linderpat

So I've discovered that my car has the dreaded RMS leak. Car is an 05, and has 71K on the clock. Not a major drip, but very noticeable on the floor and on the matt I put under it to measure oil loss.
Here's the issue - I'll be at Watkins Glen in a couple of weeks for our Club DE. How risky is it to run a DE with a dripping/leaking RMS? You can assume that I will be closely monitoring the oil level. Will the high rev runs cause the seal to blow out altogether? Catastrophic engine failure?

Car was going to go in soon for an IMS bearing swap (still has the original), so I want to hold off the RMS until then.

Bruce In Philly

2009 C2S 124K miles

I had a 2000 Boxster S, (same engine) that weeped from every seal, orifice.... i think it just spit on the floor to **** me off. (Actually I had two of those engines and both weeped oil). That engine when it was released spawned all kinds of jokes such as " it is just marking its territory". No, I am not saying it is "ok", but a weepy IMS is not a sign of a blow up. At least I don;t ever remember reading that an engine failure was the downstream result of an RMS leak. Back in the day, Porsche had a policy... if it leaked after three seal replacements, you got a new engine. Further, with each RMS leak repair, the dealer was to measure the "out of roundness" or something like that and if it was out by a certain amount, you got a new engine. (But then they were selling more cars than they could produce... I waited 7 months for mine).

Others here have more relevant experience to your exact model and track use, but if it were me, I would not worry about it and since you made your mind up about the bearing, do it then. BTW, I found if I used just a grade heavier oil, the drips would stop.

Peace
Bruce in Philly

BER

If I had a leaking RMS, I would not put the car on the track. I have no experience with a leaking RMS, but I have done enough track days to know I want my car in tip top shape when I am tearing around thru the twisties.

Just my opinion...YMMV.

Good luck.

DC911S

A really good way to **** people off that paid money and time to go to a trackday..is to have your engine spew oil out and ruin everyone else's day.

kisik

I totally agree that dropping all kinds of fluids especially antifreeze will not make more track friends. RMS on 911s is like chronic disease where Porsche tried already like 5 different seals iterations and non of them really solved the leak. If you see drops of oil on a floor if you leave a car overnight I would say it needs to be taken care off. Good tech can do a job for 4 hours to replace $25 part (they will charge you for 8h of cause). If it just feels wet to touch then just monitor. Nothing major will happen, check your oil level every time before going to next session.

Bruce In Philly

I gotta believe the total amount of oil dropped on the track over say four hours of driving from a weeping RMS seal.. spread over what, a 1.5 mile track is ..... nothing. No?

Thinking back to my days at Summit Point with various car groups (non-Porsche) and seeing the backyard monstrosities and Frankencars run there..... hell I wouldn't worry about it nor be hard on Ed.

While we need to be responsible, I still would not call a race track a surgery room floor. I am pretty sure every weekend I had at the track, some car barfed something where the kittly litter truck and staff were rolled out and while they do a good job.... hmmm..

Peace
Bruce in Philly

DC911S

BER

Amen!

laphan

As long as not major, it should be fine.
Almost all 986/996s has some sort of RMS leak/weeping. Both my 986 and 996 has RMS leak and no issue running them on tracks.
I am actually surprised that my 997.1 does not have any oil residue from RMS.

OnlineAlias

Whatever you do, if you replace it change out the IMS -LMS at the same time (if your 05 is an early with a replaceable one.). You will already be out of pocket for the tranny R/R so it will pay for itself in resale value.

linderpat

Yes, ^^^ this. I have zero worries about polluting the track. If I thought that was a probability, I would take my other track car. I am just more worried about the motor, but research indicates that it is likely not a significant issue. I just drove back from Hershey, at sustained speeds in long stretches of, shall we say, a lot, and I had zero oil loss according to the computer (I sure wish we had dip sticks like a proper car!)