Do'h . . . Drip drip drip

[JCL12]

Background:

01 tip 986, currently has 41,300 miles. The dripping appeared somewhere between 40,000 and 40,600 miles. The dripping is not to bad - over about 5-6 days about 10-15 large drips came out when I measured over a clean surface. The surface under my engine is stained, but there is no "pool" of oil, just a whole bunch of oil marks. My engine oil was replaced back in Nov. 07 and the level is fine. When cool, it is about at the 1/2 mark on the dipstick and the electronic gauge reads 1 notch below the advised max. When I measure with the engine warm after driving, the dipstick usually seems to read right at the top.

Help:

What do I do? I have heard many stories of people just letting it drip for years. Since I have a tip, I expect labor to fix the seal to be enormous and I really don't want to do anything. I am kinda ticked-off that this started dripping on a car @ the 40K mile mark after 7 years, as I've always understood this to be a more early failure.

Plz advise!

[Lil bastard]

If the dripping is on the engine centerline, then yes, you're probably looking at a failed RMS.

The Tip S is somewhat more immune, but not totally, which may explain why your's is showing up at 40K mi rather than the usual <26k mi.

Truth is that any car's crankshaft seal will eventually fail.

The bulk of the discussion here is the early, or premature, failure of the RMS in the M96 engine. Most crankshaft seals on other cars fail at 100+k mi

The RMS in my '99 Tip S Boxster failed and was replaced at 4k mi., but 22k mi. later (26k mi. total), it's bone dry - knock on the proverbial arboral tissue!

[JCL12]

Am I correct to recall its about $2,000 in labor to take out the tranny to replace the $10 failed seal?

Also, I am I correct to assume a standard fix for this is a bag of kitty litter and a bottle or two of M1 synthetic to top off?

I know that most people who have this leak fix it when they get a new clutch. I have no clutch so are there any "optimal" points in time to get this thing fixed?

Oh, and I don't know if this makes a difference, but the dripping is under the engine, but the drops cover maybe a 15in x 15in range - it is NOT concentrated to a little zone of dripping.

Thanks!

[Tool Pants]

You need to get the car in the air to locate the source of the leak. There are many places for oil to leak from that have nothing to do with the RMS.

[JCL12]

Originally Posted by Tool Pants

You need to get the car in the air to locate the source of the leak. There are many places for oil to leak from that have nothing to do with the RMS.

Generally, if there is no CEL light on, would a small oil leak worry you enough to bring it in?