Navy'sporsche

Just thought I'd relay a little experience of mine, food for thought:

I purchased a 911 about 6 months ago and reached my first oil change interval. I took the advice of many individuals on these forums and others in using the rear engine jack point to get the car high enough for the change. However, the car was up in the air less than one minute when my left rear engine mount burst and scared the **** out of me. Regardless, my $65 oil change has turned into a $600 oil change. The take away in my opinion is: be careful who you regard as expert in any area concerning DIY work on a 911/996 . Afterward, I did what I SHOULD have done and consulted my Porsche dealer service manager who cited at least 5 cases over the past 5-10 years of someone coming in with the same problem because of using the rear jacking point and further stated that nowhere does Porsche recommend to either owners or service organizations that the rear engine mount is an acceptable lifting point. Therefore, I would hope that common knowledge would shift towards NOT using the rear engine **** as a jack point. That being said, this is obviously my own fault, but it indicates to me that I should take a more critical eye to advice given online by owners.

C4CRNA

What year is the car and how many miles on it? A picture of the car would be helpful.

russo

An expensive oil change.

Orient Express

Jacking the car with the engine did not break the motor mount, years of driving did the motor mount in. Jacking the car, simply allowed the mount to finally fail in a way that made you aware of the failure rather than it dying during driving and you not having a clue that it failed. You did nothing wrong.

If the mount failed with the car lifted by the engine, the mount was going to fail anyway. It was only a matter of when.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with using the engine as a jack point to get the car up in the air to place jack stands under the rear support points.

What is wrong is to leave the car lifted by the jack. For an oil change, it is much easier to simply drive the car up on ramps ( I recommend Rhino Ramps) rather than lifting it with a jack.

Of the hundreds of times I have lifted a 996 up with the engine, I have seen 3 mount failures. In looking at the failed mount, all of them had excessive degeneration of the mount center, and would have failed regardless. These fluid filled mounts are used by VW and Audi as well, and they all seem to start leaking or fail with less than 100K miles on them.

On the bright side, replacing a mount is a 20 minute affair (3 bolts) , and the mount is relatively inexpensive ($150).

Again, don't blame yourself like you broke the mount because of a improper maintenance process. The reason the mount broke is that it was just plain worn out. You just allowed it to fail in a controlled environment instead of out on the road or track.

Chuck Jones

ORIENT: Good point of clarification. I use the rear jack point all the time....and left unsaid, this might have scared a lot of the DIY'ers from using the rear jack point under any circumstance. Of course I immediately put in the jackstands and block the front wheels if I leave them on the ground. Although perhaps no where does Porsche say to use the rear jack point....there are an awful lot of Porsche mechanics who use it rather than go thru the added work of jacking up each side.

Macster

the weight of the (rear of the) car. It is designed to support the weight of the engine and of course to keep the engine properly located under normal and not so normal driving conditions and the forces the engine is subject to.

If you wish to keep using the motor mount as a lifitng point that is your business. I would always recommend the car be lifted at factory designated liftng points only. Using any other points to lift the car is just asking for it.

For oil changes and other minor services I prefer to back my '02 Boxster up on Rhino Ramps. The slight slope of the car does not impede the draining of the oil from the engine. It does make for slightly cramped working under the car but since I'm in no hurry I adapt.

Sincerely,

Macster.

1999Porsche911

Heppens more than appears in this forum. Only a fool would lift the car by the engine. Funny how it's always those who state that Porsche is smarter than they are when it comes to how to care for their car who ignore Porsche's specific warning not to use the engine to lift the car. It's all about common sense. Your kness can support 1,000 pounds of weight but will be destroyed with as little as 300 pounds of pull.

Jon996

I have only used the engine jack point a couple of times, but cannot think of any other way for me to get onto jack stands. I do have a very low profile jack, but there is no way to get it to the rear crossmember that some use. I did lower the car, but pretty conservative compared to others.

1999Porsche911

You could drive the car up on 2 x 6's which will give you the room to get to the crossmember. Or, spend a few dollars and just buy a second jack.

Jon996

Nice idea. Thanks!

Navy'sporsche

I didnt mean to offend anyone, but the point should be clear and well taken: if Porsche doesnt suggest it, or better, if Porsche suggests against it, its not a good choice. Certainly any procedure that works for cars with X miles but not for cars with ++X miles isnt a legit or universally acceptable procedure. I think the best choice is to make yourself, or purcahse, appropriate car ramps or take the time to jack each side up using the points. That's what I'll be doing from now on.

gota911

I was able to do an oil change on my 996 by backing it out of the garage to the point where the rear tires were about 1" away from the small lip of the garage floor. Since most driveways slope away from the garage entry point to keep water from entering the garage, that slope was enough to allow me to reach under the car to remove the oil drain plug and the oil filter. No jacks or ramps needed.

AndyK

How do you jack the back of the car up without using a different point other than the rear jack points?

I understand using the rear jack points to lift the front end, to put stands under the front jack points. So now you have the front end on jack stands. Then what (aside from the non-Porsche recommended engine jack point)?

Orient Express

Here is a question:

Is the engine hanging from the body, or is the body sitting on the engine?

Tippy

I havent read all the post by I always jacked mine at the crossmember between the eng and trans.

I have heard people say you shouldnt do that but I laugh......they say it will bend the crossmember and affect the suspension geometry.......BS