986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners - View Single Post

johnsimion · 12-12-2008, 08:49 PM

I am in nearly the same category as Cayenne . . . I just bought a beautiful 99 with 14K miles, another garage queen, local trade-in at the Porsche dealer. Had the 15K service already, ran great, no problems for a week. Started reading these forums and discovered the IMS/RMS failure threads, began to tear myself apart with fear. Then -- discovered a pool of oil in the garage. I took the car to an independent Porsche specialist who identified that the car had a leaking oil filler tube. The entire top of the engine was covered with oil. He said there were puddles of oil on top of the engine, and in spirited driving, it got warm and runny and then ran down the side of the engine and accounted for the "leak".

People like my mechanic and Jake Raby in these forums all say to just drive the car and stop worrying. Easy to say, harder to do -- but I'm trying. From what I can tell, the odds of an outright failure are actually pretty low, and all you hear about is the bad cars. That makes sense. In fact, I probably wouldn't have developed my own paranoia so much if the ^&@*$* Porsche dealer had seen the leaking filler and fixed it in their 15K service. They also failed to clean out the radiator in the 15K service as they were supposed to. They assured me that the battery was good even though it's 3 years old and won't hold a charge. And when I first called their service manager with my problems, he wasn't very friendly or helpful. So, I think I won't be doing business with them.

My independent mechanic went over the car and said I bought a really nice car and couldn't find anything else wrong with it. RMS and engine heads were fine, and he said the service records were good (yes, I know I should have done this first but I thought I could trust the mechanics at a Porsche dealer -- WRONG!). Anyway, the independent examination and repair to the oil filler gave me a much better feeling. Wish I could get my money back for the 15K service but since I didn't pay separately for it, I don't see that happening.

Right now I am trying to convince myself that IF by some ill chance the engine does fail, well then Flat 6 has a MUCH more powerful and "fixed" engine to replace it.

12-12-2008, 08:49 PM	#18
johnsimion Registered User Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Missouri Posts: 112	Easy to be Paranoid I am in nearly the same category as Cayenne . . . I just bought a beautiful 99 with 14K miles, another garage queen, local trade-in at the Porsche dealer. Had the 15K service already, ran great, no problems for a week. Started reading these forums and discovered the IMS/RMS failure threads, began to tear myself apart with fear. Then -- discovered a pool of oil in the garage. I took the car to an independent Porsche specialist who identified that the car had a leaking oil filler tube. The entire top of the engine was covered with oil. He said there were puddles of oil on top of the engine, and in spirited driving, it got warm and runny and then ran down the side of the engine and accounted for the "leak". People like my mechanic and Jake Raby in these forums all say to just drive the car and stop worrying. Easy to say, harder to do -- but I'm trying. From what I can tell, the odds of an outright failure are actually pretty low, and all you hear about is the bad cars. That makes sense. In fact, I probably wouldn't have developed my own paranoia so much if the ^&@$ Porsche dealer had seen the leaking filler and fixed it in their 15K service. They also failed to clean out the radiator in the 15K service as they were supposed to. They assured me that the battery was good even though it's 3 years old and won't hold a charge. And when I first called their service manager with my problems, he wasn't very friendly or helpful. So, I think I won't be doing business with them. My independent mechanic went over the car and said I bought a really nice car and couldn't find anything else wrong with it. RMS and engine heads were fine, and he said the service records were good (yes, I know I should have done this first but I thought I could trust the mechanics at a Porsche dealer -- WRONG!). Anyway, the independent examination and repair to the oil filler gave me a much better feeling. Wish I could get my money back for the 15K service but since I didn't pay separately for it, I don't see that happening. Right now I am trying to convince myself that IF by some ill chance the engine does fail, well then Flat 6 has a MUCH more powerful and "fixed" engine to replace it.