YA911Fan

Porsche's pretty new to this make-your-own-engine thing. Glad to see they're climbing the learning curve.

todinlaw

Its not going to get any better. I started seeing mine leak about about 750 miles and took it in at 2400 to get it fixed. I have only driven it 100 miles so far so I can't say what the outcome is but most other reports i have seen seam to make the case they fix it on the repair. It just hurts thinking you have to go get a repair like this on a 100,000 plus car before the first oil change.

Cupcar

The interesting thing to me is that the GT3 uses the same crankcase as the air-cooled 911 and has used the same rear main seal design since the late 1970's and there were no issues with leaks in those cars, at least none I knew about.

The negative pressure crankcase ventilation system of the GT3 is supposed to be the culprit. I wonder what would happen if it were disconnected, besides the loss of around 6 HP...

rmauro

HAD RMS REPLACED AT 290 MILES- CAR NOW HAS 350 MILES AND IS LEAKING AGAIN- DEALER DOES NOT KNOW WHAT TO SAY- I SAY GIVE ME A NEW MOTOR- DEALER IS A LARGER EXPERIENCED DEALER WHERE I HAVE BOUGHT 4 CARS THE LAST 4 YEARS- ANY THOUGHTS????

mooty

one, it's not common to have multiple leaking RMS on these motors.
two, experienced or not, they MAY still make mistakes. porsche is very experienced but many RMS were installed poorly from factory. and the correctly installed seal actually looks like it is installed the wrong way (that's what my dealer tech told me)
three, how many miles you got on your car? i was told if you dont drive it much, it tends to leak more (not sure if that's true, but i drive mine a lot. only had one RMS replaced when the car was at 2000 miles, it has 15k now. bone dry)

Cupcar

Have any of you installed a rear main seal yourselves?

To screw it up one would have to be totally inept, if one installed it backwards it would not work at all and IMMEDIATELY on start up the engine would hemorrhage all of it's oil in seconds.

TraqGear

CRAP! Thought I was ok with mine until I got back from holiday. I have a small puddle under my car when I backed out today.

sjgreco

Has anyone had a RMS leak/problem with a 2008 GT3RS or GT3. If my 08 RS leaks I will sell it, I'm not going to deal with this problem again, my 996 GT3 leaked twice and I ended selling it for a big loss. Might be an opportunity for someone to buy an 08RS in the future, I really hope it won't happen cause so far the car is great.

todinlaw

You might do a search hear and over at 6speed. I thought i recall someone had RMS and had to go back several times and Porsche made the call to replace the motor, That is what I recall i would find the post. At some point most you would have leverage under you state or federal lemon laws to get them to replace the motor or fix it correctly but I suspect you would have to give them 3 chances to get it right. When and if the time comes, you have to deal with the Porsche representative if your deal does not advocate with you. Your dealer has no ax to grind and they do not get dinged for it but some are better than others in taking care of the customer.

brianbento

forgot to tell you al, when we replaced the LWF, my baby also had a RMS seal drip problem. So he replaced the seal while he did the LWF, free of charge since the RMS is still under warranty, got lucky. I will see if it is leaking again at the end of this weak. My car5 had right around 3300 when it had a good leak. Brian

Jack

Bingo.

Cupcar

Here's my theory based on the facts that:

• The oil only appears after the engine is shut down and does not seem to happen with the engine running
• Normally when the engine is running, the seal is held in contact with the crankshaft by the pressure of the oil behind it and by a circumferential spring when the engine is not running (no oil pressure)
• The oil galleries in the crankcase are above the centerline of the crankshaft and store a significant amount of oil
• There is residual negative pressure in the engine after the engine is shut down due to the effect of the one-way valve in the GT3's crankcase ventilation system

I think the oil from the galleries above the crankshaft can drain past the main seal after shut down because the negative pressure inside the crankcase is enough to overcome the force of the rear main seal's circumferential spring thus allowing oil to "burp' past the RMS as the pressure inside the case equilibrates with atmospheric pressure.

My $.02 theory.

ze_shark

I thought that the RMS leaks were overwhelmingly affecting the Carrera/Boxster engines due to the lower torsional rigidity of the block ?
I also thought that the RMS designated the crank seal at the connection between the block and the gearbox, while the picture above shows the crank case ? Can anyone shed some light ?

eclou

negative crank pressure is not going to equalize thru the rear main seal. If it does, the seal is useless and should leak like mad when the engine is running and there is actual blow-by to deal with. I find it amazing this is still an issue. I have not heard of a single GT1 based 997tt having a RMS leak. This includes cars running 18# boost and redlines raised to 7300rpm. The leak issues should be far greater on the turbo cars with their positive pressure crankcases if it is a block problem. Are any of these leaking cars using LTW flywheels or LTW crank pulleys? Sometimes the harmonic balancing of the crank can be thrown off on the higher orders. If a particular someone starts chiming in on the pitfalls 0W40 oil I will scream.

todinlaw

Are any of these leaking cars using LTW flywheels or LTW crank pulleys? Sometimes the harmonic balancing of the crank can be thrown off on the higher orders. If a particular someone starts chiming in on the pitfalls 0W40 oil I will scream.[/QUOTE]

I can speak for myself my car was all original. I have paid attention to most posters, if I had to guess most people installed the LWF if at all, after they found a leak and did it when the motor was pulled. The explanation that I have read by posters that makes the most sense to me is either a defective ring seal or defective installation of the seal at the factory. The design of the motor is solid. I do not recall anyone with a 997 tt complaining or a leak but I don't read the posts on that side either.