mikefocke

By the way, is "Porsche Boxster Web Pages Index" your website? That is a fantastic repository! Yes "http://sites.google.com/site/mikefocke2/mikesporscheboxsterwebpages" is my contribution. Note the new address...google stopped supporting the old s/w and sites and migrated everyone who was using the s/w and address. Still discovering some things that google lost in the process (any page that had a "?" in the name just got lost, for example). As to Cary, my oldest son may be moving there in the next few months. Still have the Bagel and Coffee get togethers on Saturday? I joined a few and even went up to VIR about 2 years ago with those folks.

Sometimes seen on eBay.

My google of their name yielded a very negative impression. Do it yourself and form your own opinion.

Be aware that many manual sets or CDs are not updated with the latest corrections. And many are not complete with even the latest 986 model year information (The CDs are typically 98-99 vintage and not updated nor current for later models. Which is not to say they aren't helpful). Not to mention that many are sold in violation of Porsche's Intellectual Property rights. Be sure and get the manual that matches the DME revision that is in your car.

Recall in my writeup that there must be at last a half dozen causes that lead to the same symptoms/codes. Only by following the flow chart and checking item by item can you determine which one is the true cause. This makes sense when you think that a sensor can be reporting the correct fact but what caused the excess air to be reported may well not be the sensor but something else like a leak which caused there to be truly excess air. Know anyone who would loan you his MAF for an afternoon? A temporary swap would rule the MAF in or out. When you did the fluids replacement in your coolant tank, did you burp the cooling system? Evacuate the air trapped in the system with a machine designed to do that? Run with the pressure relief valve open for a day or two?

I don't know of a single extended warranty coverage Insurance Company I can recommend. Why? I don't like 20%-30% odds in a casino, I don''t like them in an insurance purchase either. Link

I've read of people who take the seats out, then the alarm control box out and they cover the control box in a plastic bag before reinstalling everything. Not the best place for it, is it.

Don't assume you can "renew" a CPO warranty beyond its original term. The CPO warranty goes with the car and is available one time. And once it expires, there is no Porsche sponsored warranty available. Not for any amount of money. Any other warranty a dealer offers you is a third party overpriced warranty. Overpriced because the general average payout is ~20% of the cost of the warranty. Such companies aren't in business to do you a favor, they are in business to make money for themselves...and the salesman who sold it to you and the dealer who housed him...etc. The CPO will expire 6 years or 100k miles from the car's original in-service date...and you as a second or third owner will be covered. Read the warranty contract carefully as there are 2 of them with differing things covered depending on when the CPO was executed by the dealer and Porsche North America. Ask the seller for proof of the in-service date which may not be at all close to the sales date..there is quite a lot of trickery on the part of dealers with putting cars in service just to collect bonuses and leaving the buyer with less warranty than he thought he was getting.

The other thing that jumps to mind since you mentioned rain is the drains got clogged and water got in under the passenger's seat (UK) and shorted out the alarm control unit. I'd be inclined to suspect that even more than the ignition switch since the symptoms track the rain report and the alarm lights. You'll have trouble debugging because the wet may have dried by now leaving just a bit of corrosion between the wires going into the unit and the control unit itself. The rear drains are the suspects.

Look up Eric over on PPBB.COM. He can match any paint you have and knows all the codes and tricks. Granted you mail the part to NC but its better to have it done right.

My owner's manual for a 986 Model Year 01 page 241 says 29PSI (2 bar) for the front tires. The 05 987 manual says 29 for the 17 and 18 inch front tires on a 987. 32 for the 19" fronts. I run 30/36 on my 986 and get 18k on my rear tires..

"gaiters at the drive shaft" is not a terms used frequently in the US. Imagining, it could mean a CV joint boot in which case it is the rear axle. And nothing to do with the engine internals. Could be a seal at the end of the crankshaft in which case RMS. Done faulty it could cause a oil leak.

I'd also use painters blue tape to tape over the edges of the hood so critters don't get in. I let my maintainer sit on the floorboards of the car while it "charges" through the lighter socket. As it is only maintaining, it doesn't generate enough heat to worry over. If I didn't have the lighter plug connection, I'd let it sit in the front trunk. Radio Shack sells an adapter that allows connection to the "cigarette lighter" socket: 12VDC 7.5A Power Plug Model: 270-1509 | Catalog #: 270-1509

You need a special tool not in everyone's tool kit. And the MAF is best bought by it's original maker's part number and not by the Porsche part number. It takes about 20-30 minutes to remove and replace a MAF and is a 2 in difficulty on a scale where replacing the cabin air filter is a 1 and rebuilding the engine is a 10. Part numbers/sources, tool descriptions and do-it-yourself instructions are here. As for cleaning the throttle body, Pedro There are many causes of the symptoms you describe that are not fixed by a MAF replacement.

You went to all that trouble and didn't investigate the LN IMS bearing replacement part? LNengineering.com has lots of these bearings.

Random failures happen randomly but we always associate them with the guy who touched it last...even when it isn't. Good luck, we are hoping for the best news from/for you.

Have a heart specialist nearby when they give you the news. Or a friendly banker. Good luck.

Ok, there are lots of options for "go fast" The ones I've seen are here. Varying prices and some sources.

Have you first considered the rules restrictions on modifications placed by the organization that sponsors the track events you plan to run? Doing something to change the stock characteristics of the car can place you as ineligible for the class where most other Boxsters are running. It can be as much fun to see how well your car can do driving against people with similarly equipped cars because then the driver is the difference and you focus on having to increase your skills in order to do better against them instead of just throwing $ at making the car be the performer.

Since this code is derived by a difference reading between the O2 sensors, it can also be a sensor problem. Thought that is unusual with just the single code. Are you sure there aren't multiple codes? If the problem returns, swap sensors from side to side and see if the problem follows the sensor. If it does...then you have to be suspicious of the sensor giving a false reading. If it doesn't, then you have a cat problem. You don't have a oil-saturated air filter by any chance? Had your AOS replaced? What does the throttle body look like? The reason I ask is if you are somehow letting too much oil through the engine it may be getting through and fouling the cat.

So does the mechanic really know Porsches? Not many have ever been inside the M96 engine in one. The problem you face is the cost to diagnose the problem is a large portion of the total value of the car and the cost to repair may be more than half the value of the car...can be up to double. (Sorry, the '99 is 10 years old, after all, and with 105k miles on it is probably worth less than $10k running fine). So you have some potential options...none of them cheap. A. Sell the car to someone else to fix it or part it out. No risk to you but little reward and you have to buy another car. B. Pay to remove the transmission and inspect the rear of the engine to see what it reveals. Only do this if you have confidence in the mechanic you are working with. Otherwise get the car flatbedded to a mechanic you can trust to diagnose it right. Problem with this is you can get a diagnosis you don't want to hear and want to go back and do option A above but you still have to pay the mechanic for the diagnosis. If the RMS seals are all that is wrong, the RMS seal can probably be replaced depending on how it failed. The IMS seal maybe can be replaced or you can replace the entire IMS bearing (see www.flat6innovations.com for the LNengineering part) and seal. Depends how things broke. I'd also pull the oil filter and look at it to see if there are any bad things in the filter that say the inside of the motor probably has some failure pieces in it in which case you now have a big problem and a big bill. And worst comes to worst...here are the options

You may want to clean the throttle body, the intake tube and the MAF. They all could have gotten seriously fouled.

Codes mean there is a problem with – Oxygen sensor – Wiring harness – ECM So if only one of these codes were present, I'd say the first thing to do is borrow someone's O2 sensor and swap it in and see if the symptoms change. Even one someone took out because they were replacing in pairs when only one was bad would be a help in diagnosing. Check the wiring too to make sure it isn't frayed or a connection loose. Since the signal from the O2 sensor is used by the ECU to regulate the air/fuel mixture during the cold period of a start, it could well explain the problem with idle. Something as simple as the sensor not working until it gets warm. But you have 2 codes and they point to different banks of the engine though to the same parts/problems and the likely hood of both failing at once is a bit far fetched. But if one has been failing for a while it cause the other to fail. Or it could be they both are just old and need replacement. Mine lasted 55k miles or so. Always post the model year and miles on the car when posting a problem as it often matters re a diagnosis as the version of the firmware changes over the model years. More on the sensors including prices and sources. No need to buy the Porsche branded part or visit a dealer to replace them.

They make a special MAF cleaner... CRC Mass Air Flow Sensor Cleaner...Autozone or almost any other shop should have it. The fault is seldom with the sensor.... http://mike.focke.googlepages.com/checkeng...ssairflowsensor

The CMP sensor 2 is needed to identify the position of the camshaft for cylinders 4 - 6. – No power supply. – Break in wiring. – Short circuit to B+. – Short circuit to ground. – CMP sensor faulty.