perleman

Sorry? Can you explain?

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?

I'm not 100% sure if the rattle started after installation of the new hood or not but it is very noticable on slightly bumpy roads at 30-60 MPH. It seems to come from about 12 inches away from my right ear (the car is right hand drive) and is a light tinny squeak / rattle - I'm pretty sure it comes from within the car (i.e. not suspension), and it sounds like a light plastic shirt button being tapped against a table top i.e. not a deep or hollow sounding noise but a light rapid tap-tap-tappety-tap-tap kind of thing, with multiple taps per second. Could it be the guide cable that surrounds the metal wire of the hood mechanism? Or something inside the hood?

I'd be very hesitant about attempting this job myself, it is a bit of an art and the installer who did mine said he had done about 10 before he was 'any good at it'. If you get it wrong it might look aweful. But good luck if you decide to give it a go!

The S has more prestige deffo, and is faster & has some nice touches like white dials with silver rims. The 03 facelift has the new lights, new side vents, slightly new look bumpers & the all-important glass window. I paid £1300 upgrading my lights & hood from my pre-facelift car so go figure. If you intend on using the car in winter, the glass screen is pretty essential in my opinion, also, you don't have to jump out the car & 'chop' the hood to stop it creasing every time you open the roof!

Hi all, just a mild problem this time: The floor-mat slips forward, meaning that sometimes when I push the clutch in, it touches the carpet, and sort of sticks to the pedal as I release it, pinging against the accelerator pedal - very very disconcerting the first time it happened! There is velcro on the revers of the matt & the floor but it obviously isn't workingtoo well is this a known issue with a simple cheap and effective solution?

Thanks guys I'm feeling good now! I wasn't overly concerned as the oil level wasn't dropping but I was wondering if it was burning rich & if that might damage the cat or something.

Hi, My 986 seems quite smokey when the weather is cold - a sort of grey smoke - it's not the initial puff of smoke on starting (OIS), as it carrys on untill the engine is warm, in cold weather. The car isn't getting through any oil as the level doesn't seem to be dropping, and it might be normal, but when I pull up at traffic lights for example, and look in the wing mirrors, there seems to be quite a lot of smoke puffing up from the exhaust. Car runs & performs fine, no error lights. Is this normal?

The clutch starts to bite about 50% of the way through the travel & engages at about 75%. No sign of any slipping whatsoever.

I'm on 43,000 miles, car is 9 and a half years old, but pretty much all that milage was in & around london so very intensive start-stop traffic type driving.

Sometimes the car won't let the lever go into 1st gear from another gear i.e. 2nd or reverse, unless I select neutral, release & reaply the clutch. It doesn't do it all the time though. Is this an indication of the clutch being on it's way out, it was in my golf gti before. There's no slipping, but the bite is high and pedal is stiff. I want to get the clutch changed early to avoid potential damage to the DMF.

Any experiences with this indi, good or bad?

The clutch 'sticks' down in the morning after it hasn't been used for 14 hours, and after a few operations, it is pretty much back to normal for the rest of the day. It also makes a 'creaking' noise on operation, mainly when warm. Should I actually bother getting it sorted - or wait to be stranded by the road at a random point in the next 0-12 months? Will it potentially do more damage if I leave it? I can't bleed it myself - not technical enough, live in a built-up area with no facilities etc. I have spoken to a tech and he has told me the following: * One of the cylinders is likely at fault (master / slave) * The slave appears to be dry on visual inspection * the master can't be inspected without doing work. He suggests replacing the slave first, which is most prone to failure & easyest to get to, at about 170+ vat to see if that's the issue. If he removes it and it isn't faulty he still suggests replacing it once he's done the work to get to it, to reduce the chances of future failure. If there isn't a fault with that he is pretty sure it will be the master cylinder, at a similar cost, and is fairly convinced that replacing that will cure the problem. Does this sound right? I'm braced for expense now and am considering replacing the clutch at the same time just to get it done (pedal is very heavy & bite is high up although not slipping yet). The car 'juddered' a bit when creeping up a hill in traffic in 1st gear just using the tick-over (foot off gas), so does this mean I might be needing a new dual mass flywheel too though?

The holes by the battery thing is the obvious prob, I had that. If those drains get blocked and there's any rain, you'll have water come into the front boot. I'd clear them out before investigating anything else to be honest it's a 5-10 min job, an air-lance is best or a section of bendy hose pipe or wire coat hanger. Failing that, rubber seal is possible but unlikely - unless you didn't close it properly perhaps? . Coolant is pretty much out as any leak enough to form condensation & your system would be running dry & the light wd be on (check coolant level to be sure).

Hi, I am close-ish to Wembley... the thing is, sorry if I wasn't clear but the bite never moved, just the postion the pedal returned to after releasing it. It is now pretty much back to normal so I'm going to leave it for a bit and see if the problem re-surfaces - Is it possible that any air has been pumped out? I'd love to have your recomendation in Wembley, is it Jaz? I really need someone I can trust to only do what is totally neccesary to fix the problem if it comes back.

Hi, It's done 42k miles, but over 9 years, with plenty of London start-stop driving. I have now been to another independent specialist who said my clutch bite is about 75% of the way through so I am now aware that that will need doing in the next 5-10k miles, however I am a little concerned about the clutch not wanting to return as I don't know if that is related to the impending clutch failure. To drive now it is pretty much fine although the pedal is slack at the top bit of travel. When the car is left overnight the clutch needs a few operations to get back to 'normal' - this makes me think that the master / slave cylinder might have a -tiny- leak, (as if it was bigger than that it would quickly be undrivable). There is no sign of leaking under the slave cylinder, and the Porsche mechanic I spoke to said master cylinder failure was so rare that he'd never done one. I guess my worry is that a new clutch won't fix the actual problem, even though it will need one put on soon

I have just been to see a specialist & he believes the clutch to be at fault, although it is not slipping he says it is heavy & the bite is near the top. The clutch pedal is also 'creaking'. He visually inspected the slave cylinder & found no sign of leaking. My question now really is, obviously some air has got introduced somewhere, will changing the clutch (which is expensive) be likely to eliminate the issue - as I only want to do this if it is neccesary and like I said, the clutch isn't actually slipping at all. I just don't want to have to pay for an uneccesary operation. BTW it isn't a cracked friction plate as after pumping the clutch several times it returns to almost normal operation, where as with a cracked plate it would not come all the way back to the top of the travel apparantly.

"If the feel was suddenly different, could be a cracked pressure plate." THe feel was COMPLETELY different this morning. The bite is still about half way up & no clutch sipping. Does the pressure plate require removal of gearbox et al? If it is air in the system am I right in thinking a simple bleed will only treat the sympton not the cause. Should I stop driving it ASAP? And can you diagnose a cracked pressure plate without removing the gearbox? Thanks

Hi all, THis morning it was very cold (for the UK), prob just above freezing. The clutch pedal was light for the first few inches of travel & kind of 'stuck' on return, and did return the whole way but felt lighter than normal. The car drove & performed fine, and as it warmed up the problem lessened but didn't completely go (after 40 mins / 25 miles driving). Any ideas?

When the MAF sensor is on the blink it can exhibit this behaviour - flat spots in acceleration - not a particularly cheap part @ £150 UK, but apparently quite an easy self-fit part. However, I'd get the codes downloaded & checked 1st, as otherwise you could waste time & money.

Hi everyone, first post! My boxster has some odd noises. 1: whine / whistle only in 5th gear between 84-89MPH. Stops immediatly on removing foot from gas. The car has never had manual transmision oil changed (9 years old, 40k miles) and I'm wondering if the level is a little low. Am planing on doing this tomorrow as it's relatively inexpensive c. £80. It's not an air noise and I doubt it's a failing alternator as the sound stops dead on removing foot from gas pedal. Just spotted the thing about the vapour recovery vacum but surely that would continue regardless of whether foot is on gas or not? 2: rattle on ULTRA hard acceleration in 2nd and 3rd gear. Pottential causes could be corroded material in baffle, engine mount, loose oxygen sensor, loose heat shields, some other exhaust related issue. Can anyone shed any more light on these issues? Any insight appreciated!