I'm looking to buy a 996, and have seen two 996's for sale, one 2000 and the other 2001, both 3.4L engines.

To my surprise both had oil leak, and the bottom of the engines were all oily.

Is there any known issue regarding this, or I just had a bad luck ..?

cheers

 

Rear Main Seal.. common problem, you can have it replace with a heavy duty one.

 

Personally, I'd skip any 996 that has leaks or weeps on the underside unless you're a gambler type and steal it for real cheap and have a PPI confirm it is an easy fix.

There could be several different causes of leaks(cam cover,rms, IMS,AOS, spark plug tubes, cracked oil pan, etc)

 

I would agree....

 

If its a spark plug tube it's an easy/cheap fix. $10 in parts and 45 min - 1.5 hours depending on which cylinder. If it's anything else, I'd steer clear of the car. No one likes engine leaks, especially on a Porsche.

 

Why would you even consider buying a car with leaking oil. I would run a mile. There are other cars out there.

 

I am not considering buying a leaky car, but was curious if this is a common problem with 996's.

 

To answer your question...yes the RMS is a problem but it's not specific to the 996. The cars that tend to have RMS problems are the one not driven that much, the older air cooled ones leaked a lot.

 

Thanks, what is RMS?

 

Rear Main Seal, it's for the output shaft between the engine and transmission. So the transmission needs to be dropped in order to replace it.

 

Rear main seal. Seals around the crank as it exits the crankcase.

 

Thanks all, much appreciated.