Question???? servicing your own Porsche 911 993 Carrera 4

Guest · Jul 18, 2008

As you might be aware i am new to the Porsche seen as always been into Sierra/Escort Cosworths

Is it hard to service a 1997 Porsche 911 993 Carrera 4 Cabriolet yourself as there are a number of traders on eBay who sell service kits, filters, plugs etc..

Can i get to all part points easily with out having to remove much parts at all..

Any advise would be very helpfull indeed.

Andy B Aces High · Jul 18, 2008

Hi Lee,

Welcome to the world of 911.

Servicing your own car is not too bad, I have owned my 993 for just over a year now and have carried out my own servicing.

An oil change involves the removal of the two engine covers underneath, these are held in place by dzeus type fasteners. The car has two oil filters, one under the RH rear leading wheel liner, which is also where the oil tank and tank drain plug are situated. This filter is easy to remove, the tank holds about 10-11 litres of oil so make sure you have a large container to collect the waste oil. The car should be warmed up to full temperature before draining to ensure the stat to the oil cooler is open. The second filter is accessed under the car on the RH side of the engine, mine and quite a few others have found this filter harder to remove. I used a chain wrench to remove it, crushing it in the process. There is also a drain plug in the sump to drain residual oil from this. (The car is dry sump). Get yourself about 12 litres of oil for a full oil/filter change and check the oil level afterwards using dipstick and gauge in the dashboard agian carried out when the engine is hot.

Changing the Spark plugs is a pig of a job and involves using various angled attachments on your socket, the hardest to get to is the RH upper front plug. The car has 12 spark plugs two per cylinder, six in the engine bay and six underneath.

Changing the HT Leads and Dizzy Caps/Rotor Arms involves removing a lot of the gubbins from the top of the engine but is well worth doing if it has not been done on your car, transformed mine when I did it. Many cars out there are still on the originals which by now are well degraded. Whilst you are doing the HT's it is also worth doing the fuel filter as this can only be accessed with the air box out. Air filter is easy, mine had a K&N which I have removed as I am told they can mess up the MAF sensor.

I have upgraded the suspension on my car, this was easy to do but does involve full alignment afterwards as the suspension is fully adjustable for camber, caster etc and can only be set up using the correct equipment.

Buying your spares, join PCGB as you will get discount on spares from your local Porsche Centre (What area are you in ?) I have found Design 911 to be good as well and they also give PCGB discount. Always try and go for genuine Porsche spares as I have had issues with some of the OEM stuff out there and now only use genuine parts.

If you scan back through the threads on this forum you will find lots of questions answered and good advice. It seems to be one of the most active in the club. Also check out p-car.com, 911uk.com and Rennsport forum as these are also good for advice. And check out your region PCGB meet, I go to the Kent region meet each month and have picked up some good advice there.

Sorry for the long thread but hope it answers you question.

Cheers

Andy B.

p27549 · Jul 19, 2008

I have to agree with Andy. I have had my C2 Cabriolet for 2 years and do all my own servicing. I use Porsche parts and log all the work i have completed on the car. Each year i do an oil change and complete annual service. The beauty is i can do it over a week and lube everything that needs it.
My recent accomplish was rear outer CV boot changes, brake disks and pads. The car is built like a tractor great design and pretty basic to work on. The only difficulty is having the car high enough off the ground to work underneath.
i must re-iterate if you are doing your own work make sure you keep a good record of the work completed and receipts.
Happy ownership

TIM

clyde · Jul 19, 2008

I think if you do your own servicing you have to accept that you'll probably take a hit on the value when you come to sell the car. I put mine into an indi for the servicing to get the stamp in the book but do most of the other stuff myself. As Tim said, go for Porsche parts as they are usually worth the price premium. If you're putting stock brake pads in though, the Porsce ones are made by Textar and the Textar branded ones are half the price but the same product. I think there's something in the technical articles on this.

Guest · Jul 24, 2008

ORIGINAL: clyde

I think if you do your own servicing you have to accept that you'll probably take a hit on the value when you come to sell the car.

If you're going to do it, you must do it 100% properly & document everything, keep every receipt etc. I only do it because I have no plans to ever sell my car, so should at least have it for long enough to save a lot of money. Also I enjoy doing the work!

Who's got the best way to raise a 993 safely by the way? I'm not too impressed by the p-car method...[8|] (sorry to hijack the thread a touch)

Roddy

clyde · Jul 24, 2008

If you're going to do it, you must do it 100% properly & document everything, keep every receipt etc.

I agree with that and worked on the same principle on previous lesser cars but can't quite bring myself to do it with the 993 for some reason, even though I don't have any intention of selling.