mathos

Ive read that someone talked to some Porsche Tech guys and told him they use Castrol syntech 15-50 during the Summer, 0-40 Mobil in the winter, and that there was no way they where going to use 0-40 during summer on their own cars.

is this right?? is this even approved by Porsche?

what do you mean?

i have a 99 boxster with 57k.

do i need to use 0w-40?

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thx :D

I decided to tackle my 60,000 mile maintenance this week. I also threw in an air/oil seperator change for the fun of it. Comments below:

Cabin Filter

That the dealer charges for this service is a crime. Less than 5 minutes. Unscrew a screw, slide the old one out, slide the old one in, rescrew the screw.

Air Filter

You have to take the engine compartment lid off, which takes at least 5 minutes. After that it's pop-out/pop-in. Couldn't be much easier.

Multirib Belt / Poly Belt / Serpentine Belt

Super easy. 30 minutes or less. I had to buy a 24mm socket and a cheater bar, but the socket was cheap and I've been needing a cheater bar for a while anyway.

Engine Clean

Not too bad. I bought 2 cans of Gunk Engine Bright and sprayed the underside profusely. It had a ton of caked on road grime that emulsified and dripped down the driveway. Just make sure you are not in the stream.

Oil / Filter Change

Moderately Easy once you get the car jacked up. I couldn't find an oil filter wrench that fit anywhere (74mm 14 dimples). I found a 74mm 15 dimples but unsuprisingly, that didn't work. I ended up having to use a strap, which are always awkward. I prefer the kind you can jab a screwdriver through :) My drain plug was stripped to almost a complete circle. I hammered in the biggest torx bit that would fit, then I had to take an unplanned 1 hour trip to the dealer to get a new one :( At least it gave the oil time to drain... I did discover Porsche provides an allen wrench of just the perfect size in the tool kit under the hood.

Spark Plugs

Not too bad once you get the rear wheels off. You pretty have to remove a trim panel to got to the front plugs, but it's not hard to do. Be sure you have a 6" extension bar for your ratchet. I had to go buy one (yet another unplanned trip...) :-/ Make sure you plug in all the plugs before starting the engine or you will get a sound like a cat caught in the engine (don't ask me how I know this).

Brake Pad Change

Moderately Hard. Changing the pads is super easy (again, once you get the wheels off). The hard part is getting the stupid sensors out of the old pads :angry: I found a good trick to that. Get the pad out, pull on the sensor wire while pushing in one of the tabs, it should come out a tiny bit, now push the opposite tab and it should pop out.

Brake Fluid Flush

Since I was already down there changing the pads, it wasn't too bad. I have a Motive Power Bleeder so I had to keep pumping it up and letting it out (pump it up to flush one brake, let it out to change the next pad).

Air/Oil Seperator

No man should ever change this... ever. It was not designed to be replaced while the engine is still attached to the car, this much is obvious. The threads here were very useful. I would have killed myself trying to get the clamp reattached, buying a screw-type clamp was much nicer. My old one did have a cracked bellow, so I hope that will cure my CEL.

Things I did not do:

Change fuel filter

I bought one, but really didn't feel like tackling it just yet (not after everything else... I need a vacation).

Clean Radiators

I may do that this weekend. I had planned to do it while the front right wheel was off, but by that time I was getting tired and decided to put it off to another day.

Flush Cooling System

I flushed it about 3 months ago.

Misc Notes on jacking it up

When buying a jackstand... make sure it's shorter than your jack maximum height. Jacking it up in the middle rear (right behind the oil pan) then putting the jacks on the rear strut things like Toolpants suggests worked out nicely.

Total Time: 18 Hours

including all the unplanned shopping trips (4 in total), cleanup, testing, eating, etc...

My god, that sounded fun, im scared to do it though, the oil separator change freaks me out, how much do you want to do all of that to my car? lol

happy boxstering =)

Good luck and enjoy your car!!!!!!! (if you decide to buy it) try to sell it once it reaches 100k :P

Actually, yeah.. but when i stopped and checked everything i noticed my handbrake slightly pulled, i was sweating blood at that point, so yeah, it was a slightly engaged handbrake :P

Actually this is a common issue on all Boxsters, and hopefully your roof problem relates to this one in particular.. so the thing is roof,... operates only when handbrake "on" (and your handbrake light will display on your dashboard) if it doesnt, it means your handbrake "switch" is 1. unplugged 2. damaged. (its usually unpluged due to use or hard pulling of the handbrake)

take the left panel of your handbrake dash, then the top hood and check it out, just plug it back, its pretty simple.

i hope this helps.