Hi to the forum members.

Thanks for the comments which lead me to my GTS, a remarkable driving car to say the least.

After testing a 991 GTS, I found it not the 911 experience I had many years ago. I had owned several Porsches in the '70's and found the 991 more a gt and I felt a Porsche must have a manual transmission, at least for me anyway.

Well it all worked out beautifully, I was able to purchase a 2011 with 10k miles and now have a whopping 11k miles after 8 months. I know, I know meant to be driven, however it fits well for me.

The car is a CPO and is under warranty till 2017. My question is, the "service now" has come on and from what the previous owner has said is its an oil service request, so do I need to take the car to my local dealer or would the foreign car service I use for my BMW be alright with respect to the warranty?

I only have one dealer in the desert where I live and I believe they have mixed reviews.

Thanks for the help, Bob.

 

You can have the car serviced wherever you like. Just keep the receipts that note the date and mileage of service in case you ever get called out on a warranty issue. Manufactures are not allowed to require service at a dealer in order to honor their warranty.

 

I had my car serviced at European Motorcars and always got excellent service from them. Despite whatever comments you have heard, you might want to give them a chance and see for yourself.

 

Just some thoughts to consider:

• If you are a do-it-yourselfer, you can do the oil change yourself, keep the receipts and log when you do it, and it won't void your CPO either. However, you have no convenient way to reset the light without a Durametric or some similar tool unless your indy or dealer is kind enough to do it for you for no charge.
• While I typically DIY most everything I can, I made an exception here while the car was under CPO and paid the dealer "tax" for this. As part of agreeing to their price, I got them to give the car a "free" (more like "included") checkup when I took it in for the oil change to see if there was any signs of something that could be fixed under CPO. It isn't a hard sell since they make money on anything they find that needs fixing... they may even do this quick check anyway for all I know. After the PCA discount, the price was about $75 more than the respected Porsche service place in the area; well worth it to me for the peace of mind. In my mind, $75 a year or twice that isn't a big thing to worry about with one of the most important maintenance items on our cars, but of course, opinions about this vary significantly.
• It isn't terribly unusual in the threads here to see people end up with an over-fill on their oil since determining how much came out versus how much to put back in isn't an exact science, further complicated by the only available readout being the digital one on the dash. You can't just put 9 quarts back in. The general advice is to be conservative on how much you initially put in, then add a little more at a time until you hit the top mark. Others where would have better advice on that since I haven't actually done it myself yet. If you use an indy, make sure they are very familiar with 997 oil changes or you may end up with an overfill. The dealer always managed to nail the top mark on the electronic gauge when they did it for me.

 

I hate that you need a special tool to reset the maintenance light. I do my own minor services and taking it to the dealer and being charged to reset the light is insulting.

 

fgv1it,

Is there someone you would recommend at the dealership?

Thx, Bob

 

I dealt with Steve Moorehouse, Porsche Service Advisor. Friendly and knowledgeable. I moved away three years ago, so I don't know if he's still there, but if he is, that would be a good person to contact.

 

Thanks for the info, I'll take a try.

 

Sad that a dealership would charge you just to reset the light

 

I went and bought the cheaper Durametric to do my own re sets...
Also able to run my own DMEs, checked TPM sensor life left etc... Kinda expensive just to do a few things like that but I can always re sell it with the car someday.
I have a CPO and do almost all my own service (Plugs,brake fluids, oil) and never questioned upon using my CPO warranty. Now I m sure if I had engine issues they would ask for my records of oil changes etc..

 

I have a GTS and am CPOd until Dec '17. I do all my own maintenance. I was also concerned about proof of the work should a problem arise and use a document I tweaked that another forum member created and makes DIY a bit more official. I am mobile now and cannot seem to attach it here but if anyone wants it PM me. I'll send it it to you and then post it here when I'm at a computer.

Additionally, I record all maintenance in the myCARFAX app. It's a great tool to record regular maintenance or even specialty work and populates if someone ever pulled a report for your VIN. It also delineates between dealer and DIY records to keep everyone honest. It knows the service intervals to my car and even when I need to get emissions tested or register the car. Handy little thing for not too much $$$.

Porsche Service Record (TEMPLATE COPY).pdf