Wachuko

After taking the car to the DE there are a few things I would like to do as preventive or just normal maintenance. I wanted to run those by you to see if these are things I can easily do at home or not worth the hassle and have the dealer do it.

I got quoted around US$500.00 for the following:
Transmission and Front Diff oil change
Coolant flush

I plan on also doing an engine oil change (around 240.00)

They will redo the alignment back to street specs as well.

Sooo... best to just let the dealer do all that or tackle it myself at home??

The brake fluid I will do at home since I got the Motive Bleeder and finally some Castrol SRF racing brake fluid. The other question here is, switch now to the Castrol or use ATE Gold (I have two cans) and then switch to Castrol before the next DE?

Thanks!

Land Jet

Put in the SRF and have total peace of mind. You won't have to be changing it often like some other brake fluids. Give the other stuff to a friend who doesn't track their car because they won't have a problem with it on the street.

triple_nickel

I wouldn't touch the coolant. Top off with distilled water if needed (see your owner's manual).

The front diff and rear transaxle are easy to do at home if you have the tools to remove the drain/fill plug and jack stands, etc. The oil should cost you about $45 for per gallon of Mobil Delvac Synthetic Gear Oil 75W-90. About 1 gallon needed for the rear transaxle and less than a quart needed for the front diff.

$240 seems fairly high for an oil change (9 qts). I assume that is a dealer price?

+1 on the SRF. Expensive but is very good at not absorbing water (especially in a high humidity place like Orlando)

jcb-memphis

+1 on SRF.

Delvac Mobil 1 is NOT the same stuff as the stuff you can usually get at Pep Boys/etc. I think kpg posted a link to a site in VA that sells it.

Oil...I bring my own M1 and filter.....or do it myself. Easy save the "gush" you get fromt he 7+L in the oil tank.....it is a lot and comes fast. I decided in the future for my garage floor's sake to just let the mechanic do it...45 min labor...so about 60$, oil and filter....10 qts at 6/qt and a 15$ filter on amazon. Even the dealer around here lets people bring Mobil 1 fluids if they want...oil at least. They look at you funny...but they want 12/qt now....



I use an indy...90/hr and honest.


JB

jimq

Jaime i think I got a 10% off coupon in the mail from the dealer last week. I think they charged me $180 in December for the oil change.

Wachuko

Jim, after reading your post I called the dealer back and they will apply a 20% discount. I will drop off the car tomorrow morning to have them do all this (except brake fluid change). Next time I will do it all at home.

Thank you all for your comments!

Wachuko

I know that the coolant in these cars is supposed to be lifetime... Only reason for doing this is that I read somewhere that Porsche changed the coolant somewhere done the production line. So I would like to have the new type in.

T2

Coolant - top off if needed
Tranny and Diff Fluids - I change them at 60k and am fine at 183,000+ miles with street and track use
Brake Fluid - your call - I would not waste the money unless it's determined to be NFG by the dealer
Oil change - every 5k regularly irrespective of track days

If you feel more comfortable doing as you orignally posted then do so but I did not waste the money on my car early on and it still rocks...........T2

adam_

$240 for an oil change? OMG

I can change the oil in 30 minutes. (Including a "let engine drain for 20 minutes") It is such a PITA to get to a regular shop and have them do it...takes way longer. and it'd be half a day to get to a P dealer...

If you can do your brakes, you clearly can do the oil!

A

drh

Amazing how people get bent over isn't it? The 996tt has to be one of the easiest oil changes of any car that I've done.

10 quarts of Mobil-1 0-40w will run about $55-$60 and the filter is about $15. The filter cap comes off with a simple strap wrench or a good strong grip. Pull the cartridge filter out, change the o-rings and install the new filter. Put your drain plugs back in and fill with ~9 quarts or as required to get within the fill lines on the OB computer display.

Piece of cake and you've learned that you really need not pay someone else's husband to do what you can do.

Wachuko

I will do most of the work from this point on. I have done so for my 944T, and 964. So it is not like I am clueless to these cars (well, I am a bit intimidated by the 996TT...) The main reason is that work has me working late and I just did not have the time nor the parts handy to do it (and did not wanted to wait long to get all this done).

I skipped on the coolant flush. Even the dealer told me not to do it. All in all it was less than 500.00 for oil change, alignment, transmission and diff oil change, and system check...

Thank you all for the comments!

Wachuko

I will now order maintenance supplies for the next time...

Car is happy now with a wash and shine and new oils...

Have a great holiday weekend!

Chuck Jones

I just order up the maintenance parts from Sunset in Oregon....I call Jeff Clark and tell him what I intend to do...he packges up all the necessary parts and mails them to me in a couple days. I just did the 30K for a total outlay of less than $500 which included tranny, differential, oil change, air and oil filters (skipped the cabin pollen filter), two new rear struts (one was leaking so changed out both), gaskets for the EVO GT2 headers.....followed the 30K checklist posted here in another discussion forum, and will be changing out the plugs in the next week or so. You can break the tasks down over a couple weeks and save a bunch of money from what the dealerships would charge. Most of their services aside from the fluid changeouts are "check belts, check brakes, check this and that".... I had Loren run it on his PIWIS and run a check on all the codes and functions....so there's not much left to do except that I need a set of rear tires in about 2K miles....but managed to get over 12K out of a set of Michelin Pilot Sport II...which isn't too bad. With the savings, I'm going to have it flashed....