Oil change intervals

[Alex L]

Porsche recommend changing your oil with your first service - in my case for the Turbo @ 20k miles or 2 years

I know a lot of Porsche owners however change the oil after only 2000 miles as during run-in you can get lots of flakes of metal come off into the oil.

I just spoke with my OPC and they quoted me £290 for just the oil change. This seems rather high given a complete 2 year service is £474 which includes the oil change []

So I was wondering if anyone here had a view on whether 20k mile was fine or whether it is worth the £290 to do every year? [8|]

 

[yan]

If Porsche (conservative manufacturer) are prepared to warranty an engine on the basis of 20K it would seem to imply its not worth doing, would it not?

I suspect an independent would charge less?

 

[john.newland]

had the oil on my GT3 changed at 6000 miles, instead of waiting till 12,000; by an OPC, seem to recall it cost about £200 including filter.

Modern engines do not apparently need running in the same as in days of yore, so fewer bits should be floating in the oil. however I take the view that oil does degrade, and if I am keeping my car for some time (which I intend to) I do not want engine components wearing at a faster rate due to degrading oil. probably also depends on the type of miles your car racks up.20,000 motorway miles may not be a problem; but loads of cold starts, short journeys and track days would make a difference.

 

[Black80XSA]

OPCs wouldn't entertain early oil changes when i enquered back in autumn 2006 - bought a filter and oil and changed it myself. It will have logged a low oil pressure error on the diagnostic of course, but no mention was made when it went for its service.

Oil does degrade, modern oils do last longer, and can protect for 20k miles. However my view is that the extended servicing is more to do with the 'cost of ownership' figures which dictates ruuning and therefore lease costs ; hence making Porsches look better than of old.

If its a keeper then i'd have it changed or change yourself - buy the oil at costco will save you £60. £290 is ludicrous for less than an hour in the workshop, of which about 10 minutes is actually physical time on your car.

 

[garyw]

With mechanical sympathy its possibly worth doing Alex
I changed my oil of a regualr basis, like 1ltr per month [] (top ups) so never sent it in to be done.
However its just had its two year service, so fully loaded and ready to go now..[]

garyw

 

[johnk]

would have thought an indy would do it from between £100 to £140 which is half the dealer

 

[Alex L]

ORIGINAL: Black80XSA
buy the oil at costco will save you £60.

How many Litres would be required for an oil change?

Earlier today I bought 4L Mobil 1 0W/40 from Halfords online (they have 10% off everything in store ending today) for under £35.

I will have a look into what Porsche independents are in my area...

Thanks all []

 

[johnk]

you will need 3 of them their 4 litre tubs unless you can get a couple of 1 litre tubs, but its always handy to have a little over for future top ups...

 

[Alex L]

ORIGINAL: porsheuro

you will need 3 of them their 4 litre tubs unless you can get a couple of 1 litre tubs, but its always handy to have a little over for future top ups...

I am not sure I understand. 3L, or 3 x 4L = 12L ?

 

[johnk]

they hold somewhere around 9 litres give or take and if you buy 3 of these you will have 12 litres leaving you with a couple of litre spare or just simply buy 10 litres

 

[Alex L]

ORIGINAL: porsheuro

they hold somewhere around 9 litres give or take and if you buy 3 of these you will have 12 litres leaving you with a couple of litre spare or just simply buy 10 litres

Many thanks for the clarification

 

[Black80XSA]

4 litres is around £24 in Costco

 

[snarf]

I had mine changed at 1900 miles and again 12 month's later at 9,000 miles. Cost at a local indy was circa £145 including oil and filter. BTW a good tip is to ask for the oil filter cannister to be partially filled before refitting.

 

[danofesher]

ORIGINAL: snarf

..... BTW a good tip is to ask for the oil filter cannister to be partially filled before refitting.

On a GT3, and therefore, presumably a Turbo, the canister points downwards.

 

[johnk]

which is why i was wondering why would you half fill it with oil....?[8|]

but then snarf has a c2s which points up...

 

[snarf]

ORIGINAL: danofesher

ORIGINAL: snarf

..... BTW a good tip is to ask for the oil filter cannister to be partially filled before refitting.

On a GT3, and therefore, presumably a Turbo, the canister points downwards.

I was not aware of that - but no problem just turn the car over[].

 

[yan]

I am still wondering how necessary an oil change is over-and-above manufacturer recommendations. Presumably there are some hard facts supporting manufacturer recommendations which take into account oil degradation, component parts et. al., i.e. there is science backing up these recommendations.

e.g.
I understand that oil degrades as a function of heating/cooling/pressure/time but wouldn't the recommended brand/type for engine come with that tolerance catered for => 2yrs/20K is sufficient?
oil filters - they are reliable enough that they do their job to a high level of tolerance up to 20K.

Happy to be convinced otherwise.

 

[Keith5]

I also run a Saab Convertible Aero that uses Mobile 1 oil. The Saab has an oil purity measuring device which you access via the Saab Information Display unit. Obviously when you have an oil change the purity meter states 100% , however by about 8,000 miles due to various engine contaminates that purity level drops VERY significantly and I was advised by the Saab dealer to change the oil when the purity meter is around 15 -20%, which works out at around 10,000 miles.

Of course my Saab burns no oil between changes, whereas I have to top up my Carrera 4S with four tenths of a litre around every 600 miles. I think officially Porsche engines burn a litre every 1,500 miles, or so, so I suppose you could argue at the end of 10,000 miles you have put in over 6 litres of new oil anyway. !

Nevertheless, personally on my Porsche I would go for a filter & oil change every 10,000 miles.

 

[snarf]

ORIGINAL: Keith5

. . . . Nevertheless, personally on my Porsche I would go for a filter & oil change every 10,000 miles.

I agree and even if it's not necessary it can't hurt and might do some good. An indy I spoke to said that he thought the lengthening service intervals were driven more by the growing number of cars sold on lease type arrangements and the need to keep service costs down than any real improvements in oil and spark plug technology. I'm not sure I totally concur with that but it probably is a factor.

 

[berty987]

I was talking with the mechanics from nineminster a few weeks back. They commented they have seen a number of m96 engines with gummed up piston rings or internals as a result of town driving or infrequent use , even though the servicing has been maintained to manufacturers stds. They suggested that for infrequently driven or high use in town the oil should be changed more frequently. Apparently a good "thrash" once the engine is warm on a regular basis helps to keep the car in tip top form , these are sports cars and should be driven as such.[]