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infocusf8

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Everything posted by infocusf8

  1. Well, I had the opposite experience when I bought my '99 with 74K miles. Although the car handled very well, compared to the cars I'd owned before, it had a harder, mushier ride than I expected from a Porsche. All the road imperfections (we have bad roads where I live) were being transferred right into the seats and my back was bothering me enough to contemplate selling the car. I decided to install the ROW M030 Sport suspension and the minute I drove off in the car it felt new again. The new suspension absorbs all the bumps and no longer transmits every jolt up my spine. I'm really happy with the handling now as it is what I had expected when I bought the car.
  2. What's wrong with the wheels you have? Have you ever seen your car in motion with those wheels it is a thing of beauty and you'll realize why Porsche chose them for the Boxster. The only reason I would change wheels would be to go to a lighter weight wheel like the S's had on them.
  3. I wouldn't go by percentages as, to my knowledge, there is no hard data to support the exact number of claims for failure or at what mileage. Porsche has some of the data for the motors they replaced but they have not released it. I bought my '99 with 74K miles and for another 10K miles tracked and AX'd it so it was driven hard. At 84K I decided I wanted to keep it for a long time and had the IMS and RMS replaced. I had the LN ceramic bearing put in because tests show that ceramics outlast metal 5:1. My OEM bearing showed some wear, a broken seal and smelled very burnt so it is hard to tell how much longer it would have gone. I made my decision, not based on fear of failure, but due to my wanting to give my car the best chance to survive so I can enjoy it. You should not rely on anyone else to make a decision such as that as it is an expense and it is your car.
  4. Don't start replacing parts at random, you will only create a money hole that will cause you frustration as well. Porsche has developed a diagnostic tree that will isolate the problem so you replace the right part if needed. It may seem like it costs a little more at first to go this route but it will have you back on the road enjoying your car and not having a CEL come on again a few hundred miles after random replacement. If you want to do anything check your gas cap first. Is it sealed (three clicks minimum), is the gasket on it in good condition? I only suggest this because some times people don't tighten the gas cap after refueling and it will cause a CEL with emissions related codes.
  5. Emissions codes and an eventual CEL. I would look around for a used one if you are concerned.
  6. One of the best mods I've done to my '99 Boxster is to upgrade the stock Brembo's (Black) to the Big Red Boxster S setup. There are no clearance issues with 17" wheels and the extra surface area on the rotors with larger calipers has been the difference, on the track, between really having to lay into the brakes in hard cornering and just having to tap the brakes to slow down. The rotors are crossed and slotted and you will run the risk of cracks and brake dust buildup but the difference in stopping ability for track, AX and street is dramatic. I run OEM brake pads, a high temp brake fluid (change before each race) and have installed the GT3 ducts ($6.50 ea. at Sonnen Porsche). It's an expensive procedure as the rear knuckles have to be changed to the S to accommodate the emergency brake cables but you can save money by picking up a good used set from a wrecking yard instead of new. An alternative would be to change the fronts out first (pretty much a direct swap) as the larger surface area is more of a benefit in the front and paint your rear calipers red to match.
  7. Just out of curiosity what led you to believe you had to replace the entire secondary air system? Was the air pump defective? I only ask because I had a similar problem last year and was told I needed to replace the entire secondary air system after two smoke tests revealed nothing. I found a mechanic who took off the intake manifold and found a small hose in the system had pulled off the valve. Once reconnected both codes went away and never returned. I agree with Porsche Nut you've still got a leak in that system somewhere. Have you checked the small bellows shaped rubber connector at the vacuum tank? Unless you are certain the O2 sensors are defective you are wasting your money replacing them.
  8. Find a set of the "Big Red" Brembo's with rotors for the front off an "S" on eBay or Craig's and change them out. The fronts are the most important and you can always repaint the rear calipers and change the rotors to drilled and slotted so they match visually. If you have 16" wheels on your '97 they will not work you need 17" or larger for them to fit. As JFP says changing out the rears is expensive as not only do you need to change out the carrier hubs but you need the emergency brake mechanism changed to the newer one as well. The other issue you will run into is the axles on your '97 are not as large a diameter as the "S" axles (the spline fits) and will not register on the ABS sensor that reads axle rotation and your ABS and airbag/ seatbelt lights will come on on the dash, so a reworked bracket that holds the sensor further down it's shaft has to be manufactured so it can read the rotation or you have to change out your axles. The rear can get very expensive to deal with on the pre "S" cars. I lucked out and found an auto dismantler who is also a Porsche mechanic and knew what he was doing and basically removed the rear suspension from a 2001 "S" and swapped it out on my '99 and the change from the OEM Brembo's to the Big Reds on the "S's" has been dramatic.
  9. PPI from a qualified Porsche mechanic is a must, have the dealer produce a Carfax and look at it as a reference only because they don't tell the whole story. Figure $1100-1600 for the 60K service depending on who does it and use that figure as a bargaining chip to work the price on them. Also use whatever else your PPI indicates doing as a bargaining chip.
  10. I had the ROW M030 suspension installed on my '99 a little over a year ago and can vouch for what insite is saying about handling. The first thing I noticed was the car felt new and on the drive home, from the install, I noticed how quickly and accurately the car moved around on the freeway at all speeds. One of the most welcome differences is the ROW suspension may feel like it makes no difference when going over bumps and potholes but my 64 year old back noticed that the suspension absorbes the bumps and potholes and doesn't transmit the shock up through the seat like the OEM suspension. The car is much more pleasant to drive. I've read recently that Porsche has stopped supplying the ROW and I hope this isn't true as, in my opinion, it is the best bang for buck suspension upgrade that can be done on the early Boxsters.
  11. It's too bad that you spent money needlessly replacing the items you replaced but they are the things that are commonly recommended to replace when emission codes come up. Have you done a search on this site by entering the code because I believe you will find a lot of information regarding what this code indicates? My recommendation is that you take the car to a mechanic who understands the Porsche diagnostic tree and has the equipment to track down the problem otherwise you will continue to "shotgun" replace parts that may not need to be replaced. I'm speaking from the experience of also needlessly spending money on parts replacement involving this code and others like it. After spending $700 the problem turned out to be a disconnected twenty five cent vacuum hose so please save yourself some grief and money and let someone who knows what they are doing fix it.
  12. First off I'd find another mechanic. That being said code P1602 is a voltage supply code and is probably what caused him to replace the battery but that code doesn't mean the battery is bad it just means there is low voltage triggering a code and the low voltage could be happening in the system not the battery. P1123 and P1125 are oxygen sensing problems in the cylinders causing the ECU to sense a lean mixture threshold. None of these codes are a reason to change the AOS. If the AOS goes bad it is accompanied by smoke continuously coming out of your tail pipe. Lots of smoke. Porsche codes are both good and bad. They are good because they tell you that a problem has come up in your car and/or that a problem is imminent. The codes are bad because they do not point to a specific part but to a system i.e. the emissions system which is the most common system in the car that will cause codes because the ECM is constantly adjusting air fuel mixture according to octane, air intake, altitude, what the O2 sensors sniff from the first set to the second set and etc. If something changes in the system, for instance a vacuum leak in the secondary air system, another common emissions code and CEL puller, you will get codes that indicate you have a problem in the system. It is why Porsche has developed a diagnostic "tree" to follow to narrow down the specific part{s} that have failed or will be failing. Shotgun mechanics either don't know the tree or get lazy and don't want to diagnose it so they start replacing parts hoping they get the right one. Problem is you pay for it in, sometimes, needless part replacement and returning codes. Find a mechanic who knows the diagnostic tree and knows how to use it you will save yourself a lot of grief.
  13. That's impressive. It sounds like what you expect a Boxster to sound like and I can imagine the performance is also what you'd expect fro a Boxster. Can you fill us in a little more on what you did and what V8 you used? Thanks!
  14. What caused your mechanic to replace the AOS? Was there a code indicating it had failed and or were you getting smoke from the tail pipe?
  15. +1 sounds like the water pump. IMS is said to sound like marbles in a coffee can and by then it's too late.
  16. Ok I know this is going to sound too simple but have you disconnected your battery then reconnected it? That should set everything back to square one.
  17. What do your tires look like after they've warmed up and you've run some laps? Are you checking the roll marks on the top side of the tires or using white shoe polish to see if your tires are inflated properly? You should see scuff marks right at the top of the diamond if they are inflated properly. If the scuff marks go into the diamond then you are under inflated (tire roll into the sidewall) and if they don't touch the top (riding on partial tread) you are over inflated. It looks to me like you are under inflated all the way around. I generally run 5 psi higher than Porsche recommended pressures for DE. My Porsche recommended pressures are 29F and 36R so I would be running 34F and 41R for DE and that just so happens to work perfect. Some guys run even higher.
  18. It can be done as I've personally seen it removed without removing the bumper but I can't tell you the step by step process. It took two people, one to hold the muffler and one to take off all the bolts holding it in, then the mechanic let one end drop down while the helper held the other in place until the one end had cleared the bumper then the muffler was pulled out at an angle towards the back of the car. Wish I could be more help but that is what I can remember.
  19. I have to ask this question although it may seem obvious but you are unlatching the top at the front position on the top middle of the windscreen? If you aren't you need to if you are and nothing is moving and you hear the motors running then there are two cables that the motors turn to lower and raise the top. They act like drive shafts and if the are broken or disconnected your top will not operate. This is probably the reason you were told it is in "manual" mode and that is only used to either raise or lower the top in a situation where the automatic feature is not working and is designed to be used once so you can get the car to a repair facility and have the top repaired. I would find myself a dealer or a good Porsche third party mechanic and take it in for evaluation because essai knows nada.
  20. Sonnen Porsche in San Rafael sold me the GT3 non RS ducts for $6.95 ea. and shipped them. They installed easily on my '99 Boxster. I've attached a pic of the right side installed.
  21. I'm also interested in this post as I've got a 986 2.5L '99 Boxster and would like to know more about what bypass pipes do and what to expect from them as far as installation and emissions errors.
  22. Ok I know this sounds far fetched but I've heard of someone solving this same problem by inserting the key in the door lock and locking and unlocking the door three times. Supposedly resets the communication between the key and the control module. Haven't had to try it so I don't know if it works but it could be worth a shot.
  23. Mine had 74K mi on it when I bought it and it was doing it then. I went ahead and did the service at 84K mi just to see if it would make a difference. Neither my mechanic or I have any explanation of why it worked it just did.
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