phillipj

I haven't been here in quite awhile. I just wanted to create a post letting people know what my experience has been owning my car for 8 years now. I bought the car with 32k on it in 2010. It's an 07. It has all the good options (MT, sports chrono, sport seats, short shifter, limited diff, ceramics) and stickered at 148k. I bought it from a friend who owned a Porsche dealership (private) for 78k. It had a CPO warranty which I extended for another two years.

The car has the CF interior trim. As we all know Porsche carbon is crap. So almost all of the carbon pieces were replaced under the warranty. I have replaced more them out of pocket since.. My car is never in the sun and the CF still gets brittle and fails..Absolute garbage. My PCM unit failed and was replaced.. clutch slave, TPMS sensors. I had no major failures of any kind and I drove the car everyday. When the warranty ran out Porsche wanted $5600 for two more years so I passed. In the years since this is what have had replaced. Cracked coolant tank, water pump, some hydraulic hoses.

The car now almost has 84k miles on it. I just bought a new starter. Will have that installed next week. I have put in 3 batteries, had front and rear diff and tranny fluid replaced at 68k miles. I did the plugs at 60k. Two brake pad changes which I did myself. I drive the car hard and do not baby it...I change the oil religiously with 5-40. It has been the most reliable car I have ever owned. No leaks or squeaks. I have the original clutch! I know this is unusual but the clutch is still fine even with the tune. I will have to replace my front strut tower bushings soon.. The car is lowered an inch with the H&R springs and this will cause the bushings to wear more than stock.

No I haven't had the coolant hoses pinned. If they break I'll have the clutch and other things replaced at the same time...I have an ex factory mechanic that works on my car at his house so I don't pay near what the dealership or an indie charges for labor. MY hydraulics on my spoiler failed and I fixed it for a few bucks and an afternoon of my time. I used an old thread I found using Lucas hydraulic stop leak. For those of you who doubt this method I did it two years ago and it works perfectly. If you are interested in how I fixed my spoiler let me know. Porsche wants $4800 just for the parts. No way I was going to get raped by Porsche.

So for those of you that plan on keeping your car for a long time this has been my experience..One day I will rebuild the engine. I have no plans on selling the car. It makes me smile every time I drive it.

Oh and by the way..If your PCM unit ever fails and gives you the message (audio and navigation not available) Do this before you run to the mechanic or dealer. Disconnect your negative battery terminal for a couple minutes then reconnect it. Odds are that when you fire up the car your PCM will be just fine..If you take it to the dealer with the fault message they will say it is dead and has the be replaced.. Mine did this and my mechanic told me to just reboot using the battery terminal. Sure enough it worked. I will do the plugs and replace the coils soon. The car is still a beast...Yes I know it's not the fastest thing out there anymore but it's still an amazing car that you can drive every day. I hope this was an interesting read..

Maynor

Damn, I wish I knew about that PCM negative battery terminal a week ago. Lesson learned.

Do tell on the Lucas hydraulic stop leak. Procedure/process please?

John

Brainz

Good update. Thanks for posting.

I replaced the fluid in my wing cylinders with power steering fluid with stop leak (I forget what brand, I bought it at Pep Boys). I also bought the Lucas stuff, but it seemed really thick so I used the PS fluid instead. So far, so good, but it's only been 5 months. .lNote that my cylinders have been modified to be rebuildable, so not catastrophic if it doesn't work - - but I really don't want to have to fuss with bleeding/balancing again if I can avoid it.

Kevin

Caution.. I would discourage the use of Lucas power steering fluid treatment or any other stop leak in the hydraulic wing cylinder/pump assy. The stop leak will swell the nitrile oring in the cylinders and pump assy. The added resistance placed on the electric "screw" drive pump assy will break the nylon piston base in the pump. This is a expensive fix. I do rebuild the leaking wing cylinders. I update them so that they can be serviced in the future when the seal do break down.
For those that have time over this coming winter. It's a good practice to flush, fill and bleed the system with new Pentosin.

TT Surgeon

Nice writeup. I must admit , I also did the lucas trick almost three years ago, no issues. But, as Kevin mentioned, the stuff is thicker and could pose a problem. If mine ever goes I'll install an aerokit.
Yes, the oem carbon is ****.

Ruskiy

Great post and thanks for sharing. My Clutch slave went at 21k miles on a 2007 model. Bastid.

soundbehindyou

Great post......thanks

lliejk

Great post.

I will be disassembling my wing this winter and sending the parts to Kevin for a retrofit. Didn't want to look at a stubby rear in the warmer weather.
Same goes for dealing with the clutch. I truly detest it and it's devilish ways, especially when in Sport mode.
Will probably deal with the transmission fluids over the winter too, it will be nice to have a normal change akin to my UrS6 as opposed to the dual clutch tranny in my V10 S6, that was an supersize in the black arts mixed with technology

Just did my first oil change - man that gushing is just awesome, and I will be tackling sparks next.

I am going to try and get through another summer before the engine gets dropped and I deal with the coolant infrastructure. Not sure what I will be doing with the cams yet, I vacillate back and forth on those.

Last couple of suspension items will be done before the winter (sway or sways, motor mounts) but I will wait until the spring when I get the car inspected to install tie rod ends to get rid of the bump steer. I will also try and deal with the exhaust before winter.

After all of the above I will be looking toward some HP items in the coming years.

Looking forward to a long and fruitful relationship with this vehicle. Not sure it will reach the 335K I had on my Coupe Quattro, but I am going to give it a shot!

Ed

TTG

Nice write up but man, Paragraphs!

phillipj

Thanks everyone...These cars are incredible.. I have to smile when I see posts by members about carbon build up on their exhaust tips. And they are going to run to the dealer to have it checked out!!!. It a freaking internal combustion engine...It's not some exotic hybrid turbo out of an F1 car. Porsche owners are so paranoid.

It's a car.. Do the maintenance, Be nice to the clutch. Always check the coolant.. Drive the hell out of it. If you have even basic skills with a wrench you can do almost all of your own service needs. This is not as easy with the newer variants. Filters and brakes and oil changes are easy. The plugs are a bitch but if you do it with someone that has done it before it's not so bad..

There are so many great DIY's here on the site you can tackle most issues if you have the desire. Looking forward to driving my car for many years to come..Cheers

phillipj

Sorry LOL!!!!

phillipj

Will send you a PM

993MAN

Fully agree. I do all my own servicing but haven't done plugs yet in this car, but have on others.
Porsche are calling and emailing me telling me they "need" to service my car to keep it up to date, all for only $1200/1500. yeh, nah. I'm good.

Skwerl

Most of the plug service DIYs I've seen end up saying "...but for real, just pay to have your mechanic do this one for you."

saabin

Meh, I've done 2 plug changes on my car, just need to be methodical. Only had to buy 2 additional tools that I didnt already have in the toolbox. The way I look at it I've saved over 2K and paid for my lift with the savings.