Jinster

Looks great in my opinion. Anyone know where to get a pair?

Ok. Thanks for all the suggestions. I just want to post an update. Since going back to the old cap, I have not lost any additional coolant - whether through steam or leak of the reservoir. This compares very favourably against the situation with the new coolant cap, where I was losing about 500ml to 1L every couple of days. So I just want people to know the potential problems a new coolant cap could cause - precipitate a leak in your reservoir. As to whether the additional pressure in the cooling system provided by the new cap (and a new reservoir if you get a leak) actually provides much benefit to the cooling system, my thoughts are it shouldn't really do much benefit, so I will stick with the old cap for now - and marvel at the geniuses at Porsche for extracting money from the owners: update the cap.... got a leak now? get a new reservoir.... $$$

I say forget the error codes in this instance. If you are sure there is no resistance when you turn the key, then it really sounds like the plastic tube that connects the tumbler and the lock is broken. If your door was half locked or whatever when this happened, it might throw an error code. The key physically turns the lock mechanism - so even if the lock is not working right, some resistance should be felt. This is a very easy DIY fix. Take off the door panel, and have a feel for a connection between the key tumbler and the lock mechanism. If you feel no connection, then you know the problem. The connection is between a plastic "U" shaped socket and a metal "I" shaped screw-oar-thingie. The two snaps in place horizontally (as in, not by pushing the plug into the socket directly end to end, but "sliding in" the plug into the side opening of the socket - which is why the socket is U shaped, to give you the side opening to slide the "plug" in). It may even just be simple disconnection of this mechanism. Good luck.

I don't know how to override the factory alarm module. My car doesn't come with one. The dashboard switch on mine would lock and unlock the doors, but doors locked via the switch is not secure. It can't be opened from the outside, but can be opened by pulling the inside handle twice. So if your top is dropped, someone can just reach in and open the doors. I don't know if having an alarm module makes any difference to this.

Please consider the environmental issues before de-catting for not much gain.

An underdrive pulley (and belt) is quite well proven. Everything else in terms of bolt-on mods is black magic, IMHO. I think neither ECU nor exhaust would give you much gain. Indeed people have lost power with those mods. You chuck a large sum of money at it to buy some hope, and when it's done, you generate your own power gain in your head. This is especially true for ECU mods. Great business model - get the customer to pay through the nose so that they would generate the satisfaction endorphin themselves. Sorry about the pessimism. Nonetheless, if you must do this, an exhaust system first, then a ECU customised to suit the new exhaust. (Of course these are just words. Most ECU "tuners" just mail you a pre-defined program. There is no real customisation to your own exhaust characteristics whatsoever).

Thanks for the replies and pics, guys. Maurice, I wish my leak was there. It would have been be quite easy to patch that, I would've thought. dghii and por986, I had a feel underneath my reservoir for the leak, and all those dimples got me confused. But I think mine might be in a very similar location. Strictly aesthetically speaking, that's one dam ugly reservoir Porsche used! It's been leaking for a month, since the day I changed the coolant cap and flushed the coolant system with the new red coolant. And I have been driving it with the bleeder valve open since then, and kept refilling it. When it got to about 10L of top up, I realised something must be wrong, and pulled the carpet and had a look... precious red coolant dripping down the bottoms of the reservoir... I have switched back to the old cap and so far the coolant levels are holding up and no drips over the last three drives. I thought if I can get an idea as to where it might be coming from, I can do a simple "patch" with bits of soft plastic and superglue - perhaps even do it blind, seeing how hard it is to disconnect and reconnect the hoses, not to mention wasting even more coolant. Hehehe.... Dam the new cap that broke my reservoir! Did Porsche update the coolant reservoir to make it stronger? Maybe the new cap shouldn't be fitted to the un-updated reservoirs.

My MY97 has developed a coolant reservoir leak since I started using the updated coolant cap. Upon releasing the pressure by opening the cap, the leak stops. I have switched back to the old cap now. It's much better to have a slow loss of coolant over months through steam than to have a quick loss of coolant over days with over-pressure. The question is, for those who have replaced the coolant reservoir, where was the leak coming from? Anyone have a photo? The plastic of the reservoir is very thick. I can't see how it could leak. If it does leak through a crack in such a thick walled plastic, one would think the leak would be constant and not just at pressure. I suspect it's a seal or something. But the leak is behind the reservoir in my case, as is the case for the majority of the leaks described. So I can't see. Is there a seal/hose there?

Really? I didn't think it's that bad. I installed mine 1 year ago. I have changed the filter and taken out the whole throttle body assembly for cleaning since then without much trouble. The back of the window no longer stays up when you try to fold it up in the service position. But that didn't really cause much trouble for me. Just do everything kneeling on the seat from inside the cabin; or fold the seats forward and lean against the back of the seats.

G004000M2 is Pentosin CHF202. Okay to use in Boxster. You can also you Penrite SSF (suspension fluid), which is essentially Pentosin CHF11s (power steering is a hydraulic system technically similar to a suspension system).

Does your car already have a remote or not? If not, then you are in the same situation I was in. I fitted a aftermarket remote. It's not hard. See my post here.

I have often found that when it comes to connectors, a lot of this stuff is quite generic. I have hooked up the intermittent wiper knob and the auto dimming mirror harnesses with just $0.6 worth of generic connectors from Jaycar (Oz electronic hobby store) with perfect fits (not just the metal blades, but the actual plastic housing too is a perfect fit - this would unlikely to be the case for the headlamp connector, of course). Your local electronic hobby store should be able to get you something very close - you can always take a pair of pliers and bend an "almost fit" into an "exact fit".

My post does refer to a third "failure point" inside the door lock mechanism itself. I am just not sure if there is actually a physical microswitch inside the DLM. It's certainly a "microswitch by principle". The DLM would sense if the door is open - by the way of the switching plate's position - one can simulate a door closed position by manually flicking that switch plate in the exposed part of the DLM when the door open. I am just not sure if the flick of that plate actually actuates a microswitch. It's probably a direct switching effect. But the result is the same. And the DLM is difficult to service. If the DLM is responsible, the failure point is usually not at this "microswitch by principle" but rather at where the harness connects. Anyway, I just noticed that I was one of the original posters of this thread, back in 2004. And I just fixed this problem I posted about then, a few weeks ago. It took me 6 years to get to it! Haha....... :)

The Bowden (or is it Bowen?) cable is a purchasable item. There was one for sale on eBay not long ago. There are two microswitches - one on the inner door handle, one on the external door handle. Maurice's picture actually also shows where the external handle microswitch is attached. The internal microswitch position would be very obvious once you open the panel. Either of these could be faulty/loose. Just disconnect one and then the other (or both) to diagnose your problem. Another failure point is the connector at the door lock mechanism - wiggle it at the connector and see if you can reproduce the problem. This won't be too hard at all.

I think both views are valid. I just like to point out that shop owners would want to use "highly quality OEM" parts because they do a lot of replacements - say 5 a day. That's 1500 a year. With an assumed failure rate of 1% in OEM parts, that's 15 re-do jobs, or 3 days a year dedicated to re-do's - this may be acceptable. If they use the cheaper pacific rim products, with an assumed failure rate of 5%, now they are looking at 75 re-do's - or 15 days, a time that's not acceptable to a workshop. Plus they have to deal with 5 times as many angry customers. So it's much better for a workshop to use expensive and better products, because: 1. They can claim they use high quality parts 2. They don't have to deal with angry customers as much 3. They don't waste time re-doing jobs 4. The customers would bear the cost of the expensive parts anyway From a single individual's point of view, there may not be much difference between a 1% OEM failure rate, and a 5% Pacific-Rim failure rate, if the non-OEM part is orders of magnitude cheaper than OEM. In addition, cars like Toyota are in fact among the most reliable - what's acceptable for a Camry is certainly reliable enough for a Porsche. So there is no reason to say the cheaper parts are acceptable for Toyotas but not Porsche. It's actually the other way around. Also, not all Asian products are nasty because they are cheap. Korean cars, for example. My girlfriend's Hyundai Accent - voted worst car of the year by Top Gear, has only had its wiper slip out of the wiper holder once as a "fault" requiring "repairs" in the last 3 years. My Boxster on the other hand, has seen some $10000 of repairs/replacements in the same time. The fact is, economies of scale would always win out on overall cost/performance ratio, even though the absolute performance level may not be as high as the more expensive counterparts. Please, JFP, don't get angry about this. Ultimately, workshops and individuals have different priorities, and therefore end up choosing different products. There is no need for agreement in this at all, with each perspective valid for their own reasons. Just my $0.02

Do what you like, mate. Why shouldn't you? Porsche made a good car to be sure, but they didn't get the speedo right. Todd is correct. Such devices have been available for a while. Speedo signals are generated by turning a magnetic gear mounted on the wheel axle, thus generating a square wave signal with each passing gear, corresponding to the wheel turn - similar to using an AC motor in reverse. These correctors work by changing the square wave input frequency of the speed signal by a certain percentage and spits out the new square wave at the other end. I don't know whether it'd work on the Boxster though. Has anyone tried it? There are four speed sensors, one at each wheel. The non-PSM/TC ABS system is supposed to compare the signals and throw an error code if the speeds don't match within a certain tolerance. Also, if you have PSM/TC, the wheel speed differential is what triggers biased braking. To do this correction "properly", you will need four such correctors. It may be possible to just use one corrector on the final output of the ABS system, but I don't know if the signal would have been converted to a voltage/current by that stage - certainly doable if it's still a frequency signal. But given the odometer is also in the instrument cluster, this might reduce your true odometer reading if it is true that the odometer displays the correct mileage and it's only the speedo that's off - this may or may not be a problem for some. Another possible way to correct this that some speedometers have built-in calibration resisters near the needle mechanism. Anyone seen one of these when they opened their instrument cluster? I will take mine off at some stage soon when I mount the OBD stalk. I will try to spot such a resister, if I remember. Personally, I always found the visual accommodation required to look at the speedo distracting, especially as I drive 700km a week for work in my Boxster. I have installed HUDs in all my cars for comfort and I calibrate them to radar detector speeds, which seems to be 10% lower than the speedo indicates at all legal driving speeds.

Pic of the wire harness that goes to the DLM - the dangling wires eventually pull the pins that supply that connector loose (the pins get pulled off the solder points on the circuit board); you can test yours by giving the connector a little wiggle - if the wiggling causes your window to drop down and go up, then one/some of your pins on the circuit board are de-soldered (likely) or the connector is loose (unlikely). Second pic and the temporary cable tie solution that holds the hold complex in a tight non-mobile position to try to force the pins (which can't be see unless you open the door lock assembly itself) to contact the circuit board. This solution didn't last long. Re-soldering was the only way (holding up thus far).

wires to the door lock mechanism, sliced in half by the window when it went down:

Yeah, 6 years?? Hehehe...... I have the filter right here with me. Just need a spare afternoon to do it, along with spark plugs. I was thinking I didn't want to put in new spark plugs in case it was the AOS. And if I am not putting in spark plugs, I thought I will wait with the filter too coz it'd be easier in one go. When I took out the TB and IVC, there wasn't much carbon build-up, which I sprayed out with degreaser. But I did notice a small crack in the IVC. Don't know how much this affected things. I tried to seal it with some super glue yesterday, don't know how good a job I did with it either because the crack was still visible after the glue sank in. But today, two warm starts and the car has been fine. So maybe it was the TB or the IVC afterall. But I don't know if it was the cracked IVC that I might have managed to save with some super glue. Wouldn't that be a story if true? IVC costs like $200-300 to replace. Super glue = 40 cents. :) Will stop talking now so as not to temp fate. Fingers crossed for tomorrow.

Just did. As well as the IVC. Will see if this makes a difference. But there wasn't really much carbon build-up there. I'd be surprised if this cleaning does much. But at least I saw no oil in the throttle body/intake, together with the lack of blue smoke on start up, fingers crossed the AOS is good. What else could this be?

Have the speedo and the fuel gauge re calibrated. I was quoted $400 and two weeks by a local shop. Instrument cluster has to be removed and sent to a facility that does that kind of work. Or you can simply go with a taller wall profile tyres next time you change tyres. The speedo is calibrated to the diameter of the tyres. Since my Boxster came with 17" Pirelli P Rossos, which are a low profile tire, my speedo should be calibrated for those so which replacement tire are you saying would recalibrate the speedo so it is accurate? Speedo signal comes from axle rotations. Each rotation of the axle is assumed to equal to a certain distance travelled. This distance is the circumference of your tyres. The speedo signal can only measure the rotation of the axle and not the actual circumference of the tyres. So if your tyres have a bigger circumference, your car would cover a larger distance even though the speedo still gets the same amount of axle rotation signal. So if your speedo is off by 5%, then you can just increase your tyre circumference by 5% to offset it. This assumes the increased tyre size fits inside the wheel well - which I would have thought is quite reasonable but isn't something I have experience with personally. I don't know which brand and model of tyre would give you the exact increase in diameter you need. But your tyre shop should have no trouble telling you which ones. It would seem then that you would end up with a tire that has a taller side wall and I would question how it would perform under conditions such as track, AX and general aggressive driving since Porsche selects tires that are "performance based" and generally low profile. A new set of tires would also cost as much, if not more, than the $400 calibration so all you would save is time and you might lose some performance. Actually, you will end up with a new set of tires with a slightly taller wall profile or a $400 saving. If this is correct then why doesn't Porsche and the independent shops recommend it as a cure for speedo calibration? A taller wall profile is not necessarily a good thing on a high performance vehicle used in racing conditions. If all you want to do is drive on the street then possibly. This is correct as far as correcting the speedo error goes in theory. Why Porsche doesn't recommend this is not for me to know. Don't put too much faith in Porsche. They are the ones that made the mistake in the first place. Behind the corporate facade and a brand name that might instill confidence in the customer, there are a still a bunch of human engineers of various levels and experiences working on things. They make mistakes and omissions like anyone else. However, one possible suggestion, like Maurice says, is that it is only the speedo that is off, not the OBD2 data as used by the ECU. This almost suggests deliberate foul play by Porsche. Be it as it may. Another possibility, is that the fatter tires may cause problems with a lowered car. A third possibility, is that Porsche simply doesn't want to admit to the problem. I would place even less confidence in independent shops. I would've thought that the speedo correction shop would propose the speedo correction method rather than the fatter tire method for obvious reasons, amongst others. Yes, it is possible that tires with a taller wall profile might not be better for racing.

MY97, Tip. No codes. My car starts fine in the morning after overnight rest. But when I try to start it during the day when the car is warm, it sometimes takes about 10 seconds of cranking to start it. During this time, it sounds as if the engine is trying to start but just can't build up enough rev consistently. I can start it by either keeping cranking for like 10 seconds, or to just back off the key, and turn the key again within a few seconds, almost as if the first crank "primes" the car somehow. On a few occasions, after warm starting, the idle would fluctuate up and down within a range of around 300 to 1000rpm. This was only evident at idle, but may have been happening at higher revs without me being aware of it. What do you think is going on? I am thinking: fuel filter? fuel pump? spark plugs? ICV? AOS? Which is more likely?

Have the speedo and the fuel gauge re calibrated. I was quoted $400 and two weeks by a local shop. Instrument cluster has to be removed and sent to a facility that does that kind of work. Or you can simply go with a taller wall profile tyres next time you change tyres. The speedo is calibrated to the diameter of the tyres. Since my Boxster came with 17" Pirelli P Rossos, which are a low profile tire, my speedo should be calibrated for those so which replacement tire are you saying would recalibrate the speedo so it is accurate? Speedo signal comes from axle rotations. Each rotation of the axle is assumed to equal to a certain distance travelled. This distance is the circumference of your tyres. The speedo signal can only measure the rotation of the axle and not the actual circumference of the tyres. So if your tyres have a bigger circumference, your car would cover a larger distance even though the speedo still gets the same amount of axle rotation signal. So if your speedo is off by 5%, then you can just increase your tyre circumference by 5% to offset it. This assumes the increased tyre size fits inside the wheel well - which I would have thought is quite reasonable but isn't something I have experience with personally. I don't know which brand and model of tyre would give you the exact increase in diameter you need. But your tyre shop should have no trouble telling you which ones. It would seem then that you would end up with a tire that has a taller side wall and I would question how it would perform under conditions such as track, AX and general aggressive driving since Porsche selects tires that are "performance based" and generally low profile. A new set of tires would also cost as much, if not more, than the $400 calibration so all you would save is time and you might lose some performance. Actually, you will end up with a new set of tires with a slightly taller wall profile or a $400 saving.

MY97 Australian delivered car. Has driver side and passenger side keyholes. Has central locking. No remote. No alarm. I just installed an aftermarket alarm/remote/proximity entry unit. I will write up a DIY if there is enough interest but I believe most people from the US would have the remote feature as standard. Come to think of it, there is probably not much to write. Everything you need to know is below: 1. Everything can be hooked up under the passenger seat (RHD car) except the ACC ON signal, so remove the seat first (4 screws) 2. A Bentley manual or a wiring diagram from the factory manual is an absolute must, and contains all the necessary information to figure out which wires to splice into. 3. The door motors are negatively triggered 4. The door open trigger is labelled "door contact" on the wiring diagrams. I am unsure the difference between this and "door safe" - which also appear on the wiring diagram. 5. The door open signal is negatively triggered. 6. There is a separate trigger for "door contact" (door open) for each door, and there appears to be no combined signal. You might need an additional relay if you want your alarm unit to be triggered when either door is opened. 7. Unlock signal is labelled "unprime", and a single connection would unlock both doors. 8. A single lock signal would lock both doors. 9. The wire colours for a RHD car are: Red/Brown (thick) = 12V, Brown/Red (thin) = motor to open door, Brown/White = motor to close door, Brown/Green = (RHD) driver door status (closed), or LHD passenger door status; Turn signals = Black/White, Black/Green 10. Don't splice into the dash central locking switch (inside handle not secured), use the direct connections to the motors above

Thanks for the replies. Bloody MY97 misses out again :)