JFP in PA

Glad to be of help................

When the AOS fails, the vacuum level jumps from around 5 inches of water at the oil fill cap at idle to over 20 inches. If you do not have the equipement to check this, and the cap is very difficult to nearly impossible to get off at an idle, you need an AOS. The fact that you are also seeing smoke is a second indication. Do the AOS and be done with it before it totally craps out and strands you, or worse..............

Simple Green has a published pH of 9.5-10, hardly "pH balanced".............

While Loren is spot on about the codes, I can say that we have not found an aftermarket gas cap that works as well as the OEM units. Eventually, the Stants and other major brands tend to start throwing codes associated with vacuum leaks in the fuel vapor recovery system. We had several customers replace the OEM caps with aftermarket locking units, all of which eventually started to throw codes. Putting on an new OEM unit fixed the problem. Get the codes read and report back, if it is one of the codes associated with a gas cap leak, getting the OEM unit is a cheap, easy, and near permanent fix.............

You have to be very careful about the pH of the wheel cleaners you use as they can really tear up the clear coat on the wheels if you use the wrong thing. P21S has a long standing reputation for both cleaning the wheels and not damaging the clear coat.

"...and he said the discs were copies of the original Porsche ones" seems to sum it all up.....................

We do not use anything but the OEM pumps; the aftermarket units have proven to be too unreliable. Sunset should be able to set you up with a good deal on the OEM unit, ask for Jeff in parts. The lot temp thermostat is a great upgrade to do at the same time, we have use the LN Engineering version with great results.

First, let me say that listening to sound clips has proven to be the least useful way to diagnose these problems. With both the quality and volume all over the place, it becomes very hard to discern any useful information. We have had customers email us sound clips, only to find something completely different from our analysis of the sound clip when the car arrived at the shop. The best way to check out what is making the noise is to pull the cover behind the seats and remove the serpentine belt, then rotate each component looking for noise, wobble, or other signs of distress. Quite often, if the water pump is on the way out, you will find evidence of a slight leak from the vent hole under the pump as well.

Anytime; you will find that this stuff is an excellent general purpose "squeak stopper". We always keep a couple cans around the shop.

A better suggestion: DuPont spray dry teflon coating: Cost about $8 a can, sold by everyone from Amazon to Lowes. Leaves a true Teflon coating that does not attract dirt and does not bother plastic parts. We even use this stuff on sticky starter Bendix drives, works like a charm.

It is the Snap-On tool, well made and very durable, if a bit pricey (and what isn't from Snap-On):

Most of the main harness is a single unit, meaning you cannot buy just one section of it. If the wire insulation is intact, you could just rewrap the harness with electrical tape. If the wire insulation itself is gone, you may have to do some splicing with new wire to correct this.

Yes, it will work. As long as the Airlift unit is above the fluid level in the tank, there is no danger of it pulling out coolant.

P1576 is a cruise control fault code, I somehow doubt that stopped your car. Are you sure you have the correct code number?

Possible ignition switch, common problem.

You need to consider OEM oil “recommendations” with a grain of salt; quite often, the oil weights and types they select are a lot more self-serving to the OEM than designed to protect the new owner’s investment. The oil weight you see being specified is often based more on its impact on the OEM’s CAFÉ ratings; this is why you see 0W-20 oils becoming more commonplace in street cars like Honda, Toyota, and Nissan. Not that long ago, 10W-X weight oils were standard fare for use in arctic and near artic conditions, but suddenly now you need 0W-X oils for use in Miami, Houston, and LA. Similarly, the move away from ZDDP additives “to protect the catalytic converters” is more related to the fact that the EPA had the OEM’s on the hook to warranty the cats for 8 years or 80,000 miles.

ZDDP is an excellent anti wear additive for any type of engine. And, yes, the OEM's are pushing to have it reduced/eliminated because it can shorten the life of the cats. In reality, however, they are not doing this because they have suddenly developed a "environmentally concerned conscience", they are doing it because the EPA has the OEM on the hook to warranty the cats for 8 years or 80,000 miles, and cats are expensive. As a car owner, your tradeoff is to run a high ZDDP oil and risk the cats going sooner (which is speculative), or running low or non ZDDP oils and suffering engine wear that only shows up after the warranty is gone. You also need to remember that you can crawl under the car and replace your cats with some simple hand tools; but rebuilding your engine is going to require a bit more equipment and dollars..........

If memory serves, the plug should be swapped out at 60k miles or every four years on your model, so you are "past due". Changing plugs early also never hurts as they are a “wear item”. As for plug types, the OEM plugs are pretty good units, but we have also had excellent results from Denso Iridium’s on several cars, just be sure you get the correct heat range to match the factory plugs (Denso IK20 for your car).

Back when the actually sold these manuals, they were both huge (a full service manual set for the 986 Boxster alone was fifteen three ring binders), and expensive (the Boxster set went for $2,300, plus another $1,800 for the extra OBD II diagnostics manual). So while they never made it easy, you could get the data. Post 2005-6 model years, as Loren noted, you could only obtain access to the online electronic versions by subsription, but this was also fairly pricey as well.

In good shape, the eingine should be around 140 PSIG. You have a couple cylinders that are lower, but not unusual for that many miles. Most likely, your problem is related to a blown AOS, to I would start there. As a bad AOS fill a lot of stuff with oil, I would atleast cleant out the throttle body and be prepared for an engine that continues to throw smoke, but at a demishing rate until it cleans itself out......

Anytime, glad to be of help. The subject of oil is always a "lightning rod" topic. For many years, the "standard oil" we have used in the shop has been Castrol Syntec (now Edge with Syntec Technology) in a 10W-40 weight. This was based upon years of UOA data from customer's engines. Most recently, we have been experimenting with Joe Gibbs DT 40, a high ZDDP full synthetic 5W-40 Group 4-5 oil out of Joe Gibbs racing. While the UOA results are obviously more limited, they have been very good as well. While a bit more expensive, the DT40 appears to be worth the money.

Porsche Cars is absolutely draconian about anyone using their intellectual property. Publishing the link could cause Loren all kinds of problems, up to and including getting “401 URL not found” the next time you click on his website……….

The best way to test a battery's condition is to run a load test, some parts stores now will even do this for free in expectation of selling you a battery. The test requires a special testing tool, but only takes about 15 seconds to run and is a "go/no go" style test so there is no need for interpretation of the results.

Not easily as you would need a vacuum soruce and a low reading (less than 5 inches of water) vacuum guage to do it. Failure of the AoS will also not necessarily impact compression tests. Just can the old one.

OK, this is always a bit of a “thorny” subject, but here goes: Wayne’s bearing approach was always designed to be “the low cost alternative” to the IMS problem. To that end, he has only one style bearing; there is only a single row type that is used with spacers in a double row application. The bearing is all steel, but supposedly has an improved seal and “lifetime” grease lubrication. How long this seal will hold up is an unknown. It uses a larger center stud, a known weakness in the OEM design. The Pelican unit uses an OEM style mounting flange. The LN unit is a ceramic hybrid bearing that according to the specs is much more durable than steel. It comes in both single and double row styles (as well as a triple row version for the 2005 and later cars requiring a total tear down to install). It has no seals and is splash lubricated by engine oil. It also uses a larger and stronger center stud. The LN unit uses an updated flange that they produce. In essence, the Pelican is just a new factory bearing, with perhaps better seals and a larger center stud. It is not immune to same potential issues the OEM bearing had. I am somewhat ambivalent about the use of single row only with spacers in a factory double row engine; how this will play out long term is unknown. Wayne has stressed from the outset that he want to see these bearings replaced at a minimum every 40K miles, or whenever the clutch needs to be done (if sooner). This obviously fails to take into account the Tiptronic owners, who typically pay a bit more to have the IMS updated done due to the more complex nature of the automatic cars from a labor standpoint, and obviously do not have any expectations for pulling the unit again for maintenance reasons. The total installed base for the Pelican units is rather small, perhaps only numbering in the hundreds as it has only be available to customers since April of this year. In any case, with such a small installed base, and no information on any potential failures available, no real longevity data is discernible. The LN bearing has been sold commercially since March of 2009, and therefore has a much larger installed base; the last numbers I saw were in excess of 7,000 units. Of the units installed, only a handful (7 or 8) have encountered problems, most due to poor installation or ingestion of debris from other non IMS related engine component failures. The single bearing cage was redesigned with new material in late '10 and there have been no failures of that part reported since. The double bearing part has no reported failures. At last report, there was only one failure that could not be accounted for. Suggested maintenance intervals for the LN unit are 5 years or 50-60K miles, and this is based upon LN’s conservative view until they feel they have sufficient data to extend the intervals. Ln has a network of installers available for those who chose not to do it themselves. In my world, the largest disconnect is that for a customer that pays a shop to do the update, the price differential between using a Pelican or a LN bearing is only about $300-400 (depends upon which style bearing) more for the LN unit in a project that is probably going to cost over $2K. The Pelican approach gives you a new old bearing, no different than what you started with; and in some installations, a smaller bearing (single vs. dual row) with spacers holding it in place. Whether it will have a longer or shorter life than the OEM unit is yet to be determined, but in any case, it will have to be replaced more frequently. From what we have seen, the LN unit appears to be a more robust solution, with correctly sized bearings available for the application, and with continuous lubrication. The modest cost differential seems to be more than offset by the LN unit’s longer projected life expectancy. I would guess that it comes down to a personal decision; if you are only planning to keep the car for a short time, perhaps saving the money would be an approach to consider. If your plans are different, you may choose differently as well.