okgood

In researching the Porsche-recommended maintenance interval for the 997.2, I find USA-based Porsche recommends annual service, while those based in Europe only recommend every 2 years.

What might be the reason for this difference?

Bruce In Philly

2009 C2S 179K miles

I am unaware of European requirements... can you post a link to them?

For USA, Porsche maintenance intervals are a combination of time and miles, witch ever comes first. See this link... many dealerships post this information. https://www.rusnakwestlakeporsche.com/997-intermediate/

Regarding annual, the only annual service Porsche recommends is an oil changes... that I am aware of. For purely time-based intervals, it is only brake fluid and tire sealant (2 and 4 years)... again, that I am aware of.

Peace
Bruce in Philly (now Atlanta)

Jaws1

https://www.porsche.com/uk/accessori...entreservices/

From that link:"Porsche services need only be repeated every two years or 20,000 miles (12,000 miles for 911 GT models) for cars built after 2005 and your Porsche Centre will remind you when your service is due."

997ajk

Here is B-Market countries (Canada)

jamesinger

Pretty much everyone I have ever talked to—both owners and the mechanics who service these cars—recommend 1 year or 5k miles, whichever comes first as the most reasonable service interval for water cooled 911s from the 996 on. the reason I bring up such a large scope is because these cars are old enough that people have had time to gauge what is best vs. what the factory recommends. Obviously, if you are tracking, or using your car regularly for HARD mountain/canyons/rally/launching over and over/donuts/sideshows (lol)..., or whatever—you would want to service things more but I would argue, it is just not worth it to do less. Luckily, with my 06 C2S, the car mostly sat for the decade or so before I bought it but if I were looking at a car with mileage in line with the age of most 997s, I would prefer a car with a bit more mileage that was serviced once a year over a car that has less mileage that was serviced every other year max.

(just to be clear: DGAF what the factory says. I would rather do the service earlier and waste a bit of money for peace of mind rather than to worry and go less).

JAGMAN1

Fuel quality is better in Europe (A-market). That is the source of some of the differences we see in service intervals; North America is a B-market service program. This is where some of the confusion of 10k vs, 20k oil changes came from in other makes of cars. In markets with poor fuel quality the intervals are even shorter.

I do 5k and one year intervals.

Jaws1

Why do you say fuel quality is better in Europe?

JAGMAN1

I’m not a chemist, all I know is that Porsche specifies 3 different schedules based primarily on fuel quality in a given market.

ekam

Because they are. Remember all the BMW/Audi HPFP started failing once they reached North America...

Jaws1

That used to be the case but that was 15 years ago. In 2017 the EPA reduced the maximum sulfur content in gas to 10 ppm which matches European standards.

roadie13

Another reason for this could be that state tech inspections are annually in the US (ok at least in NY they are) and only every other year in Germany, for instance. A lot of people
will combine the tech inspection with service.

Not a tech reason of course, but manufacturer recommendations rarely are.

cwheeler

As others have said. I would NOT follow the book. I would go off what the intelligent/power users of the M9X and 92A engine suggest along with UOA to fine tune.

roadie13

I think the original question wasn't about what to do with your actual car, but rather musing about the possible reasons why they give different recommendations for different countries.

wjk_glynn

Hi Bruce,

I was very curious about this. But since the OP hasn’t gotten back yet, I did a quick hunt.

The official UK 997.1 schedule was posted on this 997 UK forum back in 2008 (also includes the official UK service pricing from Porsche GB, which they seem to standardize across the UK).

http://www.911uk.com/viewtopic.php?t=39466

In turn, it points to this PDF - http://www.911uk.com/download.php?id=4207

And it says oil changes are every 2 years or 20K miles.

I… was… surprised…

Karl.

wjk_glynn

I’m very interested to learn more.

Any original source reference you could point us at?

Thanks.

Karl.