rushrevisited

:o That is far lower than any I have seen - they are new??

Awesome - thank you Jim!

If it all came out at once like that then I would think it is just a hose or hose clamp ? Edit to add - just realize you said it didn't leak at all on the way home. Ok, I am at a loss then if no tank crack and you have the new 01 cap...

No not really it will just glaze it over. They just turn the flywheel the same as rotors and slap on a new pressure plate and disc and your all good. Jim, What causes a flywheel to go out of balance and cause a vibration at a certain RPM range? Especially considering no clutch slip or anything - any ideas? This generally doesn't happen. OEM motors are not balanced from the factory, by that I mean the crank is but no other part of the rotating assembly is. Generally on a race motor the crank, rods and pistons are all balanced. The machinist will grind off small parts of metal on each to make them all weigh the same. You don’t need to full balance a motor unless you have serious hp or serious RPM. Some may argue that OEM motors are balanced but in a race motor where everything is exact, that is balanced, what OEM does doesn’t really compare. Basically what that huge run-on sentence is saying is that it's not balanced from factory but is close enough that it you should never feel it. If it goes out of balance then something seriously has gone wrong with it. Either it has been surfaced too much and too much material is gone, surfaced incorrectly so it's thinner on one side than the other. During the machining process there are two ways of doing it. Most common is putting it on a machine that keeps the flywheel still and a machine goes around it and plains the top or fly cuts it. The other way I have seen is on a lathe. Most flywheels have a step which is the height different between the surface the clutch rides on vs. the side where the basket of the pressure plate bolts to. If you machine one you must machine the other so they distance between the two is always constant. If you were only to machine the surface of the flywheel where the clutch touches then it would create a larger gap inside the clutch as eventually it would be totally flat with no "step" at all. If any of this is done improperly it will put the flywheel out of balance. There are two ways of balancing an engine. Either zero balanced inside the motor so you just zero balance the flywheel so everything is fully balanced regardless if it's together or not. The other way is called the Detroit way where the flywheel is balanced offsetting the balance of the engine so when appart the engine and flywheel are not balanced, but together they are balanced. Most import engines and race engines are all zero balanced incase something happens to the flywheel you can just zero another one and put it on vs. balancing the whole rotating assembly again. Typically your flywheel should never go out of balance if it's all OEM and has not been machined. If it feels like it has, generally it's the pulley on the other side of the engine that runs all the accessories. Most pulleys have a rubber balancer or harmonic dampener inside of them. If this rubber rips or starts to rip it will cause the balance of the pulley to go oblong and get out of balance. Eventually the rubber rips all the way around and the pulley rips into two pieces sending belts flying all over the place. It has to be pretty bad for this to happen. Looking in my Bentley I can't tell if a Boxster has a two piece pulley or not, I have never pulled one off so I'm not sure.. Most of what I'm referring to here is all import race car based not really Porsche information so if any doesn't apply here that’s why. It's more general info for inquiring minds. Awesome info - thank you very much Jim! This is an original dual mass flywheel on my Boxster, so it has not been machined or anything... I am just hesitant to spend the kind of money it will take to replace it without knowing exactly why it is out of balance... $900 for the flywheel alone, of course not including labor... Has anyone else here had their OEM flywheel go out of balance?

No not really it will just glaze it over. They just turn the flywheel the same as rotors and slap on a new pressure plate and disc and your all good. Jim, What causes a flywheel to go out of balance and cause a vibration at a certain RPM range? Especially considering no clutch slip or anything - any ideas?

Has anyone used other clutch parts + flywheel not from Porsche? I am looking at a new DMF + clutch assembly (and fo course the RMS while in there) in the near future. I was considering saving some money by ordering non-porsche parts (LUK makes them all). Any advice here? Is it smarter to just use the Genuine Porsche parts and scrap the $400+ savings (DMF savings is $300 alone - $900 for Porsche, $650 for LUK)? Or will LUK parts work just as well? Also, who do you guys use for ordering parts online (good business practices online + good prices)? Thanks!!

Rich, What was the diagnosis on your vibration at 3200 RPMs? I have the same issue going on and the dealer tells me it is the DMF and want about $1000 to replace it. I am very leary of this and would like other's input on it...

The do it yourself kit mentioned in this thread is here: http://www.emiata.com/BoxsterWindow.htm I also had mine crack (put it down at 40 degrees and it was getting brittle as it was). I took it to a place here in Cincinnati and they did it for $400. Yes they do have to take off the convertible top and put it into the upholstry machine, but that is no big deal - those places know what they are doing. My new window looks great now and sure beats a new top cost. Are you sure it was actually slashed by someone? Mine was also a very clean cut about 3 inches long - if I hadn't seen/heard it happen I would have thought someone slashed it too...

This is really excellent information. I have wondered on my 2001 as well. I will try uphill in 5th and see once in a while (51,000 miles). I will say though, on checking the amount of clutch left, when I took mine in for service at the dealer, I asked them to check and they said there is a tiny indicator hole that you can look in or put a tool in to measure - said about 30% left on mine. Not sure if they were full of it or honest but that was what they said...