2010 PORSCHE BOXSTER S maintenance

196
Maintenance, Car Care
Exercise Extreme Caution when
Working on your Vehicle
Danger!
Ignoring the following instructions may
cause serious personal injury or death.
f The engine compartment of any motor vehicle
is a potentially hazardou s area. If you are not
fully familiar with proper repair procedures, do
not attempt the adjustments described on the
following pages.
This caution also applies to the entire vehicle.
f O n l y w o r k o n y o u r v e h i c l e o u t d o o r s o r i n a w e l l
ventilated area.
f Ensure that there are no open flames in the
area of your vehicle at any time when fuel
fumes might be present. Be especially cau-
tious of such devices such as hot water heat-
ers which ignite a flame intermittently.
f Before working on any part in the engine com-
partment, turn the engine off and let it cool
down sufficiently. Hot engine compartment
components can burn skin on contact.
f Be alert and cautious around engine at all
times while the engine is running.
If work has to be performed with the engine
running, always set the parking brake, and
make sure the shift lever is in neutral position
or the PDK selector lever in position P or N . f
In particular, be very careful to ensure that
items of clothing (ties, shirt, sleeves etc.),
jewelry, long hair, hand or fingers cannot get
caught in the engine-compartment blower, fan,
belts or other moving parts.
The radiator and radiator fans are in the front
of the car.
The engine-compartment blower is mounted in
the engine-compartment.
The fans can start or continue running as a
function of temperature, even with the engine
switched off.
Carry out work in these areas only with the en-
gine off, the ignition switched off, and exercise
extreme caution.
f Your Porsche is equipped with an electronic ig-
nition system. When the ignition is on, high
voltage is present in all wires connected with
the ignition system; therefore, exercise ex-
treme caution when working on any part of the
engine while the ignition is on or the engine is
running.
f Always support your car with safety stands if it
is necessary to work under the car.
f When working under the car without safety
stands but with the wheels on the ground,
make sure the car is on level ground, the
wheels are blocked, and that the engine
cannot be started.
Remove the ignition key. f
Do not smoke or allow an open flame around
the battery or fuel.
Keep a fire extinguisher in close reach.
f Incomplete or improper servicing may cause
problems in the operation of the car. If in doubt
about any servicing, have it done by your
authorized Porsche dealer.
Improper maintenance during the warranty
period may affect your Porsche warranty cov-
erage.
f Supplies of fluids, e.g. engine oil, brake fluid or
coolant, are hazardous to your health.
Keep these fluids out of children’s reach and
dispose of them in accordance with the appro-
priate regulations.
f Some countries require additional tools and
special spare parts to be carried in your vehi-
cle.
Please make enquiries before driving abroad.

Maintenance, Car Care
197
Coolant LevelfPlease see the chapter “EXERCISE EXTREME
CAUTION WHEN WORKING ON YOUR VEHICLE”
on Page 196.
The cooling system is filled at the factory with a
permanent coolant.
It provides year-round protection from corrosion
and freezing down to –31 °F/–35 °C .
f Only use antifreeze authorized by Porsche. Checking coolant level The expansion tank with its filler orifice is located
in the rear luggage comp artment under the serv-
ice flap.
f Check the coolant level regularly.
When the engine is cold and the car is level the
fluid level must lie between the “MIN” and “MAX”
markings.
Topping off coolant
Warning!
Danger of serious personal injury or death
from scalding. Coolant is hazardous to your
health, and may be fatal if swallowed.
f Do not open the cap of the expansion tank
while the engine is hot.
f Allow the engine to cool down before opening
the cap and protect your hands, arms and face
from any possible escape of hot coolant.
f Keep coolant out of children’s reach.
f Also, keep coolant away from your pets.
They can be attracted to it should there be a
spill, or to used coolant left in an open contai-
ner. Coolant can be deadly to pets if consu-
med.
Risk of damage from overflowing coolant.
f Take care while topping off coolant not to soil the luggage compartment or items of luggage.
1. Switch engine off and let it cool. Please see the chapter “COOLING SYSTEM” on
Page 88. 2. Open the service flap by pulling the handhold.
3. Cover the expansion tank cap with a thick rag.
Open cap slowly and ca refully and allow over-
pressure to escape.
Then unscrew cap completely.
4. Only add a mixture of antifreeze and water in
equal parts, and do not exceed the ”Max.“
mark.
Antifreeze in coolant:
50% gives protection down to –31 °F/–35 °C
60% gives protection down to –58 °F/–50 °C
5. Screw cap firmly on.
6. Close service flap.

198
Maintenance, Car Care
If in an emergency pure water has been added, the
mix ratio must be corrected at an authorized
Porsche dealer.
Marked loss of coolant in
dicates leakage in the
cooling system.
The cause should immediately be remedied at an
authorized Porsche dealer.
Engine-compartment blower,
radiator fan The radiator and radiator fans are in the front of
the car.
The engine-compartment bl ower is mounted in the
engine compartment.
Warning!
Risk of injury.
After the engine is switched off, the engine-
compartment temperature is monitored for
approx. 30 minutes.
During this period, and depending on tem-
perature, the engine-compartment blower
may continue to run or start to run.
f Carry out work in these areas only with the en-
gine off, the ignition off, and exercise extreme
caution.
Risk of injury. The radiator fans in the front
end of the car may be operating or
unexpectedly start operating when the
engine is switched on.
f Carry out work in these areas only with the en-gine switched off.

Maintenance, Car Care
199
Engine Oil It is important to perform oil changes regularly in
accordance with the intervals specified in the
“Maintenance” booklet.
Engine oil consumption
It is normal for your engine to consume oil.
The rate of oil consumption depends on the quality
and viscosity of oil, the speed at which the engine
is operated, the climate, road conditions as well
as the amount of dilution and oxidation of the
lubricant.
If the vehicle is used for repeated short trips, and
consumes a normal amount of oil, the engine oil
measurement may not show any drop in the oil
level at all, even after 600 miles (1,000 km) or
more. This is because the oil is gradually becom-
ing diluted with fuel or mo isture, making it appear
that the oil level has not changed.
The diluting ingredients evaporate out when the
vehicle is driven at high speeds, as on an express-
way, making it then appear that oil is excessively
consumed after driving at high speeds.
If the conditions you drive your vehicle in are
dusty, humid, or hot, the frequency of the oil
change intervals should be greater. If the vehicle is driven at a high rate of speed,
climatic conditions are warm, and the load is high,
the oil should be checked more frequently, as
driving conditions will determine the rate of oil
consumption.
– The engine in your vehicle depends on oil to
lubricate and cool all of its moving parts.
Therefore, the engine oil should be checked
regularly and kept at the required level.
– Make it a habit to have the engine oil level checked at every fuel filling.
– The oil pressure warning light is not an oil level indicator.
The oil pressure warning light indicates serious
engine damage may be occuring when lit, if en-
gine rpm is above idle speed.
Engine Oil Level f Please see the chapter “EXERCISE EXTREME
CAUTION WHEN WORKING ON YOUR VEHICLE”
on Page 196.
f Regularly check the oil level using the on-board
computer after the vehicle is refuelled.
Please see the chapter “OIL DISPLAY AND
MEASUREMENT OF THE ENGINE OIL LEVEL”
on Page 157.
The difference between the minimum and maxi-
mum marks on the segment display is approx.
1.3 quarts (1.25 liters).
Each segment of the display corresponds to ap-
prox. 0.42 quart (0.4 liter).

200
Maintenance, Car Care
Topping off engine oil
Warning!
Engine oil is hazardous to your health and
may be fatal if swallowed.
f Keep engine oil out of children’s reach.
Used engine oil contains chemicals that have
caused cancer in laboratory animals.
f Always protect your skin by washing thorough-ly with soap and water. Caution!
Risk of damage from overflowing engine oil.
f Take care while checking and topping up
engine oil not to soil the luggage compartment or items of luggage.
Note
The Check Engine warning light may light up if the
cap of the oil filler open ing is opened while the
engine is running.
The oil inlet opening is lo cated in the rear luggage
compartment under the service flap.
1. Measure the oil level and read off the required top-up quantity on the on-board computer.
2. Switch off the engine. 3. Open the service flap by pulling the handhold.
4. Unscrew the oil filler cap.
5. Add at most 0.5 quar ts (0.5 liter) of engine oil
at a time.
Never add more engine oil than required
to reach the max. mark.
6. Close oil filler cap until you feel it reach its end
position.
7. Measure oil level again with the on-board computer. Switch off the engine.
8. If necessary, repeat the process and add more engine oil as required.
Engine Oil RecommendationPorsche recommends .
The right oil for your vehicle.
1) Generally, you can find details of the
manufacturer approvals on the oil containers or as
a notice displayed by the retailer.
The current approval status is also available from
your Porsche partner.
2) SAE viscosity class - Example: SAE 0W - 40
Specification 0W = Viscosity specification for
low temperatures (winter).
Specification 40 = Viscosity specification for
high temperatures.
3) For all temperature ranges.
4) For the temperature range over --13 °F (--
25 °C).Complies with
approval
1)
Viscosity class
2)
Porsche A40 SAE 0W - 40
3)
SAE 5W - 40
4)
SAE 5W - 50
4)

Maintenance, Car Care
201
Always observe the following points:
– Use engine oils approved by Porsche only. This is a precondition for optimum and problem-free
operation of your vehicle.
– Regular oil changes are part of servicing. It is important that the service intervals,
particularly the oil change intervals, are
observed in accordance with the specifications
in the “Maintenance” booklet.
– Oils approved by Porsche can be mixed with each other.
– Porsche engines are designed so that no oil additives may be used.
– A label is located in the engine compartment, which provides you with in formation on suitable
oil for your engine.
Your Porsche partner will be pleased to
advise you.Oil changeThe engine oil has to be changed regularly at the
intervals listed in your Maintenance Schedule .
f Please see the chapter “CAPACITIES” on
Page 281.
We recommend that you have the engine oil
changed at your Porsche dealer, who has the re-
quired oils and the necessary filling equipment.
If you suspect an oil leak in the engine have your
dealer check it out immediately. All current engine oils are compatible with each
other, i.e. when making an oil change it is not nec-
essary to flush the engine if you wish to use a dif-
ferent brand or grade of oil.
Since, however, each brand of oil has a special
composition, you should, if possible, use the
same oil brand if it becomes necessary to top up
between oil changes.
Porsche engines have long intervals between oil
changes. You can make best use of these long oil
change intervals by usin
g multigrade oils since
these are largely independent of seasonal fluctua-
tions in temperature.
If your vehicle is used frequently in stop-and-go
traffic in cold weather, the engine will not always
be properly warmed up.
Condensation from products of combustion may
accumulate in the oil. In this case, it is advisable
to change the oil more fr equently so that your
engine once again has 100% efficient engine oil.
Engine oil performance class Engine oil is not only a lubricant, but also serves
to keep the engine clean, to neutralize the dirt
which penetrates into the engine through combus-
tion and to protect the engine against corrosion.
To perform these functions, the oil is provided with
additives which have been specially developed for
these functions.
The efficiency of an oil is expressed, for example,
by the API, ILSAC or ACEA classifications.
Viscosity Like all liquids, engine oil is viscous when cold,
and thin-bodied when warm. The viscosity of an oil
is expressed by its SAE class. For cold viscosity
(measured at temperatures below 32 °
F/0 °
C) the
SAE class is given as a number and the letter “W”
(as in winter), for hot viscosity (measured at
212 °
F/100 °
C) the SAE class is given only as a
number.
The viscosity of an oil is, therefore, always the
same if it has the same number of an SAE class.
Oils with two viscosities are called multigrade oils;
oils with only one viscosity are termed single-
grade oils.
Single-grade oils can not be used in your engine.
The viscosity of the engine oil for your Porsche
has to be chosen according to the ambient tem-
perature given in the engine oil recommendation
table.

202
Maintenance, Car Care
Brake Fluid LevelfPlease see the chapter “EXERCISE EXTREME
CAUTION WHEN WORKING ON YOUR VEHICLE”
on Page 196.
f Use only new (unused) Original Porsche
brake fluid.
Warning!
Brake fluid is hazardous to your health, and
may be fatal if swallowed.
Brake fluid also attacks paintwork.
f Keep brake fluid out of children’s reach.
f Take care while topping off brake fluid not to
soil the luggage compartment or items of lug-gage.
Checking the brake fluid levelThe reservoir for the hydraulic braking and clutch
systems is located in the luggage compartment.
1. Open and remove cover flap A.
2. Regularly check the brake-fluid level on the transparent expansion tank through the
window B.
The fluid level should always lie between the
minimum and maximum marks. A slight decrease in the fluid level due to wear and
automatic readjustment of
the disc brakes is
normal.
If, however, the fluid level falls markedly or below
the minimum mark, the br aking system may have
developed a leak.
f Have the brake system checked without delay
at an authorized Porsche dealer.

Maintenance, Car Care
203
Changing the brake fluid Brake fluid absorbs moisture from the air over
time. This accumulation of water lowers the boil-
ing point and, under certain operating conditions,
can affect the braking performance.
Therefore have the brake fluid changed in accord-
ance with the change intervals stated in the
brochure “Maintenance”. – The warning lights on the instrument panel and
on the on-board computer indicate an insuffi-
cient brake fluid level.
– If the warning light lights up on the instrument
panel and the warning message appears on
the on-board computer in combination with a
larger pedal travel, a brake circuit may have
failed.
If the warning lights should light up when
driving:
f Stop immediately in a suitable place.
f Do not continue driving.
Consult an authorized Porsche dealer.
Warning light USA
Warning light Canada