txhokie4life

The RMS is a $30 part tops. The IMSR is ~$500-600 and a lot of peace of mind. Here is a picture of a 03 S which failied at 30k miles Mike

Got a 924S track car. I'm getting hesitations at about 5200 RPM in third gear. If I fight through the hesitations and get about 5400 RPM or so -- it smooths back out and pulls strong to redline. Doesn't matter whether its a right or left hand turn exit. The track I was on I don't know that I was able to get to 5200 in 4th gear and if I did -- I was busy trying to keep the car on the track so didn't specifically notice :-) We've got an issue of not being able to goto 3rd to 2nd (another item to work on but I think I know what that is), so I haven't "checked" 2nd gear at 5200 rpm. I suspect same result. Got a race coming up in a couple weeks -- would like to figure this one out before hand. BTW, just replaced the battery -- I was getting power drop outs before that -- they appear to be gone just left with some hesitations. thanks for you help, Mike

Yes -- and I strongly recommend the LN Engineering one. I use it on all my engines. Mike

Just a follow-up. I once forgot to tighten the power connector that comes from the front of the car to the top of the engine. It worked fine most of the time, but every now and then it would not start -- click click click. You could jump it and get it to run. But since the connection back and forth to the battery was weak -- you would not get a good charge either way so the battery would run down -- and then it couldn't arc enough to start the car -- etc. And yes it was ARCing --- yikes! If you had any service work in/around the engine -- that is a possibility. Sits on the front middle (slightly driver side) top of the engine. 10mm if I remember correctly. It's now on my ever growing check off list. Mike

Battery most likely Power connection loose at engine? Possibly alternator short? Mike

Vigor: It's still not clear from your answer whether the shop will remove the entire top and frame assembly and then sew the new window in without stripping the canvas from the frame. If they are not stripping the canvas from the frame, as long as they do a good job of sewing the new window in, they really can't mess up the re-installation of the top and frame assembly back onto your Boxster. Also, there are a number of factors to consider depending on what model year your 986 is. Regards, Maurice. Ask them how they will protect your drain trays -- this is where they could mess things up and you would not know until you had problems unless you knew where to look. If when I pull another top -- I will try to figure out a mechanism to put a plastic insert or something in there to keep the foam drain trays from being perforated. mike Mike

does it do it during hard braking? could be a motor mount -- could be something else. I have a 00 S 6 Speed -- clunked during acceleration, and up/down shifts. Installed a new enthusiast motor mount from Pedro -- no more clunks. Mike

Having done this a couple times, I would make some sort of plastic or hard cardboard liner to lay on top of the drain tray so that it cannot be perferated for pulling and installing the top mike

Mike, I thought you did all your work yourself.. Anything in particular you need checking out? Joost Well we do :-) -- but we have a customer in Houston and we are trying to save him the drive to Austin if his issue is minor. thanks, Mike

topic says it all Looking for Boxster shop in South Houston area Mike

I'm thinking one of my tensioner hydraulic actuators maybe bad -- that was why I was trying to understand what exactly to expect when the drive link might expect to do. Next time I get a chance I'll see if I can monitor the camshaft with the Duramatic, get her up in the rpm range -- and I should see them track -- if they don't then I know something is up. I get a nice ticking sound from the drivers side -- hoping that this might be it -- not that its an easy fix -- but I like to get things resolved. thanks, mike

Wasn't my car -- It was a customer's car -- don't know what they had it boosted to. All the turbo equipment was removed -- when they drove it to our shop. Here are some pictures. Block was many mm out of ovality as well. Had to bore it out, replate with Nickel Silicon Carbide and hone back to factory spec. After we get past the break in period of the rings -- we'll give it a dyno test. Mike

I've run this test on my '01 S with a duramatic I do it on a bank and I get a spike in RPM, then back to idle with maybe a slight change. On the other bank it get essentially no effect, with the slight idle change. which is correct? I get a ticking sound coming from my drivers side. Wondering if it is my camshaft vario-cam actuator? thanks, Mike

Pull the trunk carpet around the coolant reservoir -- see if the pad underneath is wet. I finally caught it drip leaking -- but it took a long time. If not there -- things get worse like others have said. Mike

We just finished a rebuild of a customer who had a turbo in his 2.5L Boxster over boosted it and broke the ring landings on the pistons. Bore of engine wasn't even close to being in spec -- but no idea if that had anything to do with the turbo charging -- although I expect it did. I highly recommend an intercooler. Mike

Quick and dirty: NMH (no manual handy) pull the little green plugs on the cylinder heads. stab them with a screw driver and pry them out. You only need to do the one opposite each oil scavenge pump. At TDC, one bank should be in line and you'll notice one side will be slightly inside the line on the cylinder head, while the other side is the opposite, and you go one way through the crankshaft, the other side should be lined up and the positions inside/outside will have swapped. One more time around and the original bank should be back where it started. I don't remember off the top of my head which bank should be the TDC bank. You could check the firing order, and then at TDC check the location of the piston by pulling the plug and putting a dowel rod in there. If you are not perfectly north/south on both sides at TDC, then something has shifted. You'll need to have 2 green plugs (about $5/per from sunset) to plug the cam openings back up as they are one and done. Mike

You can drop the assembly from the headers back Then you can decide whether you want to split the exhaust Otherwise you can drill out the bolts, which is made easier with the whole assembly out. If u r in there strongly consider one of the IMS upgrades Mike

You can drop the assembly from the headers back Then you can decide whether you want to split the exhaust Otherwise you can drill out the bolts If u r in there strongly consider one of the IMS upgrades Mike

What JPA said...... You could go from terrible to horrible. At this stage you can probably get the engine fixed and rebuilt - if you end up hydro-locking -- you could end up with a cracked block and be in for a complete new engine. Note: only INDY's will rebuild your engine. Don't count on the dealership understanding the problem. Picked up a 996 a couple weeks ago because (I believe) the dealership ended up hydro-locking a customers car and cracking the block. Mike

Thanks Loren The IMS bolt was thicker And all the bolts on the engine are Torx And not hex head So we wanted to make sure it really was an 04 and not a remanufactured one for imsr purposes Mike

Can anyone tell me what year this engine is from M96/23AT65465402 It is in an 04 Boxster Wondering if this is a replacement engine? Thx Mike

The only issue I would see arising from using an automatic-based engine with a manual transmission would be if the crankshaft snouts are different on the flywheel side - manual transmission crankshafts usually have provisions for a pilot bearing. An automatic may have some different sort of setup to allow a torque converter to be installed. I don't know whether the cranks are different on Boxster motors offhand, but I'm sure someone with more knowledge will chime in. Not an expert -- but partnering with one that is getting there We just used the old manual flywheel on the AT transmission There is a coolant hose that runs back from lower driver side to the AT, doesn't exist on the manual. Just swap out the pipe housing there. I'd look at the Pelican Parts article for info on that. The exhaust may have to be modified as the 3.4 has to be mounted lower to fit in the Boxster's engine compartment. Nobody knows exactly what causes these things to fail - the fact that it's a sealed bearing in the first place seems to be the problem. I'm sure letting the bearing get some fresh motor oil would help but the bearing isn't designed to be run on motor oil, it's designed to be run on the bearing grease that's supposed to be sealed inside it. The $600 (in dual row) LN Engineering bearing uses ceramic balls which are several times more durable than metal ones. It also includes a new flange. The $100 or so kits just include what is for the most part the same bearing that's already in the car. It's up to you which one you want to go with, but I would probably go with the LN bearing. Why cheap out on something so important? My take is you are going to spend 5-10K doing an engine swap -- why worry over $500. Ha, I had the same issue when doing my CV boots. The outer bolt on both axles was so seized, I stuck a big pipe on my breaker bar and it started to bend the bar. Looks like you need a really solid breaker bar like a Snap On or similar to get those things off. Use an impact pin to loosen that nut and some loosening agent. If you are not careful you could either shatter the nut -- or ruin the axle. I have yet to drive a 996 but I can't imagine it being much more fun ;) Do you know the failure mode of the original 2.5? Depending on what went you can probably get it rebuilt. Mike

I have a dead 3.6 head around -- PM or email me mike@lonestarrpm.com and I'll figure a way to get it to you. Mike

I have interest in this too -- I rebuild the engines and would like to swap DMEs in my boxster test mule to test them. Would be nice not to have to deal with the immobilizer. So I sent the OP a PM to pass along what ever he finds. thanks, Mike