JP Rodkey

That was where I was at last summer at this time. I bought a '98 with a fried engine due to failed water pump. Replaced the engine with a low mileage 2.5 out of a '97. Car has now at 70k miles. Once I got things sorted, it has run almost like a new car. It's wife's daily driver and she's happy. Your estimate for an engine repair is a bit higher than needed. Assuming you have the skills and tools to do your own swap, you can budget $5k for a stock engine. Obviously, you can go nuts on "upgrade" engine choices.

We can solve your dilmemna right now: I'll give you $1000 cash and you won't have to mess with it or ever have to worry about repairs.

All M96 engines have an IMS regardless of transmission type. It is what drives the timing chains for each camshaft pair. m I'm pretty sure he was asking whether IMS failures occur on tiptronic equiped cars - not just manual transmission cars.

You've already got sound advice. For those of us who do virtually all of our own work, those prices are indeed head-twisters, and a big reason we do our own work. That "bad valve" figure of $462 does not seem realistic to me. These engines are unique and major repair (I consider valves a major repair) tend to be quite costly. Assuming the head(s) have to be removed, I would bet the final bill for valve work alone would easily be in the $1000's range.

Ah yes......BTDT. Until last fall, Porsche NA did not have a system capable of storing that data centrally, or sharing between dealers. Each dealer kept their own data for each car serviced. And it took a very friendly dealer who would give you the service records for a newly purchased used car. I was told at that time that Porsche was going to implement a centralized system with that capability, but the service manager did not know the timing.

There are too many possibilities to have a single answer. The cockpit shifter moves the cable which operates a bellcrank with a rod attached and in turn operates the transmission shift lever. The tiptronic multi-function switch is bolted to the port side of the transmission and operated by the same transmission shift lever. So here are most possibilities: Cockpit shifter or cable binding or damaged Shifter cable kinked or binding or loose between cockpit and rear of transmission Bellcrank binding or lack of lubrication Adjustment of rod between bellcrank and transmission shift lever Transmission shift lever damaged Multi-function switch binding or damaged Shift lever rod binding in transmission case Interference where shift lever rod enters valve body If you're moving the cockpit shifter into P but the dash indicator still shows R and the car won't start, it's very likely the fix is in the shifter mechanism at one of the areas on the list above. It's mechanical, and something is preventing the cable from moving the transmission shift lever from fully moving into P on the transmission. It's going to be a missing cable clip, an adjustment, or damage external to the transmission. Follow the procedure earlier in this thread. I installed a very low mile transmission in my car that had been in storage for 5 year. As the transmission would heat up, the cable became very hard to move. I'd go for a test drive and barely be able to move the lever from D to P - and I'm a big guy. The mechanisms and cable checked out okay. Luckily, I have access to the NA remanufacturing center for these transmissions and I showed up to talk with one of their experts. He figured it was likely a binding between the internal shifter rod where it is supposed to actuate the valve body, and recommended loosening the valve body and retightening the bolts. Before I could get around to doing the job, the problem miraculously disappeared! I'm guessing the years of storaged caused a buildup of goop around the shift rod, or somewhere else, and just driving the thing got things working again. That was last fall and everything works as new and there are no leaks. Rarely do problems fix themselves, but I'm thrilled to have dodged a bullet on this one. Good luck!

Just this morning, closing the top showed cracks/tears on both sides of the window area in the middle. Bummer. So now I need to figure out what to do. Already read the threads and know my options. The GAHH version is a real possibility. The canvas part of the top is perfect so I hate to trash it, but might not be an option. I would be interested in pitching in if you decide to do the GAHH top. I'm sure it can be done by one person, but imagine two would be much better. If I decide to go the GAHH route, you can help me out. Just a thought. Welcome to Barrington Illinois friend! Lol, I would NEVER take my Box to that Porsche dealership, even if my life depended on it... they overcharge on EVERYTHING just because of the neighborhood they're in. If you absolutely "have" to take it to a Porsche Dealer, Take it to Napelton Porsche of Westmont off Ogden. Much more "realistic" pricing.

The stamps are intended for the Maintenance booklet. So, you'd want the Owner's Manual and the Maintenance booklet at a minimum. Entire sets, including the pouch, are routinely on eBay for sale. A complete set will run you between $150 and $200 typically. It's probably where the set that belongs to your car wound up.

What you describe sounds more like power steering fluid. It is slightly green, as you describe, and there is a union fitting under the driver side hidden above that plastic panel. The coolant lines from the engine to the front are all metal and run under the center of the car. You'll find the source for sure once to get the panel removed.

Some type of phenolic is pretty much the industry standard for internal chain tensioners. Do you have any idea how loud the engine would be if the tension surface was metal?

If it were mine, I'd get the alignment checked. Firstly, it is good practice since the car is new to you and you will get a baseline for the future. Second, it should ID anything major in the suspension. And third, it will get your steering where you want it to be.

To directly answer your question: check tire air pressures. One low tire will often first be indicated exactly as you describe. If that doesn't do it, time for an alignment most likely.

I bought a poorly maintained '98 with a blown engine. Dropped in a used replacement with new O2 sensors, AOS, and spark plugs. And that's the extent of maintenance. I realize this isn't fair comparison, but now that I'm familiar with the car, I expect maintenance to be quite manageable. One has to look at Porsche as exceptionally designed, engineered, and manufactured true sports cars for public use. And because they're sports cars, when used as designed, require a different measure of maintenance from cars desgined to be driven and ignored. I also have three 928's which are often maligned for their maintence. I've found that if sorted out properly, they give far superior performance and reliability than most cars and do it applying very reasonable level and cost of maintenance.

Did the water pump looks like this? Oddly -- the impeller spins freely now -- so I'm not sure how the shaft sheared off? m Wow....that's pretty catastrophic. And no, mine doesn't look like that. The impeller broke off of the shaft and simply sat in the housing doing nothing while the shaft turned. The pulley and belt stayed intact. I bought the car knowing it had overheated. I managed to get the engine to run, but there was a loud rattle coming from the front of the engine. Putting two and two together (overheat and rattle), I decided to check out the water pump. Removed the pump to find the broken impeller. When removing the pump, the pulley had significant wobble to it. The wobble of the shaft was obviously due to the bearing. I'm guessing that the bearing wore out over time allowing the belt to pull the pulley/shaft off center, and after enough wear, allowed the impeller to begin hitting the water pump housing which in turned caused it to finally break off of the shaft.

Well, you do know it's going somewhere it's not supposed to go. Check directly under the expansion tank for a leak, which is not uncommon. I have an engine sitting about 20 feet from me right now that was rendered to core status because of a water pump impeller separated from the shaft. The leaking happened around the pulley shaft at such a slow rate that it went unnoticed by the PO until it was too late. I assume he ignored the temp guage because it works fine. If you can't find anything external, then best bet would be to hook up a system pressure tester. If you don't have one, many parts stores have them for loaners. If that doesn't expose a leaking hose or component and you see the pressure dropping, it's probably going to be internal - possibly head gasket. Don't forget that the coolant is directed all the way from the back of the car to the two front radiators along with all the fittings, connections, and hoses. Depending on your abilities and resources, that might be the time to take it to an indy for a diagnosis/opinion. Good luck!

Just to add to the good advice already written - I bought my Boxster in July knowing the engine needed to be replaced. My first purchase was the WSM (the Sunset deal is impossible to beat), followed by the Durametric, and the PO sent me his unused Bentley manual. It takes a certain level of patience to use the WSM, but invaluable for a DIYer, IMO. The Durametric paid for itself just for the time and inconvenience of having to reset the CIL about a half dozen times in my own garage instead of saddling up and begging the dealer for a gratis reset. The Bentley is handy and easier to navigate than the WSM, but not nearly as complete. And I often use the boating analogy as well: I now have four Porsches, and just like a boat, if I had to pay someone to do service and repair work, I doubt I could afford even one of them - at least maintained to the level I prefer.

Green fluid does sound like good old Pentosin Hydraulic fluid used in the power steering system. The reservoir sits atop the engine pretty much in the area where the carpet has been damaged behind the seat. If I were you, I'd do a very close inspection of your power steering lines. It is possible a plastic or rubber line has gotten damaged (melted?) and is letting fuid escape. There are several lines at the very front of the engine directly behind the driver seat running down to the floor pan area. It would be a shame for all your hard work and expense to be only temporary if you don't find the original source of the problem.

Sounds like you did everything possible to pinpoint the problem and a new pump will bring joy. And thanks for posting your results.

You gotta isolate the noise. If it coming from the front, it's a problem with the rack (assuming there is no trapped air, and it doesn't sound like there is based on what you wrote). Only solution for the rack is replacement or rebuild. If the noise is coming from the pump, changing out fluid is not likely to solve that, either. If pump is noisy and the level is up to spec, then replace the pump. To throroughly drain the system, remove the underbody panel just below the driver seat (long black phenolic with a bunch of plastic nuts) and disconnect the pressure line union. Easy to see and convenient for draining. If you want to be really thorough, you should also remove the hose clamp/hose on the return line hidden behind the inner frame gusset on the driver's side - just under/ahead of the intake air box. The pump and reservoir will drain naturally, as will the rack. You can move the steering wheel back and forth to push out the fluid. Alternatively, you can loosen the drive belt and rotate the pump pulley by hand to make sure you've cleared out the fluid and see if you feel anything abnormal in the pump. Hope that helps.

I'm no Tippy expert, but you did ask for ideas. I recently installed and engine and transmission in my car, so I'm at least familiar with the setup. If you're lucky, it's just a matter of cable adjustment. :) First thing to do is isolate where the problem is. The shifter cable connects to the left rear of the transmission to a bellcrank which operates a 10" rod ("deflector lever") that is connected to the transmission gear selector lever. From under the car, you can see where the shifter cable mounts to a bracket on the side of the transmission, so make sure the retainer clip is holding the cable firmly in place. When you pull back on the shifter in the cockpit, the cable moves the bellcrank in the opposite direction - so the rod moves forward toward the front of the car. When the shifter and transmission are in P, you're supposed to be able to easily slide the cable mounting head on top of the bellcrank without any tension. That is easier said than done, as my cable was firmly mounted and very difficult to pull off of the belcrank stud. Alternatively, find where the shifter rod attaches to the gear selector lever and pry off the rod from the ball socket. I found a long pry bar worked well for this. Once the rod is disconnected, pull the gear select lever on the transmission all the way rearward into P and see if the ball socket on the rod is lines up perfectly with the ball stud on the select lever (assuming the shifter in the cockpit is in P). If it doesn't, then you either need to make an adjustment of the cable end at the bellcrank (you can see the adjustment nut) or find another cause. If the selector lever on the transmission will not go into P, then you have a more serious problem. You can easily move the selector around the different gears and monitor position by the LED in the cluster. Hope it's just a cable problem or adjustment issue.

First read sounds like a fuel problem to me.....would start there, especially looking at the fuel pump and pump circuit.

Well, I have an office only a few miles from the NA ZF facility that remanufactures these transmissions. Guess I'll pay them a visit this week and dig up an expert. Heck, maybe I can even swing a tour? If anyone has a question they'd like answered, feel free to post and I'll be happy to ask.

'98 newly installed transmission with less than 20k miles. Runs great, shifts well, paddles work.....smooth. After driving a few miles and engine gets up to normal, shifter becomes very hard to move. It's hard to move from D to P without feeling like something is going to break. Sometimes, it won't make it all the way to P unless I pull back and give it a lot of muscle. Disconnected shifting rod at the transmission shift shaft and it definitely feels like it's in the transmission itself. When the car cools down, all is normal. Durametric doesn't show transmission overheat, but when I checked the shift shaft it felt too hot (burnt my hand on the transmission case). Coupled with this I've had a lot of fun trying to get all the air out of the cooling system. I'm still about 3/4 gallon short in the system, but coolant is no longer going down the expansion tank after several heat/cool cycles of the engine. I'm wondering if there is an air pocket in the heat exchanger mounted on the tranny? Any ideas?

It's astounding how many people need codes. And now, me too! The '98 I just bought appears to be all original and the code is written several places in the owner's manual and in the radio manual......but I've tried everything you've recommended multiple times. Time to validate the code. Thanks in advance! W5021835

Sounds like your crankcase breather tube. About 1" diameter black plastic pipe fits onto the head fitting you described, traverses the engine under the throttle body over to the oil separator on the diagonally opposite side. Yes, it's there to direct hot oil vapor over to the separator and a poor/broken fitting will cause oil buildup. Check that it hasn't come unseated (there is a ribbed ring around the pipe connector that locks and unlocks to the fitting which is fixed to the head) or if it's broken.