The six hour oil change!

Brad B

Brad B

New member
I was told the oil change on the Carrera was an awful job. It cost a fortune at the Porsche dealer. Two filters, a couple gaskets, 11.5 quarts of 15W50 Mobil1, and several hours of labor at $90 an hour.



So I decided to do it myself. I downloaded a "tip sheet" off the internet from Rennlist, the best Porsche website. It's 10 pages long!



It started out rough when I learned that I couldn't use my hydraulic lift because one of the filters and one of the drain locations (there are two) is located on the side of the car near the rear wheel where the lift would be in the way. So I had to use my regular jacks. The process was long and slow. You have to drain two seperate areas because the Carrera pushes oil to the front of the car where the oil coolers are located. Then the second oil filter is located in a position almost imposible to reach high up in the engine. You have to remove many shrouds and oil return lines and heat ducts. Then I discovered the filter was on far too tight. I had to fight it off. It took over three hours of pounding, scratching, clawing and brute force to get it off. All the while it was dripping on me from the holes I put in it. (see the pic) I ended up throwing away my shirt it was so saturated with oil! I started the job after dinner and probably woke up my sleeping neighbors after midnight with my slammimg tools and cussing! Now I have bloody knuckles and sore arms. Luckily I need only do this once a year!



Next weekend: Spark Plugs! Stay Tuned!



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hahah yah they probley would have just said they changed it put in a window sticker and set you on your way
 
Sheesh, that must be the hardest oil change there is. :eek: My filter looks that way when I take it off my Lincoln too. For mine the filter is mounted right above some suspension parts and it's harder than hell to get off and mounted back on. I feel your pain! :)



Good luck with the spark plugs, car makers like to make them absurdly difficult now. When I changed them on my Explorer it took 4 hours. :down
 
Geez, that sounds and looks tough.



I know this probably is much easier in comparison, but the new Nissan Sentras seem pretty tough too. I was going to offer to do a change for someone, figuring it'd be pretty easy, until i saw how deeply buried it was. One look at where it was and i already gave up. :p
 
Holy cow! :shocked That Porsche sure has a different oil change routine that's for sure!



TWO oil filters, one of which is HUGE and the other inconveniently located.

11.5 quarts of 15w50 :eek:



Sounds like a nightmare....
 
Man, and I thought my 3 hour change on my girlfriends Civic was bad.



I gave myself a few blisters trying to get the filter off that time. :)
 
I can feel your pain!!

When I had my 83 911Sc I HATED the oil changes. 12 QTs of oil . I only had the one filter that was right next to the oil tank in the engine compartment. But I do remeber one time I forgot to replcae the brass washer on the oil tank when I drained it. It was dripping a drop of oil every minute or so. I thought (my first mistake) I could take the drain plug out put my finger over the hole and change the washer. I V-E-R-Y slowly loosened the plug and kept going until I thought it was close to coming all the way out.When to my suprise the weight of the oil in the tank forced the plug from my fingers and 6-7 quarts of oil emptied from the tank in about 1.873 seconds!!:eek:

Wouldnt you know I didnt have the drain pan anyware near me!!!

So from then on I always made sure I put the NEW brass washer on the lpug when I was draining the oil.
 
Brad B. said:


Next weekend: Spark Plugs! Stay Tuned!
Click to expand...

HEHEHE

Spark plugs in a Porsche :D :D :D

If the spark plugs go through the valve covers.......................

Here is a tip I did. I taped the socket extention onto the sparkplug socket. It really $ucks when you try and pull the spark plug, socket and extention out, and only see the extention. :rolleyes:

Also make sure the "rubber round grommet" is in the sparkplug socket. It will hold the sparkplug in the socket. With the duct tape and rubber grommet in place everything goes in AND out as one unit.

As for R&R the two rear plugs..... Hire a 10 year old boy. They fit really well in there. Just ask my Son when he helped with mine!!

Good luck.

Jon
 
Brad,



I feel your pain. I have had the plugs for my 993 for 2 months now and just keep putting it off. Last summer I went over to a friends house who was doing this. I went over during hour 5 of his project. He was about half done. He said the drivers side was no problem (after you took half of the engine apart) and that bottom row on the passenger side wasn't to bad. He was still cussing and pully stuff off on the upper bank on the passenger side. He ended up giving up on one plug. Now I will say that his tool choices were somewhat limited. Forget about torquing some of those plugs. There is a current thread on Rennlist about a great spark plug socket with an attached extension that is sold by Sears. Looks like the ticket for a couple of them.
 
bet993 said:
There is a current thread on Rennlist about a great spark plug socket with an attached extension that is sold by Sears. Looks like the ticket for a couple of them.
Click to expand...



Thanks, I'm on it! I need all the help I can get!:up
 
Damn, now I know why Porsche owners are always complaining about paying too much for everything!



I was curious if a fluid extractor would work on a Porche and if there is a low point that the oil automatically drains too. It might be worth researching.



I use a Mityvac on my car and it takes 10 minutes to extract the 8.5 quarts of 15W50 Synthetic. MB filters are easy to change since the filter's on top and is cartridge type rather than the typical canister. Brad are you jealous yet?;)



Still I love the air cooled Porsche, they are all classics in my eyes.:xyxthumbs
 
ya most boats and all the new MB's use fluid extractors, also known as topsiders. This is done because it is very hard to access the drain plug for the oil pan (at least on the ML). You should look into one for your 911.
 
How do those fluid extractors work? Is it a tube that snakes down into the resevoir? Or is it a sealed vacuum affair? I've heard about such a thing and I bet it would work.



From now on the oil change process should be a lot easier.



1. I know how to do it and what to expect.

2. The "hard to get at filter" shouldn't be stuck any more.



But if I can make the job easier yet, then I am all for it! :xyxthumbs
 
From reviews I have read, the extractors remove just as much oil if not more than a typical draining will do. I have actually considered getting one to use with my GTI and my wife's Jetta. If I don't have to access the drain plug, I don't need to jack the car up, the filter is right behind the radiator.
 
A fluid extractor works by placing a small diameter tube into the dipstick opening of the engine. The tubing is pushed until it has hit the bottom of the oil pan.



There are probably about 20 extractors on the market, some work using a hand pump while others can be combined with a compressor to make your job easier. Either way a vacuum is created in the canister and it draws the oil into it. The oil should be hot to lower the viscosity and insure that all sludge/dirt is blended with the oil



The best extractor I've seen so far is the Mityvac, the largest will hold about 9 Quarts of oil. I bought mine at NorthernTool.com for $99.00. It includes a overlflow shutoff switch, a large high quality hand pump and a sturdy base. It also has a pour spout and using Parker Industrial Tube Fittings throughout.



Do a search on Rennlist, I'm sure someone there must have tried this?
 
Brad,



I don't think this would work with the 993 or older Porsches (not sure on the oil system of the 996 and Boxster) because the oil is not held at one point and I don't think you have direct access to all the oil. You have the oil tank on the passengerside in the wheel well and the then the oil inside the engine. I remember reading some time ago that the "dry" sump method used by Porsche would prevent the use of the this type of system.



Not to mention I really can't see it saving any time as you still have to jack the car up, take the rear wheel off, take the wheel well cover off to get to the big filter and then you would still have to get under the car and remove some ducting to get the small filter out. The draining of the oil on the Porsche is not the only difficult thing like on some cars, as jacking up is required to get to the filters as well.
 
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