How often should I change the oil on 1998 Boxster ?

[SvenskaPoika]

I bought a 1998 model 986 last fall (with 51k miles) and my local dealer is telling me every 10k miles. The technician stated anything less is a waste of money. Is this correct?

[milliemax]

My Porsche Indy and his mechanic want to see me in their office every 5K. Thats about once a year or close to it. They strain the oil and cut/inspect the filter,check every thing out and off I go. And may I add that they have never seen an IMS failure in 30 + years in business. I hope they never will.

[husker boxster]

If you don't plan to put many miles on your Box, then change it at least once a yr. If you plan to rack up some miles, then change it anywhere from 5K - 10K mi. The topic has been debated many times and there is no correct answer and you'll get passionate responses all over the board. It's how you feel that will be correct. There are many ideas why the IMS bearing fails on Boxsters, but one thought is the oil isn't changed often enough. Strictly theory but could have merit. I change the oil on my pair of 987s every 5-6K mi. If you do it yourself, it's worth it to do it more often than too little.

Welcome to the forum. Do a search on oil or IMS and you'll have at least a week's worth of reading. If you want to start a firestorm, ask which brand of oil to use or what brand of tire is the best.

[gomarlins3]

I have been told it's 10,000 miles or one year as well.

[madmods]

If you drive it lower than 3,000RPM then you are 'okay' to change at 10k interval.

If you drive it in the 4000RPM range then you should change at 5k interval.

If you like to push it at red line occasionally, then you should think about changing your oil every 2.5k interval. Especially during hot summer

Hope this helps

[Mrmaddbrad]

I disagree with Madmods... I was curious about since the IMS bearing is such a flaw in these cars why it was never adressed and warrantied. So I called Porsche and they proceded to tell me that because people "don't drive them they way they are made" is not their problem.

He said the 10k miles per oil change is build for cars that are being driven hard and are then allowed to cool properly. Basically a track car is what he was describing... But on the streets 5k mile oil changes are the best idea, and earlier can never hurt. You'll find a lot of members on the forum change it between 3k and 5k miles.

[madmods]

Ask yourself why they use engine's high revs factors to measure the effectiveness of today's modern oil Have yet seen an oil test based on a 10k road simulation test!

Is the Porsche customer service desk not supposed to say that their cars are fast-forever anyway?

[tommy986]

after every race.

[madmods]

Originally Posted by tommy986

after every race.

Tidy! and thank you... I have difficulties expressing myself sometime

[Perfectlap]

every six months. Castrol Syntec 5w-40 (try Autozone they often give you free filter with 5 quarts). I don't let the car sit for than a six days without at least a spin on the highway. When driving out in the car, no high revs until the temps come up. Keep the revs at least 3,000 RPM when driving. Inspect the oil filter by cutting it open and rolling out, after each oil change.
Look for any cracked pepper sized debris. If you do see this.... ummm don't fire the eninge up again.

Do the LN IMS upgrade before you put any money into mods or non-urgent repairs. Barely 4K miles over the course of 14 years sounds like you'd be a good candidate for the upgrade.

[pothole]

I think 10k is probably OK if you are driving like a normal, well adjusted human being. I drive with my pants on fire, so I prefer something closer to 5k, though I don't usually get round to it until 6 or 7k.

I agree with Perfectlap regards warming the car thoroughly before dropping the hammer and also not letting the thing sit too long. If I haven't been out in mine for four or five days, it gets taken out for a proper run.

If I'm really honest, I'm not totally convinced how much difference any of this makes. But if it does go pop, at least I won't be blaming myself.

[thstone]

I'd recommend every 5K. IF (and that is a big IF) the IMSB really does prefer new oil, then its cheap insurance.

I replace my oil every 6 track days which works out to about every 3 months/2,500 miles.

[Paul]

If most manufacturers recommend 5,000 miles in cars that use 4 quarts of dino oil, how long should a car with 9 quarts of synthetic oil go between changes?

[Brockmeister]

I've been doing 7k. Seems to work for me. I just did the clutch an IMS at 72k on a '99 base. The mechanic said the IMS was going but not gone. I don't think the previous oil had any adverse concequences on aging parts

[Ghostrider 310]

Mine was a 1998, purchased with 14K on it, changed the oil & filter every 4K. Constructed extra strong magnet scavenger for plastic filter shroud, never crossed the redline and last I heard they were still trying to figure out what was wrong with it with a possible main bearing.

[rick3000]

Change it once a year, if you're logging less than 10k miles. I change mine every 7500 miles, half of what Porsche recommends. Boxsters take significantly more oil than your standard car, so it can be pricey to change it too often. It depends on your driving, if you're pushing the engine a lot, 5k would definitely not be a bad idea.

[Perfectlap]

Originally Posted by rick3000

Boxsters take significantly more oil than your standard car, so it can be pricey to change it too often.

I've gotten it down to $80 for oil and filter and another $20 for labor if I don't do it myself.
$200 a year doesn't seem like a lot to me for such a vital part of engine care, particularly for a rare sports car like this. Well put it this way if a potential buyer won't spend that then he's probably not going to keep up with maintenance in general.

[bar10dah]

Originally Posted by Perfectlap

... a rare sports car like this.

Rare? ....

[Perfectlap]

outside of your Porsche or autocross clubs how many people do you personally know who own this car? I know this many: 0.

I know plenty of people with Porsches and 9 in 10 of them are Cayennes.

[Splitpin]

I do the oil and filter every 10,000 and just the filter every 5000