Fluids - Age vs Mileage
 

A few months ago, I purchased a 2004 S with a Tiptronic and the car had 15,500 original miles. The last owner had the car for 3 years, drove it 2000 miles and did nothing to the car.

I immediately changed the oil and had the 15,000 mile service performed at the dealer. The dealer added 1/2 gallon of coolant and the fluid level was ok in the transmission.

My question concerns mostly the fluids in the car. Does age matter vs the mileage driven? The car is 10 years old now with very low mileage. Currently, the car is stored for winter and this spring I will need to replace all the tires (originals on the car). I'll spring for replacing the fluids but not if I don't have to.

Your advice will be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

There are many posts on this. Allot of people contribute some of the IMS Bearing failure to low mileage and not replacing oil often enough. Many say that uncirulated synthetic oil builds up acid, which inturn corrodes internal components.

I've posted this before.
1. Drive the car often.
2. Replace the oil every year regaurdless of the miles
3. Change the oil going into storage and out of storage so what if you waste $80 on the extra oil an IMS bearing failure will cost you $5000 to $20000 depending on where you get the motor and who does the work.
4. Cut down the filter when chaning your oil and inspect it for debris.
5. Drive the car often.

Brake fluids change probably every 2 to 3 year if you use the car less change the fluid more often. Dot 4 fluid is very hydoflillic and will draw moisture faster than you may have experienced in other model cars

Replace the coolant every 3 years regardless of mileage

Most of these numbers are lower than recomendations. The fluid is the least expensive component in the engine and drive train. As stated above the motor would cost you up to $20000 to replace with labor. A brake caliper run $980 installed at a dealer (I had the misfortune of having my car in for a track inspection where they may have damaged the bleeder and it had to be replaced) A water pump costs about $500 - $750 installed.

Gradually change out fluids as you can... most benefit from age vs. mileage change. Your owners manual will specify fluid changes at age or mileage increments.
I'm working on swapping out my car's fluids over a couple of driving season's hibernation time.
Last winter was brake fluid and trans fluid; this winter is coolant, water pump and low-temp thermostat.
By DIY, of course. These cars are pretty easy to work on with a Bentley manual and this forum to reference. :D

Like some of their other "recommendations", the published intervals for changing the fluid in the Tiptronic is nonsense. All ATF's die, and because you can only do a partial change (there is no way to totally drain or pressure flush the Tip), regular partial fluid drain and refill should be part of your maintenance discipline.

Jsceash, BoxsterSteve & JFP,

Thank you for for your advice. I plan on doing much of the maintenance myself, so I will invest in the Bentley manual.

I hate to be a downer. Get the Bentley manual It has a ton of good information in it, then ignore most of the engine information. They were very much designed with the 5 chain engine in mind, Your motor is a 3 chain model. the AOS bolts to the top of cylinder 3. There are no spark plug tubes. instead there is a seal under the valve cover, and a o-ring under the cam follower carrier. Not covered in the Bentley. They use a valve to control a clutch on the intake cam that varies cam timing. First real vario cam. Previous models use and electric solenoid, and change the position of the chain around the cams to change the position of the intake cam. There are some other differences. Bottom line if you plane to work in the motor compartment get a shop manual for a 2005 - 2008. Do not buy a shop manual for a 1999 - 2004. this also will not show the engine assembly for your car.

+1 - I just rebuilt a 3 chain 2003, many of the parts and seals listed for the 1997 - 2004 engine do not fit, you'll need 2005 - 2008 parts and seals. An expensive lesson for me.

Thanks for that insight. Can you offer up the publisher or ISBN of the shop manual. I'm currently bidding on a Bentley on Ebay. It's probably not a bad idea to start a library.

Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water....

Porsche has ceased publication of all of their shop manuals, although some still show up in places like flea bay. In any case, even the original shop manuals contain very little information relating to the engine as Porsche had long since adopted a policy or replacing rather than rebuilding engines.

Wow, another missed revenue stream. I guess I'll have to rely on the generosity of people like you who are willing to share their knowledge & expertise. Thanks again for your help. If I ever get to meet you or other members in PA somewhere; I owe you one :cheers:

The revenue stream has not been "missed", just moved and much more tightly controlled; Porsche makes the information available online via a subscription service. Unlimited access is about $5K per year, but they also will sell you as little as a single page of information at reduced prices.

https://techinfo2.porsche.com/techinfo/VFModuleManager?Type=MainFrameSet

PDFs of the 986 and 987 manuals are out there and contain just about enough information to get the job done, but they usually lack specific details you have to fill in. I paid a few bucks for the downloads, but if you are more savvy you can likely find them for free. From an engine standpoint, Bentleys is useless. Also the 986 and 987 katalog documents (free) are great because they show exploded views of the engine, as well as other systems. For re-assembly, I found the best resource was the car itself before dis-assembly, a cell phone camera and this forum.