Menu toggle

Annual service - minor or major?

Craigybaby

New member
Planning well ahead for annual service in September, my local indys, strasse and porschetek, both quote prices for a minor or major service. I'm not daft me, so I'm guessing you get more stuff done/checked on a major service. I'm not realistically going to ever have a minor service am I? If so, under what circumstances?(apart from being too poor for a major, which I'm not, at the moment, thankfully)
Regards, Craig
 
I thought someone would say that but I have neither the time, skill or inclination, plus a fsh stamped book that I like to keep up to date.
 
There is no single correct answer to this. Much depends on three things:

1. what a given organisation is describing as major or minor, because there are some significant differences between organisations. http://www.hartech.org/docs/service_prices_944_jan2011.pdf is a useful reference point.

2. what other work is known to have been done in the last three years, and known to have been done to a high standard.

3. what your intentions are for the car versus the shape it's in now.

Cars are intended by their manufacturers to wear out and be scrapped in a finite time, something between 10 and 20 years depending on the manufacturer's philosophy. Once you are outside that design life, which every 944 now is, then the question of routine servicing versus rolling restoration becomes very blurred, and the individual needs of a specific example of the vehicle start to dominate any "standard" view.

If you want a car to continue to operate in a relatively fault-free way over several decades, rather than the 10 years or so for which the original manufacturer troubles to concern itself, it needs to be inspected and maintained to a far more intrusive level than any factory service schedule., simply because the factory service schedule was never intended to actively prevent and reverse age-related deterioration over a 20 or 30 year period. For example, it is not a routine service item on OPC schedule to lift the cylinder head, change the gasket, de-coke it and regrind the valves. But if you were sitting down in 1980 with the designers and saying "Should I anticipate having to do this in 20 years' time." they would have said "Of course you should".

Similarly, I don't think it's part of any manufacturer's 'book' service schedule to replace all the hoses. But obviously they are consumable items that suffer from age, so a service schedule designed from the outset for a 30 or 40 year life would include hose replacement. Things like timing belt life, the best practice now is very different from what was in the factory schedule when the cars were new on the market.

In other cases we have found empirically what the lives are of components. If I were buying another 944 now with a view to keeping it long term I would as a matter of routine budget for things like a new DME relay, fuel pump, FPR and AFM overhaul, because I know that these are things which either need doing or will need doing at some point in the next decade, so I'd rather do them now before they go wrong than wait for them to go wrong at an inconvenient time. if it were a Turbo I'd replace the drive shafts and CV joints, same reason. But if I bought it from someone on here who I know had done all that in the last three to five years I wouldn't bother.

That doesn't mean you have to completely dismantle the car every year. If you had a very intrusive, heavy-duty inspection and overhaul the year before, like a Hartech Gold Major service carried out on the basis of "please do whatever is helpful to extend the life of this car indefinitely, replace anything that is worth replacing while you have the dismantling done, and while you're at it do a complete suspension rebuild, refurb the calipers, belts, pulleys, oil seals, do a full top overhaul etc etc", then if you come back a year and 5000 miles later later and it's running like a top, then it won't need the same again. It might well need a pretty thorough inspection, but little actual repair work.

Really you need to work with your maintenance provider and discuss with them exactly what needs doing when, and what your objectives are. Do you genuinely intend to keep it running as perfectly as possible in an open-ended way, so that it is instantly usable and has much the same everyday reliability as a new car, and will look and drive and feel much the same in 2025 as it does today? If so, you need to get your maintenance organisation understand that and act accordingly. Or do you just want a stamped up service book with the factory schedule items done, and accept that things which are not included in that regime will occasionally go wrong and need repair between annual services?

Most organisations will assume that you intend to run it for a couple of years, keep it reasonable and then maybe move it on, in which case you probably won't want to do a lot of things which head off trouble more than a couple of years down the road.
 
Low timer, there may not be a single right or wrong answer but there are good and bad answers and yours is definitely a good answer, so many thanks for putting in the effort.
What you say makes perfect sense to me, so it then surprises me a little that these respected garages bother quoting service prices on such old cars, although no doubt I'm being naive and they do it for marketing purposes. Without having built up a good relationship with a garage I think I would be reluctant to effectively leave them a blank cheque and say do whatever needs doing, but conversely don't like the idea of them just doing the basics and ignoring something obvious to the trained eye that needs doing. I've plenty of time to ponder it.
 
Well, they've got to start somewhere and I think Hartech do a very good job in explaining what they will and won't do for the money, as well as being very up-front about the needs of older cars. I'm very much in favour of people quoting fixed price servicing when they explain exactly what's in the package. Obviously you have to be aware that the amount of remedial work that becomes apparent as a result of detailed inspection is highly variable.

Andrew Sweetman at Promax near Milton Keynes has taken responsibility for my maintenance and overhaul requirement for the last couple of years and at the outset we have a very thorough conversation about what I wanted to do with the car and over what period of time - which in my case is very much the open-ended long-life vehicle that I have to worry about as little as possible. Having understood that I'm in it for the long term, he knows when to give me a call to say "while we're in there doing X, it means we can do Y even though it's not strictly necessary yet", or in other cases "don't worry about A, because it's OK for now and it'll be more cost-effective to combine it with B when we do that in a year's time".

There are other good people out there: Promax and Hartech are two I've developed confidence in over time though personal experience. Whoever you use I do think it's worth establishing that sort of mutual understanding.
 
That makes total sense, and hopefully I can build that relationship with one of the garages I mentioned. They've both got a good rep so shouldn't be a problem.
Thanks again
 
Id consider PorschEuro in Grimethorpe. Reasonably local and probably cheaper. Porsche factory trained technicians too.
 
Thanks for the tip, but looks a bit far away, no way of getting back so would have to spend the day in grimethorpe, and being from Grimsby originally I know anywhere starting with grim is not somewhere to spend a lovely day.
 
Golden rule: anywhere ending *thorpe is a hell-hole. They do take you to the trasin station though...
 
In my experience a minor service is little more than an oil, filter change and fluid check. If the car had a major service last year and you know it well then a minor service may be all you need, although an oil change is something you could do easily yourself.

As Lowtimer says, building up a good relationship with a garage you trust will assist in knowing what work needs to be done and when, part of the point of major service if that the car is given a good once over, highlighting any current and upcoming problems that will need addressing.


Edd
 
With mine I didn't know they had two levels of service, and mine had the "small" service every year. It hadn't had an air filter or spark plugs in about 7 years. [:eek:]

Everything is checked (except seemingly the filter and plugs). In that time it's had a lot of other work, but it's worth checking exactly what's been done, and whether some things can be left for the next year.
 
A minor is approx £200 at porschetek & £250 at strasse, for an oil and filter change and a look at the fluids?! How long does that take them? An hour max? Maybe I should take back what I said earlier and start learning.
 
Hatfield OPC surprised me couple of weeks ago in that their 12,000 service for my S2 was only £60 more than the indy.


Edd
 

ORIGINAL: Copperman05

Hatfield OPC surprised me couple of weeks ago in that their 12,000 service for my S2 was only £60 more than the indy.
Dealers are being hit quite nastily with the recession, and they are having to price to compete with indies.

However you can be safe in the knowledge that you saved £60 and probably got a better service to boot!


Oli.
 
Happy with my OPC pricing and servicing on all major jobs, my local garage does all the "everyday" jobs and I sometimes play mechanic and also do the occassional oil change.

Nice to have the service booked stamped, but then it doesn't really matter cause I will never sell her [;)]

 

ORIGINAL: Craigybaby

A minor is approx £200 at porschetek & £250 at strasse, for an oil and filter change and a look at the fluids?! How long does that take them? An hour max? Maybe I should take back what I said earlier and start learning.

The "minor" at my indie isn't just the oil and filter, it's a full inspection of the car. On a ramp, wheels off, brakes checked, road test, visual check of tyres, wash it, the whole lot. Anything they find is either extra, of course, other than little things like a bulb, or it's put as an advisory if not urgent. Also cheaper, but materials are on top.



Check all Lights, levels, washers and wiper blades
Check all electrical devices
Lubricate locks and hinges
Change oil and filter
Check underside of vehicle for fluid leaks and rubbing
Check radiator vents for debris and remove
Check all brake and fuel lines, Tectyl all metal ones
Check drive shafts and CV boots
Check all suspension and steering joints
Check all tyres and do pressures
Test drive
Wash and vacuum

£140.44
 
hiya,,booked mine into tower porsche next thursday,,big service,,cambelt.bearings,pads,brake fluid change, and basically anything else that needs doing including check for plate lift plus some little jobs attended to,, i am expecting a large bill but i dont do any of my own spannering and i do not intend to ever get rid of her,,so for me,,i will pay what it costs to keep her healthy and happy [to a point, lol],cheers jason p
 
Forgive me for hijacking this thread, but those who do their own changes, how on earth do you chaps change the oil filter without getting oil all over the place? Whilst I do clean up everywhere afterwards, all of my other cars do not have such awkward to access oil filters, or am I missing the point?

ATM I simply stuff a load of rags around the filter, which catches most of the oil Puncturing the filters (on my S2) does not seem to do much.
 

Posts made and opinions expressed are those of the individual forum members

Use of the Forum is subject to the Terms and Conditions

Disclaimer

The opinions expressed on this site are not necessarily those of the Club, who shall have no liability in respect of them or the accuracy of the content. The Club assumes no responsibility for any effects arising from errors or omissions.

Porsche Club Great Britain gives no warranties, guarantees or assurances and makes no representations or recommendations regarding any goods or services advertised on this site. It is the responsibility of visitors to satisfy themselves that goods and/or services supplied by any advertiser are bona fide and in no instance can the Porsche Club Great Britain be held responsible.

When responding to advertisements please ensure that you satisfy yourself of any applicable call charges on numbers not prefixed by usual "landline" STD Codes. Information can be obtained from the operator or the white pages. Before giving out ANY information regarding cars, or any other items for sale, please satisfy yourself that any potential purchaser is bona fide.

Directors of the Board of Porsche Club GB, Club Office Staff, Register Secretaries and Regional Organisers are often requested by Club members to provide information on matters connected with their cars and other matters referred to in the Club Rules. Such information, advice and assistance provided by such persons is given in good faith and is based on the personal experience and knowledge of the individual concerned.

Neither Porsche Club GB, nor any of the aforementioned, shall be under any liability in respect of any such information, advice or assistance given to members. Members are advised to consult qualified specialists for information, advice and assistance on matters connected with their cars at all times.

Back
Top