Bruce In Philly

I contacted Porsche North America (800 cust service line) and asked them about DIY oil changes and dealer "resetting" of oil level senders. The summary of our conversation:

1 - The rep (she) noted they have received this question before, she was ready with my response
2 - Dealer procedure is to reset/recalibrate the oil level sender with each oil change
3 - Porsche has no official position on DIY oil changes and would not venture a peep regarding DIY oil changes being "good" or "bad"; she did not say that "Porsche does not have a position.etc...." either
4 - I noted that I do my own changes and expressed my displeasure that dealer recalibration or its importance is not denoted in my manual
5. At the end of the conversation, she asked me a few questions that appeared to be information gathering..... how many miles on your car (she said she is updating my record), was I happy with the car, who resets my service reminder..... some others.

The rep was very polite and genteel but I felt I was talking to a lawyer as she clearly knew how to answer my question without addressing the DIY good/bad question directly only denoting the service procedure of the dealer.

My Takeaway

A- Owner's manual denotes the following "We recommend that you have the engine oil changed at your Porsche dealer, who has the required oils and the necessary filling equipment." This clearly implies that dealer-only changes with recalibration are not a maintenance requirement.
B - I will continue to do my own changes, however I will be continually cautious of how much I drain and fill to ensure I don't have a "bad" calibration, something I always did.

My owner's manual denotes my capacity is 7.9 quarts. I drain until dripping stops (hot engine) and I mark a Mobil 1 5-quart container with a line denoting about a 7.33 quart filling thus purposefully underfilling by 1/2 quart or so. I then mop out the pool of oil in the filter housing. After my fill, I take the car for a drive and heat it up, then check level. I usually am spot on that I now need to add about a 1/2 quart and that usually will leave me 1 hatch mark down from full. Job done.

Some have posted that dealer resetting is a requirement and DIY oil changes are putting your car in jeopardy. I could not disagree more with this. I feel as long as I perform my procedure as described above, there is no issue. If it were, Porsche would tell me in my manual that a periodic recalibration of oil sender is required.... they do not and nor did the rep tell me that despite my efforts to get her say something about this.

DIY away!

Peace
Bruce in Philly

pavster

Makes me wish even more that we had a proper dipstick, not just for checking the level but also for judging oil condition.

Honestly my only concern for DIY maintenance is when it comes time to sell the car, would the buyer trust my receipts, empty oil jugs, and an occasional photo as proof of maintenance?

malexgcab

Another thing to worry. I thought oil change is an easy job.

Jaye Bass

I just spend roughly 200 bucks on a dealer oil change. Once a year...not a big deal.

kcheves

Bruce,

You don't mention what year and model 911 you have, but my 2009 C2S owners manual also lists the oil capacity as 7.9 quarts.

That must not include the oil fiter, because my car takes exactly 8.5 quarts when drained completely (on jackstands, on a level floor) and then filled to one bar below full.

I was not aware that there was a calibration procedure for the oil level sensor - thanks for passing that along. But there's no way I'm taking my car in just for that.

Next time I see him, I'll ask my Indy (who is also our PCA region tech advisor) if its BS.

Edit: I posted a question about this on the PCA Technical Q&A website.

Wayne Smith

$200 annual dealer cost of oil changes per Jaye Bass ...

Then again, at 30K miles per year and 5K between changes and a dealer who wants $300 to change the oil you've got $1800 a year. Mobil 1 0W40 oil at the "thrift shop" is $5 a quart and wholesale pricing on filters, crush washer, and o ring with tax is $24 at my dealer. Thats (8*5 + 24) * 6 from 1800 for an annual savings of $1416.

But that is not the point. With changing it myself I can measure what came out, put in a bit less and then fill as necessary via the gauge, I know it is done right (had dealer do the first change after I got the car and it was drained for too short a time and overfilled), I do my own full inspection, and I get time with the car. Plus I've got the oil and filter in hand for analysis.

As for the oil dipstick, the 997.2 has a pseudo sump chamber that pulls oil from the pan to avoid oil starvation during cornering, braking, and acceleration. To measure we need a point of reference. This would be the sump. But the sump has to be stable to measure it (motor warm and oil pulled from heads and pan and residing in the sump). There really is not a way to do this with a dipstick that I can figure out.

FWIW, a long drain requires 8 quarts on my car, but with common garage measuring equipment, maybe a tenth of a quart is quibbling.

workhurts

What's this calibration thing you keep mentioning? Resetting service reminders is no big deal but what's this calibration thing?

I drain on a flat surface and make sure there is almkst literally no oil dripping out. Park it warm, lift it up on a 4 post and let it drain for at least 2 hours.

What's the dealer calibrating? How much oil they put in after draining it for 5 minutes?

Bruce In Philly

2009 C2S

To be honest, I don't know exactly how much oil I filled as I don't pay much attention when I top off after a fill.... that is my procedure as I noted but when I top off, I don't really look to see how much I add. Mostly, I top off twice as I am very paranoid about over filling so I could be off by 1/2 quart. My next change I will pay more attention given this calibration issue.

PCA website: I posted the same question a week ago but it didn't appear... really odd.... I think a moderator must approve them before they show... or maybe I did something wrong. Maybe both of us posting will get them to respond.

Peace
Bruce in Philly

Bruce In Philly

It is a big deal for me for a few reasons:

1- I am putting tons of miles on my car, about 25K per year and I do oil changes every 7K miles... thats alot of oil changes
2- I've been traveling and this car is my only driver.... I don;t have time to take the car to the dealer.... can only do it on some Fridays and don;t have time to sit there and wait. Just too inconvenient.
3-I;ve saved TONS O'Cash doing minor wrenching myself from front brakes/rotors, minor repairs, plugs, belt, etc. I am doing my 80K plugs this Saturday.
4-I enjoy it. Besides the DIY satisfaction, I get an odd joy of "knowing" the car. I have three hobbies and as a geek, I go deep. Really deep in each. Immersion is the fun for me and just telling people I own the car is not how I feel good. Turning the occasional wrench... is ... well... better. I think everyone should.

But, to each his own.

Peace
Bruce in Philly

Domer911

It is easy. Just make the check payable to the stealership in the amount of $250.

Bruce In Philly

Good question. I don't know but I assumed it is just "zeroing it out" as one does with a scale. I can't imagine it being more complex than this.

Wayne: I'm with you all the way on this one.

Peace
Bruce in Philly

johnireland

Just curious what you do with the oil afterwards? From the drain pan, what do you pour it into and how to you transport it and to what sort of disposal site?

andy92782

I did manual wrenching 40K service on my 997.2 a month ago. All wrenching went according to plan including oil change. I let the car drain for about 30 minutes in a level position although temp was not warm. It was still dribbling out, albeit very very slowly when my patience ran out and I stopped the drainage. ECS Tuning sent me 9 quarts of Mobil 1 in the service kit they sent. I dumped in 8 of them, fired it up and drove it a good 15 minutes or so. Nothing blew up, no signs of impending doom on the dashboard and no need to get Jake Raby on the phone from what I could tell. Subsequently measured the oil level via dash display and it indicated full. I now have one spare quart of 0W-40 sitting on my garage shelf.

I'm not gonna overthink this on the assumption that it's not necessary to get the oil level down to the exact amount in mL. I'm pretty sure it's designed that way. Next time I'll try to warm it up first so I can catch more contaminants/particles/whatever while it drains; I didn't do that this time because I already had the car up on jackstands to swap the plugs out prior to the oil change and I needed things cool to do that, obviously...

CosmosC4S

I just did my oil change yesterday. Had a miscalculation, and I actually over-filled it this time, even though I've been changing my oil for the past 8 years! Had to drain almost a quart to make it right.

Everytime I start my car, I get the service light message. Bugged me at first, but it goes away after a few seconds, so I've learnt to ignore it. No big deal. (My previous 996 didn't bug me with that service message though).

andy92782

I dump it in the gutter.

No not really; the O'Reilly Auto Parts down the street from me takes used motor oil and oil filters. I have a 15-ish quart seal-able drain pan that I lug down there in my 4Runner.

If you're in California you should have no problem finding somewhere local that accepts/recycles used motor oil for no charge.