PDK Gearbox fluids change

[BoxsterLL11]

Here's a question for those technically minded people among our community, not that I am not, but I would like a second opinion !!!!

My 981 Boxster S is now 12 years old and I have owned it since Feb 2017.
The first owner only did 4k miles per year for 4 year.
Second owner only had the car for 3 months.
The mileage currently stands at just over 32k.
I have been servicing the car myself since 2020.

Due to my back/hip issues the car has only done 1000 miles in the last 2 years and is now due for all its major service jobs to be done.
I have done them all back in 2020 except for one which is now due its first which is the auto gearbox fluids, due for replacement at 12 years/120k miles.

I have the fluids and gear to change them but am 2 months past my first hip operation so crawling under the car perhaps is not quite recommended yet.

On YouTube, I found an Ausie who has vids on every job on a 981 including the auto box fluid change.

Porsche 981 Boxster

Various DIY procedures for the Porsche 981 Boxster

www.youtube.com

It was his vids that enabled me to fix my non-operating soft-top for £90 as opposed to Porsche doing the job for £900, it was just a faulty microswitch but needed the hood removing in order to replacing the faulty one, and removing the soft-top is not difficult once this chap's video is watched.

The most expensive part of the PDK fluids change service job is replacing the plastic sump/seal which has an integral coarse filter which costs £173 as listed by Design 911.
Part no. 9P1321359

https://www.design911shop.com/p/gearbox-oil-pan-porsche-987-cayman---987-boxster---991---997-gen2/?currency=GBP&country=GB&gad_source=1&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIwIKzs4_FiQMV7YBQBh3yIBWPEAQYASABEgLk5fD_BwE

Porsche PDK Filter change kit

Triange style sump used in smaller engine versions up to 450 NM Kit complete with

www.bristoltransmissionsshop.co.uk

The YouTube vid states that sometimes there is not a need to change this expensive part as there is little to be gained in doing so.
I messaged the the guy in Oz, gave him my scenario and advised its not really necessary to replace the plastic sump as the integral filter is only a coarse filter anyway.

As in my case, the car is 12 years old with only 32k and not had a hard life.
The down side is without removing the sump its difficult to remove all the old fluid but not impossible to remove most of it.

The cost to have this service job done by indy is not cheap never mind by a Porsche centre.
And I'm an engineer, I like servicing the car myself if I can.

So as the car has not had a hard life I am hoping to be more mobile by next summer to be able to do all the required servicing and delay the auto box fluids change until then.
I don't see this as being a crucial or critical problem but just wondered what anyone else thought.

Its possible I am having my 2nd hip done in 6 months time so before that is due I want to get all the outstanding service jobs out the way as it would be another 2-3 month recovery from having the 2nd hip done and another delay.

Hope all this makes sense & might be of interest and useful information for anyone else who may be thinking about doing this job themselves aswell.
And, having thought about it, I might just replace the plastic sump anyway as am sure when I checked this out a year or two ago it was £200 from Design 911 so at £173 its a bargain !!!

And, as a passing comment, I even asked my local garage who MOT all my cars for the last 10 years if they would consider doing the job for me for labour only as I already have the fluids but they really didn't seem interested.

 

[Scrounger]

For £173 I change it.

 

[Motorhead]

I agree with Dan.

A no-brainer. The filter’s 12-years old, so just change it!

Jeff

 

[BoxsterLL11]

I know what you are both saying, but £173 is a fair amount of money for something that does not necessarily need to be replaced.
If you forward the above video to approx 8 min 20 secs, he states the reasons as to the why in his opinion its more important to have frequent fluid changes than replace the plastic sump/filter.

If its not "baroque" don't fix it.

I was at sea and some ships operated a preventative maintenance system where machinery was stripped for inspection regardless of condition based on previous running hours data etc.
Invariably, once stripped & reassembled, problems occured.

I have no leaks from the sump seal, the new aluminium screws that come with the sump have a torque setting of 2.4 Nm !!!
Its a coarse filter so most of whats floating around with the fluid is likely to pass through.
The requirement to replace the plastic sump just because of the integral coarse filter seems like Porsche overkill to me, especially as my car has done 32k in 12 years and the service interval is 12 years/ 120k miles.

I haven't decided yet.
The only advantage in replacing the sump is that it makes the job a little easier.

 

[BoxsterLL11]

Just to add, the Design 911 sump pan for £174 is a replacment part.
A genuine Porsche part costs is £424.
And I found my quote from last year for my local indy to do the job, £700 total.
£225 labour + vat, £250 sump pan + vat, £108 fluids + vat

Admittedly, my fluids bought last year cost me £143 from Opie Oils for 6 ltrs of Fuchs ATF & 5 ltrs (should need 2-3) of Millers of 75w90 gear oil.

 

[malarcy]

And when you come to sell it that 175 quid you saved is going to turn folks away. My first reaction would be “so it needs a proper pdk service”

Phone OPC get a quote for the whole job. Use that as a baseline. Call GOOD Indy’s and see where you end up.

 

[BoxsterLL11]

I'm sorry, I am a competent engineer and quite capable of doing the PDK service myself.
Its an oil change after all.
No electronic gizmo's required.

I have owned Audi's for over 30 years and always had them serviced by Audi during the first few years of ownership for each car.
But these dealer centres like to think they are the only competent people to work on "your" car and baffle owners with over complicated procedures that they feel no one else can understand.

I had first hand experience of this with my roof fix on my Boxster. When I picked up the new part from Porsche of the offending faulty microswitch the parts manager was very abrupt and categorically stated that the part in question "never fails and in 20 years of working for Porsche had never seen one needing to be replaced".
So I replied, from a few forums I had visited, a number of owners had had the same problem so perhaps at a certain age, these start to fail.
He continued to disagree.
The microswitch cost me £85 and another owner on another forum paid £880 for an OPC to do what I did.
These OPC's believe they are they only ones competent to work on their cars because they feel they are too complicated for DiY mechanics and are so far up their own arses and charge customers absurd amounts in labour charges for the luxury of you to have your own car worked on by Porsche.

If the job is too complicated I will hold up my hands and say I can't do it and pay for someone else to do it.
The last A4 with an auto box I had needed an ATF fluid change and required too many special tools to do the job so I got Audi to do it, it cost £200.

If my local indy is quoting £700 for the Boxster I dread to think what an OPC would charge.
And I accept, if there are owners out there who are not competent to do the jobs themselves and willing to pay Porsche's exorbitant prices, fine, I don't have a problem with that.

I hate having the wool pulled over my eyes and then have the feeling I'm being ripped off.

Thank you for your comments.

 

[BoxsterLL11]

Have just ordered the plastic sump from Design 911 and got a 10% discount using the PCGB code.

 

[Greenman986S]

Just to add, the Design 911 sump pan for £174 is a replacment part.
A genuine Porsche part costs is £424.
And I found my quote from last year for my local indy to do the job, £700 total.
£225 labour + vat, £250 sump pan + vat, £108 fluids + vat

Admittedly, my fluids bought last year cost me £143 from Opie Oils for 6 ltrs of Fuchs ATF & 5 ltrs (should need 2-3) of Millers of 75w90 gear oil.

so you paid more for the fluids than the indy quoted?

 

[BoxsterLL11]

So the indy was going to charge me £94 for 6 ltrs of clutch fluid which is what I paid.
They were also going to charge me £36 for 2 litrs of 75w90 and I paid £46 for 5 ltrs.
Its standard gear oil so I can use in my other cars if the need arises.
The indy quoted £300 for the sump, I have paid just over half of that.
And their labour was £270.
I know I have to do the job but at least I know it will be done to my satisfaction.
And a saving of over £400's