Engine oil is vital to your car’s engine. It’s primary function is to protect internal moving parts by providing lubrication to reduce friction and metal on metal contact. Over time the oil loses its critical properties, so regular replacement of the oil and filter are essential to maintaining your vehicle’s engine.
Porsche recommends changing the engine oil and filter every 1 year or 10,000 miles. However, we recommend a replacing your engine oil every 5,000 miles if you want to keep your engine healthy for years to come. While it may be intimidating to work on your Porsche, changing the oil and filter isn’t much different than on other vehicles. This is a great entry-level maintenance procedure that you can perform yourself and save yourself money on year after year
Instead of paying over $300 for an oil change at a Porsche dealership, use our detailed DIY guide to learn how to change your own oil for less than $100. To perform this DIY, check out the following video from YouTuber, CarFanatic. Detailed steps can be found below.
- 36MM Oil Filter Cap Socket
- Metric Hex Bit Socket Set, 3mm to 10mm (for oil drain plug)
- 3/8 Inch Drive Click Torque Wrench (10-80 ft.-lb.)
- Mechanic’s Tool Set
- Low Profile Oil Drain Pans, Pair – 6 Quarts Capacity Each
- Low Profile Vehicle Ramps, 2.2 Ton Capacity, Pair
- Long Neck Fluid Funnel
- Disposable Gloves
- Foxwell NT510 Elite OBD2 Diagnostic Scanner (for Porsche)
Oil filter cap: 19 ft-lbs
Oil drain plug: 37 ft-lbs
Oil capacity: 7.9 quarts (for all non-turbo and non-GT3 models)
Step 1: Prepare your vehicle and work area.
- Warm up the engine by driving your car around for 5 minutes. This will help the oil flow more easily.
- Gather required tools and parts and put on gloves and eye protection.
- Position vehicle on a flat surface.
- Open the engine cover.
Step 2: Raise the rear of the vehicle if extra ground clearance is needed
- TIP: Most people should be able to perform the oil change without raising the vehicle if they use a low profile drain pan (linked in the tools section).
- However, if extra clearance is needed, raise the vehicle using either vehicle ramps or jack stands.
- Place wheel chocks in front of the front wheels to prevent the car from rolling.
- To lift your vehicle on jack stands, check out this helpful video from the YouTube channel CarFanatic.
Step 3: Drain the engine oil.
- Unscrew the oil fill cap, which will help the engine oil drain more easily.
- Place the drain pan under oil drain plug.
- Remove the oil drain plug using an 8mm hex socket and ratchet; be sure to grab it so it doesn’t fall into the drain pan.
- Let the oil drain for 15 minutes.
- Note: If you’re using a low profile oil drain pan, it will likely not be able to contain all of the engine oil. Switch drain pans before the first overflows by carefully sliding the full one over while quickly getting the new drain pan in place.
Step 4: Replace the engine oil filter.
- While the oil is draining, use a 36mm socket to remove the oil filter cap, which is located under the engine cover.
- Replace the engine oil filter with a new one.
- Be sure to use new a new o-ring seal, which should be included with your new oil filter.
- Dab some new oil on the o-ring seal, which will help create a leak-free seal.
- Re-install the new oil filter and cap; tighten the oil filter cap to 19 ft-lbs using a torque wrench.
Step 5: Re-install the oil drain plug.
- After allowing the oil to drain, re-install the oil drain plug along with a brand new crush washer; if you do not use a new crush washer, the engine oil will likely leak.
- Tighten the oil drain plug with new crush washer to 37 ft-lbs using a torque wrench.
- Note: While Porsche recommends using a new oil drain plug, you can re-use your old one as long as it is in good condition and you use a new crush washer.
Step 6: Add new engine oil.
- To prevent from overfilling your engine oil, add only 7.5 quarts.
- Ensure there are no engine oil leaks.
- If you raised your vehicle, lower it back down so it sits level.
Step 7: Ensure the engine oil has been filled to the correct level.
- Start engine and allow it to warm up.
- When the car is sufficiently warm, you can have your onboard computer measure the oil level by selecting “Oil” on your gauge cluster.
- The upper line of the digital oil level reading is the max.
- The lower line of the digital oil level reading is the minimum.
- Each increment represents a little less than 0.42 quarts.
- Based on the reading, turn off your engine and add more oil as needed.
Step 8: Reset the vehicle's service indicator.
- To reset your service indicator, you will need a tool like the following: ↗️iCarSoft POR II Tool.
- Check out the video from the following YouTube channel for instructions.
Step 9: Collect all of your tools and clean up.
- Note: Engine oil is damaging to the environment. Take your used engine oil to any local auto parts store to recycle it.
Simon Kenneth says:
Service interval is 2yrs or 20k miles not as you state.
Simon Kenneth says:
And also, way to go recommending people waste money replacing oil 4 times faster than is required, modern oils do not need changing like it’s an ancient mineral oil. Doing once a year or 10j is even overkill but hey I only work for manufacturers so I’m sure the internet “experts” know more than the people that make the cars.
ecarguidesllc says:
That is an old service interval in which Porsche later revised.