Campagnolo1

Hi!

I found a very clean '02 TT w/70K mi. The car has had only two owners who serviced the car at the same dealership. The engine oil was only changed about every two years at the most. If I have a PPI done w/no issues found should I buy the car or should I be worried about engine wear and the possibility of failure in the near future due to the lack of timely fluid replacement? I've driven the car several times and it drives and performs great. Any advice would be great.

jimq

my dealer told me to change the oil every 2 years if I was only putting a couple of thousand miles on it a year. I have 69k on mine

03911TT

Not optimum in my opinion, but as Jim said many low mileage cars don't get the true service pattern they deserve because of the owners focus on mileage vs. time.

Dock

That car's history of oil change intervals wouldn't worry me.

Campagnolo1

Dock,
Could you tell me why you wouldn't worry?

Dock

There isn't any way to know how many miles/yr the car has actually averaged, but assuming it was driven in a consistent manner it averaged ~8700 miles/yr. At an oil consumption rate of ~1 qt/1500 miles, the car had ~6 quarts "changed" every year. That's 12 qts every two years. It only takes 8 qts for an oil change.

People will probably say the oil filter is the issue. My opinion is that the filter is plenty capable of removing any metal parts that may show up over the 17.5k miles driven every two years. I'm sure many will disagree with me about this point, but that is why buying this car would be a problem for them, while it wouldn't be a problem for me.

malmasri

So if a new turbo sits at the dealers lot for over a year ....do they change the oil on it then?
Where in the manual did you read that the engine oil MUST be replaced annually?
This topic has been visited frequently in the past and although most here will say that you should change the engine oil anually and or the transmission fluid every so often , regardless of the miles....none has acutally provided scientific evidence i:e (analyzing synthetic oil in a lab for degradation) to support this myth.....if you run the vehicle on the track then consider doing so annually but for a street driven car, it would be extreme IMO.
I would buy a vehicle that has that service history with no hesitation.

Kevin

I'd pass on it. There are better examples of better maintnance being sold across the US.

Mikelly

That oil change interval would scare me... That's a long time to sit in a motor and collect moisture...And my owners and shop manuals say "8.75 quarts with filter change". Not sure where some are getting 8 quarts to do a change.

Also, Although I haven't tested oil on my TT in a while, I have a lot of data on previous street and track cars. I used to sell amsoil and used their Blackstone Labs test process on several of my vehicles, and spoke with techs on the phone a few times to get specifics on some of the printouts. From everything I learned from these test processes, I don't care how long oil sits in a car at a dealership. It's not good. If I buy a vehicle of any kind from an unknown and un-trusted source, I change the fluids immediately. Anyone else can do what they want, But that's what I do.

Mike

Dock

It depends on how the approx. 8700 miles/year (average) were accumulated. Driving long enough on each outing will burn off moisture that may have accumulated.

It sounds like the car has been on the Porsche recommended 15,000 mile or 2 years between oil change schedule.

x50type

Oh, no - only changed every two years - run like hell.....................................!

Dock

Do you have specific data that conflicts with Porsche's oil change interval recommendations?

Macster

Do you have any good info regarding the engine's oil consumption?

At some point the care/service the car received early in its life becomes less important as miles accumulate provided the car and especially the engine still runs good, runs quiet, uses reasonable amounts of oil, doesn't smoke excessively upon startup nor at any other time and manifests no CEL or other symptoms that indicate the engine's perhaps sick.

I'd be darn sure to hear the engine start from dead cold and listen carefully to the engine as it idles and warms up. It should be quiet -- as quiet as these engines can be -- and the idle though initially a bit rough -- you need to listen to a couple of Turbo engines from cold to get a feel for what's normal -- but it should smooth out and slow down as the engine gains heat.

Take a 15 minute test ride and let the driver give the engine -- once warmed up -- a good workout. Then you take the car out for a 15 minute test drive, same route, same type of driving, and confirm the engine idles smoothly, pulls from idle to redline smoothly, thru several gears, and remains quiet. Be sure the boost gage shows 0.7bar. My experience is this level of boost appears around 2800 to 3000 rpms with quite a bit of throttle.

Hot idle oil pressure should be close to 2 bar, with just my WAG 1.5 bar probably about as low as I'd like to see. A possible problem with this is the oil pressure gage/sensor may not be all that accurate and 1.5 bar may be a sensor problem but how to know takes work -- using a reliable oil pressure gage to take a reading -- and max. oil pressure hot should get over 4bar at 3K rpms.

If the engine remains quiet, produces no check engine light (and the light comes on when you turn the key one and turns off when the engine starts) and idles smooth, runs good, pulls strongly, doesn't smoke, etc., then the odds are the 15K/2 year oil/filter changes didn't do any harm.

'course the engine must pass a good visual inspection that finds no fluid leaks or any other things of a disturbing nature and the rest of the car must pass a thorough PPI but an experienced/qualified tech.

Sincerely,

Macster.

Danyol

All due respect to everyone else here, my money is on Kevin & Mike

Unless you know the history on the car beware; would you be as confident if 10,000 of those miles were at the track? Caring owners tend to change oil more frequently than the Porsche recommended intervals. I'll do mine once a year or 5k miles - oil is cheap, turbos and engines expensive.

dave morris

I'd pass too. Four or fewer oil changes in 8 years/70000 miles? Doesn't compute.