I've worked on 100's of race cars and NONE leaked oil. Oil on a racetrack is a very bad thing, and we would never pass Tech Inspection with a leaky motor. Don't kid yourself that its a "race car" thing to feel better...its a defect any way you slice it, and Porsche should be ashamed of themselves for not finding a solution for this.

The official response is also a crock, as many of these cars sit on dealer showrooms and lots for extended periods without being driven prior to delivery. Following their logic, all these cars would lack proper vaccuume to hold a seal and wold be delivered leaking. Though I have seen them hide behind the "you must drive it or your warranty is void" to avoid replacing batteries after winter storage.

 

Some very valid points DaveW... The comment about oil on racetracks is particularly valid and I bet nobody has taken the time to raise it with the geniuses at Porsche. A trackcar that is not trackworthy, got to love them... and they're still making excuses in preference to coming up with a solution 4 the current owners...

 

I had my 07 RS begin leaking (2-3 drops/day) last month and had the RMS replaced while the car is still under warranty. I was told there is a new update to the seal with a stronger spring to improve the seal when the vacuum drops (from not being driven). I'm not sure if this is a more recent update than what has been described. If it were to leak outside warranty I would likely not have it replaced.

 

I believe that the "new" stronger spring has not fixed the problem in other GT3's. Your dealer may not know that the new spring loaded seal does not work. You would think that the factory would come up with a reliable solution but for some reason it is not a high priority. Porsche has apparently decided to fix failed RMS's under warranty even knowing the repairs won't hold up instead of devoting some resources to come up with a reliable repair for the 997 GT3 RMS leaks. Good luck

 

4 months / ~3000mi later, not a drop....yet. i have a feeling they fixed it right.

 

Hi, my name is Ben and ive been a Porsche tech for the last 4 years, we have been seeing on the new gt3 and the gt3 rs that there is an oil leak coming from the rear of the case area. Many people are being misled by the dealerships being told a whole lot of BS about it being there rear main seal that is leaking due to vacuum loss while the car is sitting, i have first hand information that it is not the rear main seal that is leaking!!! It is the case AND the case bolts!!! When i first came across this issue i to thought it was the rear main seal so i replaced it, after test driving car found oil leaking again, pulled the transmission again and pulled out the rear main seal as it pulls out in two pieces you can see that the sealing surface was dry and no oil found in between the seal, also no oil trail running down from sealing area, me and my shop forman called tech line for assistance...i was told that porsche saya to use a wicking lock tight on the case bolts to stop the leak. So we did that let the lock tight sit over night and dry...test drove again found that case was still leaking!! We contacted tech line again and they sent the area rep for porsche to the store, she made us split the case for Porsche and take pictures of what we found, rebuilt entire engine and test drove using the old air case locktight. The truth is the dealer doesnt want you to know this because there is no fix for it... the cases are bad and are always going to leak oil sorry guys

 

hmm, I'd buy that explanation given the high number unsuccessful RMS replacements. Why not just try a simple sealant on the outside leaky portion of the cases? Unless Porsche is worried about this "vacuum" pulling any sealant into the case, I can't imagine this would void any warranty.

That said, since the oil leak is usually very small and doesn't seem to hurt any other components...it doesn't stop me from still wanting to buy one. Think of it this way....this slight defect has simply been the status-quo for Italian car manufacturers for decades.

 

A whistle blower .... interesting and thanks for the info regardless

I used to have couple drops of oil leak here an there from the RMS region but after tracking the car at Thunderhill once the leak was completely GONE! Not one hint of oil leak and my oil level has been stable w/o change. I think these cars needs to be track at least once or twice to heat seal the RMS or bolts - which ever one that has the real leak

This reminded me of the elastic fuel tank in SR-71 blackbird where it leaks fuel when the airplane is cold and seal up in flight once heat up ....

Those wet spots under the plane are fuel leaks. I would not smile to the camera if I were them ...lol

 

Wow hopefully porsche steps up and fixes the issue for the new gt3, I have a turbo and I don't notice any leaks, but then again it's my only car and my daily commuter.

 

Your response makes sense and you are much more informed than most of us, but if the turbo case is the same used in the GT3 cars it would seem the turbos would also leak.

 

Once the 997 GT3 goes out of warranty in the next two years this RMS problem is unfortunately going to hammer resale prices.

 

As if the economy hasn't affect the resale value of the car already.

 

sorry......i don't agree with you on this one

 

Why Mr. Porschetech?

 

........kevin, cause it ain't true.

think about it.........is this really some secret that porsche doesn't want anyone to know about? this is the first i heard about it and if this engine case design is so bad with oil leaks. then why has porsche been using this same engine since the 930 era?

if it was a porosity issue then yeah i would have agreed with him, as some engines had this defect and 'WAS NOT' denied by porsche either.

i'm sorry but both me and manni call 'BS' on this one