audi49

Am about ready to change the gear oil in my 2008 5-speed Boxster base model. Alldatadiy is inconsistent or not clear on torques and fill level for the 2.7 liter engine. Pelican parts is also inconsistent.
Based on what I read most often for this car online, I believe the following are correct. Can someone confirm please? Thanks.

Fill plug torque - 19 ft lbs
Drain plug torque - 19 ft lbs
No washers on either plug (???)
Fill to 11m below filler hole

LexVan

Whatever you do, make sure to can loosen the fill plug, BEFORE you loosen and drain the drain plug.

audi49

Thanks for that advice LexVan.

Always a surprise. Both my filler plug and drain plug are 16mm triple squares. I did not read that anywhere.

audi49

Answering my own questions...
-neither plug has a washer, each are just threaded plugs
-the existing fill (I think original with the car) was 11mm below filler hole
-still not sure about tightening torques
(-the gear oil, probably 12 years old and with 45k miles 'looked' quite clean/new)

KevinGross

Stated filling capacity for the five-speed box is 2.25 litres. Fill to 11 mm below the lip of the fill bore. Plugs are pipe taper, so as you note no seal ring, and no sealant please on the threads. Tightening torque for the plugs is 25 Nm which I think is 18 ft-lb, please do not overtighten and don't use impact tools.

losblancos

Guys, can someone confirm for me what the correct fluid is? I've been seeing some confusing posts elsewhere about the 5-speed vs 6-speed transmissions requiring different fluids, though that may be an early 986 thing.

I called the dealership and got part no. 000 043 305 49.

$44/liter seems pretty nuts, is there an alternative?

hueyhoolihan

i'm not sure, but it might be helpful to some of us to know whether the transmission is a manual or automatic.

losblancos

Ugh sorry. 5 speed manual like OP.

CrisTSC

As far as I know, the fluid between .1 and .2 is different. Also, I think the Porsche fluid is manufactured by Mobil, but I don't know if there is an aftermarket equivalent from them.

For my .2, I have used Shell Spirax S5 ATE 75W90, as it is a GL-5 oil and has (had?) Porsche approval, the only one available in my region. I think it should be ok for the .1's.

LexVan

See if Sunset Porsche or Suncoast Porsche have better pricing. You need about 3 litres.

ClemCLone

I thought I had seen a Mobil product that was also recommended

Anthonyr105

My local Porsche specialist recommended Mobil Delvac 75w90 and it has worked pretty well the last few years

ClemCLone

Thank you, I was trying to remember that exactly

KevinGross

If you have a limited slip, Mobil advises against Delvac and would prefer you use their Mobil 1 LS 75W90 oil. If you have an open diff, either is fine.

losblancos

So, just following up on this in case it helps anyone else, because it was very frustrating and I got answers all over the map from various sources.

I'm usually not at all a stickler for using genuine Porsche parts but this is an area where I chose to be conservative and wanted to refill the transaxle with exactly what it would've received at the factory. I also live in a cold climate and had read some suggestion that aftermarket fluids might be less than ideal. Ultimately, I have no idea what the differences are, or who makes the transaxle fluids for Porsche, which I understand in the past used to be specialized to Porsche specs. Hell, one local dealer told me they used Mobil 1 across the board.

Anyways, if I'm reading the official parts catalogs downloaded from the Porsche website for both 987.1 and 987.2 correctly, they both spec part no. 000-043-304-71:




(This is from the 987.1 catalog; my understanding from this is that the -204-71 part no (which incidentally also appears in the 2017 version of the 986 catalog) has been superseded by the -304-71 part no.)

Two problems:

• 000-043-304-71 corresponds to a 20 ltr container
• 000-043-304-71 shows as discontinued everywhere I looked

When I called Sunset, I got a voicemail back with part no. 000-043-305-00. Notably, this shows on their website as having replaced the -204-71 part no. Also, there were a few websites suggesting that -305-00 superseded -304-71. E.g., this from Porsche Atlanta Perimeter's parts search:




So, I could be wrong, but I'm pretty confident the correct OE part no. is 000-043-305-00. Problem is, you have to find someone willing to sell it by the liter because it's also a 20 liter container. I know Sunset does this, there may be others.

(As for part no. 000-043-305-49 that my dealer gave me, I believe that's the part no. for the differential "side" of the automatic transaxle, since it's my understanding that the transmission and diff don't share the same fluid in that instance. To be clear, I believe it's also a 75W90 gear oil. It might work for our manual transaxles, but I wasn't willing to take that chance given that I could source what I'm more confident is the correct fluid.)