JFP in PA

We empty the unit, then thoroughly wipe it out with shop paper towels, and reassemble before storing.

Have the battery fully charged and then load tested; if it passes, hook it up to the maintainer and put it to bed. If it fails, replace the battery first.

Loren is correct, it is a double sided tape similar to the kind 3M sells at autobody supply shops for attaching trim.

Do a search, this has to be one of the most written up DIY projects for a Boxster................

You have to look at the perspective of the posters; an individual is working from a sample of one, a shop is looking at it from a sample of many. The individual will always see their perspective as "overwhelming evidence" for their opinion positions, which is totally understandable. How long the clutch lasts has several dependencies; the driver, the environment the car is normally in (city vs. rural driving), is the car tracked or not, is it driven in the winter snows, etc. etc. Some drivers easily go well over 100K with the factory clutch; but most don't. We often have had to pull a clutch for other reasons (RMS update, IMS issues, transmission problems, etc.) only to find very significant wear on the disc in the 40-60K range (worn down nearly to the rivets). Would these assemblies continue to work in that condition? Most probably yes, but for an "undefined period of time". We have had cars come in for chattering clutch complaints, which turned out to be dual mass flywheel issues, but also had totally burnt discs. Once you have committed to paying someone to pull the gearbox and clutch, the question you have to ask yourself is do you feel confident putting significantly worn components back in to save a few bucks? If you plan to shortly get rid of the car, the answer is obvious. If you plan to keep if for a while, a bit more reflection on the economics of doing so is required. The same process applies to the RMS and IMS updates; you are already there, the money to get at them is already spent, so is the additional $20 bucks for the latest RMS and another $500-600 for the IMS update (plus some additional labor, around 2 hours) and you can sleep soundly, knowing your M96 is going to be fine for many years to come. An interesting data point is that many Indies are doing a full clutch and flywheel replacement, including a new RMS/IMS, for less than the dealers are getting for just a disc replacement. Jake Raby quoted a little over $3K on another website for everything, including before and after dyno pulls. At the end of the day, it is your car and your budget, and you have to determine where the economics are in your case……...

I'm sure there are wear specs for both; unfortunately, everyone of the discs I've had the pleasure to take apart was obviously toast, and it isn't worth the effort to skimp on only replacing the disc..........do it right and replace both, plus the dual mass flywheel if that has become loose as well..............

Run the codes, then you will know...............

That's nice................but I would still recommend against any form of either turbo or super charger use on the M96..............

You cannot clear an airbag MIL without a PSTII/PIWIS or Durametric system; there are not other known ways to reset it................ Besides which you are really going to want to know what codes were thrown...............

The realistic “sweet spot” for a 986/996 clutch is in the 40-60K range. Some don’t make it that far, some go further; a lot depends upon the driver. The 5 speed gear box (assuming proper maintenance and a decent driver) can last for a very long time; syncro failures are very few other than those caused by using the wrong gear oils or flat out abuse. Keep in mind that anytime you pull the gear box and/or clutch is the best time to do the RMS and the IMS………………

I would stop and think long and hard before taking an engine with the M96’s reputation and taking it from a normally aspirated configuration and adding an aftermarket blower or turbo……………. There are many reasons Porsche developed and entirely different engine to run with a turbo………..all of which you are likely to discover if you go this route………..

Depends upon the maintainer, not all have a "supply" setting that keeps the current on when the battery is disconnected.............

I've never found a suitable substitute, which is why I get them by the bag full from Sunset.................they only caost a few cents each.

I'll repeat what I said earlier: DO NOT RUN THE CAR! If your AOS is toast and the engine is inhaling oil, even turning it over with out starting it is enough to do serious and very permanent damage (like one or more bent rods). This needs to be handled by someone that really knows what they are doing and has the correct equipment (like a bore scope), or it can and will get very expensive, very quickly......................

Not all model and/or year combinations are prone to having problems when the battery is disconnected; only issue is that there is no definitive list of which ones to be concerned about, you get find out by disconnecting it (thank you, Porsche). The last thing I need is to have a car come into the shop because the battery is crapping out, and end up creating a couple of hours of unpaid labor over a simple battery swap that should have been done in 20 min., or a customer that leaves unhappy with a temporarily poor running car, or later discovers his gas gauge doesn't work anymore. So we always use a maintainer with a supply mode when we disconnect the battery……………….

Pull all the spark plugs and look for one (or more)that is oiled down; a blown AOS can flood one or more cylinders enough to hydrolock your engine with inhaled oil and kill it. This is not something to mess about with; if you are lucky, you caught it before it bent a rod or worse. Do not run the car until you have determined if you have cylinder(s) filling with oil or not. If you've gotten to it in time, a new AOS and a few miles will clear out the remaining oil and you will be fine. But get it properly checked before even starting it again....................

I'd start with a check of the battery and alternator; voltage swings often cause both the ABS and PSM MIL's to trigger. A load test of the battery and alternator will tell you if they are involved; beyond that, I would agree with Loren, get it scanned for active and pending codes.................

Ummmmmmmmmmm……guys, you do realize that there is an switched power supply for the OEM cell phone (unused on most cars) that is just laying at the bottom of the center console section of the dash (just pop off the passenger side center kick panel, and there it is…) which is perfect for this………

Actually, this a more complicated subject than you might imagine……. Excellence magazine recently ran an interesting article on why you really should not disconnect the battery without an alternative supply source connected, such as a battery maintainer that has this capability (not all do, most actually stop the current as soon as it sense the battery disconnect such as during a battery replacement). Problems caused differ with model and year, but range from the annoying, such as the DME resetting and causing rough idle and poor running until it relearns; to real head aches like having the gas gauge lose calibration, which requires a PIWIS and draining the tank to reset……………

The IMS issue is anything but "propaganda"………… All M96 engine versions, right up to the last ones made, are at some level of risk of the IMS failing; no exceptions. If your engine carries an intermediate shaft, the rear bearing can (and do) fail. The pre 2006 units can be easily retrofitted with the LN upgrade, the later units have a bearing that is larger than the case opening, and requires total disassembly of the engine to retrofit. As for using the VIN to determine which IMS version is in the car, that has proven to not always be accurate; the only proven method of determining which IMS is in a given car is to pull the gear box and look at it………

You are probably no going to like it, but IMHO, the best place to introduce BG44K or Seafoam is into the nearest trash can. Both of these products have chemical make ups very similar to ladies nail polish remover; hardly something you would want to pour into a decent engine..................

You are going to need access to either a low lift transmission jack (rental or Harbor Freight), or a transmission jack adpator for a floor jack; that Tip is a lot heavier than it looks and you don't want to drop it...........

Pelican Parts website has a tutorial for changing the water pump and thermostat, with pictures, which should be helpful, just leave out the bits about the water pump. Pedro’s Garage site has a good one as well. If needs be, one of the Bentley manuals for the Boxster may come in handy as well. You are going to need two gallons of Porsche’s antifreeze concentrate, two gallons of distilled water (pre mix them outside the car first), some anti-seize for the coolant drain plug, plus a new washer for it (dealer item for a few cents), an inch pound torque wrench for the stat housing, a new stat housing gasket (metal, do not reuse), and a very large container to drain your coolant into, then you should be set. Be sure to “burp” the system after refilling if you do not have access to a vacuum filling tool……….

Depending upon the ambient conditions, with a 160F stat in your M96 and in “steady state” driving (open road, constant speed); you will be running in the mid 170’s to perhaps low 180’s, so your concerns about it being too cool are unfounded. Remember that the stat controls the minimum operating temperature, thereby lowering the steady state temp. With the 160 stat in place, in heavy traffic you will still heat up enough for the fans to kick in, but when you get moving again the temp will drop back to a lower steady state condition. Two things to also consider; Porsche uses a 160 stat in some their high end engines from the factory, and your OEM stat starts to open in the low 180’s, but is not fully open until well over 200F (the dash gauges in these cars are both inaccurate and non-linear), and you are probably running in the 210F and up range at steady state currently.

Before installing a one piece flywheel, you need to recognize why the OEM unit is two pieces (dual mass). These engines are short on torsional dampening, most OEM’s use a large mass dampener on the front of the crank to absorb these stresses, Porsche moved it to the flywheel, where in combination with the sprung disc it absorbs drive line shocks, and the flywheel provides torsional relief for the crank and rotating assembly. Without the dual mass flywheel, you run a significant risk of crankshaft cracking or failure as there is now nothing to dampen those stresses. We have seen more than one crank failure for this exact reason. A one piece light weight flywheel can be used if the engine is disassembled and fully harmonically balanced (which the OEM unit is not), but that is obviously a big buck approach to getting quicker RPM response……