Hella-Buggin'

My car is probably going to hit 40k this weekend. What's involved and the going rate to have the "40k Service" done by the dealer?

Spark Plugs, Coil Packs, Brake fluid flush, Oil, Filters, anything else?

No HTwo O

Don't go to a Porsche dealership. Find a trusted indy shop in your area. You will get better service, and save $$$$.

Coil packs should be fine.

Depending on the year of your 997 you may elect to do a few things early like, trans fluid, coolant, and drive/serpt. belt. Not all these additional things need to be done. Purely proactive for the **** owner. Like me.

winkingchef

+1 on this.
It was the difference between $1500 and $680 between the st(d)ealer and my local indy Porsche Master Mechanic.

Hella-Buggin'

Well, the reason I was just going to take it to the dealer is that I trust the service rep. Don't they remove the engine to change the spark plugs? The dealer I go to is pretty competitively priced with the indies and I figured for such a major service and since I'm still under CPO it would be better to stick with what I know.

Maybe I'm wrong.

Hella-Buggin'

where do you go?

Grummantiger

just had my 40k done at the dealer in st pete had 2 new rear tires plus the service it was a total cost of 1180. your plugs or coils should be fine and they inspect the serp belt and only replace at 40k if needed mine was fine.

i have a 05 997s

utkinpol

all you 'may' need is to replace spark plugs. that is an $300 job at any independent mechanic. brake fluid, oil, filters are all DIY.

Frino

No engine drop needed to remove plugs, just the right tools and a lift.

Had the plugs replaced at the dealer for just under $300.

JW911

Spark plugs are a 60k mile replacement, not 40k. If you pull them put now they will be virtually unworn. Even 60k is probably overkill, but that is the Porsche spec. Most modern cars specify 100k.

winkingchef

This includes Mobil-1 oil change, brake flush, plugs, full checklist and 10% discount for cash and was over 18 mo ago so YMMV.

Sokul @ Euro Motor Cars (in SF) is awesome.
He's a Porsche Master Mechanic formerly of Sonnen Porsche (I think).

He does all European cars, but seems to especially like working on Porsches as he remembered me the second time I went.
His shop is 2 blocks from the Civic Center BART and close to Yerba Buena/the Metreon.

It takes a lot of effort and great customer service to get a 5 star Yelp rep:
http://www.yelp.com/biz/euro-motorcars-san-francisco

No HTwo O

Porsche does not go by mileage, they go by time. Mainly to protect agains the plug seizing. The interval is usually 3-4 years, depending on model.

I did mine at 4-1/2 years and just shy of 40,000 miles. Plugs were actually quit worn.

No HTwo O

Correct. They may pull the wheels to gain better access (Boxsters for sure). And may even remove part of the wheel liner.

Jok

I would definitely have new spark plugs - it made a massive difference in performance and felt much 'livelier' when I changed them in my previous C2S..

aaks38

I dont think the electrodes are made of platinum and due to the nature of being a high compression engine, it would be best to replace them at 40k. A lot of hot rod guys replace their spark plugs around 10-20k due to high compression levels ie 14:1.

Also the coilpacks are notoroius for wearing out very quickly and they fracture rather easily just from removal and installation, therefore i would plan on installing new coilpacks.

No HTwo O

Here's a data point:

Last year I had the spark plugs changed on my 2006 Boxster S with about 38,000 miles. I also had the spark plugs changed on my 2007 Ford Explorer with about 105,000 miles. The "wear" on the electrodes looked about equal.

The main difference is the 6 spark plugs in the Boxster came out nice and whole. As for the Explorer, not so nice, half (5 of the 8 broke) broke on the way out (a known and common problem with the Ford).