need service advice

Calling all gearheads I am bringing my 99 C4 cab in for it's first service since I bought it a few months ago. The car only has 11k miles total right now. The last service was done 3k miles ago, but it was in Sep 03. That service was only an oil change. I assume it needs the oil and filters. I was quoted $348 for that (-15% military discount). My question is this - should I have the brake fluid flushed ($99 for that)? Also I thought it might be good to get an alignment and balance. The other option was to have the induction service done ($129) to clean out the throttle injectors(?) and whatever else they do. Is that the equivalent of Seinfeld buying rustproofing for the Saab (I am looking for the insider's deal), or should I really have it done. The vehicle was not driven much (1-2k local miles a year) by the previous owner, but I DID drive it from NJ to FL last month, so would this have taken care of any deposits on the injectors? Thanks in advance for the advice. Eric

My $0.02 � although I am hardly an expert. Change the oil at least once per year if you are not covering enough miles. Oils build up acids which, if left sitting, will not be good for your engine. This might be less with the synthetic but then oil is cheap and cars are not. Change the brake fluid at least every 2 years. Even the best systems allow a little bit of moisture in to contaminate the fluid. If the level of �water� gets high enough to start rusting things inside it is going to get very expensive. If you are driving the car in non-stop heavy traffic then you might want to get the injectors cleaned. If you are driving the car the way it was meant to be driven then you probably don�t need this. Barry

If the car is running right with no symptoms, forget the allignment and balance, Change oil and filter and brake fluid. Oh yeah! Thanks for serving for us!

Thanks for the quick advice fellas. I think I will listen and do the oil and brake fluid flush. I will wait until I get new tires this spring before I do the alignment and balance.

Others have given you good advice and I think your decisions are sound. You can make the work you have done now the starting point for future service intervals as outlined in the owner's manual. Porsche does recommend an annual service (which I understand is primarily an inspection unless it falls on the two year anniversary for oil and brake fluid changes) for cars that don't log 9,000 miles a year. I'm in this mode........ And while the recommended oil change interval is two years/15,000 miles (and the service writer at the dealer swears it's OK to abide by it), like others I'm more comfortable with annual oil/filter change.

If you live in a dusty area, such as farm fields, quarries, desert etc, you would want to change your oil a little more frequently than normal.

Since your car has so few miles, it is also wise to rotate the spark plugs so that their firing angle can be calibrated. Also have the coolant checked for proper ionization.

Since your car has so few miles, it is also wise to rotate the spark plugs so that their firing angle can be calibrated. Also have the coolant checked for proper ionization. If he is experiencing no engine probelms, then I suggest he leave the sparkplugs alone. It is of no use spending the time or the money if they are firing fine. If the engine is running within specs, the plugs will last a long long time. We are all running unleaded gas and the plugs should last well over 50,000 miles with no time limit. Rotating of plugs is only necessary when the one plug is lower than the other and therefore that plug or plugs will foul at different rates. Our plugs are on the same plane. I personally CHANGE my coolant every 5 years or so in all my vehicles. You'll be surprised at the amount of crap that comes out with the old stuff.

I hope you are not planning to paying 348.00 bucks for an oil change/filter?

After my discount it is 295. Seems high, but I am used to it. How much should it be for the oil change, all the filters and whatever else happens at 15k miles?

295 seems reasonable if they change all of the filters and do the oil change too. But make sure that they tell you what filters needs to be changed before hand. If its just the oil filter and the oil change then you should not pay more than 200.00.

If it's just the oil filter and oil and you don't want to do it yourself, buy 8 quarts of oil and the Porsche filter and go to a jiffy lube. Pay the guy $20 to do the change. Total cost to you will be less than $100.