gcurnew

Thinking this 992 has a higher chance of being a long-term keeper than other Porsches I've had, so looking to maintain a rigorous maintenance regime. To start, plan on doing at least 2x yearly oil changes - one before winter driving season, and one before summer - which will likely work out to something like 10k to 12k kilometres (6k miles to 7.5k miles) between changes. Is that too frequent?...not on my car lol. This is one of those things where YMMV applies literally, and can run anywhere from 3k miles between changes all the way up to the manufacturer "recommended" schedule, which is 15k km or yearly in Canada. As an aside, the dealer called after I made the appointment asking why an oil change. "Your car is only a couple of months old...you don't need to change the oil until next summer." "Yes, it needs changing; car is at 10k km already." Queue the crickets lol.

I've done oil analysis in the past - which I consider a useful "early warning" exercise - but never on a car without a dipstick. Does anyone know if the Blackstone siphon pump/tube scenario for extracting a sample works on the 992? I'd pull a sample from the drain stream or even from the oil filter if I was doing the changes myself, but will be doing most or all changes at the dealer as I no longer have a garage I can work in. I know...it costs at least 2x to have the dealer perform what is a pretty simple task, but as President of my condo board I can't flout the rules that prohibit any work on vehicles - and specifically fluid changes - in a parking spot. Frankly, $600-ish total for a couple of oil changes a year isn't onerous, and saves me some hassle, not the least of which is disposing of spent oil.

So...Blackstone pump OK? Any other service owners have used that they would recommend?

Bxstr

I actually think that 6k miles is around perfect.

The oil analysis is more interesting to me than anything and building trends over time is useful. Can you just give the dealer the blackstone kit and have them collect it from the drain stream? They should have no issue doing that.

gcurnew

Thought about doing that, but I wouldn't be 100% confident that the sample was properly collected and not contaminated.

Bxstr

That is how I would go about it. Just leave a note in it to "please collect after oil has drained for 5 seconds" and to properly seal container after collection. If I was trusting someone to change the oil, I would trust them to collect the sample. If you did get a contaminated sample, the worst that happens is you just ignore that one. The car is under warranty for the first 4 years, so if the engine was going to have an issue, it would be covered.

Or I would go to an independent shop that is used to collecting oil samples.

Bluehighways

I have one of these "Topsider" oil suction tools. I originally bought it for my sailboat for which it's absolutely a requirement since the oil drain is inaccessible. For a clean and inconspicuous oil change and/or the obtaining of an oil sample (if you're not going to buy/use one of the $35 Blackstone pumps) it probably ought to work. They're about $50 and there are less expensive versions as well if all you want/need is a sample.

Go through the Oil Fill Spout/Opening to get the sample. Not sure what is any baffles might be in the way of snaking the tube down to the sump.

I highly recommend getting a few samples early in the life of the engine. The first will probably show a bit from the breaking in of the engine, but those that follow should give an excellent baseline from which to note any sudden changes as the miles and years accumulate.

detansinn

THIS. If you're doing it, it's very important to have a baseline to understand what "normal" is. You don't want to be an engine hypochondriac.

With regards to "religion", ie oil change intervals, there's really a lot of factors that go into that. It may be counterintuitive, but a vehicle that is driven frequently is perfectly fine with the longer, standard 10k mile, intervals. If your car is sitting inactive for long periods, a shorter interval might be appropriate. There's a reason that manufacturers have made oil changes an annual requirement regardless of mileage. As always, the best thing that you can do for the health of your car is drive it.

gcurnew

The factor in my case that incites me to do pre-winter and post-winter changes is the fact the car will be started and driven in temperatures that will occasionally dip into the -35 Celsius range. Fresh oil in the crankcase with as close to 100% of its lubricating properties as possible - along with regularly “exercising” for extended periods to burn off any water, driving away within a few seconds after starting, using only small throttle openings until fully warm, and using only non-ethanol 94 octane fuel - are positioned as critical preventive measures to prevent bore scoring. Perhaps the potential for bore scoring in cars used in cold climates is overstated by those advocates for the above preventive measures, but they all pass my sniff test for “reasonableness” and aside from the higher frequency of oil changes (performed by dealer at an extra cost of about $300/year) and more expensive fuel don’t appreciably add to the overall running costs of a 992.

2x the recommended frequency on oil changes, especially given my winter use case, is a relatively cheap preventive protocol if it actually helps prevent bore scoring; if bore scoring is more a case of the “boogeyman in the engine bay” then all I’ve done is spent a few hundred dollars a year, no harm done. One thing I’ve learned with privately selling Porsches (at some point this 992 will be sold) is that the better the maintenance records, and the more easily a potential buyer can see fastidious - even overboard - maintenance the easier the sale.

Practically, in almost all cases throughout the winter the car will be started in a 20+ degree Celsius garage, driven approx. 10km (which sees the last 2 or so km running at full operating temperatures), parked in another heated garage until driven home along the same route. Evenings and weekends will see the car used more vigorously, and parked outside occasionally in ambient temperatures. The last thing I want on my mind doing a cold start at -whatever C is whether there is anything I could have done to prevent real or imagined potential for bore scoring.

To your point detansinn that the best thing one can do for their car is drive it, I’m in total agreement. With the mileage you and I are putting on our cars we are members of a small subset of 992 owners where “underuse” and its negative effects aren’t an issue.