I am coming up on my 2 year anniversary in the next week or two(I only had car three weeks but the cars almost 2 years old). The car was serviced about 3000 miles ago in Oct of last year.

The dealer wants to do a two-year service on the car which includes an oil change and they will top off fluids and check moving parts. The service is about $410.

So my question is do you think I should get the service done? It basically sounds like an expensive oil change to me. And of course they will reset the computer.

 

I'd push it to October when the oil has 1 year on it, myself.

 

If $410 includes the brake system flush, then it's pretty good deal, IMO. If not, that is expensive. I'd make sure with the dealer. Every 2 years, I get a hard sell on the necessity of the brake system flush to prevent corrosion. Brake fluid, as you likely know well, is hygroscopic. The weird thing is I don't seem to have to adhere to that type of strict schedule on other cars.

 

I'm coming up on 2 years in June and will be getting that service also. With a brake flush I was quoted $300. The first dealer wanted to change the cabin air filter, so that may push it up to $400. All the dealers seem to be singing the same song about the brake flush, but if it's that important, I can't figure out why Porsche doesn't require it.

ChuckJ

 

So is a brake fluid flush required or suggested by Porsche?

 

Required every 24 months per the service manual.

Where are you folks getting quoted sub $500 for annual service and brake flush? My local rapist - I mean dealer - quoted me $600 for the annual service alone. I haven't asked about the brake flush yet but can only imagine.

 

Flushing the brake fluid is a good idea on ANY vehicle, not just a sports car. Brake fluid attracts water over time, which lowers its boiling point and can lead to brake fade. It can also lead to brake line corrosion and caliper puck freeze but it takes years and years for that to occur. You think those 20 year old Corollas and Civics puttering about you on the road have ever had their brakes flushed? Not likely and they still work fine. Eventually a brake line will rust through or a puck will freeze, but you're talking decades before that occurs. I just did a caliper replacement on a 1982 Kawasaki GPZ that I picked up off EBAY on the rear brake and that bike is 32 years old and was on the original brake fluid - that's how long it takes to see damage.

If you track your car then its important to maintain that high level of boiling point to prevent brake fade on repeated hard braking. Lose your brakes going coming off a 120 mph straight into a 40 mph turn and you will be in a world of hurt....I've seen it happen.

Personally I change my brake fluid every year on cars that go to the track, and about every 4 years for my street-only vehicles like my pickup truck, wife's SUV, etc. It's not particularly hard to do it yourself, either. Porsche recommendations tend to assume you are going to be an aggressive driver, hence their 2 year recommendation for a change. 90% of all the Porsche owners I've seen will never drive their cars hard enough to even be remotely concerned about brake fade, however.

As to dealers charges, if you guys are whining about $ 400 to $ 600 for service you best not ever buy a true exotic such as a Ferrari or Aston or Lambo. You'll have a heart attack from the bill!

 

I just looked it up again and I can't believe I didn't notice it the first time; it is required.

ChuckJ

 

Why not just go to an independent shop? It'll be half the cost. No reason to give your money to the greedy dealers.

 

Indeed, I've owned an Aston Martin and just got out of my F430 Spider and into the 991S. I'm sitting here loving how relatively inexpensive *everything* is and it's lovely to be back to Porsche prices. My F430 threw a $70k bill on the first day I owned it and $10-15k per year is not unreasonable if you get a little unlucky.

 

I do them all the time at my shop. I'll even fill out your maintenance book.

 

Just paid $149 for brake flush at dealer

 

Noticed your in Pa. Do you mind sharing the dealership name?