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I recently bought a CPO '16 Macan S with 30K miles. A few weeks later I was learning about the new to me car and removed the lower engine cover to check out the oil filter location etc. When I did that I noticed oil on the lower radiator hose near the front passenger side tire. This did not seem right so I took it to the P car dealer near me (not the dealer I purchased it from) and they discovered an oil leak from the valve/timing cover. The dealer ordered the parts and repaired the car under warranty. I asked the service adviser how much the repair would have cost out of pocket, he said around $9000. The invoice lists 20 hours of labor and states "preformed val, pictures taken, removed engine and resealed timing cover".
I have no beef with the servicing dealer as they provided me with a brand new Macan (a good car but I missed the extra HP of the S). I do wonder about the selling dealer. As part of the CPO process the car had an oil change done and it seems to me that a technician would have noticed that leak (I noticed it). I suspect most owners do not ever look under the car so this could have gone unnoticed and would have been a huge issue if the car was out of warranty. The CPO status was not enough to protect me from this.
I have seen other posts about Macans leaking oil, hard to say if this will become a known issue or not. I also just saw a video about a Macan oil leak discovered by an indy shop with the narrator suggesting that people should have a good indy shop inspect your car as the dealer may overlook things like this.
I am posting this as a reference point, no replies needed.
Hi,
Just about to post a thread on the oil leak issue and see what others here may share. I am selling my 15 S and the pre-purchase inspection found an oil leak on mine.ine is on the driver side as well. I do remember the timing cover being mentioned by the technician that did the pre-purchase inspection. Oil leaks appear to be a fairly common issue, Google shows a few others mentioned this as well.
that would be the timing chain cover, would it not?
I believe of the ~85,000 Macans sold in the US since its introduction, a handful (getting all the press apparently)
have shown the timing chain cover leakage issue. I have heard that possibly the root cause is/was the over
tightening of some of the bolts that secure the cover to the engine, resulting in their fracturing and losing the
ability to seal the cover to its gasket and the engine.
If 850 vehicles were affected, this would represent ~1% of the US Macan population - through 2018. Fewer, <1%,
more, >1%.
It would be interesting just how many Macans have shown this issue. The same for transfer case replacement.
The under tray hides the leak and can hide it for a very long time as the leak looks to be more of an ooze than a drip. Since the Macan's first sale as a 2015 MY in the US, how many have leaked enough to go past the under tray and onto the floor and how many of those have been noticed? I believe the issue is small and probably the result of one improperly calibrated torque wrench on the engine assembly line that may have been missed for a few days or weeks. Who knows how often the torque specs are checked on the assembly tools? How many Macans rolled out with this issue? Take that factor and figure that into how many Macan buyers rely on the dealer to perform the routine services and to actually perform the inspections they say they do on their checklist.
I think there are more Macans with this issue than the owners are aware of because they put their faith in their dealerships. But I still think the affected cars out of all the Macans sold is still in the single digit percentile. It is only "common" in the sense that there have been a few cases where people reported the issue online which to me is good because it should help service advisors to quickly flag the issue and get the repairs covered under warranty but I wouldn't be overly concerned about this being some kind of widespread issue that needs to have a recall to address it. I also wouldn't trust a dealer to tell me during routine service or PPI whether there is a leak or not.
Take into account another factor here: how many of those 85,000 owners care about an oil leak? Perform their own oil changes? Crawl under, drop the pan and look for oil leaks? How many of them would even know it's leaking? How many techs care enough to mention something to the owner and then have to deal with the owner, provide a loaner and tie up a lift to effect repair? I'd venture not many at all.
We as a society just keep driving until somehting breaks and then go to the dealer and complain.
Take into account another factor here: how many of those 85,000 owners care about an oil leak? Perform their own oil changes? Crawl under, drop the pan and look for oil leaks? How many of them would even know it's leaking? How many techs care enough to mention something to the owner and then have to deal with the owner, provide a loaner and tie up a lift to effect repair? I'd venture not many at all.
We as a society just keep driving until somehting breaks and then go to the dealer and complain.
Bingo. It's funny to me when people think that this is something their dealer would automatically tell them about when they get an oil change. Odds are they won't because oil changes usually aren't performed by the techs but by the junior guys who are told to crank through the routine services as quickly as possible. Sure, this would usually be covered by warranty that the dealer gets reimbursed for, but like you said, this engine out repair will tie up a lift for days and ties up a tech's time from generating revenue on other tasks.
Moral of the story is to have an independent mechanic check it if you are unable do check it yourself. Or at the very least directly instruct your service adviser that this is something you want specifically inspected.
The trend seems to be the dealer won't mention the oil leak. The only instances I have read of people discovering oil leaks is either from an indy mechanic or seeing the leak for themselves. Mine has an oil leak but it's out of warranty so I just have to live with it. The fact of the matter is that most people won't know if their Macan has an oil leak because they probably take it to the dealer and haven't ever had an independent 3rd party look under there. So we probably will never get a real % of how many leak but you see cars with 5000 miles leaking so it sounds to me like it is probably more common than we think.
Why does everyone say timing / valve cover? Aren't they separate seals for the timing cover and the valve cover? Is it necessary to drop the engine to change the valve cover seals too or just the timing cover seal?
Why does everyone say timing / valve cover? Aren't they separate seals for the timing cover and the valve cover? Is it necessary to drop the engine to change the valve cover seals too or just the timing cover seal?
Correct, the timing cover seal and the valve cover gaskets are different components. The instances I’ve read about where engine removal was necessary was with the timing cover leak. I believe a valve cover gasket leak can be addressed without engine removal, at least that’s the case with the Cayennes.
As for this leak issue overall with the 3.0 V6 Macans, those instances I’ve read about have occurred with a few 2015 and 2016 models. It appears that Porsche has likely since addressed this in production for the later model years.
Correct, the timing cover seal and the valve cover gaskets are different components. The instances I’ve read about where engine removal was necessary was with the timing cover leak. I believe a valve cover gasket leak can be addressed without engine removal, at least that’s the case with the Cayennes.
As for this leak issue overall with the 3.0 V6 Macans, those instances I’ve read about have occurred with a few 2015 and 2016 models. It appears that Porsche has likely since addressed this in production for the later model years.
Interesting data point!
I had not observed this issue to be confined to the 3.0L engines. Is that the situation? People have not reported the issue
with the 3.6L engines?
As for this leak issue overall with the 3.0 V6 Macans, those instances I’ve read about have occurred with a few 2015 and 2016 models. It appears that Porsche has likely since addressed this in production for the later model years.
Interesting. Wasn’t sure about the Turbo’s 3.6. You see the problem here is differentiating those that are leaking because of a chronic manufacturing or defect problem, and those that just got unlucky and experienced a random leak which can happen with any vehicle.
Then there’s the ever present issue of internet chatter sometimes making a ‘problem’ appear more prevalent than it actually is. Sometimes an issue turns out to be a legit chronic one as in the case of the 958 gen Cayenne transfer cases. But in other instances some problems are reported by a few folks that are vocal online about it, and the other 99% of the owners have zero issue. Happy owners don’t post ad nauseous about how perfect their vehicles are. The unhappy ones get vocal, especially enthusiasts, so we hear about it.
Bottom line, who knows with this one. Time will tell, but so far I’m not seeing anything like it was with the Cayenne transfer cases when it started, or the 2011/12 Cayenne V8 variocam bolt problem. With the Macan’s oil leak, I don’t think the sky is falling (as of yet... again time will tell).
My 2017 GTS had this same timing cover leak at about 12K miles.
When I took it in for warranty repair, my dealer was very familiar with the issue. They even told me that about 3 out of 7 V6 Macan’s that they’ve sold come back for this repair...
It took them 3 days to repair and it would’ve been about $4500 if not covered under warranty.
My 2017 GTS had this same timing cover leak at about 12K miles.
When I took it in for warranty repair, my dealer was very familiar with the issue. They even told me that about 3 out of 7 V6 Macan’s that they’ve sold come back for this repair...
Interesting. Two of the dealers in my area tell a very different story, so who the heck really knows (as is often the case with these things). Again, as time goes on, this will play out one way or the other and then we’ll really know if this is a chronic problem or not, or something more random.
And yeah, thank goodness for warranties when things like this happen. My warranty certainly bailed me out of a couple significant issues with my Cayenne Turbo.
In the meantime, enjoy the drive... great vehicles despite some occasional glitches. Every make has their pros and cons. Overall Macans and Porsche in general seem quite solid in the grand scheme of things.
07-31-2018, 04:08 PM
Cautionary Tale of Oil Leak (timing cover)
