Preemptive part(s) replacement?

So I’m all high on my new to me 2008 Boxster 2.7L w/ 5 speed MT at 61k miles. Only used for spirited smile miles, not a daily, no tracking. While the PPI looked good, I’m making a list of all the things I want to get taken care of in order to know that the car is in top condition. All I’ve done so far is replace the 7 year old tires and 6 year old battery. Next on the list: Filters All fluids - oil, breaks, coolant. Belt Spark plugs and coils This should take care of all the obvious. Anything missing? Outside of this, do most people preemptively replace parts or wait until they fail? Like the water pump and thermostat, air oil separator, and the like? If you do like to preemptively replace parts, what would be on your list at 61K miles? Thanks!

brake fluid, trans fluid, IMS

I would do the water pump and thermostat as preventive maint based on age of the car. And as part of doing that, some of the coolant gets replaced.

Longer, congrats on your purchase. I like your list. You can also look in the owners manual for guidance. As noted by one of the posters, I would replace the transaxle fluid. It is more complicated than you might expect but I think it is a good idea. Kevin Gross, who rebuilds transaxles, recommended to me to go ahead and spring for the Porsche fluid. A little bit of a sleeper but Tony Callas recommends replacing the fuel injectors as a wear item. You can find his discussion of this on youtube. There are also opinions on the AOS but if you get into it far enough to do the injectors, I would go ahead and replace the AOS. These are not trivial efforts so do you planning ahead of time. Of course, keep an eye on all suspension components. Check for looseness, slop, etc. You probably won't find anything at that mileage but you never know. Uh, @Augie you can't replace the IMS (bearing). At least not without tearing the engine down and cracking the case.

Search on shift cables and then make an assessment if it is an acceptable risk to you. It won't damage anything, just be an inconvenience. Don't forget brake fluid.

At least on the 6-speed, it's a lot easier job if you ignore the instructions in the manual to remove the cross braces and gravel plate. Just use a 2" hole saw to cut a hole in the aluminum gravel plate to access the drain (which is what Porsche should have done in the first place). When you're done you just plug it with a plastic hole plug. The plate is not structural and cutting a hole will not hurt anything, it just makes the job a lot easier (especially if you plan to own the car long enough to change the fluid multiple times). Do a search, there are some posts on this; I assume it's feasible for the 5-speed as well. I would also recommend going with the Porsche gear oil as it seems to work the best. I tried out Redline 75W90NS and it shifted okay but was more balky in the cold than the OEM stuff.

IMS??? What regular maintenance is done on his IMS. It's a 2008 with the more robust IMS bearing. If he were dropping the transmission he might want to change out the seal but anything else requires a complete engine tear down.

Thank you everyone for the feedback!

I didn't think the ims change was until later

Augie, I suspect what you are thinking of is that the IMS concept was done away with entirely in the 987.2, which came out around 2009. But the "somewhat easily" upgradable IMS bearing stopped around 2005. Even on those, you have to drop the engine or transaxle to access it. Probably not the kind of maintenance the OP was up for, at least initially.

From what I read while shopping, in 2006, (late 2005) Porsche changed to a much beefier IMS bearing. While this didn’t fully resolve the possibility of failure, it greatly reduced the odds. No IMS on 2009 and on. I got tired of waiting on a 987.2 that had the features I wanted at the price I wanted, and figured the improved IMS was a risk I was willing to take. This did stop me from buying a 2005 I was eyeing, and while many say the IMS issue is over hyped, everything worked out for the best, as I love my 08.

Great thinking to be proactive on parts replacement. All of the items mentioned are ones that should be on your radar, while the only thing I would add is when replacing the serpentine belt, you might want to replace the idler pulleys and the tensioner pulley, or at least check them for wear or noise.

I agree with doing the work yourself and enjoy doing it also. I was surprised when dealer said that under the CPO warranty for my 2021 718 CT that Porsche would pay for the oil & filter change plus spark plug change as part of the 30k mile service. I paid for the brake flush and competition wheel alignment. That probably saved me $1000 since the brake flush was $414.87 and the alignment $398.95 including a PCA region 13% discount of $75.41. Total was $816.02. I remember my 4-year service on my 2016 981 was $4k

FCP Euro and Pelican Parts are your bestest friends. A scan tool is very useful, dealers choice. I like preemptive measures as I track my RS60. However, with a good scan tool and regular scans, you can check all sorts of items to keep from replacing things that are in good working order. Eyes up, look ahead. Enjoy

GotBox, what scan tool do you use. I have a 08 base that I do most of the work myself. I do need a scan tool though.

Most of us will not have purchased and compared multiple scan tools but in general, you want a tool that will read not only DOT defined Fault Codes (those that turn on the check engine light) but will also read Porsche specific fault codes placed there to help their techs do diagnostics. You will want a tool that can pull CAN bus data and present it as Actual Values, which you can review in real time with the engine running. What is also available but probably not wise for a beginner, is the capabililty to do selective reprogramming of the cars software. Generally, this is not "tuning" the engine performance but rather more mundane things like settings for HVAC, seats, door locks, sound systems, and such. If this sounds like an ad, it's not, but I purchased the Durametric product years ago and am very happy with it. It does all of the above. But heck, there may be other products that are better. I don't know. I am actively working on a series of articles for my website about using the Durametric to check engine health. It is a work in progress. I have released an initial article, linked below. In retrospect, this article should not have been the first one but it does give you a view of all the Actual Values that the Durametric offers, if not any advice on how to use that data. That is coming in future articles. 2007 Porsche Cayman S Engine Health- Durametric “Actual Values” Note- This is the first of several articles that I plan on doing to talk about things I have learned about the use of the Durametric Diagnostic tool on my 2007 Cayman S as an indicator of engine he… newhillgarage.com