Porsche Cayman 981 Maintenance Schedule

Porsche Cayman 981 2012 – 2016
Maintenance Service Schedule

The factory recommended maintenance schedule for the Porsche Cayman 981 is shown below. Standard maintenance on the Porsche Cayman 981 models is very straightforward and well laid out. There are additional maintenance items recommended at certain time and mileage intervals on the Porsche Cayman 981 as highlighted below.

It may be that time has now exceeded mileage on your 981 and therefore it’s important to understand what maintenance items should be addressed at specific time intervals. For this type of inspection based maintenance, you’ll need the experience and knowledge-based recommendations from a shop with specific Porsche expertise.

Cayman 981 Recommended Maintenance Intervals

To keep your Porsche 981 Cayman healthy, we recommend you inspect the car and change the engine oil and filter annually or every 10K miles. The original 981 maintenance schedule called for a minor service at 20K or two years and a major service at 4 year or 40K mile intervals. Additional maintenance items are required at the 4, 6 year, and 12 year intervals.

Speed Up Your PDK Service

If your Cayman 981 is fitted with a PDK transmission, we highly recommend performing maintenance on the PDK sooner than the factory recommendation of 120K miles shown below. PDK maintenance is recommended at 40K miles or 4 years to prevent expensive PDK problems.

What’s Included at the 981 Service Interval

Many people become confused by Porsche maintenance schedules. The intervals and maintenance items are cumulative –  so for clarity, a 4 year service includes all the maintenance items recommended at the 4 year interval, plus all maintenance items from the 2 year and annual maintenance interval as well.

Safety and Maintenance Inspection

Every annual service should include a rigorous safety inspection of your Porsche Cayman. It’s essential this is carried out by a highly skilled Porsche technician who knows the likely wear characteristics of your Porsche and can identify issues of concern early. An inspection should also identify maintenance items that are influenced by local environmental conditions.

Lifetime Maintenance Items

Some maintenance items are described as “lifetime,” such as coolant, for example. It’s important during the inspection to discover the health of these “lifetime” items. If you need cold weather protection from your coolant, you’ll find the “lifetime” is considerably shorter than you might expect! Identifying mechanical problems at an early stage allows planning and budgeting for the necessary work.

Cayman Maintenance Service Questions Answered

If you have further questions or concerns about the maintenance requirements of you Porsche Cayman, you may find answers that can help you further in our guide to Cayman maintenance service questions.

Annual Maintenance or Every 10K Miles

• Vehicle Inspection
• Change engine oil and filter
• Clear roof drains
• Battery CCA test
• Reset maintenance service indicator
• Update or replace maintenance items based on inspection

Add the following maintenance items to the annual service, based on the time or mileage intervals shown below:

Additional Maintenance Every 20K or 2 Years

• Replace brake fluid
• Replace cabin pollen filter
• Replace cabin pre-filter element
• Replace engine air intake filters

Additional Maintenance Every 40K or 4 Years

• Replace spark plugs

Additional Maintenance Every 60K or 6 years

• Replace drive belt
• Replace PDK clutch fluid
• Clean throttle body

Additional Maintenance Every 120K or 12 years

• Replace manual transmission fluid
• Replace PDK transmission oil

Original 981 Factory Maintenance Schedule

If you plan to take your Porsche Cayman 981 to the track for some fun, there are different maintenance considerations to make. In general, track driving will speed up the requirements for maintenance and the replacement of service items. Most track day companies, groups and the PCA HPDE, will require a safety inspection be completed by a Porsche repair shop. However,  you should view the safety inspection as the minimum requirement for having a safe day out at the track with your Porsche.

When to Service Your Cayman for the Track

If you’re pottering around in the novice group at a track day, most of the standard maintenance service items on your Porsche are up to the job. Once you progress to more spirited driving in the advanced run groups, it’s quite easy to quickly exceed the performance of those standard service items, especially if you are running multiple track days in a season.

Maintenance Upgrade Recommendations for Race Track Driving

At this stage, it’s extremely important not only to complete a safety inspection, but also to radically speed up maintenance. For example, a brake fluid flush and oil change before each event is a sensible approach. Likewise, a spark plug change after two events will keep your engine running healthy under track conditions.

There are upgrades to standard maintenance items on the Porsche Cayman that can help prevent over-driving. For example, Castrol SRF brake fluid will be far more durable than the standard brake fluid. There are better engine oil recommendations for the track versus the standard Mobil 1 factory refill. As your driving progresses, it’s also worth considering different brakes and tires. A specialist Porsche shop with track experience, can better help you understand the increased maintenance requirements for your car.