dynodon

Just went through something similar with my 2000 S. Had older continental tires with about 1/2 tread left. Had LOUD noise all around me and some vibration. At recommendation of former owner and a good local shop, put on new Yokohama S Drive tires and now the noise is still there and there is a very noticable shimmy like described here starting about 60 and going to at least 80 without getting better. When balancing, owner of shop said rims were perfect, tires were also round and straight and took very little weight. Balanced on a top quality machine. help! Don

MY 2000 S is a Stuttgart car. Was ordered in America for German Delivery. Previous owner used it on vacation and then had it shipped to the states. Build quality and paint is excellent. Don

Steven, The two statements say the same thing. Maybe could have been a little better stated, but I am sure if you look at them long enough, you will see they give the same advice! :) Don

If it is anti-freeze, you should be able to smell that sweet smell at the tailpipe. I doubt that is the problem. If the white smoke only during a full throttle run? (or close to full throttle?). Most cars will put out a puff of white or maybe black smoke just from stuff in the exhaust or cat converters when you get on the gas after a period of gentle driving. but this would be small and hard to see from the drivers seat. If this was a BIG cloud, then it may be something else. Wish I could help more. Don

I think if you search the main magazines, and old car sites, you will find that the advice to run the car and drive it if you start it at all is the best advice. I have had old cars and stored them for over 30 years now, and have been involved with the collector car industry for that long. the overwhelming majority of collectors say that you should NEVER just start an engine and run it for a few minutes every once in a while. Why? When you start an engine, especially in the cold months, but really anytime, the hot engine exhaust hits the cold pipes and creates condensation. Ever see a car drip water from the exhaust pipe when you first start it and even after several minutes? OF course you have. That comes from the condensation. the way to get rid of it is to drive till the exhaust, from the engine all the way to the tailpipe is hot, and during the winter that takes more than a few minutes. Otherwise, if you just start it for a few minutes and then shut off, you get all that moisture sitting in the exhaust to help start and continue rust. Same thing happens INSIDE the engine. Hot exhaust gases get into the oil pan area, and the condensation happens on the sides of the block. If you don't run the car till that burns off, you can start rust or a collection of moisture inside the engine. Better to just let a car sit and do nothing, than just run it a few minutes once in a while. My proof is that I have never had to replace an exhaust system on an old car whild I have been storing one. I even have had two cars that were over 20 years old with the ORIGINAL factory exhaust systems in excellent shape, inside and out. They were always stored with this method. The battery will be fine on an inexpensive Battery Tender JR. There are other brands, but the Battery Tender brand is a good one. You want a MAINTAINER, not just a charger. These test the battery, then go into either a float maintain mode, or a slow charge to bring the battery to full power. They then let the battery go down in votage slightly before starting over again. Non-sealed batteries might need water added every few months, so check this type of battery regularly. NO need to remove the battery if it is in good shape. Battery acid damage is a sure sign of one of two things: 1: The charging system is overcharging, or 2: the battery is going bad, causing the charging system to charge all the time. A healthy battery and charging system won't create acid. There is a lot more to storing cars, but basically to answer your question, leave your stored car alone till you can give it a real drive. Don

Just a thought, that any power steering pump, even perfect ones, will make noise if they are up against something on the body. This includes lines. For example, I had a SHO Taurus that I installed a front strut tower brace on, and the brace touched a rubber power steering pump hose. The noise was so loud I didn't think it could possibly come through that hose, but when I moved the hose temporarily, and finally removed the brace, the noise went away. So before you replace that pump, make SURE that all the hoses (and brackets etc) are away from anything that is attached to the body, or there are isolation clamps on them. Don

I have stored old cars and race cars for decades, and never store them on jacks. Why? Because that lets the suspension droop and stay in a place where it is NOT designed to be for long periods. Bushings are put in stress when the suspension in in full droop, that should not be in that position for that long. Also, strut or shock tubes are exposed to air where they normally aren't. I have had 30 year old cars on 20 year old tires sit in one spot for 6 months and when I take them out for a drive, the flat spots go away after two or three miles. Never had a tire flat spot permanently. Newer tires are even better about that. And one other thing, for cars that sit for long periods, do NOT start them up once a week or once in a while unless you can get them out and drive them for 15-20 minutes at least. What happens is you get moisture from condensation in the engine crankcase and exhaust that doesn't have time to go away with heat. Condensation will kill an exhaust system and can harm the insides of your engine. Better to let it sit till you can really drive it. Don

Noting that Mobil 1 5-40 is approved. Amsoil 5-40 meets (and usually exceeds) the exact same API specifications. That an oil is not on the "Porsche approved list" does NOT mean it is NOT good for the car, just that the oil company has not paid for testing by Porsche. In this case, if the oil you are looking at meets the API specification (SL in the case of say my 2000 Boxster S) or better, then you can be assured that the oil is OK to run. The Amsoil 5-40 Europeon oil meets or exceeds SM specifications, thus it also meets or exceeds SL specifications. The mechanical and especially oil world is well populated by people that are "experts" that are ignorant in one or more areas. Some people just quit learning 20 years ago when they were a mechanic, others listen to instructors or other "experts" that continue passing along bad information. Amsoil takes a hit because of the non-standard distribution method. It isn't Mary Kay or Tupperware. It is the first synthetic and consistently the best oil in tests. I became an Amsoil dealer many years ago after research that led me to believe it was a top product, and as a dealer I can get it at a better price. I don't drink the Kool Aid, and don't drive a truck with stickers all over it. It is possible to make a good living at selling Amsoil, but I prefer to not work the business that much. Others do quite well. I don't host parties, and if friends want to buy or become a dealer they do, if they don't , then I leave them alone. I take my wife to dinner a few times a year on my income, and save money on top products the rest of the year. Jim says Amsoil isn't professional because he didn't get all the on-line help he wanted, and he was offered info on how to be a dealer? Well, I went to the tech line and got some good answers. But I don't put down a company that promotes their products. Think Mobil Oil doesn't put people on mailing lists or promote their products? I will use Amsoil in my Porsche and other cars, as long as it meets the specifications, which it does. THere is more than enough proof out there that Amsoil makes top products and is a leader in the industry. Remember when Amsoil was pretty much all alone in synthetic oils? All of a sudden, Corvette and Porsche start recommending Mobil 1 and lo and behold, you don't need to "break in" engines with regular oil anymore! And synthetics are the best thing around. Amsoil knew this and was talking about it for many decades before this "breakthrough". Does Mobil pay for these companies to install and recommend their product? YOu can bet your bippie they do. Why should I trust a company that pays for a recommendation more than a company that stands on their own good reputation and lets people make a living selling their products? Use what you want, but don't repeat bad information about good products.

MY new to me 2000 S is creating the same problems for me. My solution? Find local tracks/groups that will accept the Boxster without a broomstick test. I have found that there are some tracks, and some people that put on events at a track that will accept the Boxster and won't worry about the broomstick test. Some require that you run with the top up, some don't care at all. You take your own safety in your own hands at any high speed DE event, but there are ways around it. I considered the roll bar extension, but as in your cases, it wouldn't allow me to pass the test anyway, and I don't want to ruin the car for my wife to drive, or us to take on trips. So I will just not go to as many DE events. I bought a hardtop thinking it might pass the requirements, but for SCCA and PCA it appears that won't be the case. I installed it anyway, and LOVE the way it looks. Thanks to this list for providing the instructions that let me install it myself with zero problems.

Amsoil makes an excellent synthetic 5-40 specifically for Europeon cars. $9.40 retail, dealer cost is $7.05 (plus shipping and tax).

OK, I think I will have a red face. After taking another look, I found that if I turn on the lights BEFORE I turn on the key, they come on with the key and "dip". Maybe this is the way they are supposed to work. If I don't turn on the lights, and then turn on the key with the lights off, I can still hear the motor do its movement "dip" thing every time the key is turned on. If someone would check their car and see if you can only get the "dip" (sorry, don't know another good way to describe it) if they have the lights on before they turn the key on, then I would know if mine is doing what it is supposed to do. I appreciate the thoughts and comments, as a Newbie to the brand and car, I have a lot to learn, but I LOVE the car!

Bought my 2000 with Litronic Headlights a couple of months ago. IT is an S model with 6 speed manual. About 40,000 miles and in great shape. It is a US model purchased on the Europeon delivery plan then shipped to the US. I am the second owner. The low beam lights were adjusted WAY low, would not illuminate a license plate more than about 50 yards away! Felt like I was driving in a tunnel and could never see far. Last night I followed the owners manual and adjusted the lights up quite a bit to the specs in the manual. They were WAY low as I knew. Also adjusted them a little to the left, but the left/right adjustment seemed to only move the lights up down, so after supposedly adjusting left, I had to lower the lights using the up/down. Never seemed to make much difference left/right. That is lead up to the main problem. The lights were much better, but now when turning them on, they don't "dip" like they used to. I pulled the lights out and checked connections (but that should not be the problem, since I didn't mess with those to begin with) and I took all four adjustments most of the way back to the old setting but not all the way. What did I do? and how do I get the lights to work as they are supposed to. Don