rsfeller

You make no mention of checking the fuses that control the areas in question, have you done this yet?

a PPI would not helped him most likely if it was not leaking then! To bad the RMS hasn't happened to a class action lawyer, or the ball would be rolling by now for us all. Then again we all would just get a $10 check for our troubles and the lawyer would make millions, but I digress. Although the cost is $1200 retail the fact of the matter is that it's a $20 part and only labor to win good will. The Porsche dealer would only be out a dozen hours wholesale to the cost of the employee to take care of what needs to be a "good will" fix. How can they expect you to be a returned customer with such an experience. To a non DIY'r a leaking RMS sounds like a major problem which can lead to major destruction. Shawn

Your recent service may very well be good but I would NEVER count out the failure of a recently repaired part due to human error. I've seen CV joints damaged prematurely from poor lubrication or installation. I buddy of mine lost a $100K Formula boat this last summer due to human error of the dealer due to poor install of a regular maintenance item, the outdrive bellows. This is a boats version of a CV boot and human error was the fault. Never count it out until you have personally inspected.

Sounds like a bearing or CV joint...although since it goes away I doubt it's a bearing. Bearings tend to rumble all the time. CV joints can make their funny sounds (usually clicks while turning) while only under load. They often go away while coasting. Shawn www.carboncow.com

Fine by me! My only regret is I didn't take better photos. They really suck.

search = http://www.renntech.org/forums/index.php?s...amp;#entry95771

Check your inbox for a PM, I may have something for you. Shawn

That would be me (Shawn). Let me know if you have any questions and don't let ANYONE tell you it comes upstream from the air filter area, impossible!

I know you stated you got the website to work. It is hosted on a home server so a bit slow at times. Just in case others find this link in the future they can download a PDF of the page along with hi res images here: http://carboncow.com/images/temp_air_mix_flap_writeup.zip I created for another viewer who had trouble with the website. Let me know if I can answer any more questions. Shawn

Vanagon, Subaru and Porsche Boxster engines all need lots of love bleeding the coolant system when major system procedures have been done!

Water pump!

OK, I think you are on the right track but confused, or just using the wrong works. The arm located under the dash that I reference in my write up controls the mix (not the fan speed as you state). If you take the arm off (I believe it pink too) you can manually move the flap through it's travel from point A to B which is from warm air to cold air and back. You can manually do this to simulate full heat or not. No, I don't know which direction is warm or cold but you only have two options. If you can manually simulate the movement and get a solid feel that the door at both wide open positions (good seal) then you have a problem with either the servo, broke arm or something wrong with the ACC computer not giving the correct command (such as a failed internal cabin sensor) If you do crank the blend door from one side to another and back and cannot determine ANY heat then you have the same issue as me, big holes in the door due to the foam disintegrating. You foam is all gone from your blend door and there is no way you are getting full heat from system even knowing your core is good, door is moving, servo is working and ACC computer is operating as expected. Re-read my write-up. If you door doesn't move then you have yet another bigger issue and will need to do surgery like me. Scary but easy. I believe you still have not determined the root of the issue. Forget about the the interior cabin temp sensor regardless of how noisy it may be. The failure of the motor in there has little bearing on the movement of the blend door under most conditions as the sensor is most likely still taking a good reading. YOU NEED TO FIGURE OUT if you door is moving first. Failure of both the sensor fan and sensor at the same time is highly unlikely IMHO. FYI the noise of a bad cabin sensor fan can be temporarily fixed by a good shot of silicon lubricant into the motor. done it cars for years often getting 5+ years out a motor that was honking or squeaking prior. Keep in mind you should try to miss or clean the sensor gently, I'm sure it being covered in lubricant isn't the best way to get a good sensor reading. Shawn The link to my page again: http://www.carboncow.com/pages/porsche/heater_door.htm ...and I knew the Audi diagnostic doesn't work!

Never said failure, just not the intended purpose. While redoing a Vw Vanagon Syncro with new brake lines from master to caliper I was contemplating stainless (flex) lines at the caliper that many vendors were selling. Figured if they were good enough for high performance needs that would be fine for a heavy duty vanagon syncro. Many on the Vw board jumped on me for the idea and said stick with the stock for heavy duty and daily operation. I to was skeptical and found some discussions around the net via google and found many with the same opinion. According to topics I read most stated they are fine for race and performance application but not to be put on your car for 5-10 years. They were intended for heavy duty use over a shorter interval and that over time would actually expend and wear greater then many OEM designs. Just passing on the logic of what I read from many sites. Most stated they were for looks on daily drivers and not long term solutions. Of course my boxster weighs 1/3 what my syncro does!

Ben, In my opinion if you are not a racer those stainless lines are just for looks and do not have the life expectancy beyond a couple years. Google the topic you find many facts against them, they are a racers tool. The blingers from the rice market have put to many on honda and toyotas with poor long term performance and dependability. shawn

First, I've had my 1997 with 60K miles for about 1.5 years and will all used cars I buy I expect to pay $1000 in repairs for somebody else problems the day I take delivery. Considering it's a Prorsche multiply that by 3x. Unless you knew the specfic history you really don't know if this guy drove the car hard or like a jack ***. Now you mention some common failure issues. 1. The ignition tumblers are very common to fail. Search the website. We've all done it and many before 60K 2. Expect the horn system to fail to... 3. The suspension can get sloppy and rattle. It's a sports car and the bushing go first like many others. Simple and cheap fix for a DIY. 4. Expect the SRS errors to there is a common failure and buliten. 4. Suspect tire issues if you have vibrations in the steering wheel. That has been the case in the my 5 cars that I expected the worst. You need to get your car to ground zero and your level of happiness before you can be concerned with quality or a lemon. Lastly buy the durametric software for $250 so you can pull your own codes and save big money on simple things like the DME and SRS. I am a DIY guy and once I spent $1000 and got my car to my standard I have not had one issue in a year worth being concerned about. Shawn Ohio

bought my front and rear cross drilled and slotted here as a kit including pads and sensors for a reasonable price: http://tinyurl.com/2vq7nz

Wow! Quit quoting every email from the previous email, not sure why people do that on this list so much!! I believe the head gasket talk is a stretch too, or at least to early in the trouble shoot process. You would see some heat unless there was a huge loss of blow by from coolant to oil side. But it is easy to check the oil level and if there is coolant in the oil or oil in the coolant to ease such concerns. 1. check you have sufficient coolant level. Most likely you do but if it's to low I've seen some cars not be able to get heat because the coolant level is to low to transport the heat. Doubt that is the issue in this case as you low fluid level light would most likely be on. This has happened on the wife Saab 9000. Enough fluid to cool the car but not enough in the heater core. 2. I though the Audi diagnostic was an old wives tale because the units are similar but he could be correct. It doesn't work on my 98 so it may not work on yours. FYI durametric software now has the ability to tell you open/close % of all air system flaps. I would suspect the primary heat flap. If you can diagnosis this and don't have the $$ for a Porsche tech get the durametric software. It is you first place to start with servo failure and sensor temps. 3. If you get in the passengers footwell and look up behind the center console with a flashlight you will see the servo and arm that adjusts the primary flap from the cool to hot air side. As you take your temp buttons from low to high again you need to see that survo moving. Additionally check the arm that controls the flap is in fact ont he servo or has not broken. See my write up for details on a procedure I had to do which involves the servo in question: http://www.carboncow.com/pages/porsche/heater_door.htm I've included a nifty screenshot of the durametric softwares HVAC system diagnositcs. YOu can pick up to 8 parameters to show realtime values. As you can see the mixing flap is at 100% and should move from 0-100% as you change the temp, but again you can see this from down below w/o spending the $$$. But no Porsche owner that is a DIY should be w/o this software!

I think you get the point. Just a rant of preventive maintenance. Last season I questioned on this board why I have such a HUGE deposit of evap'd water and salt left on the garage floor. This year I lost my primary and backup winter car here in Ohio due to mechanical issues and guess what? The 986 had to go into service during the height of the salt dump for a week. We'll I got #1 & #2 back on the road so the 986 went off to the detail shop. Then I brought it home and washed and rinsed it 4 times above and below. I then watched water continue to drip out of every corner of the front end for over a week, the garage floor was constantly wet. It eventually stopped and dried up today and I'm left with enough salt on the floor to fill a couple of salt shakers...seriously. This car is holding a huge amount of fluid (and salt) up in the nose around the radiators and it has to be doing the radiator and other parts good. I'm going to rinse the car yet again this weekend. I guess with these newer cars and bottom covers there is much salt and debris sitting under the aerodynamic plastic covers on the bottom to. I've never seen so much water and salt before!

Hello, Your question and need are unclear (at least to me). Are you questioning how to get a reading? or how to reference links to error codes? Shawn

How hard did you try on ebay? http://search.ebay.com/porsche-emblem_W0QQ...rdsreturnedZ300 That search produced 3 pages of search results for me that showed several products claiming to be Boxster hood emblems... and this one has the gaskget: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/PORSCHE-HOO...sspagenameZWDVW and let's not forget Sunset: http://www.renntech.org/forums/index.php?a...amp;code=sunset

I always consider bad bearings a "groan" and not a buzz. I have had brand tires (twice) develop a cup and cause a noisy buzz. Have you confirmed no cupping on the tires?

Are there different cables that control gear selection (vertical travel) vs. horizontal travel? This does remind me when we've replaced throttle cables or transmission cables on my boat, how they bind slightly before they freeze up...but again everything travels in the North/South direction perfectly! I'll take a look at cable entry locations this weekend.

great stuff. If it doesn't get worse I'll upgrade the shifter in the spring along with a new boot/shifter. I'm quite sure this has been covered 101 times but which short throw is most recommended? See them all over ebay all the time but I"m sure there is some garbage out there!

Bob, Let me know of any great links that explain the area well. My brain is a bit overloaded with a Vanagon Syncro with blown brake lines and a Saab wagon with a dead fuel pump. My ability to goggle is severely diminished! I really feel like this is a bad grease issue, as it came about after the car sat for 2 month in a 20F garage. Other then the obvious what are the benifits of the short throw shifters? I've never felt the shifting took a stretch or missed shifts in the 986, is it pretty amazing how close shift points are with such a kit? I've always been curious. Now in my vanagon I can see the benifit. 1 & 2 are seperated by about 6 inches of real estate! Shawn

Not at all! Nothing feels mechanical about it in any perspective. I can tell you after my hour long commute ride to work it does loosen up some but then on the drive home I noted the shift from 2-3 required a genuine thought to move it over! If I felt I was binding something I most likly wouldn't drive it...but then again, my other two cars on "on the bench"....