, make sure there are no ferro magnetic particles, clean the area, monitor and continue to drive the car. You don't know how long that oil has been developing (if that is 10 years worth of leak, that is probably better than average.)

rednerrus

thanks a lot everyone! i guess ill monitor the leak for now, and check the oil for particles.

Barn996

Is your Porsche seeing regular driving or is it a weekend car? I've been doing the cardboard under my engine since buying it because the oil spots are easy to spot.

rednerrus

its my daily, i always try to drive it hard every trip as soon as the engine heats up. I get about 200 miles per week

eidolon

YUUUUUUP!