Service Recommendations

I have a 2008 Cayman S purchased in January 2009. Car is in great condition and runs perfectly. I have changed the oil and filter every six months, have had two minor maintenance services and due for a major service. Car is out of warranty. What service do you recommend I have done by dealer in addition to my regular oil change. I have 25,000 miles on car. Thanks, Bob.

Many are checks - but checks prevent problems later. Clearly the most important is oil - every 7500 or 1 year (or less). Accesory belt every 60k. Air filter every 30k (depends on driving, dust etc. - mine's never dirty). periodically safety checks need to be performed - control arms, tie rods, - stuff that can kill you.

Lube hinges, pivots, door pulls etc.

Shop that does oil should be checking all fluids, including battery water. That's part of the $100-200 "oil service" - it should be much mroe than just an oil change.

I do all my own work. Car has never actually been to the dealer. Ever. truth is, in the first 5 years nothing broke!

But the starting opint is the service manual - in your glove box.

Grant

Grant

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

for advice as to what service is really required so I did not have to pay the dealer $1,000 for a major service. Bob.

There is no way of knowing what is required vs. really required. Say the coolant level is required to be checked. This can of course be ignored. But if there is a coolant leak the failure to check the coolant level misses a low level that is due to a leak and then the car overheats and possibly suffers a head gasket failure from this. Then the coolant level check was *really* required, but too late.

Read the owners manual. Note what items are due to be serviced at the service interval nearest 25K miles (either 24K miles, or 30K miles I would guess) or and this is important based on time -- the car is 5 years old and maybe closer to 6 (look at the build date on the door tag) and have those done. For example, and this is just by way of example for I have not actually looked, say 25K (or possibly 30K) miles or at 5 or 6 years the plugs should be changed.

There are other services that are required more often and possibly fall on this service interval too. For instance brake fluid flush/bleed. This is due every 2 years.

The serpentine belt may be due to be changed after 6 years. If tires are original Porsche considers them past their use by date after 6 years of age.

The owners manual with its list of service items is valuable as it lets you know what Porsche considers important to check. That is unless you feel that Porsche just loads this section up as a way to scare owners into useless servicing to benefit its dealers and their bottom line.

You have a nice car. You are taking pretty good care of it. Don't mess things up now.

For the record - tires may appear ok after 6 years, btu i just had a set of 6-year-old tires, with no visible dry rot, and decent tread, start to fail at the core on the track. admittedly a very fast, hot track (Pocono) and driven very hard (keep up with race cars).

But this illustrates that things can become safety issues.

Fluids and belts are more in the category of "something minor can cause something major" - a broken belt can result in overheating; wet fluid can result in brake fade or corrosion of the very expensive hydraulic components.

I'm very frugal. I do nearly everything myself. But i over-maintain all my cars and guess what? They rarely have issues. I hear all the time how expensive Audis are to keep. Not mine ( and its a stupid rare hot-rod wagon with expensive parts).

My boxster never saw the dealer in 5 1/2 years of warranty because..... nothing (covered) broke.

Balanced tires dont vibrate and wear ball joints and bushings. etc. etc. etc.

Grant

Grant

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

let's take my air filter example. Typically a mechanic will charge about 1/2 hour to open the clam-shell, inspect and replace. Let's say that's $65. The filter itself is $15. So yes, you can reduce your bill and have a partly dirty air filter. My labor is $0 so i do exactly that. Should you?

At 60k you should have the brake fluid done (yes, do it every 24 months); the serpentine belt replaced (do you want the possibility of being stuck or overheating?). Again - getting the serp belt off - including access and closing, is likely about 30 minutes. The belt is $30. Why would you do that?

If you want to save money:

1. find a cheaper, yet good shop
2. do some things yourself

In every case the inspections are maybe the most important part. I'm learning as track tech chair for PCA just how many problems - serious ones - go un-spotted. I find stuff all the time.

Grant

Grant

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

Quote
grant
let's take my air filter example. Typically a mechanic will charge about 1/2 hour to open the clam-shell, inspect and replace. Let's say that's $65. The filter itself is $15. So yes, you can reduce your bill and have a partly dirty air filter. My labor is $0 so i do exactly that. Should you?

At 60k you should have the brake fluid done (yes, do it every 24 months); the serpentine belt replaced (do you want the possibility of being stuck or overheating?). Again - getting the serp belt off - including access and closing, is likely about 30 minutes. The belt is $30. Why would you do that?

If you want to save money:

1. find a cheaper, yet good shop
2. do some things yourself

In every case the inspections are maybe the most important part. I'm learning as track tech chair for PCA just how many problems - serious ones - go un-spotted. I find stuff all the time.

Grant

+1; do some research to find a good indy--a local porsche car club is a good starting point. The difference in labor rates may be substantial.

I made the mistake of deciding to do an early 40k major service at the dealer on a 987 without getting pricing on the parts before I got there. I knew it was going to be expensive but when I compared the plugs and coil pricing I was charged to Suncoast's pricing (2-3x), I knew I had over paid.
Add the $130/labor and together it's a big bill ($1500).
The only bit of caution I'd suggest with an indy is to make the inquiry to see if they work on 986/987 models with any frequency; like most jobs, the more often they do the work, the less likely they will make a mistake or miss something.

Listed in your service booklet. There should be about 3 levels. Consider the importance of the differences.

At 30k, I did a 60k because I found the differences between the 30k and the 60k mattered to my peace of mind and the car was older than the miles would suggest. Car was wonderfully reliable. Was it a result? We'll never know.

The service doesn't have to be by a dealer.
Find a good independent shop who knows these cars.
If you want to know what they need to do, here's the maintenance schedules for your car.
First, the minor maintenance schedule

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Then the major

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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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