We have a winner!

 

if you are just looking for someone to tell you that it is okay to not service the car, there you have it.

pay little or pay now. people do the same with coolant. sooner or later, their radiator leaks.

 

Wow, it's the old saying. Pay now or pay later. The only possible upside is unloading the car to an uneducated buyer. Oh the coolant thing..it's not"life" time as they say. Ask someone in the know. To enjoy these cars us not cheap. . Then no one ever said that. Enjoy your day.

 

OK. So now we are getting to the heart of my issue.


I think the logic of drive more, service more; drive less, service less works ok to a point.


But I have been driving another German brand (OK..Mercedes) for many years. I have had V8 and V12 AMG's and every other varietal. (By the way, they are good cars). I get new ones every 3 years.


Here is the rub: they tell me that I absolutely must change the brake fluid at 2 years regardless of mileage or useage. Or else the warranty will not apply to the braking system. So they blackmail us into paying a huge fee to have the fluid changed.


So I was trying to find out if Porsche is the same. Except I was really trying to find out if one really needs to change it. What I hear is a reasonable discussion.


After all is said and done, I do intend to change the fluid. Probably been 4 years and that is definitely long enough.

 

Mark, i keep telling you that it does need to be done and you are way over due.

I do all my service on my Lambo, Mercedes, Porsche and BMW. When the fluid comes out, I see air bubbles and color changes after 3 years. When you have air in the line, your braking can fail as air is compressible, fluid is not.

Dealers do charge arm and leg for simple things like oil change, brake fluid change. Both can be done in 30-60 mins each. Go to an independent specialty shop that uses factory fluid / parts if you want to cut cost.

 

This is a funny tread...no don't change it and save some money and see what happens-

 

If I don't change the fluid, I could be a test case. To see how long I could go without killing myself due to brake system failure!


News at 11.


But seriously, I do intend to change it.

 

In our PCA Region we used to test the boiling point of brake fluid before allowing cars to do DE's. Many failed and we even had one person with 4 year old fluid that boiled at about 215'F - that's right, not much better than having pure water as brake fluid. It does absorb water and lose it's effectiveness. In a moist climate two years is about the limit.

 

If you leave it in long enough the absorbed moisture can cause a sticking or even a seized caliper. I believe Porsche sets the change intervals to maintain max performance under harshest conditions. i. e. someone who threshold brakes repeatedly from high speeds (track day) and lives near the beach (lots of humidity in the air) porbably needs to do every 2 years. Someone who lives in the desert and rarely uses maximum breaking could probabbly go longer, but with out measuring moisture content you don't know how long. It is an easy and quick DYI if you have a power bleeder and as far as I am concerned, cheap insurance.