Elucidus

Good luck. Let us know how it goes with the independent... make sure to swing by the dealership and do some donuts after the car's all patched up. :)

Having just wrote a book about 101 things to fix on your Boxster, I'd say that they are way more reliable than some Porsches that have been produced in the past. That said, I would estimate that the bar has been set pretty darn high by Honda and Toyota in the pursuit of higher quality. Bottomline, I'm guessing that the Boxster has more problems than a Honda Accord. But it's also a performance car, and there's no such thing in life as a free lunch - you have to have tradeoffs...

-Wayne

One would think with the Boxster starting at almost 30 grand more than the Accord, that would have been the tradeoff. ;)

Howdy all :)

My MY03 986S has a CDR-23 head unit, with the subs in the doors, and the amp in the front boot. I noticed when listening to an ad on the radio, that usually had a woman talking out of the left speaker, and the man talking out of the right. In my car, the woman (left) comes out of BOTH front dash speakers, and the man (right) comes out of the subs only.

Further, if I wind the balance from left to right, it actually fades the sound from both dash speakers, to both subs. Surely this isn't right?! I can't think why it would be this way, unless somebody added the amp later & messed the wiring up, although it all appears to be factory wiring to me.

Any thoughts or ideas?

It sounds to me like someone screwed it up. It shouldn't be hard to fix it, once you get your hands on the wiring diagram.

That being said, I can't wait to rip mine out and put something else in.

I'm planning on doing an aftermarket head-unit on my 03 Boxster. The head unit is acting up on very rare occasion, but I'd like to have Bluetooth and MP3 capabilities for long haul trips.

The car currently has all the Bose / MOST junk in it. I'm aware that I'll have to do a slight rewire to get the front and door speakers working again. (Pretty much assuming I'll have to run the wires from the front amp straight to the head unit until I do a full-blown amplifier setup. Not sure how hard it'll be to wire that back to the head-unit, but I guess I'll find out.)

Anyhow, the big question is what does the audible beeping for the parking assistant feature? My car has chickenpox on the rear bumper, and as long as its there, I'd like to keep it functional. Does it go through the MOST bus and out via the system, or does it have its own speaker somewhere?

*EDIT*

Nevermind! Figured this one out myself. The parking assist runs off the same sound as the door chime. Disconnecting the amp had no effect.

I have this same issue currently as well. I read a thread that had a good DIY on taking the starter apart and using white lightening grease (I think) to fix the starter of a VW, but it seems it has disappeared. I don't know much about the insides of a starter. Does anybody have any kind of link or instructions (detailed preferably) on what to do w/the starter once removed?

Any chance you meant "white lithium grease"?

so i was able to install the new head unit easily enough - thanks for the tips. the new unit didn't slide in very easily and i had to hammer in the sides a bit to squeeze it in.

however, in my haste to install the new unit, i forgot to remove a cd from the original Becker unit. does anyone know if it is possible to remove a cd from the becker unit without reinstalling it?

thanks

If you know the pin configuration and secret code for the receiver, you can probably just wire it straight up to the battery to turn it on and pop out the CD.

Alternatively, most car stereo shops have a rig setup to do something similar, you will still need the radio code though.

I am thinking of getting a 986S with the 3.2 engine or an early 987S. I am an autox junkie, and think either one would be a great local SCCA BSP class car until we finally convince the SCCA to accept them into STR. Anyway, I know the early 987's make some great Hp, but I would guess the weight is up on the 987. Does anyone have any real world (not factory propoganda) corner weight type data on the 986 vs. 987?

You're building a BSP car - which is quite awesome.

In your case, the best BSP car would be the most stripped out car you can find - most likely a '97-99 Boxster, and installing an M97 powerplant in it. (The beneficial thing here is that ALL Boxsters and Caymans are on the same line, so any engine that ever landed in a Boxster is up for grabs.)

There are some technical hurdles there, but with enough time and effort there's no reason it couldn't be done.

Springs are unlimited as long as you maintain the stock configuration, and since Boxsters are coil sprung from the factory you can install adjustable height coil-overs and modify the corner weight as you see fit.

Also, exhaust is unlimited, so toss the cats, put on a big set of headers, open exhaust, a custom intake and tune, and you could be looking at ~350 hp and 2600-2700 lbs wet. (Don't forget, seats are unlimited in BSP too, as are wheels :) )

If I had the cash and wasn't already actively competing in SS, I'd heavily consider such a project...

Hi it is a 2000 boxster s.driving from 2nd to 3rd noticed no tension in pedal and shift would not go into third. No previous symptoms indicating clutch about to go. Can you help diagnose. Thank you

When you say "no tension in the pedal", did the pedal drop to the floor, or just feel generally weak? Could be a hydraulic issue.

1) check torque of all components changed

2) make sure to grease anything that may need to be greased. (on Corvettes, sway bar bushings need polyurethane grease between the metal and bushing or you'll get a pop/clunk as the suspension flexes)

3) It may simply be that that design is noisy. It's a bit more solid than your average rubber or poly bushing.

What kind of bushings are in the adjustable arms?

If you want to take it a notch further, the factory 997 sport shifter (997.424.983.00 I believe) is incredible. It came on my car and it's just awesome. I don't know how it compares to aftermarket like B&M, but I'll never have a P-car without it again. :)

Mark

From my research, they're the same piece, just P-branded for the OEM setup.

My opinion is that cars with non-matching hardtops looked pieced together, you may as well toss a black door on one side too.

Black works a little better, I definitely agree with the sentiment that any other color would look absolutely dreadful.

My 2004 anniversary boxster with 60,000 miles + has had a catastrophic bearing failure of the intermediate shaft. Does anyone have a replacement engine?

Sorry for your misfortune. I believe the 50th's engine has the same internals as a regular Boxster S of same vintage, so that should open up some options for you.

There are a few engine builders on this board who might chime in on a good source for the motor. Have you priced one with Porsche?

Thank you for the input. I am awaiting with bated breath the estimate from my friendly Porsche dealer for replacement. I hope some of those folks chime in because that is one of the things I have been wondering. There is a horsepower difference but is it just mapping or exhaust and induction? I would like to keep the car original in spec.

I think it's probably just an air intake and maybe a tuning change. Send Loren a PM - he should be able to help out.

Um... the same 3.4 liter engine is used in the Cayman.

Your point?

Via our smog laws, it's not legal to just jam the 3.4 in there. A 2.7L block is different than the 3.4L block in casting number, no? And if one were to run the casting numbers, they would discover that the 3.4 is not a direct replacement for the 2.7.

Of course, all of this depends on whether or not the guy is going to lift the Boxster off the ground, read the casting numbers, run the casting numbers and find out they're not legal, and actually choose not to pass you on that.

As I'm sure you know, there's a difference between being smog legal and passing the smog check.

Technically, in CA you can only replace your engine and its components with CARB approved or OEM replacement parts.

HOWEVER, you can also do an engine swap with any motor newer than yours, you have to replicate the configuration of the original motor and have it tested by a ref with the state BAR. (bureau of automotive repair) (It may work for same year as well, but I can't remember off the top of my head and I don't want to misdirect you.)

IE, you could stick a 2004 GT3 engine in there, as long as the emissions systems were replicated on the 01 Boxster, you'd be fine.

However, you can't stick a 1999 911 engine into a 2001 Boxster.

Fuse E6 took care of it, you guys are gods among men :) thank you

Glad to be of service - if it blows soon after, odds are the telephone connector is grounding out against something behind the dash. Do a search and you'll find your answer about how to get it out, then cover the connector with electrical tape.

I just took my 2002 Boxster S out for the summer after putting it up since September. It worked fine when I put it up..but now when I try to fill my gas tank it gets about .4 gallons and then spits out.

And I mean literally spits. It bubbles and spits, like there's some kind of pressure pushing it back out. Air pressure it seems. According to my ticker I can drive 0 miles before I run out of gas so I need to figure this out NOW! :( this is very frustrating, please please please help if you have any idea.

I saw on the FAQ about the filler flap problem, but this seems different since I get more than .1 gallons in and because of the air pressure pushing it back out, but maybe I'm wrong.

Many thanks in advance

After you take the cap off, stick your finger into the tube and push the filler flap in. If you don't hear a click, odds are fuse E6 is blown... there's more info on this subject if you do a search. Good luck!

I have an '02 Boxster base with about 50K miles on it (80K km). I get the reported problems with engine mounts: vibration down-reving at 3000 and trouble shifting especially 1st to 2nd. So I suspect the engine mount and will be bringing in to a shop to get a new engine mount in the next few weeks.

Any opinions on whether I should get just the engine mount replaced or engine mounts & transmissions mounts replaced?

I would sooner not spend the extra bucks on the transmission mounts but also don't want to make two trips to the shop.

I have an 03 S with 45,000 mi and from what I understand it is mainly just the front. I will be replacing mine next week. The part is only about $100.00 and it doesn't look so difficult to replace. http://www.pedrosgar...gine_Mount.html

Make sure to get the car decently high, and it's best to lift both the front and back because you'll need to remove undercarriage panels almost all the way along the bottom of the car.

Some of the bolts are really tricky to get at, IE, expect to get frustrated.

At the end of the day, it's not too bad though.

I was looking into a dual 555 timer circuit operating relays for open/close. The timers need not be precisely accurate and would be set for the longest duration to close/open as the roof has it's own micro switches and these would still be in circuit.

ie You could keep the button depressed for 10 mins if you wanted and no harm would be done. The longest my roof takes to open is 10 secs foe example so the timer would be 13 secs.

It would need an interlock though in case the open was activated then the close within the timer period.

What about a short timer coupled with something that reads signal from the light for the top?

IE

1. push button

2 time 1-2 seconds (enough to get the light triggered)

3. continue current operation until signal to roof light is gone

(yes, I'm a software engineer, so I'm great at telling logical concepts what to do. :D)

porsche dealer or porsche independant? which one is the cheaper option and which one is the most knowledgeable option?

The RennShop in Santa Clara has a really good rep.