JimEE

In boot camp, back in 1966, we used wet newspapers to clean our barrack windows. You can bet this tip from Heloise has been around for many decades. Although, personally, I use Stoner's "Invisible Glass", available at auto supply stores. Contains no Drill Instructor harrassment! Jim

This is the funniest interaction I've had with another driver. This time, a BMW 745 driver and passenger. I'm driving in downtown, heading home from work, nice day, top down (2000 Boxster S). I slowly pass the beemer and have to move over in front of him, so I speed up and move over with plenty of room between me and him. But, he moves up close to me, then pulls into the lane on my left. As he passes by, his passenger (both seem in their early 20's, I'm 60), leans out his window and yells to me, "Hey, your wife called and wants her car back!". And, he slowed down and yelled it out again. HAHA! He thinks it's a woman's car. Well, yeah, he was jerk. Funny, nonetheless. Jim

Thanks, Loren! Just what I wanted to know. Jim

I have the Porsche trickle charger (plugs into the cigarette lighter socket) and had it plugged in to my Boxster S all winter while I drove my sedan. It worked great. The Boxster started right up after sitting for a few months. Now I'm driving the Boxster and letting the sedan sit (BMW 525). After a couple weeks sitting, the sedan failed to start due to a weak battery. My question is, will the Porsche trickle charger that plugs into the cigarette lighter work on cars other than Porsche's? Maybe the eletrical circuitry in cars is all similar enough that a trickle charger/cigarette lighter plug works the same for all cars. Maybe not. Thanks, Jim

That was some rock! You didn't get hurt? Where do you drive that you've had such serious rock damage?

What happens when a wild turkey meets a boxster?? See pic's. I was going 75mph in my 2000s on the interstate in western Iowa, when this wild turkey starts running across the road. Evidently my hunting skills are still in good form as I led it perfectly. Probably a good thing I wasn't going 100mph. It must have flown up a bit as it got in front of the car because there's no bumper damage, just a few minor scratches on the hood near the windshield. Do you think there are any boxster windshields in or around Omaha? NO! Took 3 days to get one down here. I like those little feathers at the top of the windshield. Jim

I am a project manager for software development. I suggest you lookup the PMI, Project Management Institute. You will likely find many useful references, though I doubt anything about the Caymen. You might also try CMMI. Jim

I like road trips in my 2000 S. I'm currently running P-zero's. I'm wondering if there's a better tire that might not be as senstive to damage on dirt/gravel roads. I like to explore off the pavement or head out to camping spots 10-15 miles from a paved road. I'm not trying to make a 4x4 out of the boxster, just thinking typical tires like the p-zero's might be too suceptible to damage on gravel roads. Suggestions? Thanks, Jim

Gelling of the anti-freeze is the problem, when you mix different types (not colors). So, it's best to stick with a single type. Probably best to stick with Porsche's brand, but I'm sure those of you who understand the chemical differences between types can do what your head tells you. Since I topped off once, with some Zerex, and had it gell on me and my car temp max out at 250+, and had to use Porsche Roadside Assistance for a 1 way 175 mile tow to a dealer...well, there ya go. If ya don't know what's gonna happen when you mix types, then don't...top off with water. JimEE

Of course, Loren's correct. It's D-5. Though, it's also mentioned in C-7, along with several other devices. But D-5 is the one I replaced when my lighter didn't work. I'm not sure what the C-7 fuse is for, if D-5 directly affects the cigarette. But, note this. My lighter didn't work...but my cell phone car charger did. Plus, I bought one of those cool little Porsche flashlights that recharges in the lighter socket. It charged only part time. I had to futz with it's location, twist it, move it side to side, then when I'd go over a bump it would stop charging. Same with the phone charger. The problem was a poor fit due to two prongs inside the lighter socket being too spread out to hold a good connection to whatever device you inserted. I took out the fuse, D-5, and stuck a screw driver into the socket to bend the two prongs inward, for a tighter fit for any device to be inserted. Now, everything works fine, even over bumps. That is, it's got a good connection and stays in place. Even the cigarette lighter itself works, which it never did before. I knew D-5 was the right fuse, because I poked a screw driver into the lighter socket before I even thought about the fuses. What a shock! Duh! D-5 was the fuse that blew, not C-7. Jim

No, I don't know why. I checked it at the start of the trip and it was at an appropriate level. The only thing the dealer who flushed out the system (not my home dealer), said, was that the radiator cap was somewhat cross threaded. But, I've never seen any leakage. Not under the car, no moisture around the cap in the rear trunk, no odors, or any other indicators of coolant leakage (wet carpet, etc). The car had 17K on it when I bought it, I had put about 5K of mostly city driving, rarely going over 40mph between May and now. On the trip, I had put 2K miles on it at 70-80mph - sometimes faster. Thanks, Jim

On a road trip, going up a sweet set of mountain switchbacks, my 2000 Boxster S, began to overheat and the red light on the temp gauge began blinking indicating low coolant level. I had no antifreeze with me. I thought, I'd coast down the other side, that might help cool it off. It didn't. So, as I got into town I stopped at the nearest gas station and picked up some antifreeze, Zerex. I added some straight, then added water. Filled it up to between the min/max level. Drove off, temp returned to normal. For about 5 minutes. Then it spiked to 250 and wouldn't come back down. Called Porsche road service, which was very helpful, having to call a tow truck for a 175 mile pickup/delivery to the closest Porsche dealer - for free. The dealer said that when you mix normal antifreeze like Zerex with factory Porsche antifreeze, it tends to coagulate, turns to kind of Jello, and so, won't flow or cool. Too bad I was 2000 miles from home when it happened. End result was a coolant flush and oil change and the 2K road trip back home was without incident. The manual says only use Porsche approved coolant, which is not readily available in my situation. So, if you run into this situation just add distilled water until you can get to the dealer. Any other known workarounds?? Known brands that are Porsche approved? Are web links to such approved antifreezes reliable? Why does it coagulate? What's going on? Thanks, Jim

I've had my 2000 S since May (brand new P-zero's) and picked up 2 nails in the rear tire the other day. I never ran it flat, it had a slow leak I noticed quickly. Since I haven't had a high performance car with high performance tires until the boxster, I was quite suprised I had to get a new tire. If I'd had more miles on the tires I would have needed 2 new tires just to keep the balance. In the last 20 years, I've had only 2 flats on any car I've owned and they were plugged and off I went. Everything was fine. My common sense tells me I don't want to be driving over 100mph on a plugged tire. But I thought some kind of road hazard coverage might be offered on these kinds of tires. Am I just not clued in?? Thanks, Jim

I just bought a 2000S, one owner, bought and serviced at the dealer I bought it from, 16,900 miles. Mint condition, certified. As they went through the certification, the tires showed more than 50% wear, so they replaced them with new Pirelli asymetric's on the absolutely beautiful 18" wheels. They also did the 15k service. Service records showed no problems. But, I looked for a few months. Then it just showed up and I grabbed it. The previous owner bought a Caymen to replace it. Of course, I don't know if that's really the truth, but.... One thing I did to understand the value, was grab all the data from cars.com in my area, (I just copied all the data with a swipe of the mouse) pasted it into a spreadsheet, deleted everything except year, mileage and price, sorted it by year, price, and mileage, and graphed the results. What I saw was the precipitous price drop the first couple years, then it evened out in the 30K range, all the way back to 1999. Higher mileage cars had lower prices, but a 2000S with low miles (16.9k) was a good value, though still high. I paid $31k. Newer S's, with low mileage, were in the high 30's. Almost all the other cars, even 2002 or 2003, with low miles, had several owners in different parts of the country, as I discovered with a few carfax's. I didn't like the idea of many owners on a low mileage car. My online research about problems showed that some cars definitely had problems, but some didn't. Almost black and white. This led me to the conclusion that a one owner, zero problem car, with low mileage yet enough to have been driven a fair amount (16k), was probably a good, safe bet, at half the cost of new one, and about $8-9K less than a newer, low mileage, car. That's my story and I'm stickin' with it! Oh, it's great, just love it. :D Jim