mcmike27

Daryl, our fronts are still good no worries with them as all of the weight is over the rears with the mid engine.

:)

Thanks heaps for your replies. great to hear of other people's experiences, and glad I'm not alone here. Ok, so next stop new Yoko's perhaps and some Bilsteins. Not sure where to find a set of ROW's in Australia, but I'll keep the hunt out as well. - ------- mcmike27, any reason why you only changed the rear struts?

- infocusf8, you inspire me to keep this car for a while too......

thanks all!

Daryl

Daryl, we have a 98 986 with 91k miles on it and I would agree with your assesment. It has lost some of it's 'comfort' but I have just replaced the rear springs and struts and that made a world of difference. Also I chose Yokohama ADVAN S4's all the way around (17'') rims and it also helped with the jarring over rougher roads. I also dont run them at the highest PSI numbers from the factory. Normal in the fronts between 28 and 30 psi and for normal driving 35 to 36 in the rears. When we A/X the car I stiffen them up but those PSI numbers seem to give me a nice compormise and a more comfortable ride. The new springs and struts made a HUGE dirrerence and I went with the stock parts from Porsche.

Happy motoring

m2

We had similar issues with our 98 986...sure enough it was the immobilizer unit wire connection...a piece of the seat rail plastic end cap had broken away and dislodged the wire slighty and pfffffff DEAD car...the dealer removed the seat reattacted the wire and it's been perfect ever since. I would start by looking under the seat with a small mirror and flashlight. If upon inspection you see any what appear to be out of place wires I would 1st unhook the battery (seat air bag sensor) or carefully unbolt and look to se if any wires are dislodged and if so reseat them and try it again. If no luck then as stated in the prior thread you can unplug and remove the top carefully and inspect for any corrosion and clean to see if that helps.

Good luck

m2

Here are the pics...I have upload 1 at a time due to the file size.

The company is http://www.colorlugs.com/

I hope this helps.

m2

I'll take a photo this evening....on and off with the tool as well

Look for it here tomorrow...

m2

Bill, I went the lug nut cover route and bought a set from Bumper Plugs that cover the 4 standard bolts and then I used and BLACK SHARPIE marker to cover the top of the 'locking' lug nut so it was black. They provide a little tool to remove them and they look great and dont fall off. Plus you dont have to repaint them over and over.

I hope this helps. I can take a pic if you like.

Let me know

m2 98 986 2.5L Silver/Black

Yes just maks off the chrome wheels and hit them with 2 light coats of clear. It will protect the paint. I have had to touch mine up a bit since when you wash and rub there is no getting around not needing to do a little touch up. Thats where the clear coat really helps.

:)

What if you have chrome wheels, you can't spray clear on the whole center cap, I guess you would have to mask of just the emblem???

I have tried to reset this with my OBDII but I had to go to the dealer and have them do it. Ask Loren here as well he will be able to confirm for you. I'm pretty sure this is a dealer rest unless you have the PS2 software since it's a very important safety system.

Good Luck

Make a call to your insurance company and report the damage. I would hope you have the trucks tag number which will make it easy for your insurance company to trace the car. Also since you have the photos it will make it easier to prove. I would agree with the driver of the SUV that it has a back up indicator but that will only measure the distance from it's bumper not the overhanging rear gate/lift. That unit sticks out at least 6 to 8 more inches beyond the rear bumper sensors. Also the scratches are such that when and if this car made the damage I'll wager the driver didnt even feel the contact since the gate/lift is bolted on the back. It makse sense that when that driver attempted to parallel he didnt feel the 'rub'.

Sorry to see the damage...

Good luck

m2

Parked on the street today. Had a little honda in front of me then when i get back i see this mamoth of a truck. And scratches on my bumper and hood of car.

I left a note with my phone number on his windshield and left my car there for a while. He called me but i didn't make it back in time to meet up with him.

Anyway he swears up and down that he didn't hit my car and that he would have noticed plus has back up warning indicator. There was traces of paint

on some bolts under his granny rack but when i spoke to him on the phone he said that he didn't see anything at all. What would you do?

S, my 98 986 runs exactly like yours when it's HOT. We just took it on a 3 day trip here in the northeast with temps in the low to mid 90's and it was very consistent like in your pic. I did on the last coolant flush add the 160 t-stat for L&N and I upgraded to the 996 larger oil-coolant tower as it's twice the size as the original on my 986. When running on the highway the needle drops down between the 8 and the 0. On cooler days at highway speeds it stays between the 1 and the 8. Yours looks to be right in the 'normal' zone. A good idea is to take off the front bumber every couple of years and clean the rad and /ac condeseners.

Good luck

m2

Having had a similar situation with stray cats using my garden as a litter box. I finally had enough and tried to be polite but I had neighbors that believed that cats are a 'free sprited' pet and need to be outside. WHAT A JOKE. I finally broke down bought a inexpensive live animal trap then baited it with cat food and once I have the culprits in the cage I called the local animal shelter and they took them away. After catching 5 of them they stopped coming so I then put them in my car drove them to a local park 10 miles away and let them be 'free spirited'. When the neighbors inquired and went looking for their 'house' cats I just said 'nope havent seen them'. They have since not bought any more cats or adopted any more strays.

Good luck...

To all, recently we had our stock 98 986 in for service after I discovered a 'clunk' sound coming from the left rear. Upon inspection the dealer found the source of the noise. The half shaft bolts were not torqued down to sepc and when the car was not under drive 'load' they would shift and then under load they would bang on the bolts and the 'clunk' could be heard. Once properly torqued down they noise vanished. We recently started to AX the car and I noticed this past week when I was under the car trying to sort a almost but not quite similar noise that the left rear sway bar was not the same distance as the right rear sway bar as it relates to the alignment panel in the rear. The right passenger looks to be normal but the left side has 'sagged' a bit. It is now ever so slightly touching the alignment plate. When I drift in 1st gear and bump the gas or from a dead stop turn left I can hear a distinct small 'click' almost like metal on metal noise. I pulled the LR tire and everything else seems to be in good working order. The left side of the car does 'sag' a bit.

Any ideas here gang as to the difference in the sway bar gap or the 'click' sound? Could it be a falling shock, worn spring? Both are still original to the car. It has 91k miles to date.

Any help or guidance is greatly appreciated.

Tks

m2

VJH, same issue with our 98 986...our installer slid the XM 'puck' all the over to the right side of the windsheild tucked in the lower right corner and it's all but invisible and just about impossible to see when driving. It's location works fine. Make sure they use the newest smallest version!

Good luck

m2

D, we have a 98 986 and I have tried to stay to the 15k, 30k, 60k, 90k schedule. That being said the model year does tend to change the intervals. With the 30k milestones I felt comfortable becasue I do the 'DIY' basics myself and leave the 'big' service to the dealer. I would tend to lean towards the 30k service intervals.

Just my $.02

Take care

m2

M, my local tyre dealer here in the US suggested for our 98 986 the Yokohama Advan S-4 for both the front and rear. To date they have been an excellent all year all around tyre. Good tyre wear and good in most all conditions...except I dont drive it in the snow...but good in hot and cold and in between.

Good luck

K, the question is how long has the car been sitting idle? It should not affect the oil that much if it's not been more than 6 months to a year but it will affect the brake fluid greatly as it does break down. That being said $700.00 is a bit steep for the service you might require. You could do the oil easily enough for under $75.00 in supplies and parts. If you are uncomfortbale dealing with the brakes that would be a service the shop could easily take care of for you. It should not be more than 1.5 hours tops 2 of time plus supplies which should come in around $200 to maybe $300 depending on the shops labor rate.

Good luck..

m2

James, most likely either the hose is dried out and failing or the metal gasket is weeping. Either way it's a straight away easy DIY. Just make sure you have a good set of hose clamps to seal off the t-stat hose from draining the rest of the system once you pull it off. Also collect any of the coolant that you drain from the block plug and the block once the t-stat comes off. There will be quite a bit of coolant from the block be prepared for that. Then replace the leaking hose or t-stat with gasket and bolt it all back on. Make sure you are familiar with the procedure to 'burp' the coolant system so that you get out all of the air bubbles then top off the tank in the trunk and you should be ok.

Mark, sorry I didnt see your reply until now. I will get a little video or sound clip and try and post it. My son can do that pretty easily with his cell.....and yes a competent exhaust shop can do this easily. Also I 'de snorkeled' our 986 last Thursday and aside from the fact that it weighs a little less I cant hear nor feel and difference in performance. It does make a little more of a 'suck whooosh' sound under spirited accleration now. Send me a PM here and we will try and get that clip asap. The weather should be good the next 3 days for us here in Pa.

m2

Mark, we have a 98 986 that had the baffles removed. It sounds great! Simple job...a local Porsche shop dropped the OEM original muffler cut the top off and removed the baffles then welded the top back on and reinstalled the original. Let's just say you HEAR this car now before you see it. I LOVE it..the wife well lets just say she likes it when I get past 2700 RPM. I also use the standard stock air filter and I have had no issues. I will be de snorkling mine as soon as the weather permits as we dont drive it around in downpours.

It you have any questions let me know.

Yes I would be interested to know exactly how it sounds because I'm not after an over the top deafening rumble, lets justs say, something that will turn a few heads when you put your right foot down. You could hardly send me a video or sound clip by any chance? My local exhaust specailist would be able to do this easily I presume?

Thanks, Mark

J, question....I need to replace the water pump this spring and was also going to do the t-stat. I was looking at using the LN low temp one but our local Porsche dealership says to out the 'stock' 180 deg unit it. We have some hot summer days here in Pa like you do in Chi...how has your experience been with the LN unit? Any CEL lights or noticeable differences in the operating temps? Your input would be great before I spend the $170.00 on the low temp unit.

Regards,

Michael

I changed my coolant last spring since I was installing the LN low temp T-stat. I found driving the car under various conditions for few days with the bleeder valve open worked just fine. I would check the level periodically and top off as needed; there was no spillage in my case, either.

Lyn, I had the opportunity last year to do several DIY's on our 98 986 and I had the same questions. I asked around in the forum and discovered that the best solution was to invest in a quality low profile floor jack from Pep Boys with 4 excellent quality LOCKING jackstands. Then since the car has a 'unibody' weld running along the length of the car the best simplest solution for me was to construct using common hockey puck 'bumpers' that fit into the jack pad and the top of the jack stands. You cut a slot down the length of a puck and that fits into the unibody weld without crushing it. You place the jack far enough away so that once the car is in the air you can slide the jack stands in and place them on the jack points. For those bumpers I cut a oval sized piece from another puck and used a drywall screw to secure it to another puck creating a perfect fit that locks into the jack point without having a metal to metal contact point. The hockey pucks works great as they are vulcanized HARD rubber and they are appox $1.00 each you will need about 6 to fab these pads out. If you like I can take pics of the ones I made so you can see what they look like.

They work great and can be used over and over.

Have fun

m2

Mark, we have a 98 986 that had the baffles removed. It sounds great! Simple job...a local Porsche shop dropped the OEM original muffler cut the top off and removed the baffles then welded the top back on and reinstalled the original. Let's just say you HEAR this car now before you see it. I LOVE it..the wife well lets just say she likes it when I get past 2700 RPM. I also use the standard stock air filter and I have had no issues. I will be de snorkling mine as soon as the weather permits as we dont drive it around in downpours.

It you have any questions let me know.

Thanks for the advise and comments guys. I must admit that after the past few days researching this and talking to a few other people that own boxsters, I too, have came to the conclusion that the stock air filter is the best solution because of the MAF and fouling issues associated with the aftermarket filters. I think I may just install new stainless headers and an aftermarket muffler if I want a deeper sounding boxster.

Thanks for your help,

Mark

JFP, quick question we have a 98 986 that had it's poly belt serviced at 60k miles it just turned 90k and I have noticed on cold start (PA here as well) that the belt or one of the pulleys has a little 'slip' 'squeak' noise until it warms up then the noise vanishes. I'll be interested to see as the air temp increase if this condition goes away as the temp rises. Or would it be prudent to just swap it now and check all of the pulleys and housings for wear...also the water pump and thermostat are original. Upon inspection with the belt loose if there is any play in the WP pulley I might as well do that service to avoid bigger isssues down the road. Your thoughts?

Regards,

m2

A thought to keep in mind about the poly rib belt: It is one of the cheapest parts on the car (~$25 for the OEM unit), and it can be changed in about 20 min. by a total novice with simple hand tools. It also can both strand you and do a lot of damage to your engine if it fails. Change it regularly, and keep the old one in the car as a spare, just in case (they are not the easiest thing to find in a hurry)……….

J, it's a great idea to have the clutch serviced with the RMS since they have to drop the trans assem to get at the RMS bearing. Couple of questions...are you having any of the unfortunate tell tale signs of a RMS failure i.e. CEL, oil drips from the area, engine power issues etc etc? If not then other than for piece of mind would you opt for this service. Our 98 986 has 90k everyday miles on it with the original RMS and clutch and it runs and drives as it should. The clutch engages now about mid point and like yours shifts and drives perfectly. At 23k miles if they are original to the clutch I would think (if it's driven normally and not like a race car) that the clutch should be ok. Double check the RMS and the clutch suggestion before you spend allot of $$$. If indeed you do have the RMS going then it would be prudent to at least make sure that the clutch needs to be serviced since it will all be apart anyway. I hope neither is the case for your car.

Best of luck

m2

I had the same problem but in reverse (front trunk microswitch)...it ended up being the microswitch. Easily fixed....more time taking the internals off to get at it then actually replacing it. The rear is a bit easier. If after checking the fuse and you find it to be good (hopefully) then the switches are rather inexpensive.

Good luck...

m2

darkhorsemotorcars, I have our factory original sticker in good condition that I can scan for you. Ours is a 98 986 STOCK silver, balck cab top, leather interior. Just drop me a line with your email please.

Regards,

m2