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Artie, The plugs just pull directly off the "tip switches". The plugs are relatively difficult to pull off. You may need to pry the plugs off. Use a plastic knife or some other non-conductive tool. The cigarette lighter and windshield wiper delay rheostat plugs do have small tabs you need to push in while pulling gently. BTW, are you sure you need to pull the horseshoe off to remove the 'Z-1? I would think that removing the surrounding bezel would give you access to the mounting hardware. Bill

Chuck, If you can find the June 2010 issue of Excellence magazne, there is an illustrated article that shows how to repair transmitters. Bill

There is an attachment point for the towing hook behind the back license plate. So it shouldn't be a problem. In any event, I suggest printing this link and keeping it in your car: http://partner.aaa.biz/portal/binary/com.epicentric.contentmanagement.servlet.ContentDeliveryServlet/AAABiz/auto/files/Porsche_ERS.pdf Bill

When a board member weighs the benefits gained by DIY'ing, enabling him to save a great deal of money by doing his own maintenance/modifications, and the information available here to help trouble shoot problems - helping owners save money by keeping dealers and indies honest and on the point - I think a member should be able quantify the personal value of this website....up to an hour of shop time at the dealer or independent used by the member. Bill

Rob, Check the following link: The author, trieullionaire, is a board member and also markets installation kits. (I have no affiliation with his business, but have used two of his kits to install two nav systems.) I have installed two models of the Pioneer AVIC systems....a -Z3 and a -110BT. Both are great systems even though having more features than an analog man could ever hope to integrate or use. Here, in the U.S., Pioneer offers periodic POI (points of interest),map and software updates all down-loadable from your computer. You didn't mention in your post what model year (MY) your car is. But, from the enclosed photograph, to appears to be earlier than a model year 2003 (MY03). MY03 is the beginning of the MOST bus era which makes up-grading audio systems much more difficult. A straight forward Becker head unit for GPS nav system head unit swap is pretty easily done. If you want to get fancy with mega-watt amplifiers, theater quality speakers, etc., things get correspondingly more difficult. As far as relocating the climate control goes, if you move the panel down to the cubby position, it fits without any modifications at all. It's just a little fiddly running the wires down to the new position. If I recall correctly, trieulionaire has as part of his installation kit, a new bezel that fits perfectly around the climate control panel when re-located to the bottom-most position. The four CD holder can be removed and a properly fitting cubby can be purchesed from Porsche to take its place. By the way, I love IWM Duxford and try to visit every two years or so. Bill

I purchased a set of 996 manuals from Pelican and got a "ton" of revisions with the set. Be careful revising the manuals. After 35 years of revising aircraft operating manuals, training manuals and Jeppesen airways manuals, I have never seen a manual system as complicated and potentially confusing as the Porsche Maintenance manual set. Bill

+10 However, if you still want to investigate the car, the battery is mounted in the front trunk. If you can open the front trunk you can easily replace the battery. Bill

There should be no problem in substituting a 986S instrument cluster for a 986 instrument cluster, keeping in mind the miles vs kilometers, degrees F vs degrees C, between U.S. and Canadian car....not to mention the manual transmission vs Tiptronic differences and odometer mileage. Seeing how 2000 was the first year of the 986S and starting in 2001, the instrument cluster design was fundamentally changed - no hope at using a 2001 or later instrument cluster - you have to make sure you purchase a useable 2000 instrument cluster. Also, if you want to have your existing mileage indicated on your replacement 986S instrument cluster odometer, you'll have to send the 986S instrument cluster to a VDO repair shop - such as Palo Alto Speedometer - to have the mileage changed. One last thought....I would be very cautious about purchasing a used instrument cluster off an auction site - unless it is offered by a Porsche breaker yard. There has been a history of people getting less than fully functional units from individuals. Bill

What year is your car? If it is MY03 or later, you will need a CDC-4 unit. At the least, you'll need to purchase a mounting support bracket with associated mounting hardware and a wiring harness. (No Porsche is pre-wired for any option. Every car is built "to spec".) Support MY99+....996.645.231.00.......MSRP US$ 18.41 Cable cover cd changer.......996.610.207.00.................$1.78 Screw M4 x 8....999.075.067.09 (2).............$0.41 Sheetmetal press nut M6....999.500.078.00 (2).............$4.00 Hexagon head- bolt M6 x 20....900.378.188.09 (2).............$0.37 U-clamp..........999.507.532.02.................$0.37 There are a couple of wiring harnesses listed in the parts catalog, neither of which I am familiar with enough to list as appropriate for your needs. One costs $99.20 and the other $27.08. You might need both. You may need to ask a reliable, "top end" radio installation shop or your dealer for the exact cabling neeeds. The physical installation is pretty straight forward. The most time consuming part is running the cable from the CDC-3 to the back of the radio hesd. You will need radio "keys" to pull the head unit. I hope this information will help get you started. You might search this site for more complete DIY instructions. Bill

Mal, Perhaps this information will be of some help. From the Owner's Manual: "Temperature setting - If the display "LO" or "HI" appears, the system is operating at maximum cooling or heating power." And: "Compressor for air-conditioning system - Whenever outside temperatures exceed 37F / 3C, the air-conditioning compressor is always switched on in automatic operation. The compressor can be sitched off to save fuel, but control comfort is then limited. - Press button (Snow Flake symbol). The compresor is switched off, the symbol in the left-hand display goes out. If the interior temperature is too high, switch the compressor back on, or press "auto"-button. To dry incoming air in damp weather, do not switch off the air-onditioning compressor. This prevents misting of windows." If you don't have an Owner's Manual, I would recommend getting one - there are many potential "gotchas" you can avoid by reading up on the car's systems. If you can't find a reasonabily priced Owner's Manual, you can download an MY03 (the earliest found) from RennTech. Bill

Derek, If you don't have an owner's manual - yet - you can down load one (MY03) here: http://www.renntech.org/forums/index.php?/files/file/602-my03-boxster-986-owners-manual/ I'm pretty sure that most of the infrmation is very close to the MY01 you have coming. Bill

Radiator inlets clean and clear of debris? Bill

Curly, There is a RennTech board member, trieullionaire, who has a tutorial for the installation of an older Pioneer 2DIN navigation/audio systems, i.e., AVIC-D3: He and his brother have an e-Bay outlet that offers kits to install allmost any large format after market system. They are also very good at helping DIY'ers engineer/trouble shoot their installations of later versions of equipment. I have used trieullinaire's kits to install a Pioneer AVIC-Z3 and a Pioneer AVIC-Z110BT in two different cars. Pioneer is now up to AVIC-Z120BT and, before you make it back stateside, will have something even more cosmic available. I like the Pioneer line of systems but have no experience with any other brands. Keep your head down, Bill

You can't beat success. :D Bill

Look at page 211 in your owner's manual. There is a procedure out lined there. If you dont't have an owner's manual go to the "documents menu" at the top of any page here on RennTech and download the manual for future reference. Bill

Check with Pelican Parts and Sunset Porsche. They have had factory manuals on sale in the recent past in the $250 -$300 price range. Bill

Dr., Do you have a second (transmitter) key to try? If you do, and it functions correctly, check the printed circuit board in the offending key. There have been instances where the electrical connection of the internal switch has broken free from the board. Some people have been successful in re-attaching the switch to the board by carefully re-soldering the connection with a fine point soldering iron. The June 2010 edition of Excellence Magazine has a section on key fob repair. Getting back to the number of keys you have....if the malfunctioning key is the only key you have, it might be prudent to purchase at least a valet key to have as a back-up. Bill

If by "pegs" you mean the shafts that go into the cluster assembly, check this out: If you mean the actual knobs with which you twist the shafts that go into the cluster assembly, then Richard has your part number. If you do use PA Speedometer to reset your odometer, check out their web site. You have to download a form that goes into the legalities of odometer resetting that has to be filled out by you. (No big deal, just covers PA Speedomenter's rear.) If you have the parts you need to bring the cluster "up to speed", include them with the cluster if and when you send it to PA Speedometer. As for the CDR-23, you will need to run a "Sportscar Handover" routine on a PST2 to introduce the radio to the different instrument cluster. Bill

Billy, If you end up having to replace the switch assembly, purchase the four stalk switch. It is less expensive than the three stalk switch. Then search for the cruise control DIY thread and install the cruise control. Here: Look at posts #47 and #51. Richard Hamilton is the "go to" guy for any information concerning cruise control or OBC in the UK. Bill

Sean, I'm not sure this has any relevance to your situation or not; but, the other day I was talking to a technician at my dealership and he showed me a Carrera that was in for clutch service. The bell housing had been a storage point for a squirrel or other small rodent. The nuts, acorns, ?, had been ground into a dry, coarse powder that "gummed up" the fingers on the pressure plate. The clutch was rendered unable to completely engage or disengage. The car owner had to have the car trailered to the dealer. The technician showed me two vent holes through which the animal could enter the bell housing. Incidentally, The car was an MY07 with 2,000 miles on the odometer....probably stored where small animals abound. Bill

You might also check the crankshaft position sensor. There have been several owners reporting the same issue with their cars recently. The sensor appearatly does not "throw" a code that can be read inless (so I've heard) the failure manifests itself in a way that might damage the catalytic converters. Here is the latest event: http://www.ppbb.com/phorum/read.php?19,1576859,1577306#msg-1577306 Bill

There are two possible indication problems. The first concerns the oil pressure transmitter. It is the usual culprit and the least expensive to remedy. The other is the gauge in the instrument cluster. With the ignition switch on the "OFF" position, the oil pressure gauge needle shold be below the 0 point of the gauge....about a millimeter below. With the ignition switch in the "ON" position (with the engine static) the nedle should move to the 0 point. If this isn't the case - and the previous owner hadn't replaced the instrument cluster faces (incorrectly re-indexing the oil pressure needle) - you probably have a bad instrument cluster. Because the oil pressure "idiot light" is the final arbitor when determining whether or not there is sufficient oil pressure - and it is not illuminated - you probably have oil pressure. To be on the safe side I'd suggest taking the car in and have a technician put a direct reading gauge on the engine. BTW, the Boxster/Cayman series has no oil pressure gauge, relying solely on the idiot light. Bill

Fred, What ever you do, get a PPI before any money is exchanged. And, preferably by someone other than the dealer in question. At first glance, the dealer offered nearly $7,000 less than NADA's value for a "rough" trade-in, i.e., $31,650....this against $37,325 for a "clean trade-in" and $43,925 for "clean retail". (Perhaps the dealer gave your friend such a low price, $25,000 was as much as he could give on a trade. Or, perhaps the car has problems that wouldn't warrant a higher trade-in allowance.) At any rate, get a PPI. Bill

Porsche really, REALLY approves the use of Keropur. Purchase a case or two from your authorized Porsche Centre indeed! "The effectiveness of Keropur depends on its continuous utilisation. Accordingly every time refuelling the vehicle one can of Keropur needs to be added. Preferably for reasons of blending the additive should be added before refuelling. You can purchase Keropur from all authorised Porsche Centres." Bill

Chris, I believe you are correct. The initial factory warranty remains in effect for the full 4 year/50,000 mile period. Mind you the factory warranty starts when the car has been punched by the dealer. When cars languish for months on the dealers lot, many times the dealer will "punch the ticket" of the car - intimating to Porsche that the car has been sold. This eliminates the embarrassment of having an unsold car and keeps the factory's allotment of new cars coming. I know a fellow who purchased a used Boxster from a Route 1 used car dealer that still had about a month of factory warranty remaining. It was fortunate because the car, coming in off a lease had a couple of major problems whuich the local Porsche dealer was able to work off prior to the expiration of the warranty. Bill