RandallNeighbour

Just in case others read this thread, there's a back-story on this issue you need to know if you own a 1997 boxster. It was the only boxster model year that did not have airbags in the doors. Because of this, the door lock assembly is unique to the model year. Other model year door lock assemblies will not work and this part for a MY97 is really hard to find used at a salvage yard. I have the same problem with the passenger door lock assembly. It makes a "braaaap" sound and then the system unlocks the doors and double-beeps the horn to indicate the doors are not locked. In fact. the passenger side cannot be locked now no matter what I do. Porsche, in their cost-cutting measures to make the car more affordable or in the name of saving weight, did not put a tumbler set in the passenger door or a latch inside so there's no way to manually lock the door. Sunset in Oregon can order the part new from Germany for $325 shipped to me in Texas. I share this only as a price comparison point for others looking for the same part.

Your door lock assembly on the side of the car that won't unlock is shot and needs to be replaced. The double-beep is the computer telling you that this is the problem. I'm facing the same issue. You can probably unlock it manually with the key in the door though.

Acute Negative Camber = Rapid tire wear My rear tires lasted for just 12,000 miles. Some tell me that getting 12k is great as they only get 7500 out of their rear tires. Yikes!

To close this thread, I figured out the 8 way seat would not work in my no frills 97 boxster. Soooo, I carefully removed the seat bottom, leather back, center piece and foam off the nice 8 way seat and installed it all on my old seat frame. Now the driver's side has a wonderful 8 way seat and the driver's side has a very nice looking leather manual seat with electric back rest control. Project done! I'm happy, even though I don't have an 8 way seat on the driver's side.

If your cluster is working and you want a KPH display from it, the display will toggle back and forth between KPH and MPH by holding down and twisting the left cluster pin (or is it the right one?) to the left and holding it a few seconds if I'm not mistaken. Check your manual or call your dealer for details if you don't have a manual. Then, all you'd need would be a set of gauge faces in KPH-celcius to swap out for the MPH ones you now have... You can buy new KPH faces in silver or white for around $250 USD from TechArt and other sources. This would be far cheaper than buying a new cluster. BTW, new clusters can cost $1200-1800 USD from a dealer here in the US, plus a half hour programming time to set it to your current mileage. Your price where you live might be more. As far as your other question, I can only imagine that adding PSM to your car would be too expensive to be worth it.

Jeff, why yes I am replacing every part on my POS 97 Boxster! I'm in too deep now and it's more fun to fix it up than sell it at a whopping loss and buy another that might have a nearly dead engine or RMS. At least I know what I've got with this one... new engine, newer tranny and NO RMS (right now). I do not have the thingy with the buttons on it that goes in the door sill. What I am wondering is if I can pull the passenger seat (that works fine) and compare the components and remove the stuff in the driver's side that may be keeping it from working. I'll do a search over in the 996 area and see if anything was mentioned over there.

Two weeks ago, I got an outrageously good deal on a pair of nearly new black partial leather seats for my 1997 Boxster. They're 8-way fully electric seats out of a 2002 996. The company in CA who sold them to me said they were partial electric, just the back rest like the ones I presently have, so when I unwrapped the seats, I was pleasantly surprised I got fully electric seats, which look brand new, for $775 shipped to me. Last night, I attempted to install the seats. The passenger seat came out fine, and the new one went in fine after I examined the location of the hot and ground pins in the new seat and found they were where the boxster's pins were located. The seat works fine and is fully operational. However, when I pulled the driver's seat, I discovered the pins had to be moved to line up with the new seat's electrical needs. This took about five minutes and was no big deal. I just pulled the blue retaining clip out, popped them out and moved them. Simple enough. Here's my problem. The seat, which is getting electricity (I checked the fuse and then re-installed my old seat after moving the power pins back over) is not working at all. No movement, and no blown fuses. The driver's seat has a lot more electronics in it vs. the passenger seat due to the seat memory module that it came with. However, I know this seat can also be moved manually with the side switches and not having those memory modules hooked up should not prevent the seat from not working, or should it? This is one of those technical questions that someone who's retrofitted or fiddled with this upgrade will have to answer for me, so if that's you reading this, please respond with whatever experience or guessing you may be able to offer! I'm going to try running a couple of wires directly from my battery to the pins on the seat to see if it will work, bypassing the car's internal electrical system just to rule out the fact that it may be the car. I do not believe this is the issue though... my factory seat wouldn't work if this was the case. But, before I call the company and whine about a non-functioning seat, I want to do this to be able to tell them it's not my car.

Thanks for all this input. I contacted the aftermarket Ebay reseller and he said he gets a couple of calls a day for these 18's for boxsters and is headed off to the Las Vegas show to meet with the italian maker and will supply them with some Porsche rims to duplicate. He said to watch Ebay in about six months and he'd have them for sale as rims that will fit standard boxster suspensions, wheel wells, etc.

Check out www.leatherique.com Their products are amazing on old, worn out leather seats. Softened my sunburned, stained and hardened seats. Their leather dyes are good too!

Geez, 25 mm spacers seem very large indeed. Do I run the risk of premature bearing wear or screwing up a control arm or bending the bucket having my wheels that far out and away from the hub? My reason for asking all this is I can get some aftermarket Carrera lights for 800.00 (size and offset info above) or authentic Porsche Carrera lights with the correct offsets for 2500.00. I'll save up and spend more if it will prevent bearing wear or suspension problems down the line. Any other input with this information posted?

Loren, should I decide to try it anyway (I know of a couple of MY97 owners who've done it and had no problems long-term) how do I figure out how big my spacers should be? Do I take the offset number of the wheel (65) and subtract the manual's offset requirements (50) and use that difference number (15mm) as what I need for a spacer?

Does anyone know about required offsets for my 97? I can't wait too long to buy these rims as they are on Ebay.

I would like to upgrade my ROH 17's to a set of 18 inch aftermarket Carrera wheels I've found, but I'm unsure if they'll fit, and if they will, what sort of spacers I'd need. Here's what I've found and would like to buy: Size: Front 18x8" / Rear 18x10" Offset: Front 50mm / Rear 65mm Weights: Front 24.5lbs / Rear 27lbs Bolt Pattern: 5x130 I believe the bolt pattern is correct, and these rims are probably similar in weight or even lighter than the 17 inch ROH's that came with my car... I think the ROH's are quite heavy in fact, so this might just make my car a little lighter going with these even though they are 18's. From the info I have gathered (and PLEASE correct me if I am wrong), the front rims are a 1/2 inch larger and may not require spacers. The rear rims are a full inch larger than what the car can take and I'll need 15mm spacers to allow them to clear the brake lines and calipers. If anyone can tell me if these rims will a) fit my 1997 Boxster and b)what spacers I'd need for sure on the front or rear or both, I sure would appreciate it. This kind of information does not seem to be readily avaiable on the web!

Thanks, Jeff!

One thing you might try to do is to top off the fuel tank before you leave and check fuel economy the old fashion way. Also, determine cruising speed limits for yourself so you can match them both ways.