saaber

I was also wondering about the H&R coilovers. I have a stock 00' S with the M030. Great for fast driving but harsh on rough city streets. Is there any application out there that can give you the best of both worlds on a 986? I mean smooth in the city and then adjust for track, fast driving etc. Would H&R coilovers be the right ones for that? What is the best for this? TIA!

For folks with the CDR-23 (MOST Bus) systems, the MP-3 integration is pricey. Some people think that CD's sound better than MP-3's.

I understand what you are saying in regards to cdr23 but for the poster who was talking about a CDR-22 all you have to do is run a $5 RCA jack to headphone jack cable from the cd changer to the dash and plug in your mp3 player, iphone etc. The radio thinks it is getting audio from the changer. It works perfect and total cost is $5. I even occasionally listen to movies and use as a speaker phone this way on the iphone.

Is this post a joke??

Anyhow, why would you want to do that? Cruise at 4000 rpm... that is just plain abuse. When you drive your automatic do you hold her in 2nd on the highway to enjoy cruising along at 4k rpm? Didn't think so.

Also, I am glad you use the shifter to shift your gears with. Novel way to get it done. :)

-P

Is it okay for the engine if I cruise at 4,000?

This is similar to what I use to shift my gears with:

P, lighten up. Sheesh

This may have been posted before but excellent article on cause of engine failures:

-- Link Removed --

Besides the excellent techncial info there, one thing that caught my eye is that they seem to subscribe to the "a redline a day keeps the mechanic away" theory. I know there is one guy with a modified boxster that is at 157k on original engine and he drives it to the redline most all the time.

What say ye on the "redline a day" theory?

Please ask for and get the magazine's permission before posting one of their articles here.

Total 911 has granted that before - but as a courtesy (to them) I am removing the link until we have permission to distribute this article.

Gotcha, thanks.

Here is a link to autofarm's site, an engine rebuilder, that has several solutions to the engine failures.

On this page there are links to 2 excellent articles on engine failures.

http://www.autofarm.co.uk/engines/water_cooled/press

This may have been posted before but excellent article on cause of engine failures:

-- Link Removed --

Besides the excellent techncial info there, one thing that caught my eye is that they seem to subscribe to the "a redline a day keeps the mechanic away" theory. I know there is one guy with a modified boxster that is at 157k on original engine and he drives it to the redline most all the time.

What say ye on the "redline a day" theory?

How come you guys want to spend money on a cd changer when a $30-$50 mp3 player will play 3-6 times as many albums?

...said it was normal and related to the cam...something about a spot where acceleration/decceleration "decision" is made.

Makes me thing of the recent Boxster article (Nov 2007) in R&T or C&D (forget) where some porsche dealer service manager was suggesting any clutch job replace the flywheel too - perhaps he was thinking of this problem !!!

That is the cam changeover point (according to Porsche tech) and was what I was talking about in the above post. I thought the changeover point was at higher rpms until I heard that from him. Maybe I will look into it more.

On the flywheel subject, my dealer said this also that it is almost automatic to change the flywheel. Indy shop said only change it if needed.

What kind of coolant did you use?

Hi All,

I have a UK Box 986 2.5. I have noticed that the needle on the temp gauge moves quite far over, especially in start-stop traffic - as soon as I drive for a few minutes at a reasonable speed the needle slowly moves back. In motorway driving it stays just left of centre, but in heavy traffic it moves almost beyond the '0' in the '80' inscription of the temp gauge. Is this normal?

Try cleaning out the radiators. My car dropped 7-10 degrees F after spraying them thorughly with a pressure washer. Also check for incompatible coolant types which can gel and create a blockage. A minor thing but if your AC is on your fans will run all the time making the temp a bit lower.

Did you ever figure out exactly what was wrong? Im having the same problem with vibration only during decelleration but was worried it could be an internal problem. I drive my 01 S very hard so Im curious if this is something that will cost serious $$$$$ to fix.

My car (2000 S) has an increased metallic clatter only at 3000-3200 rpm (not a vibration but because it is exactly the same rpm these may be related). When the engine cover is on, it is barely perceptable. When the cover is off the noise at 3000-3200rpm is very loud. I asked the dealer about this and they say it is normal because you have a long chain in there and 3000-3200 is when the cam changes over. This makes sense to me but when I first heard that with the cover off I thought something was wrong. The noise is somewhat less now that I switched to 5W40 redline but it is still there. So for those trying to chase down noises and vibrations in this rpm range this noise/clatter is something to consider.

The fact that yours shows up only on deceleration makes one think it is an exhaust related problem.? I only say this because I have had exhaust rattles on other cars do this on deceleration. Don't know why really, maybe the combo of back pressure from decelerating (what I mean is for example think of the pressure that builds when a car backfires out the exhaust) and the right rpms make it rattle. Just a wild guess.

Not all porsche owners are enthusiasts and join these forums. As a result there could be a number of cars fixed under warranty that have not been reported. It will take a few years before cars not under warranty and in the higher mileage range start to fall into the hands of those on the forum. This is probably the reason for revisions to the design with so little public awareness of the problem. Certainly the 996 and 986 issues are now becoming more documented. I've personally seen a 30k mile 997 in a Porsche agent having the engine replaced for intermediate shaft/ bearing failure , so its not speculation that these engines can fail. I am curious though , as to what the revisons of intermediate shaft and cover entailed , and from what model year (chassis number) the current design is fitted. Certainly the PET catalogue only lists 2 designs of intermediate shaft for the 997 , the latest design having no suggested chassis number or date of inception.

More intermediate shaft discussion here fyi: http://986forum.com/forums/showthread.php?...ermediate+shaft

I find the comment about non-egas cars having 2 bearings for the intermediate shaft with later models going to one bearing to lessen vibration very interesting. Does the newest design have 2 bearings?

i have checked the alarm module & it is wet so going to have to sort the leak out & dry the carpet ..

Doesn't that say wet electronics like Stefan said which would explain everything?

Might want to clean the 4 drain holes in the rear for the top. Also, don't do what I did and park the car on a steep driveway with the front end uphill. In a deluge it caused the water to pool in the back and saturate all the foam back there. I now park with the nose downhill and haven't had a problem despite similar rains.

Have used redline in other cars and it has made a vast improvement so I tried it in the Boxster 6 speed (73k miles) to improve cold morning shifts.

1) 75% redline 75W90NS, 25% stock fluid (not 100% because I pumped and filled via fill hole to save time) - Cold shifting improved immediately, notchiness in all gears increased

2) 90% redline 75W90NS, 10% stock - better cold shifts, more notchy all gears

3) 60% redline 75W90NS, 40% redline MTL (70W80) - about the same, maybe a bit more notchy

at this point I was very uncomfortable with the notchy shifting so I went back to 100% stock fluid

4) 100% stock. Surprisingly, cold shifting is excellent. Am very happy with lack of notchiness in all gears.

Conclusion: For this particular car, the stock fluid was much, much better than redline. So if you have cold shift stiffness on a 6-speed, I would recommend changing out the fluid and refilling with the stock fluid. It worked very well on this car anyway but I know others have had very good results with redline and I have had excellent results in other cars, not this tranny however.

Part number of the fluid was 4 000-043-304-71-SP TRANS OIL

Hi,

saaber - Firstly perhaps the initial fill was an Esso product

Mobil are emphatic about specifying their "PTX" lubricant or going to a Dealer and Castrol (Germany) recommend their excellent SAF-XO (at 160k kms OCI)

In any case they all concur on a 75w-90 synthetic (GL5) but not all gear oils are made the same and the above two are recommended with good purpose and no doubt to improve shift quality and longevity

Many Manufacturers do have special gear oil "brews" and in many cases these are only available via the Approved Dealers

Gear oils are indeed quite different to analyse via a UOA. If you puplish the results on here I'll walk you through the details

Regards

Doug

Thanks Doug, I'm trying to figure out what to tell the lab the oil is so they they can apply their "universal averages" (these averages are probably very shaky I know but it is better to start from identifying the product I suppose than to just say "Porsche gearbox oil" or the something like that) :)

I would definately appreciate your help interpreting the report when I get it because I am just starting to learn the motor oil UOAs and don't know the first thing about the 75W90 UOAs.

Do you think it is worth it to spring for the TBN or any of the other "add-on" anlayses?

THanks again

Hi Doug H or others,

Do you know what Porsche used for the 6 speed gearbox for a 2000 S? They recommend 90k OCI and I am thinking about changing mine out at 72k and would liket to have it tested. For gear oil, are there any other things that are important to test for besides blackstone's standard test? TBN?, TAN?, other?

Thanks!

Wear metal uptake rates are not linear and it is wise to remember that they are accumulative in real terms. So it is only wise to judge the rate at the OC point - interim tracking invites many wrong assumptions. Certail lubricants have a tendency to show higher levels of some metals than others but there are sound chemical reasons for this. They DO NOT indicate abnormal engine wear!!

Very interesting stuff Doug, I am learning a lot about oils... When you said, "the uptake rates are not linear" and also "interim tracking invites wrong assumptions", Do you mean that the wear rates are too variable so that the "snapshot" of what an oil consists of, as provided by a UOA, is only useful over long periods (because it represents the accumulation of many "spikes" of wear)?

If that is the case I understand what you are saying because one would need tons of interim tracking data to give you an answer to such questions as the two I am interested in:(1) "does wear in most synthetics (or redline, specifically) occur early after the oil change", and (2) "what scavaging occurs and when when switching from M1 to redline"

Hi,

saaber - Do not be concerned about the iron levels at all

Regards

Doug (BITOG)

Thanks Doug, BITOG universal average is something like 100 for iron and from what I have seen in my research so far most Porsche's with M1 0w40 have 20-30 ppm iron. The way the lab wrote it up made me a tad concerned but now that I have researched it I see it is normal. Also the lab's average is based on 4k mile OCI when Porsche recommends 12-20k so that makes it hard to correlate on longer oil runs (i.e. is it a linear relationship where a 8k run should equal twice the 4k average?, who knows?). There was one case of a Porsche owner with 11ppm but then the next sample with harder driving showed higher levels for that car.

Maybe someday someone can compile enough data to make a more refined BITOG "expected averages" chart, ideally by make/engine and oil. Would take forever but would be neat to see. Maybe starting with a Porsche-specific one would be more feasible... Thanks for your input!

seems kind of shady that they wouldn't back-date those recommendations for older 987s...

I agree, it just doesn't add up. Regardless I'll change my 07 987's oil every 7500 miles or so - I enjoy doing that kind of thing anyway...

Just did a used oil analysis on my 2000 S with 72k on it (posted on 986 section fyi). It has used mobil 1 0W40 since new at 15k intervals except for this last interval. This last interval was 8700 miles and the "TBN" rating was 5.2 which means there was a lot of life left in the oil. Some comments I have received say I could have doubled this oil change interval.

However the iron levels built up over time and as the report says this makes the oil more abrasive. So even though there is lots of life left in the oil and it could go 15k, the contaminants which build up in the oil warrant changing it sooner (in my opinion anyway). I like the 7500 interval as it is cheap insurance and hey, if transfusions work for tour de france racers, why not for the boxster's lifeblood? :)

Just got my used oil analysis back so here it is FYI:

00 Boxster S used oil analysis mobile 1 0w40 8700 miles

00' boxster s with 72k miles. 8600 miles on this oil change.

Mobile 1 0W40 since new including this oil change. Normal boxster-type mixed driving, no track use. If anybody knows anything about these analyses, should I be concerned with the iron levels?

I have switched to redline 5W40 for this next oil change so we'll see how that analysis goes. As I understand it the first one or two oil changes with redline show increased levels of some metals due to redline "scavaging" deposits from the old oils. ?? Anybody have links to other boxster used oil analyses? Thanks

Bob

P.S. analysis interpretation help found here fyi: oil analysis interpretation

Okay so...

I have an 01 Boxster S RoW RHD with the cdr22, but I have no cd changer, can I just connect the ipod to the cd changer rca's or does the cd changer input only work when the other control cable is connected. I don't want to start leading cable into the cabin if it ain't gonna work!!!

Cheers

Johnny

I think it needs to have the cd changer there and powered up for it to work. I have heard that it doesn't work if there is no cd in the changer but I haven't tried it without a cd in there yet. I leave in one cd and the changer thinks it is palying it, it even says says it's playing "track 5" etc., when listening to iphone/ipod via the cd changer rca cable.

I just pulled the relay, taped the #18pin and replaced. Click the e-brake one click and it works.

ditto that. i just scotch taped it and it was fast, easy, and works great.

I am getting noise from the right front. A humming noise that comes and goes. Mainly after it is warmed up at between 20 and 40 mph. This happens either going straight or turning. Also, going over rough roads at the same speed I get a metal rattle /grinding sound that happens every so often from the same right side. It is not consistent.

Porsche dealer said it was the tires. Replaced the tires. Still get noises. Had a reliable shop look over everything and compared it to the left side. Both look the same.

When I push down on the front right and front left side the struts do not make any type of noise.

I have seen many suggestions that it could be a bearing, lower control arm and bushing, sway bar,it could be the strut bearing or a combination of things. Just thought I would throw this out there before I dig into it and spend some money

2000 Boxster S 49k miles

Thanks,

steve

I would also say it is probably a bearing. My 2000 S had to have one (front) replaced at 61k. It was making a humming and the car was just generally "louder' than it should be. The dealer had a gizmo that allowed them to listen at the wheel when driving the car. That was what pinpointed the porblem.

I just bought a 996 Carrera (2002) and am trying to get a direct connection for my Ipod (not interested in the FM modulator connection). Is this possible with and without a NAV system?

The Dension direct connect looks like it works for 2003 and newer units, so I am a year off.

Thanks!

Jason

jmrecio@yahoo.com

404-668-3650

I just ran a $5 cable (headphone 3.5mm to RCA) from my iphone to the RCA cable at the cd changer. In other words, unplug the CD changer and plug the headphone to RCA cable in there. You have to keep one cd in the changer for it to think there is a cd there but it works fantastic. If you want to get fancy you can then add any dock that has an audio out.