I agree - this is the manufacturers spec - and is a GUIDELINE. I think it is senseless to debate this - if you feel the need based on your driving habits, climate and opinion to change your oil more often - so be it, the only place it will take from is your pocketbook

I look at the 20k interval as a minimum spec for oil changes, and don't plan on letting mine go that long between oil changes, just for my own peace of mind. As the saying goes - your mileage may vary!

 

Is 20,000 miles what it indicates in the service manual for the car? Really? The 2009 997.2 I have indicates 10,000 miles. 20,000 sounds suspicious, but then I don't know the specifics of your car and the factory recommended interval for it.

 

Porsche indicated 20k mile interval from 2005-07, but then went back to 12k mile interval in 2008. I guess they went back even further to recommend a 10k oil change interval with the 09s?

Porsche recommended service intervals:
http://www.porsche.com/filestore.asp...letype=default

 

Porsche changed their minds and starting in 08 they recommend 10,000 miles or annual changes, whatever comes first.

I do mine every 6 months, simple DIY.

 

I went in for my first service this past December, I had about 10k miles on it, and they told me, the car should be serviced annually if you do not drive it that much...or serviced every other year if you do drive it a lot.

 

I think we're all waaaay overthinking this one - but that's what the web is all about, ain't it? Further, some seem to be voicing the notion that there has been no evolution and/or revolution of lubricant chemistry, materials science or manufacturing technology in the past 30 years. Clearly there has. Finally, Porsche is not well served by promoting a service interval that degrades their cars and their customer experience. The eco reference is a red herring. Porsche is an eco-sensitive company (as Euro law closes in more quickly than in the U.S.) but no so much so that they would damage their customer relationship.
I'm very sure that 20K is just fine. But it is just a guideline. Though it would pass warranty service needs, I'm quite conservative (and rather OCD as well) and change pure synthetic oil every 5-8K or once per year (in my Ford, that ends up being around 800 miles!). It's pretty simple. The Porsche is $100K +/-. An oil service is $75-$300, depending on who does it and how it is done. I prefer sleeping well at night more than saving $100.

 

If you're planning on keeping the car for some extended period of time, say beyond the warranty period, I'd change the oil once year, the brake fluid every two years and the coolant and gear box oil every 4 years. If you race it or put gobs of miles on it every year all these things would have to be done more often. Otherwise follow the manufactures recommendations and get rid of the car just before the warranty is up and you don't have to worry about any of these things.

 

It's not insane. Do we all know better than Porsche? What would they have to gain by pushing to 20k when they warranty the cars to 50k miles and in many cases 100k via CPO? Imagine if they told the world 20k and in a few years engines started dying all over the place because it wasn't often enough?

Come on, they know their engines and they know when the car needs oil. If they thought for a minute they needed oil ever 10k, don't you think they would tell us all to spend more money at their dealerships?

That being said, here's what I did... I did the break-in to 2k and changed the oil then. Figured anything floating around in there would work itself out during break-in and then I start with a fresh sheet. From then on, follow factory instructions. If, however, you do something out of the usual, like put on 50% of your miles on the track, then consider increasing the interval (which I did). But if driven on the street and regularly, why change more often?

 

nugent_crai.

I noticed you have a 2008. The recommended oil change schedule is 1 year or 12,000 miles. If you wait long enough, Porsche will probably change it again. They no longer recommend 20,000 miles/2 year changes.

I guess they didn't like what they saw on tear downs.