When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
My well-maintained '11 Turbo with 95k miles recently started leaking oil. The start of the leak was sudden and is dripping 3-4 drops after every drive.
I cleaned everything up on the underside and have identified the leak as only coming off the bottom of the bell housing. There is no evidence of oil coming down from a higher point on the engine.
Dealer and I are just starting to discuss the issue, but it seems like a big job ... rough quote was $4k. I am out of warranty. Dealer said RMS leaks are not common on the 958.
If you have any experience with this, please chime in.
Edit: Picture posted sideways. The right side of the picture should be at the bottom.
Last edited by deilenberger; 05-14-2018 at 10:40 AM.
) before dropping that kind of money on a repair. I've had success with this product on other cars, and I've seen on the range rover forums that they swear by this stuff for fixing their RMS leaks.
In that photo - are we looking forward from the rear of the bellhousing, or rearward from forward of the bell housing. While wind can do funny things - having oil above the leak point seems a bit odd - to me indicating "look higher".. I think CAVU's suggestion is an excellent one.
Patrick - can you update us on this? I'm now facing the same sort of drip - less volume so far - but dripping from the weep hole in the bottom of the bell-housing. Appears to be oil leaking.
To update my issue ... it stopped leaking on its own. Not sure what happened to stop it. Unless it was accumulated oil from the leaking valve cover gaskets which were replaced when I had the cam adjusters replaced. I just changed the oil and there wasn't any oil accumulating at the bottom of the bell housing. I'll keep an eye on it.
Patrick - thanks for the update. We do know that on the 955 series cars - the V in the engine block had a path directly into the bell housing, since the leaking pipes often resulted in antifreeze attacking the torque-converter input seal.. so a leaking valve cover gasket could also end up appearing in the bell-housing. I'll have to see if I can scope the upper part of the engine and see if there is any sign of a leak up high. Dunno exactly how I'd get into the V except by pulling the intake up - but that might just be the thing to do before doing an engine R&R to fix a seal that we don't know needs fixing.
I spent some quality time with the Cayenne (and figured out that being past 70 - I'm getting too old to be an engine monkey..) Took off the beauty covers over the spark plugs/valve covers. With those off - all of the valve cover gasket except the very back - can be seen, and mine are bone dry. No leak. Disappointing. Climbing on top of the engine to get out the screws holding the beauty covers off is really a PITA. Makes me think about leaving them off.. but I guess they keep the coils from getting too dusty.
Next I put it into secret High-Mode-2, and crawled under it with my phone to take some photos (and find the tool I dropped doing the damn beauty cover screws..) Took lots of pics that showed not much of anything except what appears to be a RMS leak.
Here is the best of them:
The photo is taken from behind the engine, facing forward from under the driver's seat. The black thing on the right is the transmission oil pan. To the left is the rear of the engine. Just so you can orient yourself...
Some explanations on the boxes and circle.
The yellow box is the bottom drain from the bell housing. The rear-main seal lives behind there. Oil can be seen there.
I'm uncertain what the part in the red box is - it appears attached to the transmission. I'll look it up.. but a drop of oil can be seen on the part in the red box. I have to assume it got blown back there.
The timing sensor lives on the bell-housing - pointing at the teeth on the flywheel most likely. It's in the magenta circle. It occurred to me after seeing the photo that it might be possible to remove the sensor and use a probe to look inside the bell-housing. At least it could be determined if the oil is being flung around the inside of the bell-housing which would be a clue that the seal may be leaking. That probably won't happen for some time since I'm going away later this week on 2 wheels for a several-week-long trip, and the Cayenne will be resting in my garage.
I'll update the thread as it evolves. Question really in my mind - is what's the cost of fixing this? Is it worth doing or just trade it in on something (gasp) reliable.. The decision would be easier if Porsche would reimburse me like they're supposed to for the VarioCam repair I had done before the recall was announced. I'd put that money toward this problem. Unfortunately - my aftermarket warranty specifically only covers seals if they need replacement due to the failure of another covered part. Otherwise - they're not covered.
I'm in the same boat. My cayenne CPO ends on the 23rd. I have a leak on the transmission of my car that I found on Saturday. I wasn't going to post until I figured out a way to upload my mp4 video to the forum. Anyways, fluid is coming from the top of the transmission and coming down the driver's side of the housing. It was a mess the other day. Looks to be a pretty bad leak. Anyways, it's getting fixed tomorrow on what looks to be it's last free trip to the service department, unless I get an aftermarket warranty.
On the brighter side, the car burns no motor oil and the engine is amazing.
Last edited by RAudi Driver; 05-14-2018 at 11:13 PM.
Reason: adding ? mark
I'll update the thread as it evolves. Question really in my mind - is what's the cost of fixing this? Is it worth doing or just trade it in on something (gasp) reliable.. The decision would be easier if Porsche would reimburse me like they're supposed to for the VarioCam repair I had done before the recall was announced. I'd put that money toward this problem. Unfortunately - my aftermarket warranty specifically only covers seals if they need replacement due to the failure of another covered part. Otherwise - they're not covered.
Appreciate the very thorough and easy to understand write-up on this. Just following out of interest.....look forward to hearing the outcome of this ongoing saga.
I'm beginning to wonder if perhaps the early 958.1s with typical mileage are reaching the point where we'll begin to see more of these issues/patterns on a regular basis, or if these are just anomalies? It would bring me to the point where I too might start thinking about trading mine if it came to a situation like this, especially without warranty coverage.
I'm in the same boat. My cayenne CPO ends on the 23rd. I have a leak on the transmission of my car that I found on Saturday. I wasn't going to post until I figured out a way to upload my mp4 video to the forum. Anyways, fluid is coming from the top of the transmission and coming down the driver's side of the housing. It was a mess the other day. Looks to be a pretty bad leak. Anyways, it's getting fixed tomorrow on what looks to be it's last free trip to the service department, unless I get an aftermarket warranty.
On the brighter side, the car burns no motor oil and the engine is amazing.
Mine is with "Preferred Warranty" - so far they have covered some HVAC work without a quibble, but it was only around $400, so they're still well ahead of the game on me. I think only exclusionary warranties are going to cover seals, if any do - but it wouldn't surprise me to find out they don't. Mine is a fairly comprehensive inclusionary warranty - except for seals. Dammit. In chatting with ptech off line - he's seen very few rear seals and his WAG is it might be a leak at the upper oil pan - I assume the junction between it and the block. He told me how to check for this (removing a few of the bolts holding it together to see if there is oil on the threads) - so I might do that.
09-01-2017, 11:17 AM
2011 958 Turbo Rear Main Seal Leak
