Wayne R. Dempsey

Almost all of those procedures, I just covered in our technical library. You can do the work yourself at 1/10th the cost. Check them out here, and let me know if you have any questions on the articles: http://www.pelicanparts.com/boxster/boxster_tech.htm

-Wayne

Tech article on the replacement for other people in the future: http://www.pelicanparts.com/techarticles/Boxster_Tech/93-ELEC-Pedal_Switches/93-ELEC-Pedal_Switches.htm

-Wayne

I personally like 5,000 mile oil changes, MAX...

-Wayne

Metal in filter is bad, anyway you slice it. I have the filter from our IMS failure here on my bench, I will be photographing it tonight for our upcoming article. I'll see if I can post some pics...

-Wayne

Once a liquidator had been appointed and he assesses just what the company owes and owns, he will probably hold an auction for all items which are to be sold. The moulds and plugs are probably the most valuable assets. However, to transport them would be a very risky exercise as any breakages or cracks would render them useless. To have them crated and sent half way around the world would be a very courageous undertaking! The manufacture of tops from these moulds is highly specialised work and it is 99% manual labour. I feel sure that is why Christoph Zeinecker, the director, left Germany and set up in South Africa where labour costs are much lower. If it was profitable to make them in Europe I'm sure he would have stayed there. I am guessing but I would say that there are at least 4 moulds required for each top and possibly more (two outer and two inner for the main top and the hatch). The hard part is putting them all together!

The best idea would have a local company, say a successful auto crash shop with GRP experience take it on and run it alongside their current business on a "made to order" basis. I know for a fact that Zeintec shipped out 37 tops in the last half of 2009 and if they had made all they should have, the total would have probably reached 50. There were NONE shipped in 2010. This is hardly enough to keep the business running as a "stand alone"enterprise. It will be interesting to see just what does happen to the moulds but any LOCAL entrepreneur is going to have a hell of a job convincing the likes of us, that we can confidently order and SEND MONEY for these, given our experiences!! His best chance is to supply a few to distributors throughout the world and let THEM sell them, omitting ANY reference to the African continent in marketing strategies! The damage has been done.

Right. 50 tops a year at $5K apiece is not a tremendous amount of money for a small business. You'd have to sell a few thousand of them at $2500 apiece to probably make a significant dent. In terms of selling them, that is what a good retailer does - instill trust into the relationship. People like to order from a good, reliable retailer because the experience is repeatable with no headaches and problems most of the time. We deal with 250+ vendors, some multi-million dollar companies, but also many who are little guys who have created some neat products in their garage. There really are no issues like this one with Zeintec...

-Wayne

The intermediate shaft bearing problem is not well understood by anyone at this point in time. I just pulled one out of a 996 with 31,000 miles on the clock. I'm working on a replacement fix for the IMS that users can swap out when they perform a clutch replacement, using a standard stock bearing. I'm working on the tech article tonight, and we'll also be testing the prototype kit in the very near future. Stay tuned, this problem will be solved by the aftermarket very soon.

-Wayne

Right - if someone were to approach them about buying the plans and rights to the tops, then Pelican would be more than happy to sell them on the site. It's a neat idea I would hate to see die away.

-Wayne

Great writeup, I especially love the cardboard cut out with the bolt locations. Don't overlook this, it took me about 2 hrs to figure out what went where - this information is *not* displayed in PET on the diagrams.

-Wayne

If you start hearing the IMS is it too late?

No, we caught the one on the 996 in time. See a really ugly photo here: http://forums.pelicanparts.com/boxster-cayman-forum/543604-if-you-think-ims-bearing-failures-all-myth-then-check-out.html

I'm working on a very comprehensive article on the IMS bearing that will detail what you need to be concerned about, and what you can do about it too. Should be done in the next day or so.

-Wayne

Oil + coolant could be head gasket, but it also could be a variety of other problems, including the D-chunk problem. I wrote a tech article on this and other issues you may encounter here: http://www.pelicanparts.com/techarticles/Boxster_Tech/13-ENGINE-Common_Engine_Failures/13-ENGINE-Common_Engine_Failures.htm

I would indeed probably recommend tearing it down and taking a look at what you have. I also have an article on teardowns too: http://www.pelicanparts.com/techarticles/Boxster_Tech/Disc162/BoxsterTech-162.htm

Hope this helps,

Wayne

Hi there. Yes, the 987 kit is an "upgrade" for the earlier cars.

As for the IMS retrofit, I'm guessing that your car has the later-style "big bearing" and cover that won't come out of the case unless it's split. Also, there is no "factory" IMS replacement kit. Charles' kit is the only thing available at this time, although I am working on a prototype kit in my garage today (won't be available for several months though).

-Wayne

Thanks Wayne. Are you saying that if my car had a rebuilt engine put in it in 2007, that I wouldn't be able to replace the IMS without actually going deep into the engine? There is no longer a removable flange? If so, do you think they addressed the issue enough that I shouldn't be concerned? Love your articles on Pelican BTW.

Thanks for the kudos on the articles!

Yes, the later-style replacement engines had the big nut on the IMS bearing flange, which means that the bearing is too big to get out of the engine case. I wish I had a picture of this with the cover removed, but I don't. I'll see if Charles does...

-Wayne

Loren's right - it's tough to diagnose these without a reader and some trouble codes. About the only thing you can do is check the fluid level in your transmission, instructions here: http://www.pelicanparts.com/techarticles/Boxster_Tech/35-TRANS-Auto_Fluid_Change/35-TRANS-Auto_Fluid_Change.htm

-Wayne

There's a procedure in the owner's manual that shows you how to apply power to the fuse box so that you can open up the front hood...

-Wayne

There are two parts to the switch, the mechanical part that accepts the key, and also the electrical part that is connected to the mechanical part. Both can cause problems. In particular, never put a lot of keys on your keychain with the car keys on it - that will damage the lock cylinder over time...

-Wayne

Hmm, sounds like it could be the throw-out bearing. 20K is a short amount of time for one of these to go, but not unheard of either...

-Wayne

This might be a good time / excuse to pick up the Durametric tool so that you can figure out exactly what the code is. Without the information, you're driving blind. I have info on the tool in my code reading article (http://www.pelicanparts.com/techarticles/Boxster_Tech/20-FUEL-Code_Reading/20-FUEL-Code_Reading.htm).

-Wayne

The IMS cover is also a common cause of leaks.

Also very true. I'm working on the article for the replacement this weekend. I would replace this seal, possibly, while you're in there, but you also need a special procedure to make sure that the camshaft timing doesn't get messed up.

-Wayne

Friends,

Might be a fun project to do with my dad, anyway.

Music to my ears!!!

Here's what you need - you *CAN* do it yourself.

Jacking up your car:

http://www.pelicanparts.com/techarticles/Boxster_Tech/01-BASICS-Jacking_Up/01-BASICS-Jacking_Up.htm

Removing the transmission:

http://www.pelicanparts.com/techarticles/Boxster_Tech/37-TRANS-Drop/37-TRANS-Drop.htm

Replacing the seal (see the clutch article):

http://www.pelicanparts.com/techarticles/Boxster_Tech/44-TRANS-Clutch/44-TRANS-Clutch.htm

It's all very doable. Let me know if you have any questions!

-Wayne

The cooling systems on these cars can be finicky at times. You *HAVE* to bleed the cooling system according to the proper formula, and if you don't, you will have all sorts of odd problems like these as large air bubbles create hot spots in your system. Check out my article on bleeding - this works very well and should solve most coolant air bubble problems: http://www.pelicanparts.com/techarticles/Boxster_Tech/29-WATER-Flush/29-WATER-Flush.htm

Hope this helps...

-Wayne

Hi there. Yes, the 987 kit is an "upgrade" for the earlier cars.

As for the IMS retrofit, I'm guessing that your car has the later-style "big bearing" and cover that won't come out of the case unless it's split. Also, there is no "factory" IMS replacement kit. Charles' kit is the only thing available at this time, although I am working on a prototype kit in my garage today (won't be available for several months though).

-Wayne

Hmm, okay. A couple of things. Your coolant lamp is blinking, which means you're very low on coolant - fill that sucker up before you run it again. The exhaust sounds doesn't sound quite right, do you have an aftermarket system on there? Finally, I have never seen a Boxster do that before, it's like it's hunting, but it's not. I would think vacuum leak or something affecting the vacuum of the system. I've got an article on troubleshooting vacuum leaks here: http://www.pelicanparts.com/techarticles/Boxster_Tech/21-FUEL-Vacuum_Leaks/21-FUEL-Vacuum_Leaks.htm . But, I think you may have additional problems. The car shouldn't do that on its own.

Okay, I just saw that you have a 1998, the problem is most likely with the idle control valve, which is on the side of the throttle body. Sounds like the car is opening the valve and then closing it, trying to get the right metering of air. Maybe a vacuum leak afterall. The only way the car could be revving like that is if the ICV is opening and closing on its own.

Not sure if this helps any...

-Wayne

Yikes, would anyone do this without jacking up the car? It's relatively easy to reach, but you need to get in there and get access. I've got an article on these here: http://www.pelicanparts.com/techarticles/Boxster_Tech/45-TRANS-Clutch_Hydraulics/45-TRANS-Clutch_Hydraulics.htm

-Wayne

So, they recommend you buy a new one, but not a used one? I guess that makes sense, as parts are very expensive and the cars are difficult to work on without the proper knowledge and tools.

-Wayne

Here are the instructions that you are looking for: http://www.pelicanparts.com/techarticles/Boxster_Tech/88-ELEC-Radio_Install/88-ELEC-Radio_Install.htm

Hope these help,

Wayne

Having just wrote a book about 101 things to fix on your Boxster, I'd say that they are way more reliable than some Porsches that have been produced in the past. That said, I would estimate that the bar has been set pretty darn high by Honda and Toyota in the pursuit of higher quality. Bottomline, I'm guessing that the Boxster has more problems than a Honda Accord. But it's also a performance car, and there's no such thing in life as a free lunch - you have to have tradeoffs...

-Wayne