Leaderboard

I can finally report success and unequivocally state that a dead light bulb in the instrument panel will render the cruise control inoperative on a 1998 Boxster! After 5 years, many hours and hundreds of dollars it is all working again. I am thrilled but feel like a fool since I have actually had a spare light bulb in my ash tray the entire time. Thanks once again to everybody here.

OK, I finally have more to report! I replaced the brake switch a couple of weeks ago, and it made no difference (but then again I don't think any of us expected it to). BTW, the four terminal switch appears to have replaced the three terminal version which was originally in my car and is what I installed. Today I was finally able to locate a control unit from a dismantler ($200), which motivated me to get the old one out and look at it. Not so easy to get out, but if it helps somebody in the future, here's the steps I took: 1) Remove the duct that runs transversely from the HVAC unit to the left side of the footwell. 2) Remove the visible screw in the remaining duct to the HVAC and pull it aside to observe the controller. 3) There are three 10 mm bolts holding the control unit to key-slotted holes in the brake pedal bracket. Loosen the top two 1/2 turn or less and leave them in place. (These are the harder two to access). Remove the third bolt entirely. I found that I could not remove the unit with this bolt in place as it made it too difficult to get sufficient clearance to pull out the controller. 4) Pull the entire controller (still attached to the throttle pedal) down. 5) The electronic control unit is held to the controller by four phillips head screws at its corners. Of course, the part number on my unit (996-617-021-04) is not the same as the one the dismantler has (996-618-051-02). First question: Does anyone out there know if the dismantler's part will work on my '98? In looking my unit over closely I did find one transistor which appears to have a weak solder joint at its connection to the top of the board, although the corresponding joint at the bottom of the board looks fine. I'm no EE, but it seems like that may be an issue, especially since there do not appear to be any traces to that lead on the bottom. Hopefully, I can get someone who knows to look at it. Any thoughts? Thanks again for all of the help so far. GRS