steve_wilwerding

I believe the master cylinder was going out.

They did not change the booster. I don't know if they did any pushrod adjustments.

Yes, they bled everything. I did hear something about adjusting the linkage between the pedal and the booster, and between the booster and the MC. Is this easy to do?

A new MC, and finally (after three attempts) properly bleeding the system.

I think I've finally got my brake issues about straightened out. I took the car to the dealership to have the master cylinder replaced, and after three tries (long story), they finally got the brakes back to hard. However, the pedal seems to have more travel before the brakes engage than it used to. Does anyone have factory specs on brake pedal travel? How do you adjust the travel? Is this something the dealership should have done when they replaced the MC?

Nobody?

Anything to be concerned about, or should I just learn to live with it? Is there any way to minimize it?

Yesterday, I decided to replace my original soft brake lines with stainless brake lines. I had gotten three of the new lines on, and was working on the right front brake line, when I rounded off the nut that is attached to the hard lines on the car. Luckily, I rounded it off before getting loose, so I just tightened the other end and left the original soft brake line on. The brake lines that are currently on the car don't really look worn, and so don't really need to be replaced soon, but they will need to be replaced, I'll have to run a new hard brake line to the passenger's front wheel. How difficult a job is this? I assume you have to remove the bumper cover. Does anyone have any ballpark as to what a new hard line would cost?

Nope, it's something in the HVAC system. I can have the car running, turn on and off the HVAC, and every time it turns on and off, I get the thumping sound.

For about the last week, whenever I turn on the key in the Boxster (but before I start the engine), the right side of the dash will make about four soft thump sounds. I played with it this morning, and I could turn the key off, turn it on, four thumps, key off, key on, four thumps, etc. It didn't happen every time I turned the key on, but nearly every time. I'm assuming this is some part of the HVAC system 9(like a valve) that is making this noise. Has anyone else ever had this issue? Is it an easy fix?

In an attempt to help my brake problems, I'm replacing my 10-year-old OEM brake lines with stainless brake lines from Pelican. I plan to wedge the brake pedal down to close the system, and I will be using flare wrenches to loosen the lines. Any other helpful hints? Anyone else done this? Am I stupid to be changing these?

have been dealing with brake issues all summer. In June, I noticed that the brakes were getting spongy. On a track day in July, the brake pedal kept getting lower and lower, the brakes were not effectively stopping the car. So, I started changing things. Got brand new OEM rotors. Flushed the brake system three or four times. Swapped different kinds of pads in and out. Finally, it seemed that the brakes were squishy all the time, so I took it into a dealership where they replaced the master cylinder. That seemed to help quite a bit. The brakes are no longer squishy. However, I have found that pedal travel starts to vary. For example, when I first start out from the garage, the brakes are rock hard, and the pedal travel is minimal before the brakes start to work. However, if I drive for awhile, the brake pedal has a lot more travel before the brakes engage. I started thinking that this might be caused by runout on the rotors, but these are brand new rotors, and they seem to exhibit the same tendency on my old rotors. So, this weekend I start thinking that my wheel bearing might be going bad, and sure enough, driving last night with the top down, I started hearing a high-pitched whine/squeel when going slowly around corners. Does this seem like a reasonable conclusion? Unfortunately, my dealership mechanics are idiots, and I've already had it there once to fix this issue, which obviously they didn't. Any other ideas about what this might be? I'm getting really ticked off that this has been a problem for so long, and that I keep missing track days because my car isn't in shape.

How do you actually change the caliper seals - I can't see how you can easily get off the old ones and install the new ones? Is it easier to push the caliper pistons all the way out?

I used the old pads. I have had the rotors on for two months, and had done enough hard stops on the street to "bed in" the old pads with the new rotors. This weekend was the first time I had the car on the track with the new rotors, and they started fading after only a few laps. I talked to a local Porsche mechanic today, and he says he sees this all the time with aftermarket rotors. So, I guess I'll get a set of OEM rotors, and will continue to do so in the future.

I replaced my rotors about two months ago, and this weekend was the first time I was on the track with them After just two runs, I was experiencing terrible brake fade. I came home, threw my old rotors on, and the brakes were back to rock hard. I ordered the rotors from a Porsche shop, and I assumed they were were genuine Porsche rotors, but looking at the receipt, it appears that they are not OEM rotors. Has anyone ever experienced this problem? I assume that as these rotors heat up, they're warping and causing the fade. I guess my real question, since it appears that the rotors were the issue is, where is the cheapest place to get OEM rotors?

I just finished painting the calipers on my Boxster, and I would recommend not going the G2 caliper paint route. I tried it, and the calipers looked like absolute crap - there are a few other people on PPBB that had the same results. I stripped that off, and got some hi-temp Duplicolor engine paint. I cleaned the calipers with brake cleaner (take your time with this step, and make sure that the calipers are completely clean). I then sprayed a good coat of the Duplicolor (I used black), let that dry for a day, then sprayed two coats of Duplicolor hi-temp clear coat. I did put caliper decals on after the paint, but before the clear. My calipers now look they came off a brand new car. It's a lot easier to spray paint on the calipers than to try to brush on the epoxy in an even coat. Just my two cents.

Has anyone ever actually experienced flat spotting on their Boxster? I've stored my Boxster for three winters now, and every year I pump up the tires to 45 psi, and every year, I never have flat spotting problems. I've always thought these tire cradles were a gyp, since I've never actually heard from anybody who had flat spotting before and now doesn't because of the cradles. I suppose if you let your Boxster sit on race slicks for 6 months at low pressure you might get flat spots, but I've never heard of anyone getting flat spots on street tires.

In normal driving in my 98 Boxster, the needle is usually in the middle of the 8 in 180. In hard driving on a really hot day, it will be in the middle of the 0 in 180. The only time I've seen it go higher than that is during track driving on a 98 degree day - then it was about halfway between the 180 and 225. So, if you're seeing the needle at that level during normal driving, it may be a little high.

There is also no such thing as a 1999 Boxster S - the S didn't start until 2000, and thus, all S's are eGas.

Yes, exactly.

I'm doing the garage door opener hack, and I'm trying to do it as cleanly as possible. Does anyone have the part number for the plug (with wires) that actually plugs into the console switches? I'm talking about the plugs that you disconnect from the underside of the switches. Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks.

Are you selling your CDR-220? I'm in the market for one. If so, could you e-mail me at steve.wilwerding@gmail.com? Thanks.

My question was not how to do the garage opener hack (i've got that part down). Rather, I want to know whether part number 996.552.425.00.A01 is really a switch or whether it's just a plastic "dummy switch".

I'm thinking of adding a switch in my console to control a garage door opener, and I want it to match as closely to the "dummy switch" as possible. I have a part number, 996.552.425.00.A01, that I believe is a blank switch, and I wanted to make sure that it really is a switch, not a dummy switch. So, is that part number really a switch?

I need the part number (if there is one) for the little wheel that is underneath the ashtray, that when you open the ashtray cover, it causes it to open slowly rather than just snap open. The wheel looks like it just snaps into the front of the ashtray "carrier". Thanks.