nick49

30 years is a long time, and you only live twice! I say get the Boxster.

Maybe light is just telling you that you are just a little too heavy on the loud pedal. Sounds like you got the TC to kick in and the light is telling you so. BTW where is the loud pedal? I don't think I have found this in my car.

Nice car Alex!

to Akpud:

I know this was not directed at me but, I've had a '99 Boxster for nearly 4 years that my wife drives and a Carrera Cab for nearly 3 that I drive. I'll try to make the comparason fair but they are not equals because the 986 is pretty basic and a Tip, whereas the 996 has full leather + lots of X option interior upgrades including Carbon, Sports seats, painted console, silver gauges, etc, Litronics, 18" wheels, PSE and 6 speed.

The 996 has much more room in the cabin and I can have the seat further back, helps with my 6' frame. Visability is much better from the side with top up. I perfer the handling of the 996 as it is more like a motorcycle and I roadraced them for 8 years. By this I mean once comitted in a turn you must stay on the gas. I like the shorter wheelbase of the 996 also. The extra gauges are a plus but really don't mean much. The extra power is certainly a plus and adds to the pleasure. The rear plastic window is much higher quality on the 996, clearer and more scratch resistant.

Aside from the options, power, and interior room the biggest difference is feel and handling. I can't say one is better than the other in this regard. The Boxster carries a stigma as being the entry level Porsche and it's only because the factory planned it that way. Things could have been reversed had they increased the power, materials quality and a few other things above that of the base 996.

It's somewhat difficult to advise you where and how to get started working on your cars without knowing a little more.

If you want to develop your mechanical skills without possibly destroying your current cars, I would advise getting a non running or poorly running 914 and a workshop manual. These are simple to work on and parts are inexpensive. You could go to Sears and pick up a metric socket set and some open end wrenches, assortment of pliers, allen wrenches and other tools as you need them. This would be a great and rewarding project when completed.

As discussed many times on different forums, the oil level is most accurately determined by the dip stick. Less accurate is the dash oil level gauge and is usually used to alert that a dip stick reading may be needed.

The pads are permanently bonded to the backing plate. You do not need to separate them as they come out as a single piece, two pad assemblies with metal backing plates. Male sure you remove any upper pin or bolt holding the pads in place first.

I tried to get the keyless entry on my wife's '99 Boxster to work as it has been intermittent at best for the last several months. First I checked the battery and it is good. I removed it replaced it reversing polarity momentarily as suggested here, also left it out for a period of time. The red LEDs illuminate when the buttons are pushed but it will not lock the door even at very close range. If I manually lock the door I can get it to unlock maybe 1 in 50 or so trys. If the doors are unlocked I can get the rear trunk to open if I push for a couple of seconds. The range is also OK as I did the TSB antenna trim. Any ideas? BTW we only have one remote. Thanks for any ideas.

Sounds like he knows what he did, just doesn't know how to tell you in a way to cover his ***.

Sounds like maybe an oil separator issue.

Sounds like you're having a great time being obsessed! From your post I can't tell if you are more obsessed with the car or the sound system and electronics you're installing. Or maybe obsessed with being obsessed! :-)

In the relaxed position a portion of the exhaust bypasses the muffler internal baffleing and makes for a louder, and more aggressive sounding exhaust note. If you intoduce vacuum to the the diaphrams, internal gates close off the "short cut" and full circulation thru the baffleing occurs making for a stock type quieter sound. You can also wire these closed for a quieter sound if desired in the future. So... as left as is without hooking up anything, they are loud. Hope this helps.

My wife's Boxsters exhibited the same symtoms. Everything worked but the air was blowing warm. I had a Porsche Tech friend tell me a simple recharge would correct it. I bought a kit with refrigerant and a gauge and recharged it. It works better than ever and is iced cold. A note: when I hooked up the gauge the pressure was in the lower part of the working range, before adding more refrigerant, but still not blowing cold. Seems these systems loose small amounts with no detectable leaks.

I hope I'm wrong but your description makes me think of coolant leaking into a cylinder. It would cause a misfire code, and with a small leak, the rough running would be most noticed at very low rpms. CEL will flash if it detects coolant in the combustion chamber or exhaust tract. These symtoms sound familiar with the slipped or cracked sleeve issue I just went thru with my '99. Knowing what I do about the M96 motor design and how failure is occuring often in areas of the cylinders and intermediate shafts, I would be afraid to stress one beyond normal aspiration. The TT and GT3 use a different design that yields itself to much higher loads and stresses found in competition. Good Luck

The sealing ring can be re-used if you feel comfortable doing so. By this I mean if you have an idea if it was not damaged by being over torqued or is not distorted and it still has some crush left as to conform to different sealing surfaces. If your are uncertain it's better to replace it.

I agree, no chemical fixes to goo up your motor. Sounds like the cracked coolant tank. If you're lucky it may be a cap.

Pull your wheels and calipers, I should take you slightly longer than typeing your post. This will verify if you have a brake related issue or not. Could be a small stone jamed in the caliper area. Good luck

Your car sounds like my Wife's '99 Tip. If I haven't driven it in a while I notice the shifting is programmed for a much less agressive driver than myself. I have to drive it a bit before it remembers me and pics the shift points I like and revs higher in each gear before making a shift. I don't know what to think in your case with a manual trans. Good luck, keep us informed.

if it's just overspray try the clay bar. If it's heavier than that ask your painter. Possibly wet sand with 1500 grit or repaint with a matt black.

Replace the MAF, it takes so many drive or start cycles with a bad MAF to have the CEL on again.

Freely selecting gears if car is not moving while the clutch is depressed is not a good indicater for accessing the condition of the transmission. While this may work in a Nissan or Kia or other car it really means nothing other than either it's easy to do or difficult. The trans is designed to have gears selected with the input and output shafts in motion, even at different rpms, not one or the other stationary.

Shifting smoothly is something that is learned, and easier done if you have an idea what's happening. Try matching the rpms somewhat by letting the engine slow down a little on an up shift or reving a little on a down shift. Put a little pressure on the shifter and see if it just doesn't fall into place. Use neutral at a stop and give the PP and t/o bearing a break. Learning to drive a manual correctly will 10x your clutch life and enjoyment factor. Please don't take this offensively, just trying to help. Good Luck

Syncro rings could be excessively worn, this would require transmission disassembly and could be expensive. Possibly a linkage adjustment but it may affect other gears as well. I would double check all external shift linkage/cable adjustments to verify they are correct and if this doesn't help it is probably internal.

Thanks, does anyone know of an engine # decoder?

Just curious, I guess I'm Old School. I see all kinds of vehicles with 19", 20" 23" wheel and tire sets that are on everything from luxury cars to SUVs. The wheels are usually heavily chromed and have all kinds of faceting and made such as to catch and reflect light. I have handled some of these and they are amazingly heavy and can imagine how they tear up a vehicle in regard to suspension, brakes, wheel bearings, etc.

I believe these wheels got their origin from monitarily successful Gangsta rappers in the ghetto that had specialty wheel companies like Boyd Coddington and Weld produce them to mimic the heavy chained medalions they wear around their neck.

What are your thoughts on these?

Deputies: Feel free to delete if this is too off topic.

Tire noise is generally related to the tread pattern of a tire but as diameter increases ride quality diminishes in proportion. Large diameter low profile tires must be made stiffer and have less of a cushioning effect between the road an wheel. Road shock can be pretty sevier especially if the roads are less than glass smooth with some tires.

The intermediate is a jack shaft of sorts that runs from the front of the motor to the rear, below and parallel to the crankshaft. It is driven by the crankshaft and drives the overhead camshafts. The Porsche motors are unique, I think, in that one bank is driven from the front of the intermediate shaft and the other from the rear. As I understand it, the early M96 motors suffered from intermediate shaft bearings that were undersized, and many motors had shafts breaking or other related failures. Later, as a factory fix, much larger bearings were used to support this shaft. The replacement motor that was fitted to my '99 996 has the larger bearings as by the tech that did the install.