sjfehr

There's a really good how-to at Pelican Parts.
http://www.pelicanparts.com/techarti...uid_Change.htm

It meshes perfectly with the Boxster service manual leaked online and is more detailed than the procedure in the Bentley guide. You need to remove the steel bracing from beneath the transmission, and then a half million pan screws; the filter itself is held on by 2 screws and trivial to change. You'll need a 17mm driver to get the fill screw out and the pan screws take an odd-size (slightly larger than most on the car) torx bit. You'll need a new filter, pan gasket and rubber o-ring for the fill screw as well as 3.5qts of ATF. I was worried the chassis would flex with the bracing removed and I'd have to get fancy with a jack, but it went back together with just hand pressure. You could possibly work around the sway bar, but it's super-easy to unbolt and get completely out of your way.

My ATF temp was about 35C when I checked it, btw.

Audi Junkie

Cool, I want new sway bushing anyway. There's an interchange for the $30 urethane ones at Advance Auto.

I just got an ultra-gauge for my Tiguan, I wonder if it will report AT temp on the Porsche?

http://ultra-gauge.com awesome unit.

I'll come back later.

Macster

An automatic transmission fluid change for a 2007 with just 10K miles on the odo is a bit premature.

I can certainly understand your desire to do what you can within reason with the idea of extending the Tip's service life but, well, as I mentioned above, in this case the service is premature.

If you really want the fluid changed though, be aware that one way to deal with someone trying to talk you out of the service and not having any real good reason (though he may be trying to prevent you from in this case throwing money away which ain't a bad reason to talk you out of the service) is to listen and then say thanks for the info but I have thought it over and want the service performed.

You are paying for this so it is not like you are asking for a freebie. If you still get push back then ask the person if you can't get the car serviced the way you want it here where would he recommend you take the car for service?

This works pretty good when you have a lot of choices such as I have where I live. If you only have one Porsche dealer in town and none close by...be careful about issuing an ultimatum.

Forgot to mention the car/Tip will be ok but next year before you put it away if you want at the same time the oil/filter is changed have the Tip fluid/filter service done that would be a good time. If you haven't had it done have the brakes flushed/bled too.

Try to avoid driving the car straight home and tucking it away for the winter.

After any service I like to drive the car some just to make sure all is well. It is always best to discover there's a problem -- but I do not expect there will be a problem -- as soon after the service as possible rather than several months after.

mgerber

Thanks Macster. This helps. The "don't do it yet" came from my local dealership's SA who I have a great relationship with (and is a very capable guy). So between the two of you I will listen and hold off. His recommendation was to do it at the 10 year mark if it made me feel better ( assuming we put miles on the car at the same rate). He also knows I tend to service my cars more often than necessary and in this case he really pushed back on this as "absolutely unnecessary at this point".

sjfehr

Update: Leveled my car (with an actual level) in my garage on various thickness of scrap lumber and repeated the ATF level check procedure. Added about a half liter until it started drizzling out the hole, then had my wife start the car in Park, and I pumped every last bit I could out of the bottle. Was way easier on the lift when I could hold the bottle upright... The transmission was still relatively cool (33C) when I finished , and I think I got about 3.6-3.7L into the transmission, all-told. Hope it was enough; I ran out of fluid before it started drizzling out while idling.

Shifts are a LOT smoother now. Still shifts a tad rougher than silky smooth, but I don't think it's really any rougher than it was 5 years ago. I did have a single odd moment after braking heavy, then turning sharply while accelerating where the car shuddered a bit, almost like ABS but in the drivetrain during acceleration that really worries me. No grinding sounds or anything like that, but it felt like a bad shift. I tried to replicate it, but couldn't. I'm hoping it was just PSM reacting to gravel or something, though it didn't feel like it and I didn't see the PSM light blinking.

gfl

... is another good interval. You do want to perform the service, it not lifetime. But 10k is very low. My point is to trade off the miles with the years.

Grant

Audi Junkie

Castrol USA fluid selector recommends their Hi-Miles ATF as well as Import Multivehicle.

http://www.castrol.com/castrol/LubesSelector.do

SJSharkE60

Years later, im courious how it turned out for you. Just changed my 2005 BMW 530i's transmission fluid for its first time. Used ZF Lifeguard 6; however, came up short. Thinking about topping off with the Pentosin ATF-1.

pigsypo

so is it safe to use Pentosin ATF-1 on my 2003 boxster base tiptronic?

found one on amazon:

Macster

My advice is to visit your local Porsche dealer parts department and with your car's VIN ask what Tip ATF you should use and get that and use it. This is the fluid Porsche has tested with, this is the fluid with which Porsche has the experience with, the feedback via problem reports, warranty claims, etc., to know how transmissions fare with this fluid.

Why risk a very expensive piece of hardware -- the Tip -- by using some fluid other than what Porsche says to use?

pigsypo

Macster

I checked my approved oils documents and I don't appear to have one for the Boxster transmissions. I have one that covers the Turbo (and GT2) manual and Tip transmissions but the Turbo Tip is not the same transmission as the Boxster Tip. (The Turbo TIP fluid is a Fuchs fluid or a Shell fluid.)

If you got a recommendation to use a manual transmission fluid in your Tip that sounds like a communication problem. The only "drivetrain" fluid the manual and Tip share is the diff fluid. The transmission fluids are quite different.

You need to revisit the dealer and ask if you can get a printout of the most recent list of transmission fluids (and while you are there engine oils) approved for your MY car.

Or check in the Porsche dealer parts department and ask for the Part # for the fluid for your car's TIP.

I have no knowledge if the factory ATF fluid is Pentosin fluid or something else. For my 2002 Boxster (and 2003 Turbo) for both cars -- with manual transmissions -- I just had the tech use the factory fluid in the transmissions and in the Boxster's diff and in the Turbo's two diffs. Once in a while I'd get a discount on the fluid. In one case the dealer had some excess fluid left over from warranty work and only charged me $5/liter for the fluid.

Regardless I never really bothered with the cost. Early on my Turbo had to have its transmission replaced due to a leak that was found under warranty. Had I have to pay for a new transmission I was looking at $10,000+ plus labor to drop the old transmission and install the new transmission. I didn't begrudge the cost of the fluid -- labor was 0.3 hour for the Boxster fluid service -- when I considered what I might save on fluid what I could end up spending on a new transmission if I skipped fluid services or tried another fluid.

For a Tip since a considerable amount of fluid remains in the transmission it is critical the same fluid be used to refill the Tip after the fluid is drained.

pigsypo