It's the same basic design that has been used since the new water-cooled motors were introduced in the 1997 Boxsters. The 996s had this problem - my 1999 996 also had an RMS problem... actually, as many as three different ailments have been lumped under the RMS problem "umbrella." There has to be some stress on the motor for it to fail, hence the time it took. Some cars didn't have the problem show up for 15-20k miles. It really depends on a whole bunch of things. In your case the seal was crooked, so it was bound to fail. Usually, it's the cradle holding the crankshaft that's off-center, and that causes the seal to fail. They should have it fixed quickly and the seals they use now, when installed properly should be a good, permanent fix in almost all cases. Mine was fixed with the old style seal and is still fine - I know the people who bought the car.

I had an oil leak on the driver's side cam tower that was found when I took the car in for the 20k service a few months ago. They fixed it, no problem. Rather than be disappointed, I just chalk it up to sometimes mechanical things fail, it happens, and the warranty gets it fixed.

brad

__________________
21-year PCA Member
PCA DE Instructor