Rms Slight Leak

[Richard E]

I own a 2002 base with a slight rms leak. The car has 52k miles and to the best of
my knowledge it still has the original rms/ims bearing.
My question is, I believe I have a small 3 to 4 drop oil leak (when shut down) coming from the rms. Is this small leak enough to warrant an immediate rms/ims
bearing upgrade? Or can I wait until next winter and pull it all apart and do the upgrade.
Thx in advance for your reply

[laphan]

I had the similar amount of leak on my car last year. I freaked out because of the IMS bearing failure discussion in here. I sent my car to my porsche mechanic get it fixed immediately (cluth, IMS and RMS). When we had it apart, we found out that the leak was from RMS. Hopefully your is from RMS too.
Only if I knew that it was from RMS, I would have waited until my clutch is completely gone before I do something (I did not check my oil filter for metal particles).
My suggestion is try to look for metal debris in you oil filter. If you have no metal particles, I guess it might be safe to assume that it is the RMS that leaks (but check it every time you change your oil).

[clickman]

How do you know it's an RMS leak? It could be IMS. You can't see into that area without separating the tranny from the engine.

Apparently there can be a real bad smell to the oil if it's from the IMS, but I wouldn't bet my engine on it if it doesn't smell bad.

This is a tough situation. You don't know if the IMS is going to go tomorrow or if it's just an annoying leak from the RMS. If it was me, I'd probably sit the car until I could do the IMS, RMS and clutch.

That may not work for you.

[Richard E]

Thx for the reply guys. I thought the ims failure is a result of the rms leaking and washing the grease out of the sealed ims bearing. Am I wrong in thinking that?
The reason I assumed the leak was from the rms was because oil droplets form at the engine/transmission mating surface.
Thx

[tonycarreon]

a failed rms does not mean the ims is gone, and vice versa.

the rms was replaced on my boxster in 2008 before i purchased it, the ims was untouched.

[Richard E]

Does a leaking rms pose a threat to the ims bearing?

[clickman]

The IMS and RMS are two different and separate things. The Rear Main Seal is on the crankshaft. The Intermediate shaft is BELOW the crankshaft.

In the attached pic, the blue is the RMS, and the red is the IMS.

For a better explanation check out Wayne Dempsey's excellent article on Pelican Parts:

http://www.pelicanparts.com/techarticles/Boxster_Tech/13-ENGINE-Common_Engine_Failures/13-ENGINE-Common_Engine_Failures.htm

So, as the tranny bolts up tight to the back of the engine, you can't tell which one is leaking.

[springer123]

Hello. I'm going through the same issue with my 1999 Boxster. I notice 3-4 drops of oil on the garage floor everytime I take it out for a spin. I'm going to have to take it to the dealer and have it checked out. I hope it's the RMS leaking but I guess it could also be the IMS support cover O ring, or both?

[tonycarreon]

Originally Posted by springer123

Hello. I'm going through the same issue with my 1999 Boxster. I notice 3-4 drops of oil on the garage floor everytime I take it out for a spin. I'm going to have to take it to the dealer and have it checked out. I hope it's the RMS leaking but I guess it could also be the IMS support cover O ring, or both?

if i might suggest, if you're worried about the ims, take it to an indy shop that can do the ims since it's pretty much the same work to get to it. rather than paying the labor to do the rms and then labor to do the ims again. that's what i would do anyway...

[tonycarreon]

Originally Posted by Richard E

Does a leaking rms pose a threat to the ims bearing?

from what i know of it ( admittedly little ) - no. a leaking rms poses a risk of losing oil. the leaking ims indicates the seal has gone and engine oil is getting into the bearing. just because your rms is leaking does not mean your ims is blown or that it's going to blow any quicker if the rms wasn't leaking.

[thstone]

As previously stated, the problem is that there is no way to know whether an oil leak/drip coming from between the engine and trans is RMS or IMS without dropping the trans. It could be one or the other or both.

And yes, there is evidence that when an IMS seal starts to fail it can leak oil.

Thus, its important to get to the root cause of any oil leak coming from the engine/trans area. Think of it as if you were bleeding a few drops - no one would walk around in that condition so correspondingly any oil leak from the engine/trans area should be thoroughly checked out.

[Lil bastard]

Originally Posted by springer123

Hello. I'm going through the same issue with my 1999 Boxster. I notice 3-4 drops of oil on the garage floor everytime I take it out for a spin. I'm going to have to take it to the dealer and have it checked out. I hope it's the RMS leaking but I guess it could also be the IMS support cover O ring, or both?

IMS is rarely an issue with the 1st Gen cars (up to and incl. '99). The IMS issue so often discussed here is in the later cars w/ the improved IMS bearing.

A '99 can still have an IMS issue - all mechanical things can break. But it's not really associated with the more common one discussed here.

Cheers!

[Richard E]

Pls post the results after having the dealer look at it. Thx

[2TrunkSteve]

I am tired of worrying about the IMS. I have a similiar story where I found oil seeping from the area of the bell housing and the motor. It wasn't dripping, but clearly I had something in there leaking. Since my 2.5 has 52k miles and the car was in the shop for other reasons, I went ahead and pulled the trigger. I am having the clutch, rms and LN Engineering IMS update done. Based on the review of the clutch, I was pretty close to needing it anyways, and the cost to update the bearing and RMS was money well spent on a car I plan to keep.

As a side note, when I pulled my IMS bearing it appeared to be okay, but given all that I read I couldn't resist doing the job while I was there. Odd thing, the mechanic had another Boxster S in the shop at the same time. This car was having similiar work done. The owner decided not to do the IMS update although they replaced the clutch. I'm not sure I understand that thinking.

[clickman]

Originally Posted by 2TrunkSteve

the mechanic had another Boxster S in the shop at the same time. The owner decided not to do the IMS update although they replaced the clutch. I'm not sure I understand that thinking.

He's not reading this forum! Now is that a bad thing or a good thing?

[Richard E]

Did you ever determine where the oil leak was coming from?

[jdiba]

Steve, sadly they probably don't even know about the IMS issue. When I bought
mine in Jan of 09 it was a CPO. It had a slight oil leak. 3 months after I bought it.
I took it to the dealer and they opened it up and it was the RMS leaking. Which was replaced at no charge.

I didn't even know what the hell an IMS was. So needless to say, I didn't have the
bearing replaced at the time. I know what the IMS is now though. Thanks to this
forum and its members. I'll be doing the upgrade at some point this summer as
my CPO warranty expired 2 months ago. I went out and bought an extended
service contract with Fidelity Warranty services thru the dealer I got my S serviced
at in the mean time. I make monthly payments on the contract. I just hope I don't
have the issue before I get the chance to do the upgrade. I REALLY don't wanna
jump thru hoops with Fidelity if it DID happen before the upgrade gets done !

:ah:

[clickman]

Originally Posted by jdiba

I went out and bought an extended service contract with Fidelity Warranty services. I just hope I don't have the issue before I get the chance to do the upgrade. I REALLY don't wanna jump thru hoops with Fidelity if it DID happen before the upgrade gets done !
:ah:

Gee, I thought the point of a warranty was to make you worry less!

[jdiba]

You hear horror stories about these Service contract companies. I don't think they'd
be too thrilled about having to replace an engine. I just don't have the stomach for
having to do battle over what they're supposed to provide in the 1st place. Maybe
I'm selling them a little short. Lets just say I don't wanna find out, hmm ?

[JFP in PA]

Or they are readers of another forum where the IMS is considered a non problem driven by mass hysteria as the result of hyperbole posted with solely commercial intent….