ttocs

Just need a clarification please. Did the trans operate normally prior to fluid service? The only LED that is flashing is the one for "D"? Will it still select Reverse and move in Reverse?

I agree with wyovino's post and had same experience. It's a bit finicky to get back in place the way it's intended to be. The orientation has to be correct for it to follow a "channel" under part #30.

I hope I'm not out of line with this, but you might try Pedro's Garage. Pedro seems to be pretty accessible and he's got IMS products.

Frankly, you might consider taking some time to shop for a salvage engine with some known history and works, or even a wreck for cheap but again with a engine that can be demonstrated to work, then swap them. Make it a project. I've read about people keeping their eyes glued to the adverts and coming up with good finds. Might even be able to come up with something for the price of a Retrofit installation. Then if you want to tackle a tear-down rebuild you'd be learning a crapload, as the college kids say.

Now THAT is some great detective work! Have you checked your oil filter yet ??

Have you addressed any of the suggestions above related to the cooling system?

And was the immobilizer swapped also?

Nuts!! I forgot about the cap. Good call crwarren11!

Thanks again crwarren11! Cleaning out the front radiators is something that is on the countdown list of things to be done prior to our PCA Chicago Spring Tour in June. Prevention of catastrophic failure is easy for my brain to cope with, like the IMS. However, everything I've checked on the cooling system is in perfect condition including the coolant fluid (see photo) which matches the appearance of brand new Porsche coolant. It seems a shame to replace any of it, but I will. I placed the order for the water pump and gasket, stat gasket - I ordered the 160 degree stat from LN Engineering, Porsche hose clamps - yes I know some use other types but the originals have been perfect, and the Porsche coolant. I'll pickup everything in a couple days when one of the out-of-stock hose clamps comes in. Yes I'm paying a little more than ordering online which is almost totally offset by not paying for shipping, but I really appreciate their willingness to help me at every turn and taking every opportunity of applying discounts to the max they are allowed. And, they have always supplied the latest version of every part I've purchased, as opposed to many heavily discounted older versions of some parts available online (not Sunset, they have the right stuff). Sunset is my favorite for online and phone orders. I am not replacing the reservoir yet. The water pump seems to me like a good candidate for routine mileage based maintenance. Being at 45,000 miles, and considering the age, and since the thermostat is being replaced, I figure pump and stat get replaced together. But the tank is up top and easy to monitor, so . . . . I read Ahsai's great writeup on getting the last drop of coolant out of the system and will be using that as my guide. Thanks Ahsai!

So I opened up around the coolant reservoir to assess its condition prior to ordering a new one. I was expecting yellow brittle plastic like many photos I've seen posted everywhere, but instead I'm presented with what appears to me to be a reservoir manufactured in mid 2004 (date code) that is in immaculate condition! No yellowing at all. 1. What causes the yellowing? 2. When a reservoir is in condition this good, is it really as much of a concern for failure as one that has obvious signs of aging? Also, there are no signs of seepage so far. I'll be inspecting the bottom of the water pump for "crusty" stuff next chance I get.

Thank you both for your replies! The serpentine belt was replaced on a major service that was done within 2 months of purchasing, which included IMS, RMS, AOS, oil & filter, trans fluid & filter, plugs, air filter, cabin filter. By this time the engine oil and filter had been changed twice since my purchase, once immediately including inspection of filter and then again with the major service because I'm nuts. At the moment I'm on the fence regarding replacing the coolant reservoir. I'll probably do it, but the other side of my brain is saying that I could do it later and wouldn't require much fluid replaced since it's "at the top" of the system. So a question I have is, does draining and refilling the system involve enough stress on the reservoir that more often than not a failure could occur?? If the law of averages favors failure, then I'd have to replace it. Peace of mind is something I preach to others on matters such as this, but I've already replaced the brakes, plugs, and coils last month, now this, and then the Spring Tour isn't really cheap either. Arrgg! I guess I just talked myself into it. What's another $300. I keep telling myself I just won't go out for dinner as much, but that never happens either. See?? This is cheaper than therapy and totally drug free! I'll save a little for now by not replacing the turn signal switch cluster for a while. crwarren11, when you say your car runs cooler with the 160 stat, does it run cooler even after long distance driving? I ask because my car runs in the low 190's at 70mph while on trips to neighboring states, so I wonder if it flows more coolant through it than the 180 stat can do while they are open?

Late 2004 Boxster Base Tiptronic with 45,000 miles I have racked up 15,000 miles over the last 3 years of ownership. The coolant was flushed about a year prior to purchase. I think it's time to flush the coolant. I plan to buy the Airlift tool - it's a time vs cost issue, time wins. I know from searching that JFP has recommended to others to replace the water pump as preventative maintenance on a car this age. Fair enough. Porsche pump, clean the mating surfaces carefully and: 1. Use gasket sealant or no sealant? 2. Should I replace the coolant reservoir even though I cannot find anything wrong with it? I'll replace the thermostat at the same time. 3. Should it be the 160 degree thermostat? 3a. I notice that the car runs between 190 - 210 degrees (using Scangauge) most of the time in warm weather, so will the 160 stat be a benefit? 4. Which hoses should be replaced? 5. Anything else? Since the start of ownership I've done mostly preventative and general maintenance with very few actual failures of any kind. With that being said, I think mileage is beginning to expose some common failures cropping up like what happened yesterday - the turn signal stalk won't hold in-place, so now I need to replace it but at least getting the 4-stalk version will give me the OBC functions.

It'll be interesting to see what happens after pulling the seat fuse. But, if that isn't it, some questions come to mind. You say the sound does not come from one door. So does it come from the other door? Do you have a second remote? If so, does using both remotes end up with the same problem?

Let me see if I understand the actuation of the anti-theft wire. The Becker radio has a insulated portion of the chassis that rests against the tab that the anti-theft wire is attached to, so if the radio is removed does the tab ground itself causing a radio theft fault? Further, if a new radio is installed with bare metal against this tab, it grounds the tab/anti-theft wire again causing a theft fault to occur? I had mine installed at a place very familiar with Porsches so I wasn't aware of any of this, so this is good info for me to know.

Update: As you said JFP, the Beru plugs are within a pretty tight tolerance for the gap. The new coils also measured very close to each other. The car runs much stronger, and consistently so. Two years ago I started using Durametric to diagnose a loss of power since some major service work performed a few months prior - which included replacing spark plugs (this is when the wrongly gapped NGK's were installed). I logged many drives so quite a few things could be checked, including acceleration. I logged 0-60 times of 6.8 to 7.3 seconds and found the times to be erratic. Now, things are very repeatable at 6.3 to 6.4 seconds. Pretty good for a Tiptronic! And passing on the highway is more thrilling! It's kinda like having 30HP more all of a sudden. I used to feel a "bog" at the 1st to 2nd shift point, now that's gone. I also notice a pretty big jump in acceleration above 5,000 rpm where it used to be kinda flat or a little fall-off in power. And the engine runs smoother, not that it was bad before but it wasn't near this smooth. I waited a week to post this to make sure I wasn't dreaming.

How much or how little is up to the individual. I have kept receipts for all of my cars and motorcycles, but most have had service by dealers and have accessible records so I've been lazy about organizing the paperwork per vehicle. The glove box gets pretty full of receipts by the time the car gets traded. I've only had a few vehicles worthy of better record keeping and to that end I've gotten an app for auto maintenance, in addition to keeping receipts, and it's working out very well. The app allows for the most inane items to be logged, if the user is wanting to do that, including gas and mileage logging which I use for business.

I agree with JFP. Last year, a close friend wanted to go from his 2003 Boxster to a 911 Cab. We looked at a few that "seemed" really good including price, but . . . he "felt" uncomfortable because of the lack of history, and in one case - three different brand of tires mounted on the car!! Then, low a behold, there came the "perfect" one at a Porsche dealer. A 2009 Carrera S Cab. $10k more than he was originally looking to spend, but it didn't need any repair or maintenance, so the offset of the budget of that would've gone to making the car right went to total peace of mind. He drives the hell out of it and has no worries!

A few things come to mind on this, firstly, a Porsche dealer Pre Purchase Inspection is a really good idea. If nothing else, the PPI will highlight maintenance needed and point to issues that need further inspection. Second, it's a 2005 which is sort of a hybrid year for which style IMS might be installed. The earlier version is more easily replaced. Third, the cars being offered for sale at the Porsche dealers, at least the ones near me, have a better history. They keep the best ones to sell and auction off the rest. Case in point, there is a 2004 Boxster S with 22k miles and has complete maintenance history at a dealer near me, but it comes with a higher price because of this. Bottom line, I too am shocked that quite a few cars for sale are not maintained better. Maybe there should be a home inspection performed, similar to what is done when adopting a dog or a cat, to verify the qualifications of the prospective owner.

So, if "nothing" would include no dash lights, I would check the ignition switch in addition to the grounds. edit: DBJoe996 has a very good checklist of things to check within this thread from our forum:

Try this: https://www.onlinecarparts.co.uk/spares-search.html?keyword=996+352+401+04 If you enter the part numbers you listed in your first post it'll come up with the discs available. Some of the listed discs have the drawings with dimensions, click on those and it'll zoom.

FYI PCA members get discounts at Porsche dealers. My dealership keeps a copy of my membership card on file so anyone I deal with in the parts dept will know to apply the appropriate discount. Usually it's 10% or 15% depending on the parts in question. An extra dealership discount can also apply (small, but still, lucky me!).

JFP is one of those who knows! The cost to pull the coils is your time. I just changed mine with 44,000 miles on 'em and three of them had huge cracks, two had hairlines, and one looked ok. I logged misfires using Durametric in two cylinders frequently and three other cylinders less frequently even though it never threw any codes, the engine just seemed down on power and misfired and ran very rough only a few times while standing at stops. Even without the cracks I was planning on replacing them simply based on the misfires logged by the computer, I figured it was time. Again, the battery check is not so much to diagnose a misfire, but it may be that it contributed to setting-off the misfire codes "all of a sudden". Just one piece of a possible puzzle that hopefully only has a couple pieces to it. After checking original coils, I'd be shocked if they weren't toast, I would get new coils, screws, plugs, dielectric grease (for the boots and plug porcelain as indicated on Beru's site), and a really tiny dab of anti-seize on the plug threads. I put a small amount of dielectric on the outside body of the coil's electrical socket (on far left in photo) to aid in slipping the connector cover back over the socket, I couldn't make it work otherwise. edit: this coil is the latest and is the part that my local Porsche dealer keeps in stock for Boxster, Cayman, 911 and covers many of the years. When I saw that it didn't have Beru on the coil (it's stamped Beru on the boot), I reconfirmed with Porsche that this is the correct part because searches didn't know this part number.

+1 on happy dealings with Sunset.

You might want to check the dash switch. Search Youtube and you'll find videos on how to pop off the dashboard ventilation cover to gain access to the back of the switches. I searched Boxster 986 dash and clicked on the first video. It was in French, but the imagery is universal. Check with a meter to discover if the switch when engaged in either direction closes the contact. Also check fuses. edit: I just realized you said the "indicator light" is active. Mine lights up during top operation and turns off when the top is either fully up or fully down. This might mean that the convertible mechanism has not fully travelled to its ending point. In other words, the top may "almost" be at its "closed" position which leaves the indicator light still illuminated. This doesn't fix the problem but it may indicate that the switch failed during its last operation or burned out a fuse.

As Uwon suggests the coils are the prime suspect for exactly the reason stated. That being said, if the battery is tested as being in an under-volt condition, this can cause some unusual problems. The PPI performed on my car reported that the battery was holding at under 12 volts. The day after I bought my car the Tiptronic transmission went into Limp Mode and only allowed shifting up to third gear forcing me to bring it to Porsche as their PIWIS was required to clear the Limp Mode. Prior to going to Porsche I replaced the battery. After Porsche cleared the fault everything was, and continues to be, normal. The problem occurred because the battery voltage was low. This explanation is not intended to negate the high probability that the coils are faulty, it's just a recommendation to check the battery as well.