987 Service - Major Maintenance & Drive Belt

Morning all, it’s coming up to that time of year where my Porsche 987 Cayman S needs servicing. I’ve been going through the maintenance records and it looks like it’s due for Major Maintenance Drive belt check Brake fluid change Does anyone know what’s involved with the ‘Major Maintenance’ work? plus I also noticed that the drive belt was replaced on 05/2012 and then again 04/17. Could that be correct? The car only has 53,000 miles.

? The serpentine belt that drives the items of parasitic drag? If so that replacement regimen seems off, just as you noticed. Brake fluid flush? We are all the slaves to 24 months on that maintenance. As for the rest of what is being called major maintenance? Could be coils and plugs at least in part.

I need to get a detailed works sheet from the garage to find out what's involved. That belt change is odd though especially for it's mileage.

The serpentine belt is relatively cheap in respect to other parts. I over-change them on both vehicles. Some of that is because my labor is free, the other consideration on the Spyder is the access is such that it's not a bad "as long as I'm in there" item, perhaps that's what was going on with your car.

It’s possible. It will be interesting to see if the garage suggest to replace it under the ‘Majority maintenance’ category.

Drive belt check should mean just that... a check. Replacement isn't a scheduled item unless the belt shows signs of wear. Every 10 years or 80K miles is sometimes suggested as a replacement interval. Major maintenance includes spark plugs , along with all the filters and oil change that are part of the minor maintenance schedule. And if when doing the spark plug change they notice heat damage to the coil packs, those would typically be replaced as well. And brake fluid as we all know is 2 years regardless of distance driven.

I did find the drive belt replacement Twice a bit odd, but I do understand why someone would replace it if they already have it stripped down.

Ummm.. 53,000 miles and a 15 years old Cayman ? Besides the stuff Porsche calls for.. if I wanted to "baseline" a 987 that age and mileage, I'd consider adding to the list: - AOS - they're known to fail sometime between 50-100k miles on the 987.1 - if you change it now, you're good until at least 100k, which at the rate you're going will take you to 2038.. - Waterpump - also a known failure item anytime after about 50-70k miles. Same reason as above. - Serpentine belt - probably not an absolute necessity - but the belt is 6 years old, and besides mileage - these belts (like tires) have a time to failure sort of thing. - Idler pullies - these are 15-year-old bearings exposed to the weather. If one of these fails it will take out the nice new belt you've installed, plus I can guarantee it will fail in the most inconvenient time and place. They never fail in the garage. At a minimum, spin them when you have the belt off, any that make the slightest noise, replace. - Thermostat - not an endemic failure sort of part, but they've been known to go. As long as the coolant is drained and you're in that area.. - O-rings and seals - any that are disturbed in the cooling system. The reuse of 15-year-old seals is pretty much asking for problems. Doing all of these would result in a car that should go another 50,000 miles without any major failures, just normal maintenance. But that's me, I've been accused by mechanics of "perfecting a used car for the next owner.." (the Boxster is a keeper, I can't see selling it until I can't drive it any longer.. but I have been known to sell some perfect used cars..)

Thanks for the input. AOS was changed in July last year after a big bang. I have a thread about it somewhere on here. I will have a look at the other things you have mentioned. I assume the other work would be separate from the major maintenance.

A big +1 for Don‘s list. The water pump and thermostat are very important. And since you are doing those, the belt has to be removed so I would have that replaced as well. Pulleys and tensioners are good to replace at this age. It most likely will make the car quieter. For a good many parts on a car, and especially anything rubber/plastic, the age of the item is just as important - perhaps more so - than the mileage. If the car has never had the spark plugs replaced, they are well overdue. They are a 4 year item I believe. Leaving them in too long can make it hard to get them out. I would also probably replace the coil packs if original. The labor is no different than keeping the old ones. This laundry list might result in a big hit to the wallet, but there are substantial labor savings in doing some of this stuff in a single batch.

I just did most of this on my 2011 987.2 Boxster . Belt is a replacement every 6 years so took the opportunity to go ahead and change water pump, thermostat, and pulleys at the same time since I had to remove the belt to do all those anyway.

here’s Porsche’s “official” list of major maintenance items for a 987.1 .

This is brilliant. Cheers.

Does anyone happen to know if there is a good post in here that explains how to baseline maintenance a 3.4L 987.2 ? I've been searching but have come up short. I'll most likely do most of the things listed in this thread regardless, but having a list someone already came up with for the 2nd gen 987 would be great to have on hand. Sorry for the slight thread hijack. Hopefully not too far off topic!

Google seems to be better at searching P9 than P9's search. I just found this thread where in the 2nd post @deilenberger detailed out what to do at 10 years. 10 years old, what's the verdict for preventative... My 2010 Boxster S 6MT is approaching its 10th birthday, and it sits at 47k miles. I drive it most days on my commute, so it is racking up miles on shorter commutes with a few longer/fun roadtrips interspersed. I'm careful not go hard on the engine until it's warmed up. I'm basically following... www.planet-9.com I think this is a pretty good start to establish a new-to-me baseline on the car. I'm a bit of a freak when it comes to maintenance...