i've put 25000 miles on my 2000 996 C2 (55k -80k miles). I am changing my clutch and I got it out last night. The RMS is fine and is not leaking.

Is it time to change it anyway?

Also does anyone have experience grinding off weight from the stock dual mass flywheel?

 

when my clutch was changed on MY99 C2 ~30k miles ago, the RMS was fine and the dealer did not recommend a change. They did recommend changing the case bolts......not sure which they are. maybe someone else can chime in.

jorge

 

I would think that the seal should be replaced when you are doing a clutch job just to be safe. Others may disagree. The cost is minimal for the seal and most labor is in the clutch replacement itself.

 

Yeah - I say change it while the seal is visable just in case!

99C2

 

Every mechanic I've spoken to says if it isn't leaking, DON'T touch it. The RMS has gone through many variations and even the latest one is not guaranteed.

 

I'd change it, might as well. Mechanics aren't engineers, take their advice with a grain of salt. They just see broken or not broken.

 

You should change it while you're in there, because Porsche change the design of the seal recently, and the new design helps avoid the RMS problem from recurring as opposed to the original design.

 

RMS is not part of maintenance. There are plenty of p-cars that dont have rms leak. Maybe yours is one of them. RMS is kinda tricky to install and a lot of mechanics dont often do it much and could easily "F" up the install... tough choice... leave it alone.

 

Leave well enough alone

 

This is a tough decision to make, and I just was faced with a similar situation. I had advise both ways, and decided to replace the RMS since it was accessable during the clutch replacement. My car is 8 years old and has 65000 miles on it. I though since mine was not leaking I should leave it alone, but then pondered the fact that the RMS had been updated/upgraded since new. If the RMS goes in 5000 miles from now of 15,000 miles from now, you are going to have to go through all of the same labor all over again... and if you are paying for someone else to do it, you can expect another heafty bill to replace the RMS. Since I plan on keeping the car for a while, I went ahead and replaced the RMS. If I had planned on dumping the car this year anyway, I would have left it alone. Maybe that is a good place to start your rationale... if you are going to keep it, it will likely need to be replaced some day.. you have easy access to it.. do it now. If not, and the car is going to be traded or sold, leave it alone and hope for the best.

I do not have any experience with the DMF, but I can tell you from an engineering perspective I wouldn't mess with it unless you have one of the best mechanics out there. It is a complicated device, so if you want a lighter weight flywheel buy an aftermarket one. Grinding weight off of it will not save enough for the headache of going through it.

Just my .02.

Phil

 

Thanks for all the .02 guys. I think I'll leave it alone. Pulling the transmission wasn't so bad, and I enjoy doing this kind of work anyway. When i was changing the timing chains in my 82 targa, i figured since i had the whole summer off, I'd go ahead and rebuild since it had 163,000 miles on it. When I got to the journal bearings, they were the originals from 1981 and perfectly fine! I'll go ahead and depend on Porsche this time since it seems I'm a lucky one without the rms leak. Since my new stage 2 spec has springs on it I think I'll go the aluminum flywheel as well. Who's got the best price on that? I saw it for $790 somewhere for the 3.4L.

 

The RMS shouldn't be changed at all IMHO. However, with all the problems porsche designed it several times. Get a new one in, mechanics will tell you no b/c it's going to leak soon and then they get to charge labor again. If the clutch is out then what's an extra $50?

 

I changed my clutch kit and was thinking about replacing the RMS. Every mechanic I spoke to said not to touch it unless it is leaking. Taking it out might damage something and new one could be installed incorectly.