I just talked to my Porsche service manager and he said Porsche was changing the oil change interval to 12,000 miles for the '08 models. I find this interesting that they are backing off the 20k previously recommended. I am old school so I am doing a change this weekend at just lees than 6k.

I agree that the oil changes need to be closer together. Your discovery was discussed here not too long ago along with some other changes for 2008...

MY08 Equipment and Color Changes

I suspect as this thread indicates the dealers had a lot to do with the service interval changes. They wanted more opportunity to sell something, whether it be, cars, service or parts.

__________________
Meet my Mistress...

My Pictures My Cayman S

My Porsche Cars

2007 Cayman S
2006 Cayenne S Titanium Edition
1982 944 (Amoung first shipment to come to US; number 6 off the boat)

I've always felt that oil change intervals was more to benefit the Dealers rather than warranty. Why is there such a huge difference in oil interval change times between manufacturers. US cars seem to need oil changes every 5,000ml yet European cars have a much longer interval.
The less frequent the better; less oil wasted in this world.

+1

I think if you're changing your Cayman's Oil every 6,000km you're throwing your money away, but it's your money.

I think if you're changing your Cayman's Oil every 6,000km you're throwing your money away, but it's your money.[/quote]

No I won't change it every 6K but I will do the first one then. I plan to keep my car a long time,

Must be some magic in the oil to last more than 6k miles. I have not heard any break through in technology that would justify waiting till 12k

The chemists at Mobil and Amsoil would disagree w/ you.

__________________
'07 Guards Red Cayman S
'08 Honda Ridgeline RTL
'99 Miata 10th Anniversary Edition
'07 KTM Super Duke 990
'07 KTM 300 XC-W / '06 KTM 450 XC

I agree Mobil 1 is not going to break down in these cars(or any others) It is the contaiminates in the oil, is why it needs to be changes. Therefore, if you use clean fuels and good filtration, no need to change the oil very often. I do wish we had a dip stick, that way would could examine the oil regularly, then we could better see if it actually needs to be changed at certain intervals.

According to the independent shop I have been using for thirty years without complaint, the very long oil change intervals recommended by some manufacturers are proving to be a mistake. Porsche's 2 years / 20k miles is an example. By 100k miles, engines show the kind of deterioration you expect when the owner hasn't changed the oil often enough. If you are only leasing the car for the length of the warranty and don't care about future owners, this is a moot point. However, it is a shame to treat any Porsche this way.

Synthetic oil certainly lasts longer than mineral oil; changing it every 3k to 5k miles is excessive. One year / 10k miles sounds about right.

Attended the tech session on oils/lubricates at PP. The presenter's presentation was basically oil changes need to be done at 3-6k miles, using regular oil for regular daily driving,(said the extra expense of synthetic doesn't gain you anything unless the car is used in competitive events regularly. I did not write down his name (although it was done by "Dr."......) but this person works for a company that does long term testing for trucking firms, car rental companies, racing teams etc. for maintenance programs. And one of his main points was that it was the contamination of the oil that determines the interval needed, not so much the mileage. And if the fine print is read on the interval, there is always a severe useage listing, which will call for more frequent changes....

My '02 Audi turbo was 10k oil changes with Mobil 1. Did first change at
5k. Never had any problem or heard of any. Plan to do same with my CS.

My sons audi a4 is 10,000 miles and also Mobil One.
We sold Mobil products for over 63 years and IMO there is no better lubricant than Mobil One, I run it in my harley Davidson exclusively and all my vehicles. As good as it is, I will not go 20,000 like Porsche wants, I will not go 10,000 like Porsche wants. To pay the kind of money that I did for my 06 cayman S with every damn option on it just does not make sense. Is it wasting money???IMO at 5000 it might be, as Mobil One is that good, but alot depends of the driving. If you are a long distance, hard driver, you can get by longer, but if you are up town and back 5 or 10 miles porshce user then you are no breaking down the lubricant, you are contaminating it with moisture 212 degrees will normally boil away any moisture. Up town and back just won't cut it. Now IMO alot depends on who is doing the changing etc. I called My porsche dealer to get a price, including oil and filter, and I am 125 miles away also. $275 for the job. That is to much IMO for every 5000 miles. I have a great foreign car person mechanic in my home town, who I approached about doing my Porsche oil change. He comment was no big deal do them all the time. He let me buy my own Mobil 0-40 oil and filter and did the change with new drain plug gasket for $25.50. All total I had almost $100 in the complete oil change. I had to wait 2 weeks to get it in, as I told him I did not want to leave it overnite. but again 2 miles from my home is no problem. I will change my porsche oil every 5000 at this price whether it needs it or not. My mind say that I will feel better about it. Sorry to ramble. I am a true Mobil believer. By the way Amsoil is also good stuff, but most don't know that Mobil sells Amsoil the base stock but then
Amsoil adds their synthetics, but Mobil retains the Syn- technology. Harley Davidson about 5 years ago tried to get Mobil to make their synthetic under their name and Mobil would not do it it. Mobil and Amssoil will not make their synthetic lubricant under another name. They would make the lubricant and put JOE BLOW ON IT BUT SOMEWHERE ON THAT CAN WILL BE MADE BY mOBIL oIL OR aMSOIL. Course Harley Davidson only wanted their name on it so that they could charge $14 a quart for it as they are now chargeing for their synthetic oil which is made by Citco. Soprry for the rambling..

Pretty much any oil at Walmart is good, if the change interval is low enough. Any synthetic oil that is worthy of Porsche recommendation will be fine through 10,000 miles. Any longer than that is another story.

They may be changing the interval, based on engine data from cars that have suffered ailments induced by track days - who knows??

IMO, the harshest thing you can do every few thousand miles is to drain the oil and replace the filter, as the engine starts with near zero oil for a brief period. I'm guessing that 20 times of that in 100,000 miles is more harmful than 10 times or even 5 times. YMMV

__________________
*******************************
The search tool is your friend. It is very
likely that your question has already been
answered countless times.Very,very likely.
*******************************
*******************************
Cayman S - a portable amusement park

- 2006 Cayman S
- 2003 Dakota SXT
- 1963 Studebaker Avanti, R2, 4-Speed
*******************************

LL