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Sorry if this has been mentioned already but while my 2017 Macan GTS was in for service the other day, the service advisor told me that Porsche has just released a new service bulletin (using steel bolts instead of aluminum) that no longer needs an engine-out to fix the common timing cover oil leak on this model. They also mentioned it would take only an hour and that perhaps Porsche will start honoring this as an optional recall of sorts (we can only hope). Good news at the right time, since my Macan has had the engine-out fix and has started to leak once again. Back then, the advice was to reuse the same design-spec aluminum bolts.
I have a 2018 Macan Turbo with 11,500 miles. Today I asked our service manager about the above comments. Thankfully this is now a simple fix but he did explain that the replacement bolts are not steel but an upgraded aluminum bolt. Regardless this dreaded leak is now an easy and inexpensive repair.
Ours is going in for this new fix in the next week or two. They identified the leak in a service a couple weeks ago, and asked us to come back after they ordered the bolts for the fix. What they said mirrors above — it’s new guidance from Porsche and IIRC it’s “covered”. Will report back.
Ours is going in for this new fix in the next week or two. They identified the leak in a service a couple weeks ago, and asked us to come back after they ordered the bolts for the fix. What they said mirrors above — it’s new guidance from Porsche and IIRC it’s “covered”. Will report back.
So the cover is leaking. What I am curious about is how new bolts are going to stanch the already leaking gasket without replacing it.
I'm curious about this also. What it weak bolts all along and they are just figuring this out now?
It's great they found an inexpensive fix, but why is Porsche so ridiculously slow to fix areas that are prone to hugely expensive repairs?
I clearly don't have answers for either of those questions.
Dropped it off this morning (I was wrong about a couple weeks-out...). The advisor said that Porsche has recently come up with a way to fix this w/o dropping the engine. Net savings for folks out of warranty is about $10K. This implies that they aren't covering this for everyone -- I'm not sure about this. But, we seem to still be in warranty (2018 S) because he said it'd be covered.
It requires a particular tech, and this tech is busy on a "big job" today -- so we are scheduled to pick it up tomorrow. I'll see if I can get any more info. It'll be a while before we can actually tell if the fix worked. I didn't notice the leak in the first place.
Good to see this. My service advisor did tell me yesterday about a new approach for this repair since my 2017 Macan S with ~45k miles has a leak, though verbal quote was around $2,000. Apparently requires front bumper removal and approach from the top.
No oil making it to the ground yet, but getting things wet behind the undertray.
Anyone tried doing this themselves yet? Maybe not too difficult in a properly equipped garage.
Good to see this. My service advisor did tell me yesterday about a new approach for this repair since my 2017 Macan S with ~45k miles has a leak, though verbal quote was around $2,000. Apparently requires front bumper removal and approach from the top.
No oil making it to the ground yet, but getting things wet behind the undertray.
Anyone tried doing this themselves yet? Maybe not too difficult in a properly equipped garage.
My quote from my Porsche dealer out of warranty was that this was only about $300 for the new fix, so hopefully your quote is off.
Great find, and thanks for posting! Unfortunately I just spend $800 at my dealer for this (Central Oregon). Wow, there sure is a wide variation of charges among dealers for this. My dealer does have a reputation for pricing everything high so I'm not surprised. I'm a decent DIYer but while under there changing my oil I spotted the leak and looked around trying to envision how I'd access the screws and decided I'd rather not attempt it. Reading the Flat 6 instructions it looks doable, wish I'd seen it earlier!
Question about this, as I've found plenty of posts about the oil leak but not many technical details since this repair is usually performed at dealers.
Do the bolt heads break off and leave the rest of the bolt in the engine block? Not sure why aluminum bolts are being used here to provide a clamping force, and seems unusual to not go with regular steel bolts.
We're all waiting for a Porsche engineer to tell us the answers. Some junior engineer right out of university probably decided it would be best to use the same metal to avoid galling while forgetting strength of materials and the effects of heat and vibration.
Last edited by NC TRACKRAT; 12-11-2022 at 06:42 PM.
09-20-2022, 07:09 PM
New Timing Chain Cover Fix out from Porsche
