geoff

Thanks but no banner ads here... this site is user/owner supported! If someone can get a discount or negotiate a group purchase feel free to post the information/link here... Loren - banner ads suck big time. I think with Amazon, you can provide a link directly to the Bentley Boxster service manual, and your associates account gets credit for click-throughs and purchases. You could just put the link, unobtrusively, under the Special Offers submenu on the Online Docs Menu pulldown. I don't see this as any different than ordering from Sunset and getting the RennTech parts-at-dealer-cost discount, except it will directly benefit all of us by getting a few $$ back to you for supporting this great site. You probably get in the neighborhood of $2.50 per order (4% of the book cost), so 10 orders would work out to about the same as one contributing member. I think there are probably a lot of us on this site that would prefer for ALL our Amazon purchases to benefit renntech than any other site.

Best price I've seen (when you factor in shipping) is Amazon - 62.97, no sales tax and free shipping. My wife was happy I finally came up with a Christmas present idea! So I know at least one thing I'm getting under the tree in a few days If Loren has an Amazon associates account, maybe he'll put a link up on the Boxster pages so he gets the sales credit to help support this terrific site

I recently noticed the area inside the rear trunk on my 2001 Boxster above the radiator cap is slightly moist, with a light, slick film. I already had the new style radiator cap, which was installed about a year ago when the coolant overflow reservoir was replaced. Just to be on the safe side, I replaced the radiator cap, but still have some slight moisture after driving. I popped the cover off the oil and radiator fill caps, and even though it wasn't spotless, it was dry The moist area is in the top of the following picture: Any suggestions on what else to consider before taking the car to the dealer? If the coolant overflow tank is leaking, do I have to take the carpeting out to tell, or would it have been obvious from the view I have here? What is the contraption between the oil and coolant fill openings? Is this something I should try to tighten the bolts on? Just for information, here's the old vs. new style radiator caps: Does anybody know if the Cayman has yet a newer style radiator cap. The two Caymans (Caymen?) I've seen at dealers have a different looking radiator cap

I saw this on the PCA site regarding 993s and thought it was pretty cool. Unfortunately it didn't work on my 2001 Boxster. Is there anything similar for a 986 to have the OBD codes displayed?

Jeff - Thanks for the vote of confidence! Like anything, the hardest part was never having done it before. It took me a while, largely due to not knowing exactly how things pull apart. I'm sure you could probably swap in one of the 997 short shifters in no time at all. Just a couple more notes referencing your side-by-side pictures that came out better than mine: The "tail" on the 986 shifter housing serves no apparent purpose. Some cabling comes out of the center tunnel a short distance behind this tail, but the tail doesn't seem to provide a guide or anything. Not sure what it's for, but you don't need it on the 997 housing On the left side of the new style housing, there's an extra piece sticking up. It doesn't interfere with anything on the 986, and I can only suspect it's possibly used for a screw on the 997. I wasn't a huge fan of short shifters before, although I did frequently find myself shifting by grabbing the shifter partway down the stalk, instead of on the top, effectively reducing the shift distance. Now I have to catch myself and shift by grabbing the top of the shift knob, instead of grabbing lower. I don't find the OEM 997 short shifter any more "notchy" than the original one.

The short story: I bought Porsche p/n 997-424-983-00 from Brandywine through auction web site for $330. No - it is not the same as the Porsche / B&M short shifter for the 986/996. Yes, it is a direct replacement and works great. Shift reduction (as best as I could measure it) on a 986 5 speed is about 25% (Porsche claims 20%); I think the Porsche (rebranded B&M) is over a 30% shift reduction. Shifts are no faster, but shifter travel is shorter The full story: I tried the B&M once a few years on a So. Cal. car at a detailing day and decided the shift was too short, too much effort, and not very smooth compared to the stock Boxster shifter. Fast forward to now, and Porsche is advertising a new OEM short shifter kit with a housing for the 997. In the pictures, it looks like the stock 986 plastic shifter, just in blue plastic instead of white. Only the pivot position is moved higher (and there's a metal plate on the left side). I see it advertised by Brandywine on eBay for $330, so figure I'd give it a try. In the picture, it also comes with one of the snap on tools for checking cable alignment (part number is 997-424-383-00 if anyone interested). For the price, I figured I could try it and if I didn't like it, I could always switch back to the original shifter, resell it, and not be out much money. Comparing the original and 997 style short shifters, there are a few differences in the housings, but nothing of any consequence. The new short shifter is tighter in the housing, but I attribute that to almost 40K miles of use on the original one. I expect the shifter to loosed up a bit in a few thousand miles of use. I've never replaced a Porsche shifter, so I get the B&M instructions and read them several times. Over Thanksgiving weekend I met with Tool Pants and compared the 997 shifter with an old Boxster shifter housing he has. I look at lots of pictures on his laptop, and get lots of advise I finally pulled everything apart the other weekend, only broke the part that holds the rear center console alarm microswitch, and finally got everything put back together. The little green mounting plate (986-424-010-01) fit onto the housing, but it looked like a very close fit, so I left it off. Following Tool Pant's advice, I used the Porsche method for transferring the shift cables and kept the ends attached. The new 997 shifter came with the cable ends as well, and I just swapped old for new between the two housings, so no cable adjustments needed. I measured the before and after shift distance. As best as I can tell, the shift reduction is about 25% (Porsche claims 20% in their ads - http://www11.porsche.com/usa/accessoriesan.../n36/n100/n120/ ). The feeling is almost as smooth as the original, and the shift reduction feels like more than a 25% reduction. To me, it definitely feels better than the B&M short shifter. I'm still deciding if it's better than the original. The biggest improvement I noticed is the 4 to 5 shifts feel better in terms of shift travel distance. Note that because more effort is required to for the shifter, it doesn't make the shifts any faster, just shorter. After driving it for a day, I quickly got used to it and didn't notice that much of a diference in around town driving. Finally, many thanks to Tool Pants for all the help and advice the day after Thanksgiving :D

I think BMW makes an equivalent part - or at least used to. See http://www.renntech.org/forums/index.php?s...st=0entry6089 Sounds like the BMW part number is (was) 61-13-6-909-058. You might want to take the stalk with you to a BMW dealer to make sure the connector is the right one. Good luck

I cut the HDPE mounting plate to 12 1/2" instead of 14" as in Oggie's instructions. 12 1/2" is a standard battery length. (Of course, you should check the battery tray in your own car to make sure there's a hole there) If you do this, you don't need to measure the distance and drill a hole for the mounting bolt. Instead, you just bolt the mounting plate down using the hold down clamp, as you would with a regular size battery. Also, there is no need to remove the battery tray, unless you need to clean it. HDPE is very easy to work with. Instead of cutting notches for the corners, it's relatively easy to round the corners enough using just a hand sander. If you can only find HDPE in 1/2" thickness, it's also easy to bevel the edges to fit under the lip of the battery tray. I found a very high density polyethylene cutting board at Bed, Bath and Beyond in just the right thickness, and it only cost $15. It was a lot easier than tracking down the HDPE from a plastics supply store. It was easy to cut to size with a saw.

The answer is: it unsnaps from the back with a small screwdriver. Only a few dealers have them in stock :( and none around here. Sunset will have it here by the end of the week :) (actually - I ordered 3 to be safe, since the per unit cost is less than a buck. and to make sure my microswitch still works, I ordered a spare as well)

Loren - thanks for the quick reply. Comparing your part numbers to the PET, it looks like I might have snapped the support for the microswitch, part 996 637 211 00, instead of the whole lock. Is there a trick for getting it off of the lock assembly?

Loren - or anyone else who knows the answer, I'm in the process of installing a short shifter. When putting everything back together, I accidentally snapped the little piece of the lock mechanism that the microswitch snaps in to. My questions: can this just be glued back together with epoxy, or should I replace the whole part? the rear center console lock is part of this piece. Does this come out some how, or do I have to order the piece with the lock? Any clues on how to get the lock out will be greatly appreciated! approximately how much does the part I broke cost (996 552 097 00)? Thanks in advance

Sounds like exactly the same symptoms I had a couple of months back. Except mine started with the battery light coming on, then after about 10 minutes (right when I was up a canyon), the dash looked like a Christmas tree the way all the lights were lit. It started for the dealer after being flatbedded, but the battery light was still on and they were able to confirm the alternator was (going) bad. One of those "these never go bad" statements from the dealer, along with a "we've got another car in with exactly the same problem" conversations. Alternator replaced (warning - they are very expensive! :eek: ) and everything is fine. My battery was 4 1/2 years old, so I replaced it with an Optima, and no problems since

Glad to see they finally got the car in - sorry to have missed it last weekend. I'm in No. Virginia this week, and stopped by Porsche of Tysons Corner tonight on the way back to my hotel room. I walked in asked if they had their Cayman in yet, and the salesman pointed to the car I just walked past with the hood up and a battery charger plugged in. They've had it on the floor for two weeks now, and he said most of the people coming in these days are there to look at the Cayman. They don't have it covered up - "too much work" - and they let anyone sit in it. It's kind of different looking, not sure if I like it or not. Maybe if they make it in a convertible version... :D Barely even noticed the black Carrera GT at the other end of the showroom!

Default current blue - easy to read, very neutral, and don't care one way about the others. The alternatives are all a bit disturbing. This is one of those cases where the default is fine, and it makes you wonder about why someone would switch, except that they could.

Speaking of expensive manuals and the upcoming Bentley manual... As far as I can tell, there are, or soon will be, two hardcopy Boxster service manuals. One is by Bruce Whittier and sold by Foreign Intrigue (shown at http://www.foreignintrigue.com/specials_html/986/index.htm ), and the other is the one listed by Bentley, but not yet available - http://www.bentleypublishers.com/product.htm?code=pb04 The two look remarkably similar in some ways, different in others, and differ in cost by a factor of 2. Does anyone know the difference between the two, is one a subset of the other? Bentley lists their lead Porsche editor only as Bruce, so I'm wondering if the same guy wrote both books Any facts greatly appreciated

Loren (or anyone else who knows) - I don't have the PET that covers the 987/997. Is the part number for the shift lever bracket for the 987/997 different from the 986/987? I'm trying to figure out if the OEM 997 short shifter will fit in my 2001 Boxster. I think the part number for the 986/996 is 996-424-010-03. I keep getting conflicting info on whether it will fit from every dealer I talk to. If they are different parts, any ideas on if they're interchangeable or not? Thanks

Supposedly for 2005, the Porsche OEM sport shift is different from the B&M, which is why I asked the question. See Rennlist discussion with pictures for a side-by-side comparison. Other posts in the same topic led me to believe the 997 OEM short shifter wasn't as short as the B&M. The pictures of the 997 shifter look like it's blue plastic, and not the black metal clone by B&M. Has anyone actually seen and/or installed one of these new ones to confirm the differences? Brandywine is telling me the new Porsche short shifter is a lot smoother and easy to shift than the B&M everyone is using

From reading several posts here and on other boards about the new style Porsche short shifter (p/n 997-424-983-00), it sounds like it does not have the "notchiness" of the B&M shifter, and also it doesn't shorten the throws as much (20% vs. 30% for the B&M). Will this new style shifter (preinstalled in the shifter housing) fit into a 2001 Boxster? Also, does it come with any tool for calibrating the cable length? Has anyone tried this yet? Brandywine says it fits, is smoother and less notchy, but I wanted to confirm before ordering.

I just finished installing an Optima 34R last night in my 2001 Boxster, and thought I would pass along a few "lessons learned" to benefit others. First, I got all the (conflicting) Optima battery install instructions I could find on the Internet, including the RennTech one in the DIY section above. I decided to get the 34R. A good AutoZone near here didn't carry it, but one of the guys behind the counter called the local Interstate battery distributor and offered to drive out on his own time to pick it up for me, at no additional cost. There was no way I was going to ask a guy making $20/hour to do that for me just as a favor, but I did find out all Interstate battery distributors will sell to anyone who walks in off the street. Optima batteries are in short supply in some areas these days, so call ahead. The mounting plate: Yes, you do need one. Bed, Bath and Beyond is constantly sending me discount coupons. They have a nice, Very High Density Polyethylene cutting board that is plenty big for $15 after their discounts, with lots left for practice and scrap. It's 0.4 inches thick - exactly right. I cut it with a circular saw to 6 7/8" by 12 1/2". This is different from all the instructions, but fit perfectly and I reused the battery mounting clamp. Use a sander to smooth the edges and round the corners. I initially cut it to 14" long, but after some thought, decided to make it the right length to use the Porsche battery hold-down, and it fit better with no leftover parts. When I first tried hooking it up for positioning, neither cable was long enough. :censored: I found out loosening both bolts holding the battery cables and rotating them for better position added a lot of flexibility and effective length. Everything else went according to directions. The only fasteners needed were 4 each of 1.25" (or 1.5") flathead screws, washers and lock nuts. I rolled up the vent cable, cable tied it, left it connected at the other end, and shoved it out of the way in case it's needed in the future. I used the Porsche battery maintainer the whole time, and didn't have to reprogram the radio code. The OBC settings (trip mileage, MPG, etc.) remained for a long time, but I stopped for dinner partway through, and when I was all done the OBC settings were gone. Now that I have the Optima battery installed with the mounting plate, I expect replacing it in the future when the time comes will take less than 30 minutes (I'm slow) Hope this helps others

Dealer service manager called today after they looked at the car. It started for them, but the battery light was still on (good that they could quickly see the problem). Alternator has gone bad and needs to be replaced. 4 1/2 years old, just under 38K miles. Replacement alternator is $900+ for a rebuilt one, or over $1,100 for a new one :( Labor to install is extra. This sounded ridiculously high, so I called Sunset, and was quoted $607 for a rebuilt one and $795 new. Ouch!! I'm on the east coast for the week, so not much I can do now except eat the cost. They said I probably will need a new battery also, but this sounds like a good excuse to get an Optima if the battery has problems. Is there anything else I should have checked or done with the alternator being replaced? Serpentine belt? Thanks

<{POST_SNAPBACK}> Dealer service manager said to keep battery charged (or at least use the Porsche battery maintainer) and drive it in when I get a chance. Said no problem driving it in the meantime. What he should have said is no problem driving it until it completely dies! :(

Here's the update so far; I'll provide the answer when I find out... Car sat from Monday to Thursday in my garage when I was out of town. Spoke with the dealer service manager on Friday - couldn't get in, but he suggested hooking up a battery charger, or at least the Porsche battery maintainer (I used the battery maintainer). Car had been starting just fine, but figured it couldn't hurt. Go out for a drive on Saturday. Car starts fine, but battery light is on. Drive a few miles, during which the light occasionally goes out, then comes back on. Head up a canyon road, then the ABS light comes on, then a little while later the airbag light comes on, go into a tunnel and all dash lights come on and the car dies. Coast over to the side of the road, car won't start. Didn't lose the radio code, and fortunately the emergency flashers still worked. Flatbed tows are expensive ($8 / mile) after the free AAA 8 mile tow :o

And the answer is :( They all do it! Took the car in for an oil change at just under 8K miles and the brake problem. My service advisor was finally able to reproduce the problem on a steep driveway, and on Friday had another 997 in for service, which he took to the same driveway, and it had the same problem ... err, "feature". It's definitely ABS related. He hasn't tried it with a 996, but my Boxster doesn't exhibit the same symptoms in our driveway. They sent a "P tech" (sp?) in to Porsche, and I asked them to also check with the district service manager when he's around. I told the salesman this afternoon when I saw him, and he wasn't happy about the problem.

Driving home through the canyons from the German AutoFest in Ventura, my battery light came on a few times. On solid for a few minutes, then went out for a minute or two, then back on for a while. Original battery on a 2001 2.7 5 speed. Never had any problems starting, don't use battery maintainer, battery never drained, no radar detector, doors never locked at home, so basically no drain from alarm. Owners manual says it's either "defect in the battery charging system or broken drive belt" - no real helpful at narrowing down the problem. Car wasn't overheating. Any thoughts / suggestions? I'll call the dealer in the AM (it's not under warranty - 4 years were up in February), but better to be armed with some knowledge in advance.

I vaguely remember something about cruise control not working if a brake or tail light is burned out. I'm in a hotel room on the east coast this week, so not easy to track down, but it was probably on one of the main Porsche boards you would expect (here, PPBB, Rennlist, Rennteam, etc.) Have you checked all your light bulbs to make sure they work?