Oil dripping - What is normal / acceptable...

[williamsF1]

Hello Forum,

I am new to cars, generally

My Boxster 98' drips some Oil - I had it servied (new oil ect.) and my repairman motorwashed it and said the dripping stopped so I though 'that was that'...

But I just checked under the car and there were oil spots again - approx 2-4 small drips! over 3-4 days.

How many of you have oil-dripping boxsters ?

I am not sure but It looked like there also were some clear oil / water dripping from between the front tyres... the reason I say I am not sure is because I recently washed it so that might have been water from the wash, but this spot was about 4cm in diameter. I havent seen that before...

As I just had it at the shop and only drove it home (300kms) I hope it is nothing but what is acceptable oil-dripping ? Should I take it back to the porsche-repair and ask them give it a second look ? I have no warning lights in my dashboard and the car runs and sounds good...


What to do.... ?

[RandallNeighbour]

Your dripping oil can be coming from a number of places. Examine where it's coming from.... driver's side of engine, passenger side of engine, or exactly in the middle of the engine.

If it is coming from one side or the other, it may be a cam cover gasket leaking and this is somewhat typical for older boxsters. No big deal and it's not gonna blow up your engine. I have a leak that comes and goes on my driver's side.

Now if the leak is coming from the middle of the engine, you may have a rear main seal leak and you should get it checked and replaced. This will not be cheap, sorry! However, you do need to get to it sooner or later or risk losing a LOT of oil at once when it finally gives way and blowing out your engine.

The watery stuff coming from the front of the car may just be condensation from the air conditioning pipes. That is normal. Next time you see it, rub some between your fingers and smell it. If it has no smell, it's water and you can stop worrying. If it has a yellowish-green color or smells sweet or like a chemical, you may have a coolant leak.

Keep an eye on your coolant level in the trunk when the car is cold a couple of mornings in a row and note the level. If it keeps falling, you've got a leak somewhere.

Hope this helps!

PS - if you just bought the car and you have not had it looked over thoroughly by a mechanic who frequently works on Boxsters, you should pay to have this done. He can tell you what you have and what will need repair in the future so you don't get stranded somewhere or worse... stranded somewhere with a blown engine.

[williamsF1]

Both drips are from the center of the car - the black oil drips from the engine are comming from different places 3-6 cms distance from each other (I had a PPI, where the mecanis pointed to two diffrent places under my car left and right side as far as I remember) - the other Porsche mechanic who just mega-servied it at it said 'it might just be tubes' but I have lost faith in him because if I actually have a RMS problem he should have been able to see....

What does a typical RMS look like - are the oil dripping from one place only or random places from the engine area ?

Now I will take it to the official (more expensive) Porsche dealer here and ask them for a second (third) opinion...

The liquid from the front of the car had no smell I think (Ill go to the garage in 5 mins to check again)... I will leave a cloth from the spot, that should make the 'smell' easier to check.

[porsche986spyder]

Hate to say this, but what you are describing sounds like a RMS leak. I had the same type of dripping that you described. I waited until the clutch needed to be replaced and did both at the same time.

[Brucelee]

RMS, welcome to the club!

[williamsF1]

argh no... what is the repair price of this ?

Denmark is not the cheapest place to get this type of thing done, but what would a 'typical' repair price for this be ??

I havent even owned this for a month yet... I feel like getting rid of the car right now.

[williamsF1]

Originally Posted by Brucelee

RMS, welcome to the club!

How can you be so sure ?

The OIL dripping - couldnt it be 100 things ? or is the clear dripping from the front another symtom or not related ?

I am just curious, because another one here says it might be the tubes.


I just read this on RennTech:

"No problems. You can let it leak forever without damage.
Even in the most extreme rare case (and I don;t know if this has ever happened) that the seal fell out, it won;t blow your engine up...

The seal is not like a plug. It doesn't hold the oil in per se, it just stops it weeping out the end of the block thru the main bearing. If it gell out its possible to get a lot of oil on your clutch and it would probably drip on your exhaust and cause a lot of smoke. But no catastrophic engine failure.

I drove around for thousands of miles between RMS fixes. In fact I had my 1st RMS done at 27k and my car has now done 52k and only just stopped leaking......I have been driving around leaking for years.
So hang in there until the clutch is done."

Any comments on this - can I drive with my RMS without problems and wait till the problem becomes a lot worse ??