Chris_in_NH

wow, dude. bad luck all around... did you try the remote on the other key? how long did you leave the battery disconnected? that really should work. i don't know why it didn't. i would call the dealer and see if they have any ideas. i don't know if a locksmith could even help you. i suppose he could *try* getting that unlocking bar in there, but i don't think he'll be able to. it may be that the least expensive way to get in may be to smash the side window. a new piece of replacement glass shouldn't be more than $200, and who knows, maybe your insurance will cover it if your car was 'vandalized' - wink, wink - nudge, nudge. ;) sorry to hear about this. i'm out of ideas. try the dealer and a locksmith. when you do get in, get that door lock replaced so you don't have to go through this again. good luck.

you can run without the MAF for however long. from what i understand, the MAF is more for emissions. maybe someone can add to that (or refute it). either way, running MAF-less won't damage your car. i'm leaning more towards the A/OS as the source of your problems, but it's not unheard of for both to go bad at the same time. it happened to me! ;) right after i changed out my A/OS, the car was acting the same as yours is now. i knew it wasn't the A/OS, so i unplugged the MAF and it never ran better. i'd do your A/OS first and then check out the MAF. if you have that much oil in your TB/plenum then the A/OS is definitely bad and it's just going to get worse and could potentially ruin your engine. you can get the whole A/OS (with J-tube) from Sunset Imports or Suncoast Porsche for $120 altogether. there are also many good A/OS DIYs here. it took me and a friend about 3 hours from start to finish. a spark plug change is also a good idea as your plugs may be fouled by oil that made its way into the cylinders.

here's a great guide: http://mike.focke.googlepages.com/mikespor...boxsterwebpages (see Parts 1 & 2) i would have an independent Porsche shop do a PPI (Pre-Purchase Inspection) before you buy it. $17K might be a little high for a '97 with 72K, but there is a hardtop, so maybe that evens it out.

he means http://www.986forum.com not RennTech (as mentioned in the title of this post ;) ) yes, it's been hacked. to hackers, it's a badge of honor to hack sites and to take responsibility for hacking it. then they tell all their friends to visit the site to see their handiwork and how 'l33t' they are. :rolleyes: i'm sure it will be up again soon.

that looks like the beginning stages of a failed A/OS to me. i don't understand why the 'unplug the MAF trick' won't help you. why does the CEL need to come on for you to diagnose? if your MAF is bad and you unplug the MAF and reset the DME (via unhooking the battery for at least a minute) the starting/idling/rough running problems should go away instantly. again, this is if the MAF is bad. if you have other problems (like the A/OS) then it could be a combination of the A/OS and MAF, or just the A/OS. are you saying that you tried unplugging the MAF and your symptoms did not go away? (and did you reset the DME when you unplugged the MAF - because it is absolutely necessary to do this!) if so, then i would think that it is definitely the A/OS. but yes, that looks like a bad A/OS to me. you should not have that much oil in there. BTW, when you start a thread, you should stick with it so people replying to you can see the history of the thread, what you've tried, etc.

YES YES YES!!! :lol: that's it! pry that off! as i mentioned, it might be tight, but it's an all-or-nothing connection. it's either 'on' or 'off', there's no in between. so that's why it 'pops' off. that second picture is perfect. just get the pry tool in between the v-lever and the canister and pry it away from the v-lever. it will be much easier to put back on. you just 'pop' it back on. :lol: (you'll have your clamshell open when you put it back on so it will be much easier.)

haha, i almost think you're playing with me now. no. you need to dis-attach the bottom of the canister where it connects to the V-lever (the V-lever is held on by the red bolt - you don't remove it.) put the pry tool in between the V-lever and the bottom of the canister and pry the bottom of the canister (where it attaches to the V-lever) away from the V-lever. you can't see it yet, but the V-lever has a little silver ball on it. the bottom of the canister has a socket which is shaped to fit the ball inside it. that's what's holding it on. pop the canister's socket off of the ball. then do it on the other side. here's a picture. see the little ball on the V-lever? see the dis-attached canister? that's what you need to do.

no, that's not it. here it is... this is a pic from the rear of the car (driver's side) with the clamshell raised. the black canister with the white sticker on it is what you need to pop off. at the bottom of the canister where it attaches to the 'V-lever' (that V or A-shaped piece held on by the red-colored bolt in this picture (the bolt is not really red)) is where you need to pop it off. so reach in between the rollbar hoops, or pop out one of the rollbar hoop mesh pieces so you can back there. it is all the way down the inside side of the car. look for what you see in the pic, although it will be reversed since you'll be looking from the opposite direction. you may also be able to reach it if you are sitting sideways in the driver's seat with your legs out the door. look down the side of the car between the body and the driver's rollbar. there is a pry tool in the Porsche toolkit that should be in your car. the long(ish) pole in the toolkit has a red tip on the end. if you take off the red tip, the pole becomes a pry tool. it may be long enough for you to reach the 'canister' (clamshell push rod) and pop it off the V-lever. you will need to pry it 'away' from the side of the car. same thing on the other side. hope that helps. let us know how you make out.

this sounds like it might be a failed Air-Oil Separator (AOS or A/OS). you can check inside the throttle body to see if there's more than a misting of oil. mine had a ton of oil in it when my A/OS went bad. here's a pic. there are 4 bolts that hold the throttle body to the intake plenum. one of them (the lower one on the passenger side) is notoriously hard to get at. you need a socket extension to get in there, and you may need to remove a small aluminum support bracket, depending on the size of your socket extension. you'll know which one i mean when you can't get a straight line to the bolt with the socket extension. the bracket is removed easily if you do need to remove it, it's just a pain in the butt. there is also another bolt on the bottom of the throttle body that you'll need to remove if you want to completely remove the TB. but i just unscrewed the 4 main bolts so i could peek inside. there was enough room so i could also clean out the TB. so as a first step, check your TB for oil. if there's oil, then the A/OS is bad and will need to be replaced. if there's a lot of oil in the TB, i would not drive the car until the A/OS is replaced. if the engine eats too much oil, one or more of the cylinders could fill with oil and since oil can't be compressed, something has to give. your engine! :unsure: the problem could also be a bad MAF. i cleaned mine and it was fine for a while, but eventually it went completely bad (and i had the same symptoms you are having). you can check to see if it's the MAF by disconnecting the MAF's wiring harness (leave the MAF in place), then reset the DME/ECU (do not skip this step!) by disconnecting the negative battery cable for at least a minute (have your radio code handy if your radio needs one) and then re-connect the neg cable. if the car starts normally/runs normally, etc., then the MAF is bad. you will not do any damage to your car by running it without the MAF. let us know what happens...

BEEP BEEP. :lol: :rolleyes: i believe there is a hack that can be done so that the car will beep and the lights will flash. i either remember it or it was a dream. try some searching. it's bound to be around here somewhere.

only if you keep pressing the conv top button when you hear snapping noises. if this happens, LET GO OF THE BUTTON! :lol:

LOL, the B-rod is the roll bar! :lol: it took me a minute... i don't think there are any loose screws in the conv top itself that would cause this. any problems that you're having are probably contained within the parts we talked about above. and maybe the conv top cables. have you checked them for length? they attach to the conv top cable drive motor which is a black box right in front of the 3rd brake light. there is a black cable that attaches on each side. unclip the brass clip and pull the cables out and check to see if you have 3/4" of drive cable sticking out the end of the black cable. you're sure that the screws in the middle of the push rods are in the same place on both sides of the car, right? i suppose it could be a problem with the conv top motor. you may be able to switch the conv top cables left to right if they are long enough (you will need to unclip them from the plastic clips along the interior of the clamshell area to get the added length). if you can put the left cable into the right side of the motor, and the right cable into the left side of the motor, then run the conv top, you can see if the problem follows the conv top motor. doing this won't harm anything. but i'm not even sure the cables are long enough to do this. there are also some cables (thin silver wire) that run along the window seals at the top of the window. when you go to put the top down about 1/2 way, these cables (covered in black rubber) separate a little from the back edge of the window frame and you can see where they attach (with a screw and a brass washer) just about an inch below the body line of the car. maybe that cable has stretched/broken is not providing the proper tension for that side of the top. this is a tricky one. ;)

1. are you sure it's the conv top motor running in the background? if you shut the car off, and turn the key so that the dash lights are on, then press the button, do you then hear the motor running? sorry, i have to ask. ;) 2. the services cover you're referring to is affectionately called the 'clamshell'. it is the C-shaped metal piece that partially covers the top when it is down. also called a tonneau cover. 3. it is better for your top to be stuck in the up position, rather than down. it is much harder to reach the top internals with the top down, so consider yourself 'lucky'. the basic checklist is: - dash brake light comes on when you pull the handbrake? - windows drop when you unlatch the top? ok, if you've made it this far and it's the conv top motor that you hear in the background, the only thing that i can think is that the conv top cables (one on each side of car) have stretched enough that they have pushed themselves out of the conv top motor. they may still be 'connected' to the motor, but since the outside of the cable stretches over the inner 'drive cable' it effectively pulls the drive cable out of the conv top motor. if this is the case, it is the first i have heard of both cables doing this at the same time. usually it happens to one cable, so one side of the top starts to move while the other side is basically locked in place. this usually ends in disastrous and expensive results. so what you need to do is check your conv top cables. to do this, you need to get the clamshell open. reaching into the back from inside the car (with a pry bar or a long screwdriver, etc.) you will be looking for a black canister (looks like a mini-shock absorber) connected to a 'V-lever' which is surrounded by a round black piece of plastic. it will be very hard to miss this 'canister' which is the clamshell push rod. there is one on each side of the car. it is attached to the V-levers via a ball/socket connection. you just need to pop off/pry off the end of the canister that is connected to the V-lever. do this on both sides of the car. it may be on there tightly or it might pop off easily, but don't be afraid, just pop it off/pry it off/lever it off however you can. you won't break anything. once you've done this, you will be able to lift the clamshell manually. after you've done that, see this thread to learn how to check your conv top cables for length. http://www.renntech.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=68 let us know how it goes...

what is a 'B-rod'? the convertible top parts are: - the conv top push rods (has a red or white cap on the end). this piece moves the conv top open/closed and attaches to the V-lever. - the V-lever: attached to the conv top transmission(s). connects conv top push rods and clamshell push rods. - the clamshell push rods: opens/closes the clamshell and is attached to the V-lever. it is a black canister arm (looks like a mini-shock absorber) there are a couple places that your 'extra' nut could come from. in the middle of the conv top push rod, there is a slider which adjusts the length of the push rods. there is a screw that this nut attaches to. if the nut came off, the screw might have popped out as well. this would explain why your top rises unevenly. the push rod lengthens until the point where it can no longer extend, and then begins to rise. the fix is to replace the screw and the nut and tighten it at the same position as the other side's push rod's screw/nut. the other place the screw could come from is the conv top slider rail. there is an arm (painted piece with a waffle pattern) on the clamshell that attaches to a slider that slides in the rail. there is a screw that holds it on to the slider. maybe it came from there.

would the DynAudio's fit under the stock speaker grills and you chose to use the DynAudio grills? or was there no choice? i'm not fond of the 'bubbly' look, but as long as you like it... it also advertises that you have expensive speakers. btw, how much were they? if you're looking for a really good, stock-looking head unit, check out the Nakamichi CD-500. i love mine. (~$400)

http://www.renntech.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=13897

yeah, no question. go for a 3.4L replacement! there's no point in going from 2.5 to 2.7. you'd be better off selling your car and buying a 2.7L boxster, IMHO.

can you send me a PM too? ;)

did the shop give you a loaner Boxster? that would be the easiest way. you could drive down and put in on the loaner and drive home. or you could rent a Boxster for a day. the hardtop is roughly 48"L x 46"W x 15"H. i think it would fit in the back of a Cherokee. don't forget the spinlocks!

you can also try www.autohausaz.com. they've always had good prices on MAFs. but before you spend the money, are you SURE that you need a new one? it's an expensive part, especially if you don't need one. if you want to list your symptoms, we can try to help you figure it out before you spend the money. a quick cleaning is all that you may need. here's a link to instructions (look 1/2 way down the page) http://mike.focke.googlepages.com/checkeng...ssairflowsensor and yes, MAF prices used to be a lot less than they are now. i think the retailers figured out that they could price them much higher. so, you're looking at around $300 for one now. :rolleyes:

ok. i think that blue/brown wire is a wire that connects to the radio cage/chassis. i can't remember its function, but i think it has something to do with the alarm system (telling the car if the radio is present or not or something like that). you won't need to connect it if you have an aftermarket stereo. i'm 99% sure that's what it is. the Becker radio wiring diagram won't tell you the wire colors, it will just tell you which slots the wires are connected to in the yellow ISO connectors that connect to the Becker head unit. that's why i was asking if you had the radio or the connectors. that way, you if there was some wire left on the connector, you could match that up with where the connector fits into the Becker radio and figure it out from there. you could take the radio out and start all over to make sure that it's wired correctly. if the radio is working now, it is probably wired correctly. it just sounds like your antenna connection is flaky. are you sure that the antenna is even connected? i replaced my Becker radio with a Nakamichi and a special adapter is needed to connect the Porsche antenna wire to the aftermarket stereo. it may be that the previous owner didn't connect the antenna correctly. if you pull the radio out, the antenna wire will be pretty obvious. check it out, make sure it's in properly and that it mates to the new stereo correctly. i don't think that the antenna in the car is powered. do you know what model the original radio was? did you get an owner's manual with the car? the radio manual may be in with the owner's manual... mine was. but if you can find out the original radio model number, you can download a manual for it. again, it won't tell you the wire colors, but it will tell you what wires are used in the radio operation, which may answer some of your questions. i also think that the switched (key turned) 12v wire is the radio illumination wire.

will this work on a boxster? since the window slides up into the conv top 'channel', i don't see how he could get that tool in there. if he drives down to the dealer (in another car, obviously) he may be able to borrow their set of wheel lock keys so that he can access the front trunk release cable.

wow, that is cool!! i remember you posted about this a while ago. nice to see that you actually DID IT! are the dash lights on to begin with? they look very dim until the tach lights up brightly in blue. ok, so how did you do it? ;)

yes, you can use 91/92. however, you will not extract the most amount of power that the engine can deliver, and your mileage will not be as good as if you were using 93 (which means you will have to buy more gas more often). the engine was built to use 93 and likes 93 the best. so, in the end it's a wash. use cheap gas = buy more gas. use expensive gas = buy less gas. ;)

do you have the original radio? or do you have the yellow wiring harness plugs (ISO connectors) that plug into the back of the original radio? do you have the manual for the Sony head unit? if not, you can probably download one from the Sony site. then you can look at the back of the radio and figure out which wires are connected to what. while you're in there, i would label all the wires with duct tape (write what they are on the tape - power, ground, etc.), it will make things easy in the future. is the blue/brown wire a single wire, or is it multiple wires taped together with a 4-slot plug on the end?