Hey Guys,

I need your opinions ASAP on a problem with my car. Its a 99 996 C4. This is the basic story:

I took my car in to have its 96K servicing completed as well as to fix an air/oil seperator/vacuum problem about 2 weeks ago. Up until that point my car had been running flawlessly and NEVER had a single drop of oil leak from the engine.

I got my vehicle back, and immediately noticed that my oil levels were low, (just at the very bottom of the electronic measure and the manual dipstick check) even though they had just done the 96K service which included an oil and filter change. I took it back and they said that it was due to the oil getting absorbed by the engine but that no damage would have been done and they added a quart of oil to get it back up to a medium range level.

I took my car home, and immediately within a day or two, I started to find oil dripping from underneath my car onto the garage floor. I tried to wash the car to ensure it wasn't just residue and when it continued I booked an appointment to bring my car back in.

Now they are claiming my main seal has gone and that I need a fix. When I asked how it could happen when the car and that it was too much coincidence for them to not be at fault, they said they wouldnt argue and wanted to show me what the problem is etc.

Do you think the two were related and if so What should i do? what options do i have for recourse if any? If my main seal was going, wouldnt they have noticed it during the 96K service?

Please help me out here. I have to go down there in a couple of hours and I need some solid footing to decide what i'm going to do.

Thanks,

Kevin

 

Can you tell where it's leaking from? Did they show you what the problem is like they said? What work did they do on the car when they had it beside the oil change? I assume you checked the drain plug and oil filter for leaks.

 

+1 on that. was this a dealer service or indi?

sorry but i smell a rat.

 

did they drop the engine to replace the AOS? If they did its possible they effed up the seal.

Post pics!!!

 

I have to go down later to take a look. Its seems pretty fishy but hard to prove they did anything. This is through the registered dealer.

 

RMS going bad on these cars isn't uncommon. Were you planning on changing the clutch out in a year or so? If so just monitor the oil level and you should be able to push it off until you need to place the clutch.

If you have enough know how and will power get underneath the car and check to make sure it is what they saying is leaking.

Good Luck

 

well I have a not so different story. I had my car in for its 30,000 mi service about an month ago. Car had never leaked oil. Three days after I got it back, sure enough it was leaking, and they diagnosed the RMS leak. My car is still under a CPO so I didnt' sweat it too much and just had them fix it and put in a new clutch while they were in there since it was free labor and for the 400 or so bucks it was worth it. I don't quite understand what happened, or why it started leaking, but I agree, too much of a coincidence.

Good luck getting it resolved.

 

well I went in yesterday and had a quick look at it while they had it up on the hoist. They showed me where it was leaking from and it looks like a seal leak, but when i questioned them on not seeing it when doing the 96K "checkup" he didn't have much of an answer. It sucks but I don't have much choice but to ante up and get it fixed. Their quoted cost was $1200 with taxes etc... but their quote on the new clutch was ridiculous.. something like $900 for the parts so I haven't commited to anything yet. I might try to order the parts and have them install them for me. (although I bet they will try to raise a stink about that too)

 

they're thieves!... Id go Indie!

 

Unfortunately the Indie porsche certified mechanic here is also a crook! I used to take all of my vehicles to him and his service was really good, but then he started doing BMWs and mercedes on top of porsche and audi's and he hired a bunch of crap guys to work for him. He ripped me off by putting in a old/used coolant tank when mine needed to be replaced and it promptly failed a month later. That made my decision pretty easy to avoid him going forward.

 

Well that's unfortunate that you're going to be stuck with the bill, good luck in getting it all resolved.

As to the clutch, I went through the same process as you, my local dealership tried to charge me an arm and a leg. I spent some time shopping around at other dealerships and getting quotes on the clutch kit, and they went from $800 +/- to $450 or so. It is amazing to me the discrepency in pricing on parts from dealership to dealership. In the end I brought them my best price I was able to source elsewhere and they got close enough that is was worth it for me to buy through the dealership, but it took haggeling to get there.

 

OK first off you can find clutches all over for under $ 300.00 on ebay, I bought a one for my C2, A RMS repair should not cost you more then $ 800.00 CND ( from the dealer). Pm with the dealer and I may be able to help you.

 

Although you’re in a bad situation, you have to focus more on the solutions than the problems. Here are a few options:

• You certainly have more than two places to get the car fixed. Although they may be outside your immediate area, there are certainly options for a good Porsche technician within an hours drive. I say make this your first priority. Search local PCA chapters for someone highly recommended. A longer drive to a reputable and honorable mechanic is worth the trip.

• “Zose” gave a great hint in his response – the clutch replacement/repair is part of the same labor to change the seal that is a problem with this model. If you have some time on the clutch, you can save a few dollars by having them do both at the same time –OR- if they serviced the clutch within the last couple thousand miles, they should have told you about the seal being an issue and advised a replacement at the same time. If so, call in a Regional Service Manager. He’ll understand the correlation of the two and recognize there ‘should’ be some sort of compensation. I’m not saying you’ll get a free-bee – but shoot for at least 30 to 50% off the labor bill. If not – this is a great time to develop a new relationship with that honorable tech as discussed in #1.

Good luck – hope this helps.
EDIT: seems this site's a little different than others, the numbered answers have become dot's - so exchange "#1" for "first dot suggestion"