Question for the community...looking at my owner's manual (2012 Turbo), Porsche recommends replacing the spark plugs every 30k miles, PDK fluid every 60k miles, and engine air filters every 80k miles.

But...the time interval for all of these things is every 4 years. I'm almost at the 4 year mark since these were last changed, but not even close to the mileage interval for any of them (all these items were replaced about 4 years and 21k miles ago)

Do you guys generally stick closer to the mileage or the number of years, or somewhere in between? Or, is it best just not to mess around with a car like this and just do everything as soon as the 4 years come up? Any advice is appreciated. Thanks.

 

Fluids in particular will age into corrosive and/or harmful states over time. That's why there is a mileage AND/OR time limit on fluids. Filters also structurally degrade over time. Glue goes hard or soft, paper gets brittle, etc. Spark plugs, I don't think are affected by time.

 

If I had a two mile long dirt driveway, parked my car outside, and drove a lot in the rain, slush, and snow I'd change the engine air filter. However, if you drive mostly on highways, mostly in dry conditions, and garage your car, I wouldn't hesitate to let the engine air filter stay in there for 6 years if the mileage on the car is only about a quarter of the change limit. The job is easy to do yourself, but it's' time consuming because of all the fasteners and other stuff that must be disconnected to remove the front bumper cover. Therefore, if you're paying someone to change it, extending the time interval makes sense to me. Of course, that doesn't mean it should make sense to you.

Transmission fluid change interval, as afar as I'm concerned, can be biased by how you drive the car. Do you do track days and/or flog your car in Sport Plus mode at every stop light? Or do you drive in Comfort mode on long highway trips most of the time. If you're at a quarter of the mileage interval, I would not feel uncomfortable with extending the time by a couple of years. But again, that's just me.

 

good advice! PDK fluid imo should be more of a 30k mile service not 60. If you use launch control a lot better change it sooner than later. Spark plugs and filter I think you are ok on, but at 20k it wouldn’t hurt to at least do the plugs I would skip the air filter. Don’t forget the differential fluid! It doesn’t mention it on service schedule untill 120k miles but I just had mine changed at the dealer at 50k and it needed it!

 

Do you mind mentioning how much the dealer charged you for that differential service?

 

I think that trip I paid $300 for oil change and $350 for the rear differential fluid.

For the front diff fluid they want a lot I think around $1000 because service protocol calls for the subframe to be moved, but if you look around here there is a DYI where you suck the fluid out from the fill port because it is easily accessible.

 

Had my mechanic do this, I think it was a 15 min process.

 

I wouldn't be surprised to learn a certified Porsche mechanic at a dealership used this quick "suck out" procedure to change the front differential fluid in 15 minutes and then find out when I was presented with the bill that they still charged me the "book rate" of a thousand bucks for the job. :0

 

I think brake fluid should be flushed every 2-3 years. It isn't expensive, less than $100 at my local indy shop. If you are really cheap, just suck out all the brake fluid from the master cylinder and replace. Eventually, it will recirculate. Do this every six months or so.
Modern spark plugs last more than 30K miles. Porsche dealers continue to stock platinum tipped plugs even though longer-lasting iridium plugs are available. My experience (other cars) is that platinum plugs were still strong at 60k miles and iridium at 100K miles. Recently checked the oem plugs on my '14 "S" at 34K miles. They were pristine showing no wear under 10X magnification.