Chrono

RollingArt makes a good point, HENCE THE REASON I'M ON HERE ASKING! Dude chill. It's an oil change.

I recommend Robert Persig's "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance".

JuanK20

Doing your own maintenance work is not always about saving money. I've heard of many shady things that go on in some "reputable" indy shops. As easy as an oil change is on these cars, i see why some guys rather do it themselves than deal with the dealer etc. Some feel their car is much safer in their own hands. No mechanic is going to baby a car as much as the actual owner.

Macster

You are not leaving any oil in the pan or the sump. You are leaving, can't help but leave, oil in the engine as not all the oil can drain out of the engine. This is true whether the car is level or on ramps.

However, this bit of oil that remains is of no consequence and does not affect the performance or service life of the fresh oil in any way.

Far and away what represents the biggest risk to the engine's health is going too long between oil changes.

Dadio

+1 and not every "mechanic" should be assumed to be capable just because they have a set of tools.

7391420

Changing your own oil and performing basic maintenance is not indicative of trying to save a buck. The whole reason why many of us enjoy these cars is because we want to be engaged in the whole thing.
I cant add to the ramps debate but I'm quite sure that the extended time that many of us let it drain is likely equivalent if not better then what a dealer would achieve.

When I change my oil on my 997 now or when I did valve adjustments on my 86 or plugs on my 914, I know that I verified the proper gap, tightened each bolt to the proper torque or added just the right amount of oil. Now- can I do it as fast as a real wrench no. are my tools as expensive, no. is my garage floor as clean...no. but honestly that time spent doing those tasks -to me that's what this hobby is all about.

CosmosC4S

At a Porsche dealership, I have had....

1. Technician put too much oil in after an oil change.
2. Three visits for a $380 (discounted price) Alignment, and still couldn't get my steering wheel centered. I had to give up.
3. Missing bolts on the undercarriage cover/panels.

I believe they had the right tools and training. But they also cut corners, and didn't do it 100% right. "That **** just don't fly for me" either.

Robocop305

I agree with the last sentence. Most of them are just careless and don't care.

niner niner seven

as others have said if drive slopes down that is the key

Dark Helmet

so then now the question is.......


best-bet change interval for DD use with some road trips mixed in... I'll probably roll over 5K since I bought it here in the next 2-3 weeks...

6-mos or 8K miles is kinda what I've been thinking... yes/no?

cvtbenhogan

Maybe but why bother when driving rears on flat 2X2s gets the job done with ease.

Macster

5K miles.

That is what I have followed for my 02 Boxster since the outset and the engine now has 282K miles and runs as good as ever. Oil consumption has not increased significantly either. I use this same mileage for my Turbo's oil/filter servicing and have done so now since I bought it with just 10K miles on it and it now has almost 125K miles.

(There is a 996 Turbo around -- owner posts with the user name T2 -- that reached just over 400K miles and the owner tore the engine down to address some leaks and rebuild what he suspected was a worn out engine but when he tore into the engine he found no measureable wear. 5K mile oil/filter services.)

I admit 5K is probably a bit of an aggressive change interval in some cases. I know I have changed or had the oil changed then driven 5K miles in a week and then observing the oil draining still having some color/translucency to it. Oh well. Oil is cheaper than an engine (Porsche engine at any rate).

And the problem is that not all 5K miles are done at highway speeds. I put a fair amount of miles on the car driving around town, or on the highway or even the freeway at less than highway/freeway speeds too.

The car is DD and gets driven to/from the grocery store 3 miles away way more often than it gets driven to (and from) some far off destination 2K miles away.

I'm not in the mood to try to remember my driving and determine this time I can go 6K or even 7K miles until a change instead of changing the oil at my good old 5K miles.

In this same vein, I have no desire to burden my already busy schedule with the added work of having the oil analyzed. I see no reason to run the oil until wear metal appears and use the engine's bearings as a sign the oil is past its change by date. I prefer to change the oil *before* wear metals show up. And based on the engine's condition I think I'm doing that.

Minok

That all depends on what sort of drain pan you are using. The pans I can find don't leave me enough room to get my body under there and be able to get my wrist above the pan to manipulate the oily drain plug.

PhilD

I start loosening the drain plug with no pan under there, once it is finger loose, I put the pan under there, but it is a squeeze.

Minok

The problem is, if you take it to a shop, even the dealer, for them to do it, you STILL don't know if they did it correctly unless you are there looking over their shoulders as they work, with the manual from Porsche to know the correct process. So giving it to a shop (factory or otherwise) or me doing it... at least I know what I did when I'm done. Granted, a future buyer has no idea of what I did vs a commercial shop. And maybe they feel a shop would be more reliable, but that doesn't mean the shop IS more reliable.


My solution, since I'm big, have big hands, and need to do this in the garage (driveway is exposed aggregate at too much of a slope to use with ramps safely), I jack up (jackstand) one corner to get the car up and off the ground so I can get in there to loosen the drain plug, slide in the drain pan, unscrew the drain plug and let it drop in the pan and the oil beings to drain into the pan.

Then I get out from under, wipe off my hands and lower the car back down to garage floor level (which is slightly back-end down with the car nose-in). The oil is still draining into the pan, and now the car is much more level. Pull the oil filter cap, remove the oil filter insert. Let that sit for an hour or two. Come out, pull the drain pan, slide under and hand install the spare drain plug (I have 2 I rotate through to get it hand tight.

Then I can jack up the back corner again (onto a jackstand) to give me the room to get under there with a torque wrench, to properly torque the drain plug. Now put new oil filter insert in, toque that cap, and begin pouring in the oil.


So one can use a raised back end, and get a nearly level drain, so long as you can lower the car (jack & stand, or jackstand).

964Luftballoon

Pardon my newbie comment but why not raise on 4 jack stands? Or you can put the ramps in the front and raise just the rear with two stands? I own 4 stands and two jacks and have done this with all my cars. Just a suggestion.