Garage Queen maintenance recommendations?

[Irksome]

I purchased a very nice 'garage queen' 2003 996 C2. On March 1 (4 years, 2 months after original purchase) it had 7800 miles on it. Today, I'm at 11,500 miles or so.

13 days after I bought it, the RMS failed badly, so I've had that replaced, and the clutch was evaluated to be in fine shape. Obviously, I had the oil (and filter) changed as part of that repair (it still had the original oil, nearly 5 years after manufacture!).

The first two owners did literally zero maintenance on the car. The last owner did replace the battery about 6 months ago, when it died after the car sat in his garage for over 6 months. To my knowledge, that is the only time the car saw a mechanic.

The car seems to be in fine shape, drives well, pulls hard, etc.

What items should I be considering changing out in advance of their 'mileage' recommended cycle? Spark plugs? Brake fluid? Coolant? Air filter? ??

Sorry for such a newbie question, I'm a complete novice at maintaining my own vehicle, and definitely a novice regarding maintaining performance cars.

Thanks in advance!

[White987S]

Brake fluid is every 2 years, so you are due for sure. I would change the coolant too. Have the belts checked too. Run a high quality fuel cleaner for a couple tanks too...one with Techron like the product from Chevron.

[Irksome]

Run a high quality fuel cleaner for a couple tanks too...one with Techron like the product from Chevron.

I have been filling up exclusively with Chevron 91 octane (premium in California) since purchasing the car. Is that good enough, or do I need to buy the additive version?

Thanks for the response, I'll look into the brake fluid, coolant, and belts.

How can a novice check the belts? Is this something that I could look at myself and feel good about the results?

[99C2_Riyanto]

This site has a complete resource on maintenance:

http://www.renntech.org/forums/index.php?a...=maint_menu_car

Since the car is more than 4 years old, regardless of miles, I would do the major 30,000 miles service if it was my car. If you don't want to do everything on the menu, at the least you must do the polyrib belt and brake fluid. I wouldn't touch the coolant, just top if off if necessary.

Should you do it yourself if you were a novice? That's your call :) The DIY section of this site is rich of step by step instructions. You can judge whether you should.

http://www.renntech.org/forums/index.php?showforum=114

I personally decided Polyrib belt and spark plugs are beyond my small brain's capability. Changing oil, brake pads, and air filter are okay.

[Irksome]

This site has a complete resource on maintenance:

http://www.renntech.org/forums/index.php?a...=maint_menu_car

Since the car is more than 4 years old, regardless of miles, I would do the major 30,000 miles service if it was my car. If you don't want to do everything on the menu, at the least you must do the polyrib belt and brake fluid. I wouldn't touch the coolant, just top if off if necessary.

Should you do it yourself if you were a novice? That's your call :) The DIY section of this site is rich of step by step instructions. You can judge whether you should.

http://www.renntech.org/forums/index.php?showforum=114

I personally decided Polyrib belt and spark plugs are beyond my small brain's capability. Changing oil, brake pads, and air filter are okay.

Thanks for the maintenance link, that is awesome! I had already found and read many of the DIY guides, but had not discovered the maintenance schedules.

It's funny, I read through the spark plug DIY last night, and felt up to that one. But the brake pad DIY scared me! I guess we all have our particular comfort zones, eh? ;)

I'm definitely NOT going to attempt changing the belts myself, and the brake fluid one scares me a bit.

[MechanicalEng]

Another good thing you could do is DRIVE the car more often!

[1999Porsche911]

For cars that don't get driven often, I do not run a full synthetic oil in the engine. They have not yet found the correct formulation to protect the seals. Mobil 1 is the worse. I use either a synthetic/mineral oil blend (Castrol) or, at minumum, use a seal conditioner. This will greatly reduce your risk of leaks, including your RMS.

Edited May 18, 2007 by 1999Porsche911

[Irksome]

Another good thing you could do is DRIVE the car more often!

Well, my car is a FORMER garage queen. I use it as a daily driver, and I've put on 3,000 miles in 3 months. Trust me, I drive it!

I'm just trying to make sure the neglect from the past doesn't catch up to me unawares...