dedes

I am curious..... Does anyone know how many early 1997 Stuttgart Boxster's were built? Is there a place that I can find my production number on my Boxster? My Boxster was built in Stuttgart in 1997, sold in 1998. S= Stuttgart I understand the Stuttgart plant closed around June or some where around that time. Where can I find more information or the history of the 1997 Boxster production.

77,419 miles

My mechanic checked it out and it was fine or he fixed it. Not sure what he did, I will ask for more details. Plus I will keep my eye out on the heater for the next couple of weeks. Sorry if I sound so vague about this heater thing.

Ok, I am back with the results on my car. Sorry it took so long. After my heater wasn't working I noticed my A/C wasn't working. So I decided to take my Boxster to my Porsche Mechanic. Well the A/C needed to be recharged and the heater is also working now. Both blowing hot and cold air. My mechanic checked it out and everything is fine now. I told him what was going on in the past. Apparently I needed A/C service and few other things below that may have triggered the problems I was having. Also, did some minor service work. Oil change & Filter Checked and filled all fluids Brakes checked Inspected Tires etc.... I also had to do a "Test Only" smog on my car. My mechanic did the smog check and it passed the "test only". After the smog test, on the next day he took my car for a test drive and a CEL came on - found faults in ECU for Secondary Air Injection, no flow detected. Found faulty combi valve. Replaced combi valve, Vac Reservoir and switchover valve. Found where the vacuum leak was occurring and found a faulty engine oil filter tube bellows leak, replaced the bellows. (saw the bellows part and it had bad cracks on it) Replaced the bellows which required removal of the coolant expansion tank, replaced tank at the same time as the bellows was being replaced. F.Y.I. - I had purchased a Porsche Coolant tank awhile back, thinking it would be a good idea to replace on my car soon. Also, recommended the water pump, water pump gasket, thermostat and worn belts be replaced, included flushing the coolant system. Replaced all parts there. After inspection determined that the vehicle required an updated vapor separator based on mileage; recommended that the J-tube be replaced; (J-tube was a old part) this service included a thorough cleaning of the engine which was contaminated with oil extensively; this would prevent further deterioration of the rubber and plastic components in and round the engine compartment. All in all my Boxster needed some work. And now ready for some summer driving! :) Sorry for taking so long to respond back to all of you. I learned a lot from all of you and I appreciate your help. Dede

Another possibility.......that might not be related to washing your car. Did you happen to check your oil when you washed your car? and filled the oil & not tighten the oil cap? Could be just a loose cap. No need to worry. Once you tighten the loose cap the CEL light will reset itself eventually (go out). The CEL is related to emissions control. You can get a CEL not only for just leaving your oil cap loose, same thing for the gas cap and coolant cap. If those are all OK then the next step is to have the codes read out to see what's being reported. Your car computer reads many engine parameters and will give you the CEL warning. You might consider getting a OBD II reader. Having a OBDII reader to check the codes is handy to have, plus reseting the light (off) once you read the codes. If CEL comes back on I check again for other possibilities. If your CEL is still on......and you don't have a OBD II. Any decent independent shop, dealer or AutoZone store can check the codes (free) for you. If you know someone that has a OBD II reader you might also be able to get the code and figure out what's wrong yourself. Reading the code should then point you in the right direction to solve the issue. The problem is though, that the codes are not very clear and it may take some research to really pin point the actual problem. Then I would ask for additional help with the codes and recomendations here on Renntech. You are asking for help at the right place. BTW, you can drive with the CEL on but not flashing. If the light is flashing you should not run the car (it will damage the catalytic converters).

Shawn disregard the message above about not opening up your write up. I finally got it opened. dede

Shawn I am having trouble opening up your write up below. Message is "taking to long to respond". Could be my computer for some reason. I will try later. Thank you for all your information. I am hoping to look at the car again today with my husband (another set of eyes). Hoping to have a more general idea of what is going on. I do like to try to figure out things myself before taking it to someone. Like I said my car is a garage queen. I do need to take care of this problem before the good weather driving for California sets in. I will more than likely take the car to the mechanic. I will definitely post the end result for everyone. Dede The link to my page again: http://www.carboncow.com/pages/porsche/heater_door.htm

Sorry, I don't have a resolution to my "Heater Problem" just yet. I haven't taken my car to my mechanic. (he is not close by to my house) My car isn't a daily driver and so it is sitting in the garage for now. I did take it for a spin this weekend and the heater was working great. But I kept it off after I noticed it worked. Temp. gauges, oil & coolant levels all look good. I think it could be a sensor, sticky valve or flap or faulty fan, not sure until someone checks it out for me. Once I know I will definitely post the results here. Let me know gstoli what you find out about the noise, "low fog horn blowing sound" or other symptoms and results if any. As you said, keep the dialog open... thanks dede

Hello and hope this makes sense to all of you. I checked the following: Coolant filled to the max/normal Did air purge - not sure if I did it long enough to get the air bubbles out of the coolant Checked oil - oil dipstick is normal No odor of anti freeze Per juniinc - Tried the hidden 986 AC Diagnostics - holding down recirculating button & air up buttons for 5 seconds, etc. - did not work, no codes displayed. Do you hold both recirculating button & air up buttons for 5 seconds simultaneously? I did them simultaneously. I think I have a faulty flap or better said a arm to the flap. (I can't tell if arm is broken or not) But I hear a slight quiet clicking/flapping noise when I start the car and when heater is activated. Sounds like the valves or flap trying to open up. I looked into that small area behind the controls/dashboard and saw a blue plastic arm and a pink plastic arm further in the back. The pink colored plastic arm (must be the valve you are mentioning) moves slowly or not at all sometimes ( moves slowly like it is thinking what to do next) when I turn up the heater fan. I turned up the heater blower (highest level) I get a lot of air like it would be normally. And then when I lower the speed I get less air blowing. At lowest level at 72 or less degrees air feels just warm(coolish) not warm enough I think. If I raise it to 76 or 78 degrees it gets much warmer/hotter in the cabin. When I turn off the heater completely I hear a very soft sounding noise, like a fog horn blowing. Could that be the fan? (heater is off) The noise is coming from the passenger side area near the door. I also can hear it slightly outside of the car if I put my ear up to the corner of the windshield on passenger side. Or is this something entirely different, because my engine was on and parked. Possible problems: Under the hood area - checked the two hoses to the heater core near the battery area - they are warm/hot to the touch As Loren said: It should feel warm. If it does then the problem is the the heater controls under the dash or a bad air flow temp sensor. As Pedro said: A sticking valve that won't allow the hot coolant through the heater core. As Glyn mentioned: might be something such as Inside temp-sensor mounted in the aspirator assembly at the side of the dash/Temperature mix Flap command/Temperature mix Flap position Did I forget anything else? Would autozone do a durametric diagnostic? If not I can take it to my mechanic to check it with the durametric. F.Y.I., My car is not my daily driver, just for weekends, etc. So I am not overly concerned about "no heat" at the moment. I do want it fixed though or confirmed its ok. Again thanks to all of you, :renntech: Dede

Now that I have printed up all this great information, had some coffee, I am headed up to my car in the garage. Stay tuned everyone! I shall return.

Thanks Loren I knew you would show up sooner or later :) I will do that.

My email response from Pedro, if your interested. On Jan 13, 2008 7:22 AM, Pedro Bonilla ......... wrote: Hi Dede:Good to hear from you. Thanks for all the accolades! So, did the air purge solve your problem, or are you still not getting heating? I also believe that whenever you have a problem it's best to look for the simplest solution first. To make it simple, inside the dash, right before the blower fan there is a small radiator which has a valve that allows hot coolant to circulate while the blower flows air through it and thus heats it, and sends it to the vents via ducts. There is also a set of coils (from the A/C) that when the A/C is on will do the same, but in reverse. The blower also draws air from two different sources. It can draw fresh air from the outside (through the air filter next to the battery) or it can draw air from the cabin (recirculation) cutting off air from the outside. The intake to this blower is controlled by a flap which opens or closes depending on the setting on the control unit. So, your problem could be one of various: a) A bubble of air in the system, in particular in the heater core (small radiator in front of the blower fan). B) A sticking valve that won't allow the hot coolant through the heater core c) A sticking flap that's allowing cold, outside air in and not letting the heater core heat up enough. Of all of them I would start with "b". As it was stated, our cars use an Audi A/C control unit which allows us to see many features and positions of the system. You can find it here: http://mike.focke.googlepages.com/un...dacdiagnostics Let me know if you need more info/assistance. Say hi to Kevin for me. Take care. Happy Boxstering, Pedro __________________

Hello rsfeller , your comment: "Wow! Quit quoting every email from the previous email, not sure why people do that on this list so much!!" thanks for bringing that up! It does get very hard to read posts/threads that way. So I went back and edited a few of my posts, sure is a lot easier to read. (just for you) thanks :) Wow, thanks for your complete write up for details on a procedure which involves the servo in question. I did a search and I did find your write up earlier. Now I am talking to the guy who wrote it. How cool is that! :clapping: Ok, I will check the flap underneath the dashboard, behind center console. And re-visit the coolant tank. I will get the car warm before checking for a accurate reading of fluid levels. I have been looking into the the durametric software. It's handy to have it for DIY diagnostics, etc. thanks dede :renntech:

Hey juniinc, your comment: "It's not that I always look for the serious problem, but I do try to find every possible cause." I appreciate your input, because I like to know every possible reason or cause. Sometimes it is hard to read or understand what is actually going on with a car. I am so happy to have yours and everyone's answer. :) It is very cool that everyone is trouble shooting this problem. And myself and everyone else can benefit from it. Now getting back to reading more of yours and everyone's information. Once I have some coffee and absorb all this feedback, I will check out my car today. For oil, coolant, flaps, a/c switches, cool/hot air vents and etc etc etc. Whew, you got me working. :renntech: thanks dede

In answer to your question Glyn: Do you have air con, and is this manual or automatic? Yes, I have the air conditioning feature on my car. My car is manual. thanks dede

Thanks Maurice I will have to email the "King of all Hacks". And tell him what happened here. Great guy! I will let you know. Dede

Maurice, This sounds all good and I am familiar with what your saying. Pedro, who you may know on PPBB showed me this procedure at West Coast Boxsterfest last October 2007. Because I had some coolant spill out from the high altitude in Tahoe. The coolant expanded/over flowed by the time I reached my final destination in Tahoe. Probably too much coolant in tank then. So Pedro had me fill up the coolant tank with distilled water and then show me how to purge it to get the air bubbles out. Plus he showed me how to turn off the CEL, because it was lit from the spill. So probably I had a air bubble in the coolant like you said. That possibly explains the cool air then the hot air. Good job Maurice. But I will still keep my eye on things. I appreciate all your efforts to explain all of this to me. I learned a lot from both you and juniiuc. Thanks so much for giving me the heads up on this! Dede

Thanks Maurice ok, when I turn up the heater blower (highest) I get a lot of air like it would be normally. And then when I lower the speed I get less air blowing. When I was driving this morning and when I didn't get any heat I just turned off the whole heater for the rest of the day. So I will have to check again tomorrow morning again just to be sure. Thanks for the diagrams of the blower motor (part #8) and its housing, along with the heater core (part #2). Should I be checking these parts for anything?

I will check it tomorrow morning. I do check the dip stick.

Oil is full Engine temp is normal 180

thanks Air is blowing from vents but not hot/warm. i am new to this heater problem so please tell me if you know what i need to be looking for directly i am confused

Thanks juniinc How do I check for the fan? Isn't that outside in the front area of the car? What side of car? I should be able to hear it right? Do you think the fan for heater has stopped?

Yesterday my interior heater was working, this morning when I went driving there is no heat or hot air blowing from the vents. Air is blowing from vents but not hot/warm. Can anyone tell me what I need to check for or do? is it a simple fix like a fuse? thanks for your help please