pdxjim

I searched the archives for info, but came up zilch. My 09 has the "Service Now" light on and it has 6,900 miles and it is 8 months old. Dealer wants $240 for oil change. In talking to them they have $440 option which I declined. Any suggestions on using dealer or indy??

Macster

Can you do it yourself? If you can -- and you can if you've successfully changed the oil/filter in other cars -- that's one way to save some money and it makes following a more frequent oil change schedule less painful. (I change the oil/filter every 5K miles in my Porsches.)

$240 a bit high but not unreasonably so given labor cost (my local Porsche dealer's labor rate is $150/hour) and the cost of the oil.

Not sure what the $440 option is unless it is some cooked up extra servicing like and engine "flush" or fuel injector cleaning or some such unnecessary thing. If you can find out more details and post. I'd like to know what it is. But my opinion is you can afford to give it a miss.

Just a regular oil/filter service is the way to go.

Sincerely,

Macster.

pdxjim

Macster, the $440 for "inspections" etc. which are not required under the warranty. Will pass on that and probably have the dealer do the oil change. Thanks!

drcollie

8 quarts Mobil 1 0-40w from Wal Mart @ $ 6.27 = 50.16
1 oil filter from Pelican Parts @ $ 11.00 + shipping
1 oil filter removal tool from Pelican parts (optional, but once you have it) $ 37.00 + shipping

You will need to buy a Durametrics cable to reset the indicator (or find a pal who has one, each cable is good for three VIN numbers).

pdxjim

So, after R-ingTFM, I see where the Intermediate maintenance is due at 20K, 60K, etc. I do NOT drive in dusty conditions and 90% of the miles are highway. I also do not put leaded fuel in the car. Mine being a launch car (bought May 2009), would it be just a calendar issue for a one year checkup?

Macster

Various MY owners manuals differ but generally oil change is based on miles driven or elapsed time, with one year being the time.

Even though your usage is easy on the oil, I'd advise at least an oil/filter service. (I changed the oil in my new 08 Cayman S at 750 (not a typo, 750) miles and glad I did cause of all the fine metal particles in the filter housing oil. (I have posted pics of the oil in the past.) The presence of this did not surprise me cause I know from experience new or even rebuilt engines shed a lot of metal debris for some time after manufacture and early and more frequent oil changes at the outset generally a given to avoid the possibility of overwhelming the oil filter.

What other services you have done, what inspections you agree to, etc., up to you, but I'd spring for an oil/filter service if I were you.

Probably not possible, but it would be interesting I think for the tech to pour the oil filter oil out into a clean drain pan for you to look at and take pics. When I showed my local Porsche tech pics of the Cayman's filter housing oil he was surprised. He said he and other techs never look at the oil. They just remove the hosuing and dump the oil into a drain large collection basin, then after a while fish the filter element out and discard it.

He did say the condition of the housing -- the threads had some kind of white grease and a few water drops -- normal. (I have posted a pic or two of this as well.) The oil filter is assembled "dry" and this grease is used to ensure the filter housing/o-ring do not adhere to the engine.

Sincerely,

Macster.

pdxjim

Thanks Macster, will get the oil changed!

drcollie

I did the first oil service on my car today at 3,300 miles. VERY easy. Took 1/3 the time to do as my Mazda3. It took longer to pour the 8 quarts in the filler than to drain the oil and swap the filter element.

yabbo

so if you dont have a car jack and want to save some money would you recommend getting your oil changed at any service place or just through the dealer?

Macster

Some owners have reported receiving excellent service from a indy/quickie oil change place.

Me? I'd never use one after what I went through.

I used one for my Boxster. I had the oil, the tools (just in case), filter, o-ring, new washer, and the torque specs.

This guy had never done a Boxster before cause he ordered me to place the front of the car over the "pit". I told him engine's behind the seats.

Then he directed me to pull forward some thinking the engine in the rear. When he found himself looking at the exhaust system then he directed me to move the car again so the engine was over him and his work area.

The oil change went well, but to skip ahead the next time I needed the oil changed I was short of time and tried to get the car in to this place again but it was too busy. I took the car to the local Porsche dealer and he the oil changed there. The service manager knows me and asked another customer who had his car in for something if he minded if my car went ahead. (I was scheduled to leave town the next day -- all this on very short notice -- and needed the oil change done before I left.) This other customer unselfishly and graciously agreed to let me go ahead.

Upon removing the oil drain plug the Porsche tech found the drain plug's wrench hole so buggered that he could not get his tool bit free of the drain plug. The Porshce parts department didn't have any new drain plugs in stock and I thought I had an extra one in the car but couldn't find it. Luckily the tech dug around in his toolbox and found an old but servicable drain plug. I ordered two new ones and when the new ones came in used one at the next oil change and gave the other new one to the tech to have as a backup. The old one I got from the tech went into my toolbox.

Now before the above 2nd oil change happened and I knew what to expect I took my 06 GTO to this place for an oil change. A different tech this time.

This one was a bit difficult to work with cause he insisted that his employer's rules require he torque all drain plugs down to 50 ft lbs. I had the GTO factory manual with me in the car and showed him the page that gave the torque at 39 ft lbs and insisted he use that number. He didn't want to but I believe he did.

Regardless, I changed the oil several times afterwards and didn't come across any thing bad but I had enough and when I found what had happened to the oil drain plug of the Boxster decided to either change the oil myself or have the dealer do it. I would never use another non-Porsche dealer service provider for oil/filter services.

And as an aside, I vowed to never ever use a GM dealer for the Pontiac's oil/filter services.

Once I took the car in for routine tranny/diff fluid change (at 18K miles just to get in an early fluid change) to a GM dealer to have it serviced I discovered the lube tech (I had a tracking device in the car!) had taken the car out on his lunch break for a bit of joyriding. 90+ mph down city streets with the clutch super overheated.

The 2nd dealer I took the car to, where I bought the car, had some lot monkey hot-rodding the car back of the dealer's service area. This dealer closed by GM before I could file a complaint.

The GTO's oil change not hard at all so I decided never again to let any GM dealer touch the car. (Last April I finally traded the GTO in when I bought a new 08 Cayman S. One reason is I had had enough of my terrible experiences with GM servicing.)

Sorry to be so long but my advice is to either have your favorite Porsche dealer's service department change the oil/filter -- you can supply your own oil (as I do to save a bit of money) -- or arrange to change the oil/filter yourself.

Neither the Boxster or Cayman oil change is difficult. I've put nearly 240K miles on the Boxster and have done the majority of the 5K oil/filter services myself.

I did the Cayman's oil/filter service at 750 miles, 1350 miles then had the dealer do it again at 2000 miles at the end of "break-in".

If you have the oil/filter service done at Porshe dealership service department, or do the oil/filter service yourself, at least you know it will be done right.

Added: Oh, forgot but I use a set of Rhino ramps and back my car up on the ramps then drain the oil and replace the filter. I won't type in the full DIY instructions cause there are better sources of it than my memory, but the ramps work just fine and by not using a jack you avoid marring the finish of the car at the lifting points unless of course you use something to protect the car when you lift it. (The dealer service techs use special rubber coated lifting pads on the lifts to protect the finish of the cars at their lifting points. Other shops do not do this.)

Sincerely,

Macster.

yabbo

Thanks for the reply i liked the detail you included makes it easier to understand your point of view and reasoning for your answer.

I had some major issues when i owned my nissan with the dealer i purchased it from... same issues as you i bought it new brought it in with 40 miles on it as i was having some issues and when i went to pick it up had over 2k miles on it 3 days later. and they claimed they had to drive it to figure out what the issue was.

any ways, I have changed the oil on other cars myself but dont want to harm the warenty by doing it myself "no service record" and dont really think an oil change should cost $250.00 but with your experience and knowledge about the lift systems i think ill pay the $250 to save me some head aches and stress.

Macster

You can do the services yourself and the warranty will not be harmed.

However, to contradict myself, there are some services that should be done by the dealer to keep a portion of the car's warranty intact. One in particular is a body inspection for corrosion. Read the fine print in the car's warranty booklet to understand what is required to keep the entire car's warranty intact for the 4 years, 50K miles and the 10 year corrosion warranty.

When I bought my 02 Boxster the owners manual schedule had oil/filter changes every 15K miles. That was too much for me, so I changed the oil early (around 2K miles) then at 5K miles and every 5K miles after that saving the 15K, 30K, 45K mile oil changes for the dealer.

I didn't do this for the Boxster but you can save records of the oil changes. (I did save all the receipts for the oil filter and drain plug rings I bought from the dealer for my own oil changes.)

When I owned the GTO and did my own oil changes, almost all of them including the ones scheduled by the owners manual, I tore the top of the filter box off the box and on the inside of the top wrote the date/mileage at the time I did the oil/filter change. Shoved this into a large envelop with all the other paperwork associated with the car to have in case anything happened to the car or engine I would have records of giving the car proper service. In almost 40K miles of driving the car nothing happened.

(The GTO was a good car, just backed by a dealership network of staffed by
the most part dumb *** morons. (Sorry, but I'm still angry at GM.)

For my 03 Turbo -- bought used and covered by a CPO warranty I do the oil changes every 5K miles -- and save the reciepts. I must admit though because the Turbo's oil change a bit messy -- more so than the Boxster's which is not messy at all and rather enjoyable to do -- I more often than not opt to have the Turbo's oil/filter service done at the local Porsche dealer's service department (which in fact gets the car today for an oil/filter service at the 30K mile mark along with new spark plugs). If I had a good place to work on my cars I'd do the Turbo's oil/filter service maybe even plugs too.

Do the oil/filter services yourself or have the dealer do them. I just can't abide by the indy oil change places. I don't know why I have such trouble with them. I don't walk in all huffy and try to lord over the guys or throw up my cars at them or try to tell them their business or try to drive down the price to nothing (I just ask the price beforehand but the price has never been an issue with these places), but it seems these places and their employeess just go out of their way to do a lousy job when my cars are involved. A guy I worked with took his Oldsmobile and wife'e Buick and his daughters' cars to these places all the time for years and years and never had any problems, swore by these places. My experience has been I end up swearing at them...

Sincerely,

Macster.

drfous

I do the oil myself. As stated earlier, buy some ramps and back the car onto them. Quick and easy.

Someone also mentioned marring the finish when jacking. A hockey puck on your jack will work very well.

Since I'm out of warranty, my only issue is getting the service light turned off. Anyone have tips on a DIY solution. The one and only dealer here in town wants $35.

jrotsaert

$35 is pretty good. your only other option is the Durametric cable and software

http://www.durametric.com/default.aspx

It's about $350 I think

drfous

Thx. I think its the principle or I'm just cheap. lol

I saw a durametric like device on ebay for $175. wondering if anyone has any experience with it. Ships from the Germany.