MarkyRR

1 hour ago, Bike Loon said:

Any response from Nick on your written report?

Actually yes.  Apologies for not updating that part!  It took a bit of pressure on the Facebook group but I did get it emailed over.  There was an explanation that he was without internet/his phone/etc for a couple of weeks which was to blame.  There weren’t any photos with the report, but I’m not certain that’s the norm.  I was contacted by another couple of people on the group there that also hadn’t had their report (one was also on here) and comments were made on the thread I started on FB.  
 

Overall, it’s disappointing to get that type of service after it started so well, but I guess that’s life.  I feel that making contact with Paul (Trooper88) was a decent trade off from the experience in the end, as he’s clearly one of the good guys. 👍

So a bit of an update.  I called down to see Paul this morning at his workshop in Sunbury on Thames.  What a decent guy!  We had a good look round underneath to investigate my ‘issue’.   The conclusion was that the dripping was an overfill of the coolant (🙈).  Although the oil underneath is wet, it is very much concentrated in one spot and not travelled very much at all.  In his opinion, it is highly likely it’s either the RMS or the IMS seal.  However, it’s felt that after cleaning up the area, I need only monitor it to see how much oil accumulates moving forwards.  The car has done such little mileage over the last 4/5 years and now I’ve started using it as intended, this seems like it’s caused the small leak.  There’s absolutely no noises from the engine whilst cold or when warm, it drives beautifully and the clutch feels normal.  The whole engine and gearbox area is completely dry, with no signs of any other leaks.

With all the above taken into account, I’m going to use the car with an eye on the leak.  I’ve taken some new ‘before’ (ie cleaned up) photos and will use them to compare should more oil appear.  
 

Whilst on the lift, Paul & I walked round the entire car (underneath & on top) looking at it in some detail.  It was reassuring to hear it appears I’ve bought a good one, with an obvious amount of attention having been spent on it over the years.

Paul couldn’t have been more helpful and I couldn’t not highly recommend him for carrying out work on your cars guys.  I’ve no affiliation other than my experience on this thread & meeting Paul this morning, but have a look at his website and give him a shout if you need anything:  

http://www.torqueboxsters.co.uk

👍

4 hours ago, usman10316 said:

Any update on what the mysterious leak was? 

I’m visiting Paul (Trooper88) at his workshop tomorrow morning after his kind offer, so hopefully up on a lift we’ll have a better idea 🤞

Ok👍

A quick question…..would it be ok to use a spray brake cleaner to clear up the oil etc in the position in my photos, or would the recommendation be something else?

On 11/25/2021 at 7:49 AM, Nobbie said:

I didn’t see the OP confirm the location of the drip.

I posted a photo of the original oil leak/drip location, but the water/coolant drips are appearing in the drip tray from similar place plus what appears to be from behind the osr wheel.  Neither are large, but enough to leave a tiny ‘puddle’ on the tray (enough to tilt the tray & it run across it).

Apologies guys, I didn’t want/expect this thread to turn into another “missing ppi report”, rather deal with the issue of my car.  The water/coolant thing is very strange as it doesn’t seem to evaporate, but with the temperature etc I’m not if it would too quickly anyway, especially with coolant/antifreeze in it.

I’m still waiting for my Indy (I may make more phone calls tomorrow), but I’m just confused.  The car sounds/drives perfectly, holds temperature fine, no drop in oil level on dipstick or the computer, note has the coolant level dropped that I can see.

19 minutes ago, Scubaregs said:

So yet another paying customer is being ignored by Mr Giles and also never got their written report. @MarkyRR you should be raising this on the 986 facebook forum.

Ha, yes….I posted last night tagging him asking to contact me about obtaining the report.  As expected, someone jumped to his defence “he’s probably tucked under a car somewhere without a signal” etc.  I’ve seen he’s been active on FB messenger quite a bit, so obviously ignoring me.  I’ll leave it until tomorrow to get a bit more forceful on there - and expect to be removed from the group as I understand he’s a group admin/moderator 🙄

So a bit of an update (& more questions!)….still no reply from Nick Giles so I can now only assume this is the way he conducts business.  As mentioned above, I placed a drip tray under the car yesterday morning when I parked it up.  No sign of anything yesterday, however this morning I found drips.  The thing is it’s not oil, but watery, smelling of coolant.  This might make a bit of sense as thinking about it, the “oil patch” on the drive hasn’t stained the tarmac and was cleaned fairly easily.

What are the thoughts about this please?  I’m still waiting for the local Indy to contact me regarding lead time to get the car into them, so thought I’d spend a bit more time looking myself whilst I wait.

15 minutes ago, edc said:

Some light reading and other user experiences for you to see 

https://www.BoXa.net/topic/87696-pre-purchase-inspections/

I’ve seen, thank you.  Doesn’t inspire confidence, I have to say.

38 minutes ago, TROOPER88 said:

For sure.

I am not for one minute suggesting you get your pants pulled down.

Shame you are not local as I would happily have a look for you (I am Surrey based). 

Give Nick a call and try and get the pics from the report.

if we had a picture of what the leak was like when you purchased the car, we will know how much worse the leak is now.

 

Good luck Mark

 

Paul 

I’m still trying to get hold of him & I’ll ask.  It’s good of you to offer, thank you.  I’m in south Oxfordshire.  Completely confused me as to why there’s no dripping now. I might get under there to clean off with some degreaser/brake cleaner & see if it comes back in the meantime.  A little nervous about driving it now though, even with looking at the old oil filter etc all being clear of any grit/metal.

20 hours ago, edc said:

£625 is surely just remove box and refit and change RMS. 

Sorry, just reread your post…..no, that is the ‘menu’ pricing for clutch replacement.  Plus clamps etc if needed I'd assume.

13 minutes ago, Scubaregs said:

Who did the oil change? Is it possible some was spilled on refilling and has taken some time to work it's way out of the bay?

Isn’t the oil refilled using the filler in the boot, rather than one in the engine ‘bay’?  If that’s the case, there’d be signs in the boot/filler area?  

4 minutes ago, TROOPER88 said:

No.

The precise location of the oil staining is to precise.

As per my original post, it is 100% RMS or IMSB flange 

Thanks mate.  I’ve decided I want it looking at/dealing with but I don’t want my pants pulling down by paying £700 over what I need to on a job of this cost.  The local thing is important to me & I don’t mind paying a little more, but heading towards double for what sounds like the same job (particularly from an Indy who seems to have a good reputation - Revolution) isn’t what I like doing.

*just to edit….there is still oil in the car, it’s not dropped it all!

This is interesting.  I messaged Nick yesterday but not yet received a reply.  I’ve been driving the car up to this morning, yesterday morning I put a drip tray underneath after my 20 mile drive home from night shift and it sat all day with no signs of any drips.  I did the same this morning when I got in and so far still no drips. 🤔

I’ve messaged Nick for the report.  He appears to be very well respected, so don’t have too many concerns regarding his inspection, but would be nice to have the full report to be honest.

The car doesn’t need to be used for a while now, so will hold off using it until I get it sorted…..just a case of where to go with it.

16 hours ago, edc said:

£625 is surely just remove box and refit and change RMS. 

£840+ vat for the labour

15 hours ago, TROOPER88 said:

Do you have the report from Nick Giles? What does it say about the RMS/IMSB leak? Any pictures in the report of it?

 

With regard exhaust fittings, yes, most likely you will require 2 x muffler to cat sleeves and 2 x muffler to cat support brackets. I usually have to cut the existing fittings as they corrode badly.

Personally, I would not drive your car, wait for your indy to fit you in and have it recovered there.

Thanks for your input. It’s appreciated.  I’ve contacted Nick to get him to send (re-send?) the report, but he spoke to me at length on the phone the same day as he inspected it and no mention was made of any leaks.  The car only covered a few hundred miles over the last couple of years….I’ve put 1000 on it in the last 3/4 weeks, so it’s starting to be used now.  My concern is the amount of oil being dropped on the drive, so it’s certainly going to be looked at.  I bought it with the intention of using it as my daily, so want it sorted.

I had the costs details through from my local Indy, which looked at £104 for exhaust clamps, and if I don’t need a flywheel, it’ll be in the region of £1650 including vat (clutch, RMS, IMS cover plate seal, tensioner rings). An additional £400 + vat for a flywheel.  I think I’m struggling with the large costs difference between this and the £559 + vat at revolution for the clutch, with £50 for RMS.  Even with adding in the same costs for the additional items above (not flywheel), they would be just short of £900 including vat. In fact, their price for clutch AND IMS bearing isn’t a great deal more than just the clutch at my local.  

I’ve not a great deal of experience with Indy’s, so I’m really unsure as to what to do.  The obvious thing is the locality & if there’s any issues following the work I guess, but potentially £700 difference isn’t to be ignored.

Just googling to get an idea of costs out there for this whilst I wait for Wrightune to email over a list & see a couple of Indy’s (pmrsche in Redditch & revolution porsche near Leeds) who do the work for £625 & £549 + vat respectively.  It’s noted that the RMS is approx £50 to supply/fit if required and exhaust clamps etc may be needed are supplied/fitted at counter prices.  These seem quite a cost saving over prices discussed this morning (approx £1000 labour plus main seal/clutch kit/clamps etc).

Any thoughts either way?

7 minutes ago, TROOPER88 said:

It needn't be too costly if you just have the RMS changed but if your clutch is original, best to change at the same time.

Who did the inspection?

I have had owned 100 986's and a few 987's, all but a few have had a minor RMS leak. It is a coagulation of 20 plus years of oil and is never wet oil but more of a dirty patch.

 

As long as it is just a small patch, it is perfectly normal and Porsche call it 'sweat'. 

It was a guy called Nick Giles from 986 owners group on Facebook who was very in depth, so why I’m thinking it’s bad luck.  The car had been a bit of a garage queen for the last few years, so now I’ve started using it regularly I think it’s had a bit of a shock.  I just spoke to Wrightune who are my local independent who say 12 hours to remove/refit RMS. Also confirmed what I already knew about it being a good idea to do the clutch at same time.  It was also mentioned about the probability of needing new exhaust clamps etc if mine are too far gone.

Sadly as you can see in the photos, it’s more than just a dirty patch, especially leaving oil patches on the drive and showing as wet on the car.

11 minutes ago, TROOPER88 said:

That is either your RMS or your IMSB flange leaking.

No one in world will be able to tell you which one it is without removing the box.

What I would suggest though, is that you get that looked at urgently as it is wet oil and as you mention it has leaked on your drive. 

Thanks very much.  An oil change 3/4 weeks ago showed completely clean oil (ie. no metal particles etc) so assumed it would mean the RMS rather than IMS bearing/flange? The leak has only manifested itself around a week ago, so approx 2’3 weeks after the change.  
 

Bit of bad luck/££ upcoming I feel….bit gutted with the report of the car I had before buying it 🙈

Afternoon folks,

I’ve not long had (around 3-4 weeks or so) my late 2003 ‘S’, which went through a PPI with pretty much flying colours.  I’ve noticed oil on my drive and have today managed to reach underneath to look with a torch/take some photos.  I’m afraid it would seem to be the RMS unless I’m mistaken?  Would you guys mind looking at the photos to give me your thoughts please? I appreciate if it is the RMS it’s not the end of the world until clutch change time (I’m on 78k now), but just wanted confirmation.

Thank you!

http://www.simpleimageresizer.com/_uploads/photos/af265026/7D829B8E-64D5-4EFE-9158-1F6CEA843B48_25.jpeg

I’ve been trying to find information around this & how difficult the swap would be/if it’s even possible.  I know it’s a straightforward change for a 987, but I’m not sure how the 986 & 987 differ with the steering wheels/column etc.  I can’t seem to find any information about the splines/boss or connections….does anyone have any ideas, or better still, experience of doing the change?

Thanks! 😁