Maintenance of 997 (major/scheduled)

[seahawkeye]

I bought my 2007 C4S 997 as a CPO almost two years ago (at 16,100 miles) . The time for 'scheduled maintenance needed' is ticking down and I've determined from the dealer that it has had two 'minor' maintenances but never a 'major' maintenance done. I changed the oil 6 months ago and checked the brakes which are fine. Car now has 24,500 miles on it.

How necessary is it to bring my car into the dealer for the 'major' maintenance? Can I just have my local indy shop do some of them? Researching the scheduled maintenance book and online, it seems that what I need for major maintenance is:

changing brake fluid

replacing air filter

replacing particle filter

cleaning out radiator ducts

changing spark plugs

The indy dealer said the spark plug replacement is not necessary at 24,500 miles. Is this true? What about drive belt or anything else?

Unfortunately, my nearest dealer is over an hour away and they did not do a very good job with some minor warranty work that was needed. I've heard they will charge about $1500 for the major maintenance but my local guy will be a lot cheaper. On the other hand, I don't want to damage my car if the above items seem a little to much for a local, non-Porsche maintenance guy to do... Any thoughts?

general maintenance intervals.pdf

[logray]

My two cents: don't pay someone to do most of these things. Do them yourself and save that money.

Paying a dealer $1500 to do these things is just ridiculous

• [*]replacing air filter - A $25 part. This is a 15 minute job for someone experienced. For someone with no mechanical abilities, maybe 1 hour tops.

http://www.pelicanparts.com/cgi-bin/smart/more_info.cgi?pn=996-110-131-52-M67[*]replacing particle filter - The cabin filter is cheap and is easier than changing a vacuum cleaner filter or home ventilation filter.http://www.pelicanparts.com/cgi-bin/smart/more_info.cgi?pn=997-571-219-01-M63[*]cleaning out radiator ducts - Take your house vacuum and put on an extension, stick it through the large holes in your front bumper in front of the radiators and suck all the stuff out. Don't touch the radiator fins because you don't want to bend them. [*]changing spark plugs - I would skip this until about 40-50k on the car. [*]changing brake fluid - pay your local shop to do this. It is just like any other brake system. I recommend ATE super blue or ATE Gold About a 1 hour job. You only need one liter at $15.http://www.pelicanparts.com/cgi-bin/smart/more_info.cgi?pn=706302-M4

I wouldn't touch the drive belt until 40-50k miles

Also you may want to pay your indie to replace your transmission fluid and flush your coolant, if both items are original to the car... based on 6 years old car. ONLY use Porsche fluids for those two items.

Edited April 12, 2013 by logray

[seahawkeye]

Great, thanks for very helpful response. I saw a DIY for the air filter so will have my local guy look at that too. The local guy isn't too experienced with Porsches but an expert with BMWs. He said it would cost around $400 and I'm hoping that between the two of us we can figure it out!

[Steve Kellett]

Air filter so easy, look on utube for video. you need to take air box out and once its out you can access serpentine belt, replacing it is 5 minute job so easy. Filter was $11 from Pelican parts, belt was $40 from Porsche, utube video free. took me 30 minutes to do both.