OIl Change

Called my local Porsche Dealer today to schedule an oil change. The car is one yr and 3 months old with 4,000 miles. The asst service manager, who answered the phone told me Porsche on 2003 models recommends oil changes at 7,500 miles. He told me to call him next year when I get to that mileage. Since I dont use the car that much and it has synthetic oil not to worry about anything in the oil breaking down. That is fine with me as long as it wont damage the car. I am surprised the dealer didnt want to make a few hundred dollars profit on me for the service check and oil change. Honest Dealer I guess. Does this sound right? Cabman

Cabman, I just bought an '03 and when leaving, asked about oil changes and the service guys told me the same thing which you heard. Took it to the forum here and the consensus seems to agree with the 7500 mile change. I was also a bit suspicious when my dealer's guys told me the same. Still don't trust them yet. :P

With my past 993 and the Vettes I owned, I was so worried to get the oil changed every 3,000 miles. This new change is something else,, 2 yrs without an oil change!!! But, its great with me if thats what it is. I was shocked when the Dealer told me there was no point to my having the oil changed. Cabman

Hi, I do not want to hijack this topic but "search" check on the 928 Forum for; "Oil Condition Reports" There are eight reports over two years and about 35k kms. The two synthetic oils concerned - Shell Helix Ultra and Mobil's Delvac 1 - certainly had a two year life span potential without risk Regards Doug Hillary

Hmm... according to the factory Maintenance Checklists:

It must have changed in 2003. The Asst Mgr was reading me from some Porsche communication and it didnt say that. Why would the Porsche Dealer take on that liability and not want to grab my $200 or so dollars. It was not in their best interest to tell me not to have the oil change. If this was visa versa I would be more skeptical but this scenario is them telling me to save my money. Strange but must be true. Cabman

change it once a year...i only drive my cab about 5/7k a year and the oil is obviously dirty when it drains..what is $45 in oil compared to a $10k engine??

The manual says every 15K.

Ask your dealer for a copy of PNA 000 162 B (for the Carrera and Boxster) per TSB 0409 Maintenance Schedule Checklists (dated 11-23-2004). These are made available to dealers in 50 sheet pads so they ought to be able to give you one.

My plan re: oil changes based on this & other discussions is that anything more frequent than 7500 miles borders on waste with 15000 being the interval recommended by Porsche. However, regardless of miles - at least once per year.

I drove my C4 about 4k miles last year and changed out the oil in August, about one year after the previous oil change. The oil was noticably dirty when I changed it out. My rule is to change it every year or 5K miles, but I do it myself so I don't have to drop a couple hundred bucks at the dealership. Bobby

That's what I had read and, as I plan to drive probably about that each year, I was planning on just doing it as that milage interval arrives. Few things going for it: 1. Synthetic oil; 2. LOTS of synthetic oil - I can't remember the details off hand but if I recall it takes about 7 qts. 3. It uses a little oil anyway so some of it gets replaced anyway On a different note I have noticed a lot of interesting things about oil changes when comparing over the years. For example you can buy basically the same car in the U.S. and in the U.K. but the U.S. oil changes are every 3,000 miles and the U.K. are every 6,000 miles. I also get pissed off with my Toyota dealer. The book says every 7,500 or every 5,000 if used in stop-start, dirty conditions etc. Whenever I take the car to the dealer they put a sticker in the window showing it needs another change in 3,000. When I question them about it they claim they 'forgot'. Funny how it happens every time and not just to me...

I agree that at least once a year is good practice. However, it may need it more often depending on the envirounment you drive in. If you are around areas that have alot of dust in the air (such as farm country) the dust may hasten the need to change your oil more often. Here in the spring, you can bet your oil needs changing within 3 months because of the field plowing and planting. It's a 15 minute job, so why not change it yourself if it will give you piece of mind?

I've taken my 02C2 for a DE tech inspection with my independant shop guy (PCA tech approved) and had the oil changed twice during techs for DEs. I only have 13,000 on the car, but it builds good will with the shop and I don't worry (ever) about the oil. Were I to just drive around town, I'd think 15,000 would be fine, but DEs can be a different story depending on frequency and intensity. It's still cheap(relatively) insurance for your motor. I bet the racers don't wait till 15,000 miles to change!