2001 996 Turbo maintenance question | FerrariChat

2001 996 Turbo maintenance question

Discussion in 'Porsche' started by up4speed, Aug 29, 2014.

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  1. up4speed

    up4speed F1 Rookie
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    Feb 16, 2012
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    Long Island, NY
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    Chris
    #1 up4speed, Aug 29, 2014
    I just purchased a very nice, well maintained 2001 turbo tiptronic with 17,500 miles (18,130 now, I drove it home!). My plan is to use it as a nice weather only daily driver. After looking at all the service records, it looks like all the fluids were replaced regularly except the front differential and the transmission fluid. I also don't know if there is a transfer case or not (or is that just on 4x4 trucks?).
    My question is: Should I replace the transmission fluid and differential fluid? I know there are many different schools of thought on this. I am very proactive with maintenance and want to start with everything fresh. I told the mechanic at Porsche (whom I'm friends with) that I wanted to do that and he was adamantly against doing it. He said that I would be asking for trouble and it's best left alone unless there is a leak or other problem with the transmission.
    I have an appointment on Wednesday for a safety inspection and wanted to know if I should listen to the mechanic, or my gut? How do the people on this board feel about it?
     
  2. Scott98

    Scott98 F1 Rookie
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    Nov 3, 2004
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    #2 Scott98, Aug 29, 2014
    The fluid deteriorates due to time and use just like with any other car. Sealed for life unfortunately means the life of the transmission.

    Scott
     
  3. billswim

    billswim Rookie

    Jan 31, 2014
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    Oakland ca
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    Bill
    #3 billswim, Sep 6, 2014
    Couple of schools of thought going on here. Sounds like your friend is a dealer mechanic? The dealer primarily deals with low mileage cars that the owner may or may not want to last past 100K miles but the dealer is only invested for the warranty period. "sealed for the life of the transmission" can be interpreted a couple of ways. Once the transmission lets go (at whatever mileage), well "that was the life span of the transmission" right? Statistically, that will be after the warranty has run out and the dealer is no longer on the hook for any repairs.

    More damage gets done by inexperienced shops selling cheap transmission services than by doing nothing at all.

    In my experience the porsches transmissions respond well to a service around every 30K miles. That being said the fluid is expensive and a little tricky to get it filled to the correct amount as there is not external dip stick and the fill/check is awkward and time consuming to get right.
     

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