norcaltim

Not possible; take the door panel off.

Yeah... I found a few around that price, but I still don't understand why the hell the Boxster version is so expensive. I ordered a 997 version for $175 shipped. Also, if anyone knows the part number/any information on the motor inside the throttle body (friend at Bosch??), that would be super useful.

Sort-of related question: why are 986 throttle bodies $1000 while 996/997 throttle bodies are just a bit over $100? Frustrating. If I'm missing something please let me know; I'm looking for part number 986-605-115-01 and finding nothing in a reasonable price range. I've narrowed down the noise to the motor inside the throttle body housing. Since an actual 68mm throttle body is stupidly expensive, I guess I'm going to buy a 74mm and swap the motor into mine.

This is excellent news.

Is it supposed to never turn off? Here's what I hear: the moment the car turns to ACC, a high-pitched noise starts up from the throttle body. Maybe a minute or so later, the noise changes a little bit, there are some clicks, and then it's just the high-pitched noise again. The high-pitched noise is constant and never turns off. I'm gonna go with this, because it makes me feel better: the DC motor in the throttle body is bad. I'm going to put a new throttle body on and hope for the best.

It's the throttle body. It would be super, super helpful if someone could let me know if they hear a high-pitched sound coming from the engine compartment when the key is in the ACC position. If you press the gas pedal you should hear some clicking sounds as well, this might help you localize where you're supposed to be listening. If you happen to have your engine exposed, you'll definitely be able to hear what I'm talking about. My hope is you will hear the clicking sounds (ECU moving the throttle body) but you will NOT hear the high-pitched sound I have.

Update: Finally got some interior pieces back from paint so was able to re-assemble the car today. Positive: My locks now work like they're supposed to. Negative: No change in the sound. While putting my doors back together I noticed the sound (~5kHz, steady) is present with all of the speakers disconnected and the key in the ACC position. If I get out of the car and listen near either rear wheel well the sound is there. A friend confirmed they also heard it. So... what? Is this normal? If you listen to your boxster's rear wheel wells with the engine off/key in ACC do you hear a high-pitched noise? Is something broken or do I just need to wait 10 years until my hearing in this particular range dies off?

Didn't find any faults in the locking wiring, pulled both locking mechanisms and found cold solder joints on the circuit board of the passenger lock. I'm going to re-solder that board tomorrow, then check the driver mechanism, then see what happens when I put everything back together. Edit: Re-soldered the board, checked all the micro switches, put everything back together. One of the springs on the passenger lock is a bit worn out, going to see if I can find a replacement before reinstalling.

Screenshot attached. I'm going to run through the diagnostics from this thread and see if that gets me anywhere:

Durametric -- I can do a screenshot if that would be more useful?

I did, however, clear the codes a few hours ago, and then locked/unlocked the car a few times. Here's what popped up: 47 -- 1 61 -- 3 Everything else (Instrument/Airbag/AC) was clear.

Well that's encouraging, at least -- if I figure out what needs to be fixed I can eliminate the noise! I neglected to clear codes last year so as far as I know these codes could be from many, many years ago. But this is what I got when I pulled codes just now. Engine: None ABS: None Instrument: 9110 Airbag: 3 AC: 35 Alarm: (nothing "Present") 47 - 11 33 - 14 61 - 58 60 - 3 42 - 3 21 - 1 34 - 1 25 - 1 16 - 1 Edit: This is a 2001 base.

Edit: Finally narrowed this down to the throttle body e-gas controller electronics. Previously thought it was alarm-system related, hence a bunch of posts about locks and such. I have a high pitched (~5 kHz) constant sound coming through my speakers while the car is in ACC, same sound + alternator whine when the engine is running. The sound is also present when the speakers are disconnected, and originates from the engine compartment as far as I can tell (not detectable inside, loud near both rear wheel wells). I've tried re-wiring grounds, I've messed with wiring, and I re-soldered the circuit board of my passenger door lock, all with no impact. Any help or advice is greatly appreciated.

Thanks! There were no ports on the back side of the throttle body, did I miss something? This is a 2001, if that makes any difference. Edit: I took the thing entirely off and cleaned both sides. The back side was decently dirty as well but I didn't get a picture.

Finally got around to doing mine... not sure it's ever been cleaned? Idle has been bouncy since I bought the car but I only recently stumbled onto the information that this was likely caused by a dirty throttle body. Some notes: Removing the AOS tube was not nearly as bad as I expected. With the top in the service position take the clips off of the top of the struts/springs that attach the clamshell to the top v-levers, then move the clamshell all the way back. This allowed me to get one hand on top of the tube and one on the bottom and the thing popped off easily. I read somewhere that re-attaching the bottom air intake hose is a total pain. Can confirm. I also read somewhere that lubing the spot where that tube connects with some bar soap makes re-attaching it much easier. I tried this and it went from impossible to not-too-bad. Still quite a bit of force required. I recommend using the bar soap before re-attaching the throttle body to the engine via the bolts. Torque the bolts before re-tightening the hose clamps. The bottom bolts are impossible to get to after everything is back together. I broke the e-gas connector thing trying to get it off. If I could do it again I'd get a small screwdriver and try to wiggle things around very, very carefully until it came loose. Mine snapped back on just fine but I'd rather not have broken it. I highly recommend replacing the one gasket that's involved with this process. The old one looked fine... until I put the new one in and noticed how different it looked. Part #996-110-318-02, costs around $9. At that price why wouldn't you just go ahead and replace it? Anyone got a dirtier one that this? It was so dirty that the carb cleaner pooled up on top of the valve when I first sprayed it in.

Rebuilt both transmissions today. The passenger gear actually turned out to be cracked in multiple places, and when I took at look at the driver side gear it had a bunch of small cracks propagating as well. Just a matter of time before that one went -- glad I decided to do both. Still waiting on a few things, will have an update next week some time. Edit: More pictures.

Update: swapped the switch, got a little bit of action, then nothing. Hmm. Took out both transmissions, passenger-side transmission has a big crack in one of the gears. Huzzah, problem found. Will replace and report back. Edit: now with pictures.

I think I have this narrowed down but I'll feel better if I check with y'all before ordering my part... Car is a 2001 base. Put the top up the other day, right as it closed the motor cut out and the light stayed on. Top was up far enough to latch it so that was good... I thought. Pushing the top button up/down activates the motor for about 1 second, enough that you can see the cover panel shift up or down but that's it. Anyhow, top is now stuck in the up position and I've been through what I think are all the diagnostic steps. Fuses are good. Relay doesn't seem to be the problem - power still goes to the motor. Parking brake lights up/switch is fine. Motor is fine, bench tested with 12V, put in the backup I had lying around for kicks. Worked through the relay terminal testing sheet and got two faults - no voltage for convertible top locked or unlocked (6 & 9 on the sheet). This seems to point to the latch microswitch above the windshield, so I cleaned it to see if maybe that would fix things but alas nothing changed. Next step is to replace it. Any dissenting views? I'm really hoping it's just the switch and not a misalignment or something. Fingers crossed.

A bit late for an update, but it was indeed a dead fan. Installing the new one was a bit of a pain, had to get the tap and die set out to attach the new fan to the old housing. The fan doesn't come with any threads in the attachment holes, I suppose this is to ensure the fan doesn't come loose or something.

Hi all, I want to see if I'm missing something before I go ahead and install a new cooling fan. Noticed the car was staying hot much longer than usual on Friday, checked the fans, driver's side fan wasn't on. Hooked up the Durametric today, got nothing on either setting (low/hi). Checked the fuse/relays and didn't turn up anything (swapped with passenger side fuse/relays just to be sure). I replaced my passenger side resistor a year or two ago but the symptoms were different. In this case, with no operation at either low or high, it seems like a fan replacement is in order. Am I missing anything here? Thanks again!

Another update: Coils came in Thursday, finally had a chance to do the work today. Replaced all six coils, plugs, and plug tubes. The tubes were in good shape; next time I'll just do the seals. Nothing wrong with having a spare set around, I suppose. All of the plugs looked about the same, and all the coils were cracked. The pictures I posted earlier are approximately what everything looked like. Cylinder 4 didn't look any different than any of the others, so I suppose it was just the first to exhibit symptoms. All in all I think it took me about four hours, and I wasn't trying to set any speed records. Cylinders 4 and 1 are a pain due to location; I think they took about an hour each. Glad I have a plethora of different ratchets and extensions and such. The car feels excellent, starts more smoothly, pulls harder, idles better, etc. I think the battery may need to be changed, it seemed to struggle turning everything over, but that also could be because I haven't driven the car in a month. I'm going to change the oil and do a few other things tomorrow, I'll see if there's any change after my hour drive this evening. Thanks for the help, all! Edit: here are some pictures, because everybody likes pictures.

Basically, and signs of problems (cracking, discoloration, etc.) and the coil should be tossed. Replacements are not that expensive, and on some models, just getting at them is a chore. So if it looks at all questionable, it goes. Good to know. For some reason I thought they were much more expensive.

Ok, will do. I wasn't sure whether that level of crack warranted replacement. Thanks!

Update: started pulling things today, didn't get very far as I started late and had to buy a new tool at every step. 1/2 inch drive 19mm deep socket? Check. Larger breaker bar? Check. Metric allen sockets? Yep. Also need a medium-sized torque wrench between the two I already own? Certainly. Anyway... Pictures here (too large for uploading). These are from cylinder 3 (passenger side, rear). I'll remove the rest tomorrow. Do the crack and small hole warrant replacing the coil?

Ok, will do. Thanks!