Kind of sounds like a "self serving" video. I can't believe that a dealer would not want to perform warranty work.

 

What I was thinking. Why would the dealer care who pays the bill? They take the Porsche NA money no problem.

 

Warranty does not pay the same an private work, I might be wrong, but usually the scale is different

 

The warranty labor rate is always significantly less than retail, but don’t worry, the dealer still makes a decent markup*on warranty repairs.

In my experience a dealer is unlikely to point out an issue like this to a warranty customer.

First of all it might not get noticed. But there’s always a chance that the factory rep would look dimly at a dealer pointing out what appears to be a minor engine oil leak leak without the customer having had complained about it first.

So there is something to be said for the video.

This is not at all unique to just Porsche.

 

The only "truth" in their entire video is the observed oil drop on the bottom side of the a/c compressor.
Everything else they state is pure conjecture. They admit they don't know where the oil leak is coming from--- "somewhere near the upper timing cover, or possibly the serpentine belt tensioner".....then, they go on about how .... "this is not going to be something the dealer is going to want to start pulling all the parts"......... Had they done an real diagnosis and found the actual source of the leak and then referred the customer to the dealer to have the repair done under warranty it would have been more impressive. But, just posting a video to show a drop of oil on the compressor and then claiming "this is not only something the dealer is not going to want to fix"...but also "something they will ignore till the car is out of warranty".... seems a bit disingenuous at best.

 

Seems fairly clear you have never worked in a new car dealer service department. I have, admittedly not recently.

You might be shocked at the shenanigans that go on. Not just ripping off customers, but ripping off the manufacturer, too.

Not saying all dealers are like this, but plenty are, and the luxury brand dealers are not immune.

And it’s not just the dealers, it can be the technicians, too. I’ve seen techs “create” needed repairs (both warranty and warranty) when the shop is slow because they are paid by the job not the hour.

 

Plus, for an independent garage to frame it such that they're the "good guys", and the dealerships are the "bad guys" certainly might be true in some cases, but there are plenty of independent garages with consumer complaints against them as well. You know, that ol' "people in glass houses....stones....etc." & all that. Again, had they been able to point to a specific oil leak, or even a known TSB that would confirm a known problem, then they could point to the drop of oil that might match the known issue in a TSB, that would have meaning. Maybe I'm misinterpreting the point of their video, I'll admit that.

 

That's true... may be it was a staged video, you never know.

 

I made it a point to get a good relationship with the service advisors and especially the service manager at my Porsche Dealer. I have received exemplary service from them. I got some light scratches on a fender once, they buffed it out FOC.
Some donuts for the shop goes a long way.

 

Which dealer?

 

Porsche of the Mainline,Newtown Square Pa. Great Service Advisor Jesse.

I'm in South Jersey ,so they're close enough to me. If you're in North Jersey it would be a hike for you.

 

Re oil leak,dealer,independent shop. I am in the auto repair/ service industry and have been for 40 plus years both in large dearlerships and smaqll independent shops.
As far as warranty work, dearlers are paid by the manufacturer but it basically covers costs and a relatively small profit compared with retail work. And yes dealers do neglect to inform customers of faults within the warranty period for obvious financial reasons. I’m not saying all dealers do and it can be related to the complexity/ time to complete the repairs and how close to the warranty end date. Also the bigger the dealership the wider the range of tech’s abilities, I have seen,within a dealership some that after many years of experience were restricted to minor service work and others that knew everything there was to know about their brand. Small shops cannot afford to carry ‘limited use’ personal.
With regard to the oil leak video, I agree, don’t lower yourself by condemning dearlers or other shops. Just point out the problem to the owner and suggest a visit to the dealership.
I understand why they did not investigate further, the lack of clear visibility because of all the components attached to the front of the engine, shielding,guards, belt, pulleys etc. And oil spreads and can be blown by the cooling fan so the actual source of the leak can be unclear. It may need some dismantling and cleaning and driving to verify the location of the leak. All of which takes time,for a job that is clearly warranty.
As for the actual location of the oil leak. I am at present awaiting the arrival of my gts, due early June.
When considering a Macan I contacted a friend that I worked with 20 plus years ago. I went on to my own shop and he went to the local Porsche Dealership. I wanted to know about problems with Macans before I purchased. He said not many really, they have replaced a few transfer cases, the symptoms of which are in this forum and some oil leaks from the timing cover, as the guy in the video suggested.
He tells me this requires the removal of engine and transmission and is a major repair. Although, he said they have a tech that does it with engine installed, requires complete front removal and 3 full days. Sorry for the bad news. I was hoping this problem would be rectified before my gts arrives, but maybe not. Hope I get one that doesn’t leak.
I have done a lot of reading on this forum. This is my first post.

 

I had a chance to have my Macan repaired for a recall recently. after the repair, the dealer/service center said my car was good to go but was due for an oil change (3rd year). I just took it to another shop because according to this dealer, my brake fluid was "dirty". So this independent shop did the oil change + brake fluid flushing. After that, they told me that the timing gasket has started to leak engine oil and I should have it serviced by the dealer under warranty rather than through them. Oh well. I am very disappointed with my dealer if this is true that the oil leak was so easily spotted and yet they decided not to tell me.

 

When you say the oil leak was easily spotted, how do even know they had the opportunity to?

Sounds like you are not even sure the leak was easily spotted. You didn’t mention what recall work you had done. Some of the recall work would not even involve them opening the hood of your car.

I would also point out it’s very possible a dealer tech would not consider minor oil seepage (you did not mention how significant the leak actually is) to be much of an issue unless the customer specifically pointed it out and requested repair. I might compare it to a rattle in the driver’s door. If you have your car in for service, even though the rattle is obvious, few dealers would embark to try to repair it unless the customer specifically requested it.

While it’s nice of your indy to point it out, i’m not sure you really have a clear cut case to point a finger at the dealer.

You did mention that they said your car was “good to go”. What did that mean? Did they thoroughly inspect your car, or did they simply mean the recall work was complete?

 

I would never go to the indy shop that made that video. They have no evidence that this type of problem is something the dealer would knowingly hide. None. If any mechanic saw that oil leak & did not tell the customer, they would be dishonest.

You can just as easily make a dishonest video, as the dealer, pointing out some other issue & claiming (also w/o any evidence) that this is the type of problem that indy ships cannot fix correctly or will attempt to fix & do it wrong, creating more expensive problems down the road. Pure speculation!

There are good, honest mechanics & also incompetent, dishonest mechanics & every type in between.

Now, how to find the good ones?

 

I make it a point to check my garage floor after I back out both my Macan and Wife's Lexus and I look for any fluid or oil leaks. I am lucky that my dealer is proactive rather than reactive when it comes to service.
Welcome to the forum @Brishoca.

 

FWIW, I had my Macan in for its 20K service a few weeks ago with a Porsche indy shop. I'd sent the owner
the link to the youtube video, so he performed an inspection while my vehicle was in his shop. On completion
of the work, he reported to me he found no evidence of an oil leak as depicted in the online video.

 

I don't see how there is any incentive for a dealer not to point out discovered defects under warranty. Even if they may get paid less, they do get paid. I saw the $2000 invoice to PCNA for my steering column - replaced under warranty. The techs work on commission, so for them it sure is better then getting paid zip and sitting around. What kind of business model would that be anyway, to potentially wait years for a problem you know about to be out of warranty? Aside from the logistical issues to keep track, the customer then may choose not to have it repaired at that dealership? Makes no sense.

 

The techs work on commission.

Can you elaborate on that? I thought at almost all dealers techs (as well as techs at many indys) get paid by the job pursuant to a flat rate book or something similar.

For example, if the flat rate book says it takes 2.9 hours to replace a Macan radiator, a tech is going to get paid for 2.9 hours irrespective of the actual time it takes that individual tech to perform the job.

The dirty little secret is that just about any experienced tech can beat the flat rate book, and often by quite a bit. So for non warranty work you may be paying for 2.9 hours of labor, even if the tech only took 2.0 hours to do the job.

And that means there’s a huge incentive for the tech to rush and cut corners. Then again if the job is not done correctly and the car comes back to the dealer a second time and the repair needs to be corrected, the tech has to do it on his/her own time and won’t be compensated for correcting the mistake.

 

I had this exact leak, but had 53k on the car when noticed so no warranty but it looked like it had been there for a while and not fixed. It was the drivers side valve cover that was the culprit. There was no oil drips on the floor, it was dripping on the plastic cover underneath the engine. Quoted $1200 to repair, did it myself for $177, also replaced the pressure hoses while I was in there. I could notice a bit of a oil burning smell is how I knew something was up. Can't say I was surprised though, Porsche's are notorious for oil leaks.

 

I think you are being much too hard on the dealer. It’s very likely such a leak would not be noticed until the bottom engine cover was removed when an oil change is being done.

Curious, did your indy suggest the dealer missed it? Or perhaps they were just trying to be helpful knowing the dealer would have never seen it without pulling off the engine bottom cover?

 

Curious. That would be five (5) oil changes and no leak detected before it got an additional 3K miles on it.
A complete multi-point inspection is also to be performed every 10K miles. Looks as though the engine itself
isn't looked over as a aprt of that though (see form).

It doesn't seem too unreasonable that a valve cover gasket might leak at 50K miles though.

 

I also took the vehicle in at 51k stating that there was a strange smell coming from the car, smelled like exhaust fumes possibly and guess what? they charged me $250 and said I was crazy and there was nothing wrong with the car. After months of going back and forth with the service manager and trying to prove I wasn't crazy - I found the issues myself. The tailgate seam sealing was not done so exhaust was pouring in from the tailgate and also the engine oil was leaking from the valve cover onto the manifold and burning. I got the tailgate fixed under warranty because there was a service campaign for it and I called Porsche customer relations. They put some rtv silicon on a few of the seams and returned it to me, missing half the seams. Had to take it back, they put more rtv silicon on. From what I am aware - the service campaign calls for a seam seal repair and paint - meaning they add seam sealer and repaint the inside of the hatch. None of this was done for my vehicle although the dealer did bill the manufacturer for the warranty repair - they just slapped some rtv silicon on it. Dealers are dealers - they are not the manufacturer. They are looking to make a buck, if they can avoid issues and fix them after the warranty period im sure they would.

 

@DanNYC
The way I understood it during a cars and coffee tour of my dealership's shop is that the techs are getting paid a monthly salary. And on top a commission per finished job or something like that. I have no idea how said commission is calculated. Maybe it's pooled and more senior techs get a bigger cut then newbies? That's all I know about techs getting paid, which arguably is not much.

 

Trusted I have never heard of anything like that, but of course anything is possible. It might be that the dealer guarantees each tech a minimum number of weekly hours in order to keep them from jumping ship if the shop has a slow period.

But to your original point, if it’s a slow day in the shop, a tech may be incentivized to recommend repairs that are not quite needed. For example on more than one occasion I have had a car dealer tell me I needed new brake pads when I knew from my own personal inspection that the pads were only 50 or 60 percent worn.

My experience is that’s less likely with an indy, especially where you might be dealing directly with the owner. But unfortunately there are dishonest independents out there too.

 

But to your original point, if it’s a slow day in the shop, a tech may be incentivized to recommend repairs that are not quite needed. For example on more than one occasion I have had a car dealer tell me I needed new brake pads when I knew from my own personal inspection that the pads were only 50 or 60 percent worn.

My experience is that’s less likely with an indy, especially where you might be dealing directly with the owner. But unfortunately there are dishonest independents out there too.

My point was that I find it unlikely for a dealer not to point out necessary warranty work, just to possibly make more money later when the car is out of warranty.

I agree with you on unnecessary work being suggested and even pushed by some dealerships. Next time the Mercedes dealer wants to put on new wipers and charge for a tire rotation and an alignment when I just want to drop the car off for scheduled service I may lose it...

 

The dealer had repaired the leak after ordering some parts from Germany. Took about 4 working business days due to ordering the parts.

Sent from my Pixel 2 using Tapatalk

 

I took my Turbo to in for the 40k service on Monday and they found this exact issue, notified me, and are performing the work under warranty (the month before my warranty ends). I guess that expensive oil change was worth it this time.

 

Another example of forum benefit...
After reading this thread, I saw oil stains on lower engine cover. Dealer identified timing cover gasket leak and ordered parts. Apparently will be an all-day service. 45K miles...4 years old on Monday. Thanks fellow members! I'll follow up after fix.
Other than usual TSB's, this has been 1st problem.

 

Had the oil leak fixed...2 pages of "parts" and several days to complete. Apparently this is a BIG job...not easy access. Would have hated to have this done out of warranty.
Had a base black/black Macan for the week. The 4T had more power than I anticipated, but not the sound of the V6. Having the black car during a hot week reminded me why I ordered white/luxor. I wish Porsche had true cooled seats rather than ventilated seats. A/C seats are far more effective.
Glad I got my S back.

 

Had the oil leak fixed...2 pages of "parts" and several days to complete. ..

Did they also replace the oil stained, lower engine cover? If not, it will always look like there is a leak.

 

Did you ever take your car in for service at dealer before? How did you find the oil stain? Crawl down or jack up the car?

I have been going to dealer for annual oil changes for the past 3 years and they didn’t say anything. Maybe I will check myself before warranty expires.

 

I read that there had been timing cover oil leaks on this forum, so just looked under car.

 

Timing cover leaks require removal of engine and transmission as a unit,so yes a big job. But look on the bright side, you get a coolant change as well as part of the warranty job.
How disappointing that Porsche has such poor design or materials that this leak would occur.
Cheap cars haven’t had timing case leaks for the past 20 years.

 

It’s poor design that you have to remove the engine for this. Is that really true? If so, more evidence that German engineering is a farse.

 

I would not say German engineering is a farse. It's just that they tend to needlessly overcomplicate things. Their engineering tends to look and perform brilliantly when everything is working correctly, but when things don't go so well...yikes. I've seen it again and again and again on every BMW, VAG and Mercedes product that I've owned. But I keep going back for more