30,000 mile maintenance

I have read the renntech site, and am planning my 30,000 mile service. Am I missing anything? I have an 02 coupe, manual trans. 1. Oil and filter change 2. Air filter change 3. Particle filter change Everything else is check levels, function, etc. I have read many of the oil change interval posts on this site. I thought i would thow this in as well, I am at Approximately 25,000 miles. I bought the car at 14,500 with full dealer service. I drive approx 75 miles a day, highway commute. No racing, etc. Outside temperature has been cold.(ie no elevated engine temp, etc.) Car has burned only 3/4 of a quart of oil over last 10,000 miles. I do not let engine idle to warm up and drive easy during warmup. Oil appears to be clean and relatively clear on visual inspection. Sould i do an oil change now at 25,000 miles, or just wait until 30,000? I am leaning towards waiting. Thanks, Jeff

I would do the 30,000 mile service now, this way you're all done. I wouldn't push the oil change to 15,000 miles. You stated that you do NOT let the engine idle to warm up... I'm assuming that's a typo and you DO let the engine warm up. We have about the same driving habits and I put about 100 miles a day on my car. I always let the car warm up and I don't push it until the temp hits 180 degrees and I feel the tranny loosen up. I don't change my oil every 3,000... more like every 9,000 miles but I don't like to go more than 10K before doing a change. Rob

There's no need to do the service now. I would recommend doing a basic visual inspection of the vehicle (any vehicle) once in a while yourself or have a skilled person do that for you. This includes the underside of the car inc. brakes, suspension, fluids etc. I feel that this is even more imprtant than doing the services only when recommended. I start my car and slowly drive off, maybe let it idle a little bit when it's really cold outside. When you start your car and let it warm up at idle, condense water tends to build up on the cylinder walls, this is not a joke. The same is valid for servicing your car. You don't want to change the oil too often as the oils used in the Porsche are build to last that long. They have to be kind of dirty a little bit in order to do a better job.

Actually, i let it idle only for about 30 seconds, leaving garage and driveway. I then let it warm up under load. Under 3000 rpm until water temp hits 180. Engines are suppose to warm up under slight load. Jeff

Turbo951, My plan was to wait until 30000 and do the oil/filter, air filter and particle filter. If i wer to change the oil, i would still wait until 30,000 to do the others. My original question was in addition to doing those items, am i missing anything that a dealer would do at the 30,000 mile mark? I do not want to compromise my warranty. Thanks Jeff

Jeff: I have a little booklet which is called maintenance. It states what should be done at 30,000 miles. In addition it has sections for maintenance every 2 years, yearly maintenance. Do you have this booklet? In order to keep your warranty up, I would recommend to make a checklist what you have done and mark it off. Plus keep all receipts for oil, filter etc. Christian

http://www.renntech.org/forums/index...maint_us_mj_02 There it is!

My '02 coupe just turned 30K last week. I do my own Mobil 1, did it 4K miles ago. So the dealer wants $900 for the 30K service. I will do it to keep warranty up, but I have a hard time parting with my dough this time.

I replaced the brake fluid in addition to the regular 30k items.

The only benefit to the dealer service is they check for open recalls, run codes, etc. But if you car is still in warranty then this stuff gets done anyway when you take it in for warranty service.

The dealer does not have to perform the 30,000 mile service in order to keep warranty valid. It is simple to do and If you do it yourself, just make a note and keep the receipts. My car hasn't seen a dealer since new in 45,000 miles except for a recall of a few things.

My original question was in addition to doing those items, am i missing anything that a dealer would do at the 30,000 mile mark? "replace sparkplugs" is also part of the 30K miles maintenance. Anyone have an estimate on the parts and time to replace plugs?

The only thing to add it to flush out the brake fluid with fresh fluid. Do that every 2 years or 30K miles. At 60K do this all again and add changing the plugs and polyrib belt. These cars are very low maintenance.

Plugs don't get done till 60K

I would also change the coolant every 3 years or so too.

For "lifetime" coolant?

Yes. There is no such thing as "lifetime" coolant in the real world. The liquid may stay stable a long long time, but the crap that will buildup wil not. You need to flush the system periodically in insure that the cooling system and all it's passeges and componants stay as clean as possible and free from blockage. Kinda like the new oil. They may claim it lasts 15,000 or 25,000 miles, but would you wait that long to flush the oil system?

Makes sense. It just amazes me as to the service intervals that keep getting longer and longer and even the stuff (like the coolant) that is "lifetime". Tough to agree with though.

EPA is pushing the car manufacturers to reduce the frequency that harmful fluids must be dispossed of. So, they just keep raising the time between changes, giving a wink to those who know better.

In case this helps, here are the official PCNA service guidelines:

I have a 2002 996 which had a new replacement engine put in by the dealer under warranty about at about 25K. I am now at 30K and wondering if I need to do the full 30K service or what. Any suggestions?

If it were me, I'd make a nice schedule on excel for the new engine based on the actual miles. I'd do all the engine stuff on the new schedule (for the miles on the engine) and the body stuff on the original schedule.

Since you only have a differential of 5K I would just skip the 30K except for maybe the oil change and then get back on track with the normal numbers...... However, as Lee suggested, setup a nice Excel spreadsheet and track it that way would probably be the optimal.

Just did the 30K maintenance on my 99 Cab today. Very easy to do. The only difficult part was getting at one of the spark plugs (rear passenger side). This was not really difficult more just hard to get to. My maintenance manual states the plugs should be changed at 30K and mine did not look that good. The next time I will order the plugs and filters on-line. I paid $16/plug and $100 for the pollen filter. I am going to take it somewhere to have the brake fluid replaced. Even with the high dealer prices I spent around $300 and about 2 hours. The prices I was being quoted around San Francisco were in the $900 to $1,200 range. Kris Kris

When changing the spark plugs the Renntech DIY or somewhere else said not to use anti-seize on the plugs. I have worked on aircraft for 20 yrs and have no idea why you should not use it. Any thoughts?

I have worked on cars for for over 35 years and I have no idea way you WOULD ever use anti-seize on a sparkplug. Most new plugs are titanium. The inclusion of Titanium in spark plug design was chosen for it's anti seizing properties. Anti seize compounds are typically composed of metallic, electrically conductive ingredients. If anti seize compounds come in contact with the core nose of the plugs, it can lead to a misfire condition. Anti seize compounds can also have a torque multiplying effect when installing plugs. This can lead to thread distortion and thread galling resulting in cylinder head damage. But, I have known people to use it. The DIY also does not stress the importance of making sure that the heads are cool before removing the plugs to avoid stripping the threads due to differences in tyhe expansion properties of the different materials. (plugs and heads) Most likely, tho, in the case of the Porsche, by the time you get everthing else removed just to get to the plugs, the heads are cool.