geoff

I'm in a similar situation, except my Cayenne S was scheduled for a March 17 build completion. (That's St Patrick's day - I wonder if I should be worried :o ) I won't see the truck for probably another 4-6 weeks, but thinking about it already I am also starting to wonder about mods. Do a lot of people do things like debadge the rear, remove the ugly airbag stickers on the sun visors, swap the locking wheel bolts for non-locking ones, bother with LoJack, etc.? Any other basics? I'm thinking about Bumper Plugs, but the local law enforcement types around here can be hard nosed at times. All of our other P-cars have front plates and haven't had any problems, so don't want to do anything that might change my luck so far. Since this car will be an extra vehicle (Boxster and Carrera stay as primary cars), is there a problem with keeping the battery charged when sitting for a while? The Pepper will live outside, and I'm curious if anyone has tried the solar battery maintainer like the one Carnewal advertises? See http://www.carnewal-europe.com/cpx_p050.htm Order specs: 2008 Cayenne S Meteor Gray Metallic Black Leather Interior Front & rear floor mats int color Light comfort package / memory Preferred package plus (Moonroof, Trailer hitch, Heated seats & steer whl, Wheel hub covers color crest, Bose, 6 disk CD, Bi-Xenon headlight, PCM) Porsche crest in headrest Soft look leather Comfort Seats memory Park assist Compass Display Air suspens w PASM Var assist power steer 19" Cayenne design whl Dark wood package w lever Exterior package black

I sprayed some of this on my red clip and it was pretty close to the color and texture of the black soft touch finish. I'm not sure how well it would hold up on interior parts, not that the "soft touch" finish is all that great. When my car was under warranty, I think the dealer replaced just about every interior part with that finish at least once. When it gets bad enough, since I have to pay now, I plan to talk to the plug guy about replacement parts.

Here's what I did - different from most, but certainly one option. Replacing dash speakers, Another approach Most people cut apart the old plates. Maybe you're thinking of VFXBOX's mounting bracket. I would use those if I had to do it all over again

+1 more for Chevron. Everyone always says "gas is gas". I've noticed I don't get as good mileage with some other brands (Mobil) compared to Chevron. When I cleaned my throttle body at 51K miles, it wasn't nearly as gunked up as I expected it would be based on all the pictures I've seen. Not sure how much the Techron added to Chevron gas had to do with that, but I'm not complaining :D I travel a lot for work. I parked at an off-airport parking lot (cheap) outside LAX, and took the shuttle bus to the terminal. For some reason, one day the subject of gas came up among the passengers and driver. I think the topic was gas mileage and how well cars run. The bus driver said he found cars in general run better with Chevron than other brands, and get better mileage. Of the 5 or 6 passengers, at least 4 said they agreed with the driver. Totally unscientific survey FWIW, but interesting if you would have been there. It was especially surprising to see so many people agree on one thing

Thanks Loren - but is there any benefit to unplugging the battery so the DME gets the new MAF parameters when going from the 125 00 to the 125 01 MAF, or won't it make a difference? And any thoughts on whether the idle issue I mentioned was related to the MAF or just a coincidence?

You are correct if you upgrade to the newer part number (...125 01) then you must use a PST2 or PIWIS to update the DME map. Loren, I resolved my CEL (P1130) by replacing the MAF on my '01 Boxster. The original MAF was 986 606 125 00 (Bosch number 0 280 218 054) and the replacement part from Sunset was the newer 01 version (which supersedes the 00 version per the PET and retail price search), but it had the same Bosch 0 280... number. I read Boxster TSB 2445 (Air Flow Sensor) dated Apr 6, 2001. It specifically says the earlier E-gas MAF (996 606 124 00) needs to have the DME reprogrammed when replacing the 996 606 124 00 MAF with the newer 986 606 125 00 one. I can't find any later TSB that says anything about reprogramming the DME when replacing the ...125 00 MAF with the ...125 01 one. Is there any definitive way to confirm whether or not my DME needs to be reprogrammed for the newer MAF I just installed? Or do I need to bite the bullet and just have the dealer update the DME with a PST2 or PIWIS? I did notice after replacing the MAF, my car wasn't idling as smoothly as before. Based on the year and mileage (51K miles), my first guess was a dirty throttle body, which I pulled out and cleaned (it wasn't all that dirty, but the car idles smoothly again after the cleaning). I haven't figured out if the idle issue was somehow related to the MAF replacement, or coincidentally the throttle body got just dirty enough at approximately the same mileage to cause the uneven idle.

Final (?) update: The new MAF from Sunset came and I swapped it in about 6 weeks ago. The check engine light still hasn't come back on in over 500 miles of driving. I took the car in to the dealer yesterday for the annual high priced oil change, and they reported back no codes. It looks like replacing the MAF solved the problem I did notice after replacing the MAF my car started idling a little uneven, and at idle when putting the top up the idle stumbled once or twice. From what I found on here, idle issues on a car with 50+K miles are usually indicative of a gunked up throttle body, so I cleaned the throttle body the other week. It didn't look all that dirty, but the car idles just fine now. I have no idea whether there's any correlation between replacing the MAF and then having the idle start misbehaving or not, or whether it's mostly a function of the car getting to around 50K miles, but I guess the car is starting to get enough miles on it that a few more things will start needing attention at some point in the near future (is my motor mount the next to go?).

If your car shakes around 70+MPH, it sounds likely that one of the stick on wheel weights has come off. I've had good luck with the America's Tire chain, but I buy tires there and they will do the wheel balancing for free For Porsche alignment in the southbay, I had great results from Steve Alarcon at Johnson's Alignment in Torrance and would definitely use him again

No problem. I wish I could have come up with the magic sequence of twisting, wiggling and swearing that worked for getting the tube off and later back on the throttle body. If not for that challenge, the whole task is just a little more than a half hour job. If anyone has any tricks or tips, I'd love to hear for the next time. Maybe Loren or TP know some magic trick :P

I just cleaned the throttle body for the first time on my '01 2.7 this past weekend (yesterday - Sunday). Despite all the discussion on this in the past, I had trouble searching for the procedure for getting to the throttle body and removing it. Here's what I did: Loosened the hose clamps on both ends of the plastic tube [1 in your first picture] running from just past the MAF / air filter box [3] to the throttle body [2]. As you noted, the end [3] that butts up to the MAF comes off pretty easily. The other end that joins the throttle body i[2] s a real pain to get off. I pulled, twisted and wiggled for about 30 minutes, and somehow just got the right combination of moves and it finally came off. My hands aren't that large, but my knuckles are pretty beat up. I found it's easiest to access from the driver's rear fender side. Don't worry about the trouble getting it off, because it's even harder to get back on! I don't think it's possible to get the throttle body off without disconnecting the plastic tube at [2], but if there is, it would probably save half an hour or so. Same comment applies to reassembly. I haven't read about anyone using a blow dryer to heat up the plastic tube at [2] to expand it to get it on and off easier. I was going to try that if all else failed after a few hours. Somehow, the plastic tube just came off after struggling for a while. Once the black plastic tube is off, pull it out and set it aside. It was clean on the inside, but I wiped the outside down with several rounds of Simple Green, followed with water to get the Simple Green residue off. The throttle body comes off by unscrewing the 4 long bolts with a metric hex driver. The 2 long bolts on the driver's side have washers, and the 2 on the passenger side do not. Once you have the 4 bolts off, the throttle body is still connected with an electrical connector (e-Gas models), which simply unplugs. Pay attention to the orientation of everything. You'll notice on the throttle body there's an arrow that lines up with an arrow on the plastic air tube (visible in your second photo). Cleaning the throttle body is the easy part. Just keep spraying throttle body cleaner and wiping the crud off. You can push the flap open to get all the way through - it's spring loaded so watch your fingers. I also tried wiping down the tubing on the back side of the throttle body, but it was pretty clean inside (at 51K miles). The only hard part (as you would expect) is getting the plastic pipe [1] back onto the throttle body [2] after the throttle body is reattached. Expect another 30+ minutes of pushing, twisting, wiggling, swearing, etc. I lightly sprayed some silicon spray on a paper towel, then wiped it on the outside of the throttle body and inside of the plastic pipe. Hard to tell if it helped or not, but it didn't hurt. After everything is put back together, start you car and make sure everything runs and the throttle works before closing everything up. When I was all done, I gently re-tightened all the hose clamps since several felt semi-loose I don't think it matters how dirty the throttle body is on the outside for how your car runs! It's the inside that counts. But there's no reason not to clean up the outside when you have the throttle body out

I searched and couldn't really find a good answer... My '01 2.7 has the door subwoofers as stock, so I think I have the 4x40 amp. From what I've read, I'll get the best bass from the doors with the fader set to the middle. If I pick up a 6x60 amp on fleabay, trim off some connector tabs to it to fit, will the sound be any different? Or will I just have the bragging rights that come with a 6x60 amp? Will the 6x60 amp only provide a benefit in conjunction with adding rear speakers to the storage box?

I can't speak for new Boxsters, because I'm planning on keeping mine. But we just went through the process of ordering a new Cayenne (to add to our current P-cars). Before I go into details, the things I found were that huge discounts on new cars from a few years ago are much harder to find, and starting next model year, several dealers have reported smaller allocations and they will need to plan their orders further in advance. When people online talk about negotiating big discounts on Porsches, you need to confirm it is for the '08 model year and not their experience from a few years ago. We started looking by talking to a friend who is the fleet manager at a local Porsche/Audi dealer. The best he could offer was the fleet price (less than $4K off MSRP). I was unimpressed. We started talking to a different local dealer where we bought our Boxster and 997, and have the cars serviced, but didn't talk price specifics. I asked for experiences on a few forums - ppbb.com and rennlist. While in Albuquerque for a business trip, I stopped by the dealer, discussed price, and was quoted $3K over dealer invoice, but no car order possible until late Summer (they didn't have any '08 allocation left, so it would be an '09 build). Again talked to dealer where we bought our cars and have them serviced. I said I would be happy with 10% off MSRP. They said no-go, and after several days came back and said markup on the cars was 12%, and they were willing to split the difference because of our past relationship with them. I exchanged emails with an east coast dealer who saw my post on rennlist, and he couldn't beat the deal. I now have a build-to-order Cayenne scheduled for production some time in March, at about 6% off MSRP. It's not a terrific deal, but it is fair and I don't feel bad about it. Many dealers appear to be running out of their '08 allocations now, so are less likely to negotiate on price. Dealer relationships (i.e., you've spent a lot of money there) do seem to count, even more than friendships. Dealers prefer to sell vehicles in stock rather than take orders for customer specified configurations. US allocations from Porsche will probably be lower in '09 than '08, and given the pathetic value of the dollar, I would expect the prices to go up next year. (More cars going to emerging markets, Middle East, Russia, etc where there is plenty of money) I think the sales numbers for Boxsters are down quite a bit, and Porsche is not overselling like in the past, possibly in an effort to keep resale values up (i.e., lease residuals). If you are going for a custom order, dealers are probably a little more flexible price-wise on "good" configurations instead of "bad" ones. If you back out of the deal, they still have to sell the car, and odd option combinations will be harder for them to get rid of. They liked the configuration we put together - a good mix of options for driving and looks - and didn't ask for any deposit. They knew we were serious buyers, but figured the car would be easy to sell as configured if for some reason we didn't buy it. If you go to edmunds.com, you can get their supposed "true market value". That price is somewhat meaningless, but you can get the true cost of options, and if you configure the car you want and email it to a salesman you are working with, it will give some indication you have done your homework and understand how much markup there is on options. It could help negotiate a few $ off, but probably not much. I have also read that Porsche is cracking down on dealers selling at or below invoice. While it's legal to do so, Porsche supposedly withholds future new car allocations from any dealer selling too low. Also be careful of any advice telling you to buy in Canada and import into the US. You're not supposed to do that, and US dealers don't have to honor the warranty. If you have lots of time, the usual car buying advice probably applies - wait until the end of the month / end of quarter, contact every dealer you possibly can, contact dealers in areas where the economy is slow, etc. However, keep in mind you have to get the car serviced - and warranty repairs done - so make sure the dealer where you go for service will gladly take care of you if you buy elsewhere (i.e., free loaner cars for customers who bought from them vs. no loaner if bought elsewhere, etc.)

We saw one at the dealer last month when looking at Cayennes. You could see every fingerprint on the paint (the sales guys had already given up on keeping it clean and shiny after less than a week), and someone had already scratched one of the the strips, either walking by or with a fingernail.

I had the same experience with my '01 right around Thanksgiving at 50K miles. I went to AutoZone, gave them a credit card deposit, and they loaned me one of their Actron OBD2 readers. It worked fine and said I had a P1130. I reset the code which turned off the light. When the CEL came back on a few tanks of gas later, I think I tracked it down to a mass air flow sensor, and repeated the AutoZone process and haven't had my CEL back If you do a search here on Durametric, you'll find a lot of comments on their Porsche specific diagnostic tool which does a lot more than the generic OBD2 readers. I plan on getting one the next time I have a check engine light

My wife's '05 997 was just like yours - didn't have Nav but she wanted it. I just tracked down the invoice (dated late April 2005, so prices might have gone up) Labor was 4.00 "units" - which I think translates to 4.0 hours, for a cost of $460 (and this is not a cheap dealer in terms of service). We also ordered the parts from the dealer (they typically won't install parts brought in by customers) for retail price of $2690 (p/n 997-044=900-70). PCA discount dropped the parts and labor cost by 10%. My wife likes the Nav a lot, even though she usually just looks at the map when she's driving, but wishes it was smart enough to pick up traffic information, display delays and dynamically reroute around accidents and slow downs! Don't we all wish

Loren - how much difference is there between the 996 OBD2 (DME 5.2.2) and the later DME 7.2 on an '01 Boxster? Similar enough to still be of value, or significant changes / advances?

I think the Ruf hood emblem takes care of the prestige factor more than what's "under the hood." He's happy to explain his car to those that are interested, and doesn't worry about those who glance at his car and see it as a low-end Porsche, "Porsche in panties," poser car, or whatever. His car has been in print a few times, and he's been invited to several supercar road events where he holds his own quite well against everything else out there, so he's not really too worried about whether he impresses anyone or not. He does thoroughly enjoy driving the car, which is what it's really all about. He also likes his Rufized 987S more than the Ferrari he had a while ago (I think it was a 355) and says this car is much faster as well. My take on these cars is that any of the cars being considered in this post are vastly superior to 99+% of the cars out there, and most drivers will never come close to being able to take advantage of 2/3 of what any of these cars are capable of. To me, that's more prestige than whether it has a Bentley, AMG, blue propellor, prancing horse or whatever other badge on it. Cost, prestige, performance, looks and handling all factor into which one is selected. Living in the LA area, prestige for cars is different than many parts of the country, so to some extent my perspective might be more jaded than most (seeing 25 or so Ferraris in a row driving through the canyons on a nice weekend isn't all that unusual). As far as I'm concerned, any modern Porsche is really a supercar that delivers a "gourmet driving" experience, is reliable enough to drive every day and will always put a smile on my face. That's enough prestige for me I apologise to Loren in advance for this post, since I realize this is supposed to be a technical Porsche forum and while driving dynamics discussion is somewhat technical, what type of car badge and it's relative prestige hardly qualifies. Hopefully my suggestion on stuffing a Carrera engine in your Boxster will save me

I also have an '01 986, 51K miles, great condition. I love driving the car. My wife drives an '05 997, but I end up driving it when we take it anywhere, so I've got a lot of time in both cars. The more your drive a rear engine Porsche compared to your mid-engine Boxster, the more you start to notice and appreciate the differences. There's no question the 911 has more power, which is intoxicating when driving, although the Boxster is quite capable of getting anyone into plenty of trouble with the local law enforcement types. The driving dynamics of the two cars are completely different. The more I drive both cars, the more I appreciate the Boxster handling characteristics. The Boxster will never have the prestige of a 911 in most circles, nor will it have the room behind the front seats. I suggest you spend some time driving a 996 and your car back to back to determine how much of a factor the driving dynamics make in your decision to "trade up" A friend with enough money got rid of his '00 Boxster S and bought a new Boxster S, sent it straight to Ruf and had a 997 S engine with the powerkit put in. It drives like 80% of what I expect a Carrera GT would drive like, but at 20% of the cost. It's his daily driver. I think Excellence did an article on it some time last year. If that sounds appealing, you might want to keep your Boxster and stuff a more powerful Carrera engine in it, along with some suspension enhancements. You could do the suspension now and the engine upgrade when/if yours dies or you get the urge for something "better" No matter what you decide, the worst that can happen is you'll be driving a nice Porsche

Bill, Gorgeous car! Thanks for the pictures - I didn't pay any attention to Cayenne roofs when we were out looking, and didn't feel like going out today in the rain to see how Cayenne roofs look. I'm surprised Porsche doesn't have the rail guides covered like they do on the Carrera, given their attention to aesthetics. I'll have to take a look at some older ones and see how they hold up in the elements, as the Cayenne won't displace the Boxster and Carrera in our 2 car garage. If you don't mind my asking, did you get any kind of discount on your '08 Cayenne? We haven't started talking price with the dealer, but having any current model year sales information from So Cal always helps Was terra cotta a special color? It looks great in your picture, but I didn't see it in the sales booklet. Is it the same as sand beige (one of the colors we're looking at)?

We're looking to buy a new Cayenne S (in large part for our new dog). The new Cayennes drive great, until you drive an S, then the decision is all over. It's been next to impossible to find exactly the car we want (meteor gray S with black supple leather, HIDs and various other options), but have found one that's really close, except it's black with beige interior and has the roof rails with protection strips in black (option code 3S5) I can live with the black/beige color scheme, but don't really want stuff on the roof. From the older Cayenne parts book, the rails come off by unscrewing, but I think I'll need to buy the covers for the screw holes. How do the protection strips come off? I'm guessing they're just stuck on with adhesive tape like the model designation script on the back, but just want to confirm. Also, anyone have the part number for the roof piece to cover the screw holes? If this doesn't work out, we'll just order one and wait several months It looks like a Cayenne will soon be joining our garage (no way we'd give up the Boxster and Carrera, though) :D

An update After almost 2 tanks of gas, the Check Engine light came back (coincidentally, right after I filled up). After living with it for a few weeks, I finally took the plunge and opened the engine compartment up for the first time. It's pretty much the way the owners manual, Bentley and online instructions say to do it. It will probably take no more than 15 minutes the next time, and that's if I'm slow. Following Mike Focke's most excellent instructions at http://mike.focke.googlepages.com/checkeng...ssairflowsensor I pulled out the MAF and cleaned it with contact cleaner. The part number was 986.606.125.00. Then I cleared the check engine light (only P1130, same as before) with an OBD reader I borrowed from AutoZone. And now I wait to see if the problem reappears in the next 400 miles or so. At least Sunset is having a sale on MAFs now! :)

I had the same concern about headlight alignment after I had the ROW M030 suspension installed on my Boxster. The front nominally drops 20mm and the rear only drops 10mm, effectively changing the headlight angle to point lower. I asked here or on some other board (can't remember) and at least one other person said their headlight throw wasn't as far. I still need to readjust the headlights (after 6 months), just haven't found a suitable flat area I can mark off and align or another car to use as a reference. I expect it takes several months for the suspension to fully settle (6 months should be enough), so it's moving up on my to-do list If you installed the Litronics yourself (like I did), there isn't any control box on the control arm that senses angle changes. That feature only comes with the factory Litronics

You should still check fuse E6 to make sure it isn't blown. I used to have a problem with fueling, and after I taped up the phone connector behind the center console my problems refueling became much less frequent. At some point after the 2001 model year, Porsche started taping up the connectors from the factory. It was discussed here a number of years ago

Loren, Tool Pants or anyone else who's been around these cars for a while - I've always wondered why the Boxster sun visors don't pivot to the side like every other car on the road. Boxsters share most of the front half with the 996, so why not the sun visors? I can't believe the design adds any structural integrity to the car! Why hasn't anyone come up with a sun visor hack to fit the 996 style pivoting sun visors to the Boxster?

Did you by any chance fill up at a Chevron station in Castroville, CA?? Maybe they are putting turkey gravy in the pumps instead of Techron in honor of Thanksgiving. ;) See my recent post at My first check engine light...