Oil changes

Are any people her doing their own oil changes ? I would never take my car to one of the 5 min. places, and many times going to a dealer is a pain on you know what ( not even the few $ that it cost, just the time ie. you have to fit your schedule to theirs ). In order to do an oil change on the Cayman, does the car have to go on a lift, or can one just drive up onto a ramp and work from under the car. As for the change fequency, I am not a big fan of the stretched periods - even with syntetics I would not push it over a year or 15,000Km.

I refuse to believe that engine wear isn’t increased a lot by leaving the break-in oil in for 20,000 miles per the manual. I plan to change oil after the first 1500 miles if I can figure out how to do it. No instructions in the owners manual. I assume the car should be level when I pull the drain plug and that the plug will be to low to allow an oil drain pan to be used unless I jack the car up. If ramps under the rear tilt the oil away from the drain plug then the only solution is to get the car up on 4 jack stands. So the question is how to jack it up one corner at a time to get it on stands and where to position the jack and stand in the same corner to transfer weight from one to the other. Maybe someone can clue us in.

Good question, it sure can't hurt to change the oil every 5K, and it woul dbe nice if we could just do it ourselves, however the filter should be changed at the same time as the oil or isn't that just defeating the purpose? Russ

Although the owners information packet states 20k for the first service, if it were mine I would schedule the first change at 1000 miles and then every 5000 thereafter.

Woodhouse, What about those rear seals?Should wekeep a close eye on them?

Yes, given the harsh conditions I have I'm changing oil AND the air filter every 5000 miles.

What about the oil filter? It does have an oil filter doesn't it? Russ

This was also discussed in an earlier thread called 'Maintenance cycle' you might want to take a look. mPollard - One of the big issues with the new water-cooled engines introduced with the first generation Boxsters and the 996s is the rear main seal leakage (identified in the PCA tech forums as the RMS problems) problems that a good number of these cars have had and Porsche has had trouble finding a fix for until just lately. For everyone new to the cars, I would you take a swing now and again over to the PCA site (pca.org) and click on the link at the top called 'tech section.' You don't have to be a PCA member to read the wealth of information there, but you do have to be a member to ask questions. Take a look through the Q&A for the Boxster sections for sure, and also through the 964/993/996 section for info on break-in, tires and such, too. There's even a section on interiors/exteriors. You can also search each of the sections by subjects such as 'break-in' , 'oil' 'tires' etc. and get a huge amount of information. You'll learn a lot about Porsches in general, and your newly arriving car in particular, since (like it or not) it's derived from the 987 Boxster, with some parts from the 997 parts bin, too. brad

If Porsche says 20K, then I'm sticking with that. I figure they built the car, warranty the car and they should know the car. And I don't really want to be bothered with changing it more often. I'll warm it up, drive it a little easier for maybe 500 miles, and take it in for it's scheduled services. When the warranty is up, I'll get rid of it - hoping they will have DSG transmission, more HP, and lighter weight car by then.

I wish I could able to afford doing that

It can be rather expensive to KEEP a Porsche past the warranty period. Items such as brakes, clutch, engine mounts, etc. can add up very fast. I would recommend an extended warranty if you want to keep your new Porsche past the warranty period. Even though I make more money now during my peak earning years (57 yo), it still feels like things cost more than they used to (I know they do), even relatively. So maybe a Porsche isn't that much more to maintain than another good car.

If you go to the Porsche website and search you can find that they have the service manual on line. They do not have th Cayman yet but the Boxter is in there. It is not cheap, its something like $100 per chapter or a year for $5,000. As I am a mechanic when I get the Cayman, hopefully by the end of this year, I will be slowly downloading it.

I am begining to realize with Porsche nothing is cheap. I think the floor mats are least expensive option, and that was $150. Russ

Right, nothing is cheap - but I do believe that they build vastly better cars than they used to. So time will tell, and some may not keep it long enough to need to fix anything. I've had unusually good luck with past cars, as compared to other people I know, and so I'm hoping for the best. And I do tend to change oil a lot but haven't decided yet how often I'll change it on the Cayman.

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My .02...... One thing you don't want to do is dump the break in oil too quickly.......a lot of manufactures (mostly German) depend on that oilbeing in there for proper break in........so I would not remove it until at least 5K miles. That's what I will be doing,then another changeat 10K and then every 10K after that. I do think that 20Kmay bepushing it a little, but is not out of the question with the oil tech we have today along with the quantity that is in these things. My first 928 ('87 S4) had a 12k change interval whichwas adheared to all of its life......it's now way past 200K miles(still know the owner) and is every bit as potent as when new. Compression is still spot on with factory ratings. I know of two other 928s with 400K and 600K miles that have never been torn down and still run like new.......with the same 12k change interval. No obviously a Porsche flat 6 is a little different, but any present water cooled Porsche can go a lot further between oil changes than you would think. Whatever you do......don't get caught up in that 3k change interval that oil companies love for you to believe, it is totally unnecessary. I know some guys that have pulled a sample from 12K mile oil, sent it to a lab for analysis and it has come back with a clean bill of health for many more miles ofusage. Yes I will be doing my own oil changes.......I think after tearing down quite a few Porsche engines of various models I should be able to pull it off !

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Porsche has redesigned the crank for the latest generation of flat sixes and made a few other modifications......several to the RMS. No, I don't think they have solved it as I know of one or two 9X7 cars that have had an RMS issue. I do believe there will be less instances of it, but it won't totally go away until Porsche redesigns the block. I personally wouldn't worry about it during warranty periods as of course it will bereplaced freewith a day or two of downtime, but it is something to consider when out of warranty as it is about a $600 - $800 job. One thing I like about the Cayman is that the new 3.4 engine seems to be the smoothest version of the Porsche flat six, which may help the RMS issue slightly. Only time will tell.

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Isthe RMS issue than more a maintenance problem. Something to always keep an eye on. All the discussions on it kept me wondering on the purchase of the new Cayman. You seem to be comfortable to have ordered one also. The discussions on the forums talk about engine failure as a result of the RMS leaking. Is that possible or is it over blown on the forums. My dealer sais it was a problem on the earlier engines. If I plan on keeping the car past the warenty would you consider an extended warenty just for this issue. The forums I have read sais they all leak. Do you agree?

The RMS issue is a definite problem that some have deemed a maintenance issue because it is quite common in 9X6 cars......no doubt about it. The problem seems to be mostly in the block........where over time and usage (but not totally limited to these factors) the tail of the crank is allowed to 'swing' outside its intended tolerance. The RMSis made to take up some of this crank variance, but as the problem progresses the seal cannot make up forall of it and allows oil seepage between it and the crank. Mind you it isn't a seal failure per say, but a block / crank anomoly that can be fixed for an unknown period of time by a new or updated seal. Porsche has a special tool that they use to measure the position of the crank relative to the center line of the block hole for it. If the crank is positioned too far out of spec for a new seal to do any good......the engine will be replaced.......simple as that. If they just replaced the seal the problem would reoccur very quickly. The engine would still run fine, but will continue to leak oil. No, they don't all leak and they shouldn't leak......but sometimes with Porsche you take a little inconvenience for the major enjoyment you will get out of it.......pretty much the way Porsche has always been. Yes, they are well aware of it and keep making strides to fix it or make it happen less......but again, it won't go away until the block is redesigned. The 996 turbo and GT3 don't have the problem because they use a totally different block. In all honesty I would notkeep any Porsche today past the warranty period without an extended warranty. Most first owners of a Porsche with RMS issues have been pretty much taken care of by Porsche, but there are many 2nd,3rd, and 4th owners that have had to pony up $$$ for a new engine......or continue to let it leakwhichisn't a good thing.

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There is a new fix for the motors that check out ok with the go-no-go gauge that the dealers have, it's a new epoxy based rear main seal... Joel Riser says this about it on the PCA tech forum about five days ago: --------------------------- 1) there is a new version seal, available only from Porsche dealers, and only by VIN number of the car. I would only use this new one. I would have a real Porsche dealer do this work ------------------------------ Porsche has been very good about replacing the engines under warranty when this crops up... my 1999 996 had the problem and they fixed it rather than replacing the engine, and it hasn't lleaked since it was fixed in May of 2000 (I know the present owner). In the past, they've tried to fix it up to three times before repacin the engine, but now with the guage, they use it to measure the first time and if it's out of spec according to the gauge, they replace the engine. If the car is out of warranty, I've read that the price for a new motor is about $12k including installation. Btw, the new seal is used as the rear main seal in the Cayenne. Porsche pretty sternly recommends Mobil1 synthetic oil, and I would say that if the rings don't seat properly and you've used non-recommended oil for the breakin period, they might be less inclined to listen to your tales of woe when you bring it in to get it fixed under warranty... I've run nothing bt Mobil 1 in both of my 'newer' Porsches during break in and otherwise, and they never used much oil at all. brad.

I hear you......I think this is pretty big $$$ for most of us. As I said before I think Porsche has been pretty good to first owners of cars that have had the RMS issue crop up.....even out of warranty. There is so much on the web about it now it would be silly for them not to take care of it when it happens, but for 2nd and 3rd owners with 50, 60K miles or so, they may not be so lucky if indeed an engine is out of spec and needs to be replaced. A new engine can cost $8-$10k but an extended warranty is not cheap either, good to do some research here for exact numbers. Here again, it has a lot to do with your dealer and the relationship you have with them. This in an issue where being a loyalcustomer to a dealer with both the purchase and servicecanpay off. Some will help get Porsche to pay for some or all ofa new engine......some may not. A lot of manufactures want the so called 'rough' engine oil to remain there forat least a few K miles.......it does help the rings seat to the block faster for future oil control and compression. Take it out too early and the rings don't seat as well.....or at leastnot as fast as they would have with the break in oil. If the rings don't break in properly the engine may use a little more oil in the future and compression may not be asgood as it could have been. Many different theories here, I just happen to believe this one......and from what I have seen in the past, I'm sticking with it. Edited by - Atlas_Croc on 01/13/2006 09:11:29 AM

Atlas, I agree with you... keep the oil in it for 5k miles and change it every 10K miles or at least every year if you don't drive that much... It's the theory I believe too and it's worked great for both my new Porsches. brad

PCA seems to suggested 1500 miles for break in and then change the oil and filter and stay with Mobil 1 0-40. JHellow