"Owners can't always be trusted"?

After a countdown of "service in X days" warnings, my 2007 cayman has been telling me to "service now" for a while now. Does anyone know if I can get it to stop telling me that without going to a dealer? I do almost all of the car's maintenance myself, and don't want to go to a dealer just to shut off the little announcement. I tried disconnecting the battery with no luck. I didn't leave it disconnected for long though.

whether you need something as heavy-duty as Durametric or Porsche System Tester, or if a fancy code reader/reset will work.

You might also check the manual to see if there is a "stand on your head while juggling" method to reset after an oil change. I know there is one in my Audi.

Grant

Grant

gee-lenahan-at-gee-mail-dot-com

... on your car ('07) you need either a PIWIS or a Durametric.
Disconnecting the battery will not clear the message.
The dealer or a large independent will have the PIWIS you can purchase the Durametric for your own use.
happy Porscheing,
Pedro

Pedro Bonilla
1998 Boxster 986 - 311,000+ miles: [www.PedrosGarage.com]
PCA National Club Racing Scrutineer - PCA National HPDE Instructor - PCA Technical Committee (Boxster/Cayman)

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Racecar spelled backwards is Racecar

"Racing is life. Anything before or after is just waiting" ... Steve McQueen as Michael Delaney in "LeMans"

"If you wait, all that happens is that you get older"... Mario Andretti

"Being second is to be the first of the ones who lose" ... Ayrton Senna

Sounds like my local indy shop can do it then. It's a bit of a bummer that Porsche has built it this way. Seems like a somewhat dirty trick, but maybe all car makers do the same dirty trick. Oh well.

Owners can't always be trusted to follow the recommended service schedule.

The service now indicator light is an attempt to help push owners to get the vehicle properly serviced. Also, the conditions that have this service indicator light on are variables and can differ from owner to owner. Thus the car is flagged for service not so much on a fixed schedule but as usage, climate, etc. dictates.

Porsche has a lot of risk -- via potential warranty claims -- with new vehicles or CPO vehicles so it makes sense for Porsche to do what it can to ensure that every warranty claim is legitimate and not due to lack of proper servicing by the owner. At some point improper servicing can be interpreted as abuse/misuse of the vehicle and the warranty is not for addressing problems arising from this usage/treatment.

This service now indicator and the requirement it be dismissed by a Porsche diagnostics computer is another way Porsche has of tracking that a car has or has not had proper servicing. I've heard/been told directly that some Porsche dealers will reset this service indicator but charge for it. One reason is it requires the use of the Porsche diagnostics computer which is very expensive to buy and operate. ($600/month is the number I recall.) And because of this most dealers just have the one. And the reset is not just a snap of the fingers quick operation either. The computer must scan the car's entire array/population of controllers and the process takes minutes. Used to be when I visited a dealer service department the diagnostics computer was shoved off in a corner. Nowadays it is almost always beside a vehicle connected, actively being used.

Also, the dealer and the factory too, as the diagnostic computer is in contact with the factory whenever the computer is in use, has a record the car's service indicator now was cleared without the service that was due being performed. This builds a record that can be used to disallow warranty claims should the car come in for one. Later in the vehicle's life, this info could be used to filter out trade ins and lease returns as they come in due to lack of documented proper servicing.

Neither can trained techs

If you are in SoCal, I can clear it for you with my Durametric...

"Does 4 hours north of LA count?" - LOL, no...down here we consider you part of that strange state we call "Northern California"...