roger_mck

Before doing anything else I would clean the MAF - cheap and easy.

When I was getting those it turned out to be an air leak in the AOS area.

Worn out headlight switch?

Hmmmm...well, the headlights are working, and so are the fog/parking lights. I feel like something is shorted. Something else that is happening is that when I have the headlights on, I can hear a buzz in my speakers. And there is an clicking noise in the speakers whenever I am moving (headlghts on or off).

Not that it helps but my '99 has a similar problem. Oddly the chime sounds one time only when the light switch remains on or the key remains in the ignition. Doesn't sound at all for an unbuckled belt.

I figure the ol' gal just got tired of complaining.

Good luck!

if there's absolutely no start as in no noise/movement at all from the starter then head more towards the clutch interlock switch (assuming manual of course ;) ) or possibly even the ignition switch. Starters these days (even w/ a '99) don't really develop the "flat spots" like starters of yesteryear - not saying they can't 'burn up' but usually the symptoms are much different.

Definitely check the clutch interlock switch (see post # 6 in this thread - might try some compressed air and/or silicone spray on it to clean it up too). In a bind (also to see if it's the root of your problem) you can disconnect the plug and run a jumper b/w the wires - JUST MAKE SURE YOU ARE OUT OF GEAR (manual of course) W? PARKING BRAKe ON BEFORE TURNING THE IGNITION SWITCH

Good luck :)

I will try cleaning up the interlock switch first - Perhaps some gunk has just made the switch operation a bit spotty. Thanks for the advice.

or your starter motor is dying on you. Mine started displaying warm starting issues(slow crank) after 85k miles. Replaced it around 90k and it was fine after that. Get your bat checked like Phillip said and if it's okay, you might need to pull it and have a shop refurb it for you, or buy another one.

Thanks for the info, I'll start looking at both the battery and starter motor more closely.

This seems different though - It is definitely not a slow start however, it's a no start for the first 30-60 seconds. Then we're fine.

Just curious if any has experienced a similar issue.

This last winter on a couple of occasions my '99 failed to start on the first try. It would however start on the fourth or fifth try. It was clear that this only happened on the coldest days when the car had been sitting outside. Cold Florida days to be exact, somewhere below 50f.

It has happened a few more times since, and now recently when the outside temp was 80 degrees.

So this is getting worrisome. Fortunately after a 'few' tries the car has always come to life.

When it fails to start all is normal except for the lack of absolutely any starter response. No indication of a dead or failing battery. When it does start it fires right up as per normal.

'99 w/116k miles.

Thanks

My Boxster has got a cigarette smell inside. Any products you know of to remove it?

The smoke residue is oily so as Geoff remarked you must wipe down all of the interior surfaces. Any proper cleaner that also remove oil/grease will do.

I just replaced my Boxster's AOS on a 2003 with a 2.7L engine, 65,000 miles, 5 speed manual transmission. An unexpected byproduct is that an engine vibration at about 3200 rpm's that Porsche said was normal is completely gone. I also cleaned the MAF but surely that was not the fix. If you have a vibration that occurs after warm up when accelerating thru this rpm, driving on the highway at this rpm, and more pronounced decelerating in gear thru this rpm, and you have not replaced your AOS, you might just want to try this. I would welcome any dissertation anyone out there may have as to why this may be so, although I have my theory and told Porsche that in 2004.

Have at it.

Great job! Did you find it a difficult repair? For $90 this must be a DIY correct?

Two questions which I haven't found anything through the search for.

First, is there an alternate brand of oil filter that porsche sells under? Like GM is AC Delco and Dodge is Mopar and I think Ford is Motorcraft. If not, what brands would any of you recommend?

Second, my front trunk, when I pop the hood, it doesn't seem to pop up much and I struggle to get my fingers underneath it to lift it up a little so I can unlatch it and open it. I originally thought it was missing a spring or something was broke, but it kind of looks like this is how it is designed. Is that how it is designed, or is there something wrong with my latch?

Thanks!

You'll find that many of us have had to replace the latch - I seem to recall a price of around $165 - at least it is a really simple repair. It is a combination hood latch (metal) and sensor (plastic) and in many cases the plastic simply fails after awhile and things go south from there. I would say that if yours is more than 7 years old you're ahead of the game. Try a couple drops of oil and be gentle!!!

Nor have I seen this kit in person.

However, I know both Sunset Porsche and Suncoast Porsche were selling the OEM rear speaker kit's late last fall for $79.86 or some ridiculous price around there. Suncoast's site currently has them priced at $164.95 but you might want to inquire directly w/ each before jumping on the fleabay choice....

www.sunsetimports.net (Sunset in WA)

www.e-partssales.com (Suncoast in FL)

It's been awhile but I installed this kit a few years ago. You can find a couple great write-ups around here somewhere. You'll need a Dremel type cutting tool and some hot glue - other than that the install is a breeze.

NOTE that if is the exact same kit as many of us have, it does NOT produce what you would call 'hi-fi' sound. It adds more of a surround effect - quite nice for my tastes!

I'll head out and get a bulb - and some car wax. Then it's off to saturday night darts!!! A priority. Thanks guy. BTW do you know of anyone that sells an 'enhanced' air intake for the drivers side? You know, a (more) extended lip like the later modlels?

Easy.

There is a 3rd small incandescent bulb for the parking light back there. You switched the 2 large halogen bulbs for the high and low beams.

Pull the parking light bulb holder straight out. Then pull the bulb straight out of the holder. Standard automotive bulb that you can find at your local car parts store.

When you take the key out of the ignition, with the headlights switched on, the lights dim to sort of a 'glow'. My problem is that only the passenger side does this, no light from the drivers side at all. Just started the other day. Otherwise, the lights are frine.

I switched both bulbs from, from one side to the other. Still no light on the drivers side. Need help from someone who has been there before! Could this be the light switch?

Thanks - Roger - 99 daily driver

All of the posts have been quite interesting - as I have recently been tracking my gas mileage using lower (cheaper) mid-octane fuel. I am not recommending this to anyone, but as for me, the change has been quite surprising, probably due to oddities in the fuel system (timing?) unique to my car.

Anyway I have a '99 non-s and have historically gotten around 21-22 all 'round mpg. The car has also had rather poorer acceleration at proper running temperature, a bit better when the engine was cold/warming. No dyno tests, just seat of the pants observation.

With recent high gas prices, I figured what the heck - let's try a lower octane fuel. Another change which coincidentally has appeared at most all of the stations in the area at the same time, is a switch to a 7pct ethanol fuel mix. To my surprise I now get 24.5 mpg and better acceleration at proper running temp. No downside as far as I can tell. I can't really guess why, but imagine there may be some oddities in the engine timing or operation of the fuel injectors which as a whole work out pretty well.

As for my around town driving habits they are quite boring about 95 pct of the time - above average use of cruise around town, like to keep rpms high until cruising, put the thing in neutral and coast at the mere suggestion of a red light somewhere ahead. The other 5 pct though... is pure fun!

FYI the most recent Porsche Parade magazine has a very good article describing the use of ethanol-mix fuels.

I am also considering getting the ROW MO30 kit for my 02 996 do you know where could I find the alingment setings? do they come with the kit??

Thanks

I didn't get any w/mine

1) I assume that you run without PSM on of course, and you mention the ease of rotating with a breathe. I may be over-reading that comment, but I'm not sure I would want the car to rotate that easily on the street. Would you say that the point at which it will do this is well above even spirited street driving? What affect do you think PSM being on would have (would it upset the car)?

blue's right, no PSM on '99. as for ease of rotation, this only occurs when you're at or near the limit of adhesion. it's not like you'd be driving around town, lift, and spin the car. for track use, though, when you're at the limit, you want to be able to easily steer with the throttle. more gas should push you wide, less gas should tighten the line / rotate the car. the M030 sways really improve this. as for the PSM, it's my understanding that it really doesn't kick in until your slip angle is high and still increasing. i don't think it would upset the car.

Just thought I'd jump in on the M030 RoW - I also have a '99 and recently installed the M030 Row package. I agree with everything I've seen here and will just add my own observations. First is that I need to experiment with the tires, I was trying to reduce understeer by running the fronts at 32 and the rears at 37 - I have an autocross day Saturday and will try running at 37 all the way around. Also the extent of the lowering is about an inch in front, but this hasn't caused me any daily driving issues at all. The car does seem more stable at higher speeds. Also the setup doesn't fell as stiff as one might expect, just a bit of a stiffer feel but with noticably less body roll. Bought mine from Suncoast in Sarasota FL for 999, even though they were out of stock an order from Germany was at my doorstep in two weeks, maybe a day or two less. When you first see the springs it is surprising how much fatter and shorter they are - inches shorter than what came off my car. I'll see if I can find a post the link to a good article on the PCA website.

you can get the same M030 RoW kit from sunset for about the same price (shipped). they'll expidite shipping for $20 - $30.

Thanks! I definitely appreciate your advice, there are several suspension upgrades available and I am not an expert in the field! But it will be a stretch for the pocketbook. Such problems - new leather couch, HDTV, or suspension for the Boxster...

Can anyone enlighten me as to the theory behind 'coilovers'? Looks like a spring and strut combo that allows you to keep the existing springs in place as well?

Yes, starting in 2000 the 2.5 became a 2.7 for the base model through a slight increase in crankshaft stroke. The 2.7 was evolved into a 3.2. Both using a new DME 7.2.

I just had the clutch replaced on my 99 2.5 Boxster. The mechanic that did the work told me that he had ordered a 2.5 clutch (which was too small ) and had to return it in favor of the 2.7. Since the 2.7 clutch is a bit bigger this is great, but now I'm confused. Why would this car have the larger clutch? Is the an artifact of the cross over in 99 from 2.5 to 2.7? The car was manufactured in April 1999, Finland. I am not the original owner.

I have a '99 Boxster with about 94k miles and it is time for new struts in the rear, probably it is best to replace all the way around.

Does anyone have suggestions as to a good/stiffer strut that I can use for better cornering performance? I also am not sure if I may need to get new springs to compliment the stiffer strut. Don't have lots of $$ to spend, so any advice is most welcome. If I can get 80% of what I am looking for with just the new struts then I'll be a very satisfied driver!

In March of ’06, I bought my first Porsche, an ’01 Boxster with an extremely low 18k miles on it. The tires looked to have 50% treadlife remaining on the Kumho Ecsta AST on Porsche Sport Classic II OEM rims. At the time it didn’t bother me much, but I wondered if they were the original tires, just halfway through their treadlife span but 5 years old already. Since I purchased the car, I have spun out in wet weather twice, one time doing an entire 360. I am NOT an aggressive driver, and I feel very unsafe in the rain, to the point where I take turns at 3mph and get honked at by those behind me. The dealer inspected the car over the weekend, and I found out that the rear tires were in worse shape than I thought – and that there was no way a dealership would sell a new Porsche with those tires on them so they must not have been original equipment. When I went to look up new tires for the vehicle, I discovered that the Kumhos I have are about the cheapest tires you can buy to fit my rims.

In short, I would hate to think that the car is intrinsically horrible in the rain (when driving slowly and as safely as possible). I prefer to think that my horrible traction is due to the tires. What kind of tires to you guys use on your vehicle, specifically for wet weather traction?

Thanks for any info.

I just bought four of the Goodyear Eagle F1 GS-D3's and they're performing great for me in both wet and dry conditions. Much better than my old Conti's. Check out the tread pattern on these and you will see why they do so well on wet roads. Tread life is rated at 280 which is very good for a performance tire.

I have a 99 boxster and had those codes as well. Removing the MAF sensor and cleaning it with a solvent that doesn't leave a residue fixed it and that was over a year ago. I blasted it with gumout brake cleaner but I'm sure there are probably better cleaners to use that other forum members will suggest.

I did try cleaning the MAF, but to no avail. I wish I knew what the proper air flow reading should be for my car at idle speed. I saw somewhere that it should be around 4.8g/s, my MAF is reading about 3.8 or less. But the readings could be accurate if there is an air leak somewhere downstream of the MAF.

For now I'm assuming the MAF is OK, it's less than one year old. I don't really know how to test either it or the idle control valve. I'm wondering if the ICV might be failing to hold a steady position.

I have been getting codes 1124 and 1126 recently in my 99 Boxster. I replaced the fuel filter which did seem to help the engines performance, but the codes came back. I took it to a local mechanic who couldn't find any vacuum leaks, he suggested replacing the MAF.

Well, the MAF was already replaced about 10 months ago and I presume it's working OK. To help diagnose what is going on I purchased the ISO version of Car-Code an OBD-II scanner.

The MAF readings with a hot engine at idle are around 3.5g/s which I understand to be low. But the readings do remain pretty steady and increase w/throttle position. The short term fuel trim values on both banks jump around from around -9 to +9 per cent, usually on the plus side.

I have become suspicious of the ICV and ran the engine at idle with it disconnected. The MAF readings jumped up to 5.5 with the engine idle around 1000 rpm. The short term fuel trim values seemed to vary a bit less, between -7 and +7 per cent.

Does anyone else here have experience w/Car-Code? I want to get the O2 sensor readings but it claims that the 'non continuously monitored systems' check for O2 are not complete and it can't provide accurate data. There are probably things I could do with this software - but haven't discovered yet.

Thanks everyone for your help!

After some investigating I see tht this is part of the air injection system - I belive it's a vacuum reservoir.

The part I'm looking at is more towards the front of the engine - and underneath the intake manifold. It's shaped like an oil filter with a slot cut into it.

Could someone tell me what the cylindrical thing is in the pic below? This is a 99 Boxster 2.5 base engine.

It's hard to tell what you're looking at in the next picture, but it is a close-up of the base of the cylinder. It has a small amount of oil leaking from around the tube that's connected there. The arrow then points to a...?

Thanks everyone! I'm learning...