996 Service Interval change to 24 months

Can anyone tell me by date of registration, engine code or chassis number when the 996 moved from 12 month 12K servicing out to 24 month 12K? Thanks :dont know:

I think it was the facelifted 3.6 model that changed the service intervals. I'm sure others will be along to correct me if I am mistaken. Stephen

Cheers - I thought it was somewhere in 2004 but I looked at a 53 plate today and the history was all over the place so would like a definitive on what Porsche say is required for a "full" service history.

The 2 year service intervals came in for the 2004 model year I believe. so 53 plate onwards.

I spoke to RSJ Sports Cars about this matter once. If you check your chassis number after the first few letters if there should be a number. If its a '4' then its a two year service. I'll have a look at my chassis number later today and tell you where the number should be.

And despite what they say, there is no technical reason between 12 and 24 months but a marketing reason. Oils have improved dramatically over the years allowing much longer service intervals and as we all use the same oil, technically older 996's could benefit from the longer interval (other than it wouldn't go down well with prospective buyers) and obviously your Porsche extended warranty wouldn't agree either.

Was anything done to the engines to make them able to go 2 years between services? if not and they remain the same, I would be miffed if I had bought a 2003 model requiring yearly services weeks away from the 2 year interval. :sad:

mines a Oct 03 (53) reg and defo an '04' car therefore every 12k miles or 24 months. going in next week for first service for almost 2 years - previous owner didn't go anywhere.............oh and another new rad on Tescos finest warranty!!!

Tesco warranty I thought Tesco only covered Cayman and Boxsters? So Fraser does your chassis number indicate the service interval as above?

Are there any OPC guys in here that may be able to answer this?

The Annual service was dropped for Model Year 2004 cars - that is thoes built after 1st September 2003. You can tell a MY04 car from the 10th digit of the VIN - a 4 indicates 2004. The ONLY difference between a MY03 and a MY04 996 is that an 80Ah battery was fitted for MY04.

spot on Richard. And to the other tesco warranty point afraid they won't cover 911s but i got in there a couple of days before they took that decision. dont suppose they will renew me anyway which is shame cos they've been great..............and i got clubcard points

Thanks guys - its sad that there are so many cars around that say "full service history" when in fact on inspection of the book they have missed by either time or mileage.

I agree. Annoyed the hell out of me when I was searching for a car. I ended up getting sellers to read out dates and mileage from the service book over the phone after too many wasted journeys.

There are some people that only want a stamp in their book and don't care what is done or not done to their car during a service - for whom the longer service intervals are a godsend. There are others that care about the quality and longevity of their car who may puzzle over why the basically same engine etc can suddenly last longer between checks and changes - just because the service book says so. Then there are people like us who provide service based maintenance plans who would not risk leaving it so long between service checks as we have to pay for the resulting repair labour costs and stick to the more frequent checks of the older cars - despite it costing us more to do so - as we realise that if we didn't it would come back and bite us in more frequent repairs. Which is best for you depends upon what type of person you are and what you want from your car - and so different provisions suit different people - and I suppose what is "right" and "wrong" is different then for each of them. Baz