I took it with a grain of salt. Just the typical dealer "upsell" which I was fully expecting.

I've found rebuilt transmissions for $6500 + $3000 core charge. So, the dealer wants $18k apparently for install...

Anyway, plan to start talking with some local indie's this week about it... I'll keep the thread updated.

 

So , you got new fluid from the dealer for inspecting it if I'm following correctly?
Did you clean it up to see how much is coming out?
Is there anything else wrong or needing repair with the synchros, clutch, hydraulic system, bearing whine?
Maybe you get lucky and it's a real slow leak...then you can plan out what you want to do since you just got it. Lot's of things to consider doing if you drop the whole shebang and want to keep it long term.
​​​

 

The problem is when it leaks the fluid gets lower and causes the top gears not to get lube. It needs to fixed asap samething happened to me but i was already building my trans 3 months after it happened.


The seal is from a boxster trans but the bearing you cant find so you have to get a machine shop to custom make one.

 

i had a couple of other service items done as well. I asked that they drain refill it and quote the repair. Apparently they felt bad re: the quote so did the refill free of charge. . There was nothing further noted by the dealer. No note of shavings in the oil, etc. dealer noted the level wasn't materially low when drained.

as far as I can tell it shifts great, no noises, no 2nd gear pop out...

I wouldnt call it a slow leak. It's not a gusher though. It will leave a drip or two on the garage floor after every drive. No telling how much comes out while driving.

I dont plan to drive it too much until I get it fixed.

 

porsche has a rating of the rms seal when it leaks in terms of numerical severity eg. 1,2,3,4. i wonder if they have one for this seal. my rms seeped for quite awhile before i replaced it. a drop here and there. unsightly but not mission critical. the differential btw dealer prices to repair vs what a reputable and *fair* shop might charge, is other worldly.

 

There's so much fluid slopping around I find it hard to believe the top gears will go dry. If it were that sensitive Porsche would have designed a CEL for this.

As mentioned by others here and in other threads, if you do it yourself please save the time and money and headaches by dropping the motor and gearbox. I did not and paid the price; you can thank me later. 👍

 

search this part #. it gives the dimensions so it may work for you.
Oil Seal - Genuine Porsche G012301457C
Known as: shaft sealing ring / shaft sealing ring 16 x 24 x 6


$6.80
this is from autoatlanta.com website

 

This is the part number of the seal. Called shaft sealing ring. It's #11 in PET

99630351700

It's about $3

[url=https://flic.kr/p/Pzmfjs]

 

Sounds like you have a handle on the right approach.
If you're not doing the repair for a few, I'd check it on a level surface after driving a couple hundred miles.
If starts running out of the filler hole when cold, you're not loosing too much.

Not ideal but maybe others can tell you if they ever had this type of leak go from minor to gusher and cost them a transmission?

 

My 2nd hand info based on some experience is the RMS leak is judged differently. My info is the RMS is deemed bad enough to replace if oil hits the ground. Now this is replaced under warranty. It could be if the owner was on the hook for this repair this could change. Really I guess it is up to the owner how bad he wants the leak to be before he gives the ok to repair it.

However, I note in the case of my 2003 Turbo while there was no RMS oil hitting the ground the area was wet with oil and I opted to have the RMS leak repair done rather than wait.

One can see from the picture I posted in an earlier post the "severity" of the RMS leak.

In the case of the leaking transmission seal, there was no signs of any leak under the car and I was blissfully unaware of any transmission leak. The leak was found be "accident". Well, that's not right, the leak was found because the tech was thorough in doing his job.

I had the car in for an early tranny/diff(s) fluid service and the tech after removing the plastic panels spotted the leak when doing his inspection. As one can see in the picture (in an earlier post) the leak was not severe, but it was decided to address this. Had there been some hesitation though I would have insisted.

After this then it became a question of replace vs. repair? As I think I mentioned before the techs told me they could repair the leak. But the factory finally came back with the decision to replace the transmission so nearly 2 weeks was spent waiting for the replacement transmission to arrive. Not that I'm complaining. The difference between the feel of the original transmission vs. the new was night and day with the new one feeling much much better.

 

Porsche Doesn't make seals any longer? what ? 25k ? damn.... I think used engine starts at 15k+

That's why we need to invest in lifts. You need to have deep pockets to be able to fix stuff at stealership.

 

yes, again there is a severity scale for the rms. but presumably not one for the selector(?) seal, as is the op's issue.

but i am not sure i understand what you say re "warranty"?. are you saying the that r&r of your rms was covered by warranty? as it couldn't be at this late date and there is no known factory defect, per se.. just an o-ring type rms. but we all know its not his issue and i only mentioned it as it IS, as you say, a leak that can be lived with and the car driven for quite some time with a leaking rear main seal unaddressed. less so, this trans seal, i would think?

again, pretty sure the trans seal leak is of a more critical nature than a type 1 or 2 rms leak. but enough of that lol

once again! porsche opts to replace a faulty seal with a rebuilt g50 all for the need of a $3-$6 dollar seal sounds like the factory we all know and love. just like their method of dealing with the spoiler! when it needs a bit of pentosin and a re-bleed, they simply replace the whole spoiler hydraulic apparatus and pass along the $2000 bill to some unsuspecting "victim" lol

btw. your newly rebuilt transmission probably had the amended shim tolerances which were all added on rebuilds after 02-03. my *first* g50 rebuild by porsche felt day and night better than the original box also

 

In the case of my Turbo the RMS leak was not covered by warranty. I opted to have the RMS replaced because there was signs of a leak. No oil was hitting the ground at the time.

But the discussion I had with the techs was at least for some leaks one of the factors in whether to leave it alone vs. address it -- this is under warranty and these guidelines are issued by the factory -- is whether the leak is bad enough to spot the ground or foul surrounding hardware with fluid.

In the case of the transmission selector shaft leak no oil was hitting the ground. Really as one can see in the pic I posted the leak wasn't that bad, at least to my eye. In fact the tech only found the leak when he removed the panels to do a transmission fluid service.

The techs told me they could address the seal leak if given permission by the factory. But the factory elected to replace the transmission. I doubt this was because the factory didn't think the techs capable. More likely it was because the factory realized the original transmission was or soon would be crap. Had the thing not been replaced due to the leak I would have soon had the thing in for its lousy shifting action. The shifting action was not very good at all.

Your mention of the amended shim tolerances probably was the deciding factor in Porsche replacing the transmission vs. having the techs address the seal. Maybe Porsche didn't have a procedure documented to do this shim update at the dealer? Really I don't care. The replacement transmission is tons better in shifting feel than the original one. I believe the leaking selector shaft seal was a blessing in disguise.

I can't help but think your mention of the spoiler and "victim" is a reference to me and my experience.

As I mentioned at the time the techs told me they were not set up to "rebuild" the spoiler hydraulic system. I would have had to give permission/authorize the tech to come up with a suitable test setup (at my expense) and then fund a trial/error attempt to get the spoiler hydraulics working right. There was no way of knowing which parts would have to be replaced and IIRC there were 13 parts available separately. The cylinders alone were hundreds of dollars each.

At $150/hour and who knows how many hours and who knows how many separate parts the tech would identify needing replacement then with the possibly that after all the time and effort (and money) the spoiler would manifest another problem or a leak and I would have been right back where I was only poorer.

In short I was no unspecting victim. Based on what info I had at the time I ok'd the spoiler replacement as it seemed to be the safest course of action, with the lowest total cost for the best chance of a long and trouble free service life.

I felt that way now and I still feel that way.

Even now I'd probably go for replacement as the dealer techs still have no Turbo spoiler rebuild capability and I have no indy shop around I'd trust with the car.

By "replacement" though I might not go with the factory setup again but instead at least look into the electric system someone has come up with. That or just buy the solid supports and remove all the hydraulics.

 

i don't believe that. they did it because of their their relationship with pcna vis a vis getting "paid" etc.

this would've been addressed at the time they replaced the seal. "they" don't open and button it up, without fully diagnosing all the internals. they would caught any issue, but then it also could well have been simply trans oil needing changing and the box becoming "notchy" on shifts.

well, if it was warranty work? then it hardly matters as i also had ( according to the dealer ) $8500.00 + worth of trans work covered by warranty that would've cost me $4000.00 had i had it done by the folks i use now, and have, since the car is longer covered under warranty. but "porsche" had full awareness of the causes and propensity for 2nd gear popout by the time my issue was diagnosed, which was exacerbated by incorrect tolerances when the car was introduced. thats why no one hears of it beyond MY '01/'02. that they acted as if i were crazy and had damaged my own gearbox! is more telling and reflective of how dealerships choose to deal with expensive and potential warranty issues that have not surfaced with enough frequency that they attempt a combination of "plausible deniability" coupled with an assertion of "operator error". by '09 they were no longer able to attempt denying a warranty claim as they by then knew of the design flaw, such as the original gearbox shim tolerances highlight. they still tried, however!

further, the amended shim specs to repair 2nd gear popout, the master tech ( who works on all the turbo/gt3 porsche models ) had to learn of them while researching what to do about my 2nd gear pop on a car that still had a factory warranty. given porsche had the amended specs by then ( '09 ) porsche recommended that the master tech complete the warranty work "in house".

i wasn't referring to you, macster, as the *victim* in question. you managed to personalize my entire reply, presumably because i was replying to your post. my reference was to a "hypothetical" victim lol. read it again, i think you'll see it was by no means a criticism of you personally.

if you opted to buy a new spoiler setup because you didn't realize you ( may have ) had options? this is not a capital crime lol

which is fine, but doesn't obviate the reality that most all initial spoiler issues can be cured with a can of pentosin and a re-bleed per porsches own technical documents. so, of course they have a "solution". that they don't ever actually DO it?! has more to do with my mention of dealerships, "warranty and/or repair" work, and pcna. its easier to get the whole mechanism and replace it and pass the buck. literally.

 

To close the loop on this. Finally got the issue taken care of at a local indy shop... and a big shout out to them.

Auto Strasse in Costa Mesa, CA. Definitely recommended...

http://www.autostrassecorp.com/

I took it to / called a number of shops. Many shops ignored my calls, wouldn't give me a quote, etc.

Auto Strasse gave me an estimate for the transmission repair and the final cost ended up pretty close to the original estimate.

All in for the repair ~$1500!

I did opt to change the clutch, slave cylinder, rear main seal at the same time while in there so that bumped up the total bill... but definitely better than the $25k quote received from the dealer!