mikefocke

I cooked my first Alfa in the '60s by doing just what you did so you aren't the only one. OTOH, I've owner 2 Boxsters and they were the most reliable cars I've ever had (owned at least 30 cars over 54 years). I define reliable as never stranded me and spent almost no time in the service bay except for routine scheduled maintenance and replacement of parts that wear out on any car (belts, O2 sensors, etc). I was fanatic about maintenance.

Or a battery that wasn't maintained. Back in the late '60s, I had an Alfa which had its battery under the right rear fender. One year I didn't even look at it. Mostly driving around town in the cold winter on short trips. But come spring I took a 50 mile trip and the battery cooked because it didn't have any water to cool the plates and the battery overheated and burned the paint off the fender. I was young and broke and didn't have any money and was at a boatyard so I threw the battery away, got a jump to start the car and drove the 50 miles of so back home without a battery in the car maintaining about 2,500RPM all through the trip including at stop lights because below that the engine would start to die.

P0102 - Break in wiring - Short to Ground (GND) Wiring from MAF to ECM. Has anyone been inside the engine compartment recently doing anything?

Agin I have read every message for the last 6 years on at least 4 and up to 6 online Boxster forums. If there were any defects causing this, the owners would be commenting/screaming. I can only assume there is some class hatred against people supposed to be rich or some collect from insurance scheme going if you are seeing a bunch of burned cars. Or people parking in inappropriate places where combustables come in contact with the catalic converters.

A header collects the burned gases from the combustion process from the engine and routes it into the exhaust system. Since the Boxster engine has cylinders in each side, there are two of these headers. Again, I'll say I brouse probably 6 Boxster online forums daily and have for 6+ years and can't recall a single "fire burned up my Boxster" story. As for the cats get hot and ignite tall grass, sure that can happen with any car.

Brett, my complements on posting so much information with your question. It really helps those who do the answering on the forums to not have to dig it out over a series of question/answers. The only other question I'd ask is did the lumpiness/fault occur before you changed the plugs/coils? Since the CEL can also be a short or break in the wiring back to the ECU, it always helps to know if the symptoms can be related to anything you did recently (like bump a connection).

If you are losing coolant, you need to identify the cause fast! Boxster M96s are sensitive to cooling and cooling depends on the water/anti-freeze circulating successfully. Lose the engine and it could cost you the car. Classic causes are water pump seals, head gaskets, water/oil heat exchangers, filler tube cracks, radiator cracks, and internal engine failures. First thing is look at the oil and see if there is any intermix. What color is the oil? Coffe with milk color says intermix and point to some of the causes, leaks to another set. Look at the plugs, are any different from the others?

Often because extra-wattage bulbs were used. I've heard stories of people polishing through a hole they cut in the back. About 5 years ago, when Litronic upgrades were priced reasonably, base headlight assemblies were commonly available. Not so much now though you might try the wrecking yards.

You have many options re your motor...those I've heard of are described here . Also on that site is a list of wrecking yards known to handle Porsches.

Ask her if she dropped anything under the seat and had to retrieve it.

In theory, isn't it possible to replace the bearing in a '97 with a bearing without teardown as Hartech is doing in the UK using a bearing similar to the bearing originally used by Porsche?

Ever check the fuel pump which is, on some model years, cooled by the gas in the tank? I can see running dry cooking the pump. I'd be looking at a fuel pressure check assuming that one abnormality was somehow associated with the other.

Lets not confuse the indicated temp with the internal temp. Indicated temp on both my '99 and my '01S was at the right side of the 8 in the 180 and many others I've spoken to said theirs settled there too. So unless the external temp is really really high (100F+) or you are driving at max RPM all the time or you are in some sort of traffic where your air intakes are blocked, there is something suspicious to me if yours settles at 200...like maybe a fan or temperature sensor or a water pump wearing or ....

Drive the car like a normal car. Let it warm up by driving gently for the first 15km and after that occasionally and legally wind it up to where the valve timing changes and a bit beyond at least...say 5k plus or more. I'd try and wind it up once every trip once it was warm but it is too fuel-expensive to run at high revs all the time. Be careful with the downshifts, get in the wrong gear and you can break an engine. You'll get the hang of it. Change the oil at about 6km or at least once a year. Your temperature reading is higher than most I hear about...right on the right side of the 8 in the 180 mark is where mine always settled. You have a Boxer horizontally opposed 6 cylinder engine, not a V-6. It isn't a gas guzzling race car but it always had more than enough acceleration for me. I'd find a good Porsch-experienced mechanic and ask him to look at why the oil temp seems to run hotter than typical and why it loses power when warm. And maybe check the cluch action.

Loren, I sent casper labs a routine message (no conscious formatting) using the Renntech system and Bill responded to me to ask me to resend it to him via an external email system so he could read it. Other forums simply send an email to the intended recipient of the forum message system on their external email system saying they have a private message on the forum system and not trying to relay the entire text of the message. Feel free to send me a message if would help you debug what happened to him. Feel free to examine any message I may have sent if it helps you in your debugging.

Not to mention plastic ages so it isn't wear that is your only enemy. Witness the AOS, water and oil tanks, etc.

Give us a list of the parts list included with your kit please. Also a link to the installation guide might help people see what is involved. Do you have any already experienced installers in any location other than S FL? Any "marketing material"?

My take away from these discussions: I'm as worried here with Casper Labs testing as I was when I first publically challenged Jake/Charles on how many test units and how many miles they had tested the LN units. If the problem didn't show up with all of the testing Porsche must have done with their test mules as they prepared the first water cooled engines for mass production, why should I trust a few cars with relatively limited miles on the bearings was my question to Jake. With 4k installed now, and about a .1% failure rate (for whatever reason) with some now approaching 3 years and 30k miles LN now has some stats. Failed bearings are sent to Ed, the bearing engineer for analysis. I also said early on in the LN introduction discussions that, if I have a heart opperation, I want the guy to be doing it who has done hundreds, even several this week, and who keeps track of his results. I'm not inclined to do it myself or to be trusting my local do-it-all mechanic. Tools, instructions (that have gone through several clarification revisions) and supporting an experienced installation network of mechanics are important to the successful installation of the bearing and they contribute to cost. As one who used to produce a product that sold in the 200 per year quantities (but cost $20m to develop), I appreciate what any small market manufacturer has to pay in overhead per unit beyond simple bearing part costs. And I expect to pay those costs for my betterment because I want that guy to stay in business and be in a position to support me. I don't want a situation where he ships and forgets. A $300-400 cost difference is inconsequential in the total cost of running these P-cars compared to the depreciation, tires, etc. I'm one to do it once and do it right. Its only a single rear tire after all. And finally I appreciate any one trying to develop products to make our P-cars better. I'm not trying to suggest that Casper might not have a potentially better product, just pointing out where I (with life cycle product planning experience) might be seeing beyond just either better or cheaper as I consider which total solution is right for me (or if one is right at all). All moving parts wear and fail. Some fail sooner than others. Some later. Some installations are better than others. Somebody has to be on the ends of those bell curves.

Since the door panel is somewhat close to the side airbag, might want to disconnect the battery while you have your head in there.

All the ways I know of or have read about here

Try this http://www.pelicanparts.com/techarticles/Boxster_Tech/11-ENGINE-911_Engine_Swap/11-ENGINE-911_Engine_Swap.htm

Is the new TB the same part# as the old?

I sold a '01S TIP AS 58K without Litronics with 17" for $13.5k in August of last year. N2 PS2s with perhaps 500 miles on them. Optima battery. Needed nothing. Maintenance records. Sold in 4 hours after listing on Craigslist with just a 3 line description and no pictures for a stack of $100s and I had people fighting to buy it from a location where they all had to travel 50+ miles just to see it. Obviously I underpriced it since it went so fast but $20k seems $5k too high even for a lower mileage better optioned car.

The codes translate to a O2 sensor short and a bunch of misfires...all on the same side. So the MAF which would affect both sides makes no sense. I'd look at the seating of the O2 sensor wires on the driver's side of a US car. Bet it got jiggled when the plugs were changed. Other possibility is plug wires into wrong cylinders but that would show up immediately and this didn't show up till later per your post.

Great price at this time of year in your climate...I wouldn't think it was. I sold a 58k miles 2001S with middling options but brand new PS2 tires and needing nothing for $500 more than your 13k price in Carolina 2 months ago. The differences being the S motor, brakes, etc and the $1k+ in tires. It isn't an atrocious price, mind you....just I think you can do better. Don't fall in love with the first one you see/drive...there are thousands for sale. The best buys are with snow on the car. Find a Porsche mechanic of good reputation and pay them to check the car out.