Gearbox oil change

[renos]

I intend to change the gearbox oil on my 986 S.

Do I have to remove any suspension parts for access, necessitating rear suspension alignment?

Thanks

[White987S]

No.

[Loren]

On a 986 - Yes, you need to loosen the diagonal brace but no re-alignment is needed.

See the DIY in the 996 section and special instructions in step 2 here.

[Bristol]

FYI, one addition to the instructions for the 996 - on the Boxster S the fill plug is towards the rear of the transmission on the driver's side. Similar to the 996, but the drawing for the 996 shows it on the passenger's side. The Bentley manual doesn't cover the S at all for a tranny oil change, just the standard Boxster where the fill plug is above the drain plug. It's a 10 mm allen bolt on the S. I just changed the transmission oil on my 2000 S two nights ago and had to find the fill plug. Ya know... always find the fill plug FIRST and make sure you can get it loose BEFORE you drain the oil. :-P

Kirk

On a 986 - Yes, you need to loosen the diagonal brace but no re-alignment is needed.

See the DIY in the 996 section and special instructions in step 2 here.

[Stefan]

One other thing to mention is that Porsche recommends you jack the car by the jacking points when removing the cross brace to avoid alignment issues. In other words, don't use ramps to do this job.

The fill plug is tight enough that you can't just pour a new bottle of fluid in so make sure you have some way to get the new fluid in. I used a long tube stuffed in the fill hole and filled from above the top of the engine.