able2ski

Among the many projects I've learned about and tackled on my own thanks to you guys, I went to work on the god-awful squeaky top on my 2000 cabriolet. I did the research on old posts and went out to the garage. Hoping all I needed was a smear of lube here & there, I was dismayed to find that the small "rubber bumper" that is recommended to lube is mangled on both sides of my top. The felt-like covering is torn and crumpled off to the side. Obviously lube isnt enough; these need to be replaced. I also looked at the "tabs" that mate the top to the upper windshield. One had a rubber coated tip over its tab, the other side was missing the coated tip. I came inside and found the same thing on my hardtop stored inside (except the missing tips were on opposite sides). Futhermore, under the deck lid, there are 2 plastic sliding track devices (one on each side). One has separated entirely; fortunately it was still sitting in the recess, not lost on the highway. I simply put the separated peices back together as the opposite one was. I assume these devices are to allow some sort of adjustment of the way the decklid sits, right? I need to make a punchlist of items to bring to the dealer. Obviously the more I know, the less they can jerk me around (I'm a little peeved at the nearest dealer). Anything else I should look for or know pertaining to roof sqeaking prior to dropping off the car? Andrew

Which method is better? I ask because I recently bought a Motive bleeder to do my brakes & clutch. As luck would have it, it arrived with a cracked gauge glass (no consequence) and was missing a sealing gasket at the filler mouth. Until I figured out why it wouldn't build pressure and made a temporary fix with teflon tape, I had great difficulty getting the job done. By the time it was done, I had used the full amount of new fluid through the brakes and had a full-to-the-rim resevoir. Rather than continue with the defective Motive unit, I followed the info here and bled the clutch by "petal-pushing", until my resevior level had dropped midway between min & max level. I had to quit here even though it did NOT bleed enough to see the color change to the ATE super blue I had added. However during the bleeding process I never saw evidence of released air from the older fluid in the line, so I didn't sweat it much. The car performed flawlessly with a noticeable difference in petal feel from both the clutch & brakes. However, today (a week or so after the job) my clutch petal has "hung up" and failed to fully return twice. Pumping it or gently pulling it up corrects the problem with no major incident. Still, this can't be good....... I felt confident about the job I did, but hey, I'm human and could have introduced air in there at some point of struggling with the defective Motive or my pedal-pushing. Would you suspect a simple "air in the line" issue, or am I unaware of another common weakness in the system that could be the culprit (like a failing master or slave cylinder). Lastly, I would like to commend Motive for immediately answering my concern about the defective unit and sending me the missing sealing ring. I only wish I had tested the unit prior to opening the super blue! Thanks in advance- Andrew PS: Problem is on a 2000 C2 cabriolet.

I'm buying Mobil 1 @ Walmart. All I've currently seen on the shelf is 5W-35, so thats what I've bought. Considering the cold weather (even here in NC), I assumed I'm OK as long as I swap to a higher viscosity come consistently warmer weather. Would you feel the "35" rating is too thin even considering the current temps remain 30-50 degrees F?

That was my exact concern.........rusty bolts. I was afraid that a spark plug change (albeit a royal PITA job) could turn into a really expensive disaster if i buggered up some rusty exhaust hardware just to gain some more working room. As I see it, the job is done, the new plugs should be good for another 30K, and with any luck I'll have traded up by then and that job will be someone elses problem.

Man............what a pain. Thankfuly I have a big enough assortment of tools that when one type of tool couldn't fit, I had others just different enough to get into the progressively tighter nooks and crannys. Since i first experimented with the easiest plug and discovered the rubber "holder" in the spark plug socket clenched the new spark plug so tightly it would separate off the socket extension rather than draw out cleanly, I took a screwdriver and pushed out the rubber "holder" in my spark plug socket. When things got so tight i had to add different lengths of extensions into the holes, I'd put a wrap or two of electrical tape on the connection to help prevent the extensions from separating when I drew them back out of the hole. And it wasnt just a pain dealing with swapping the plugs themselves. First you had to to get into even tighter spots to remove the individual coils off to get to the plugs.......those were just as challenging. I could simply summarize by saying Porcshe has not made this an easy DIYer, and thank goodness its only suggested every 30K miles! I wonder what the dealer charges for this service? I thought it was outragous enough for the plugs alone to cost $11 each! I'm sure I could do it again much quicker, but unless they have some magic tool I'm not aware of, it still has to be a couple hour job. At one point, i seriously looked at what it would take to remove the mufflers.........then a spark plug swap would be a breeze!

With respect to the Motive Bleeder leak, theres the answer! Mine came without; imagine my disappointment and the mess that made! Also, I failed to mention the clutch drain on my 996 is also an 11mm, not the 9mm as you have on the Boxster. I found it simpler to put the open end of the wrench over the nipple and leave it there before attaching the drain tube leading to my collection jar (a customized 2 liter Sprite bottle with a rubber grommet in the cap to hold the drain tube secure) to the nipple; this way I could open & close the nipple between clutch pumpings and never spill or dribble any fluid. The DIY pages Loren & others have compiled are great; perhaps they are due a few updates or corrections as I discovered in my recent experiences. Please take it as constructive criticism, not a slam on the efforts made by those responsible for setting them up. Anyways, with the clutch mostly flushed & any possible air bled and the brake lines thoughly flushed & bled, and fresh gearbox oil, shifting is definately improved.......I can't tell any significant difference in the braking, but i feel better knowing it has been done. Thanks for all the help along the way.

Thanks for all the tips thus far.........I still cant make it happen. I'll just have to suck it up and pester a dealer. Sadly the local dealer hasn't offered me anything in the way of "courtesy services"........I guess they don't see me as a regular customer worth going the extra mile for. It might have something to do with the fact I own & operate a landscape company and actually get my hands dirty. Usually I only have time to stop by during work hours when I'm understandably dresssed in something other than a 3 piece suit or whatever their customary "upscale clientele" wear. Frequently I feel like I'm "invisible" there, and when they do finally get around to noticing me I get some pretty odd looks when covered in mud or grass clippings and asking about Porsche service! Perhaps I'll stop in another dealer and see if they want my future business. Maybe they can look past my work attire and realize my money is as good as anybody elses'. Andrew

I finally found the clutch drain plug; it was just covered in grime. I had enough fluid in my brake cylinder to bleed it by pumping the clutch (the hard way!) a half dozen times, but I never really purged enough fluid to see a definate color change to the super blue before my resevior hit the midpoint between max & min level. I quit there for now. It still feels better than before. Yes both my fill & drain plugs for the tranny were 17mm allens. I couldn't find Mobil or Shell 75/90W as recommended but used AMSoil 75/90 and feel a noticeable impovement in my shifting over the old fluid. The old fluid (perhaps by nature......i assume it was the OEM fluid) was quite dark.........the AMSoil is see-through gold. My Motive did have a rubber gasket for the screw down cap that attaches to the brake resevoir, but there was nothing of the sort to seal the plunger cap. This is where the leak was taking place. I've emailed Jose @ Motive again; he was very wiling to work out the damaged pressure guage glass, I'm confident they will make good on the leaking unit as well. As for the spark plugs, the dealer parts guy was "going to look into it" and call me back, but that never happened. I';m guessing the 4 electrode style is just an impovement Porcshe made along the way and i shouldn't worrk so much about it. The stampings on the plug for the heat range, etc, were identical, so they can't be significantly different. I'm going to try removing the rubber gasket in my plug socket to see if that will help it turn loose of the plug before it separates from the extension. If that doesnt work, i may have to consider taping the two together or buying a different tool like the magnetic sockets.

I'm not one of those "rabid" AMSOILites, but I've used their stuff in the past for other applications and been pleased, but after visiting 3 other parts shops, nobody had the recommended Shell or Mobil tranny fluid. I did spot 75-90W AMSoil on a local Carquest shelf, conforms for G1-G5 rating.........I figure what the hell, I'll try it. Any fresh fluid has to be better than whats already seen 30K use! Anybody else use it and and what conclusion did you come to? Others had suggested "Swepco", but I'm guessing that must be a really exclusive item, not found at your local car parts store. Andrew

I just posted some of my experiences with some DIY stuff..........most of which belongs there, but a few questions are applicable or of interest here too. Maybe jump over and see if you have any thoughts or suggestions to my concerns. thanks in advance- Andrew

First & foremost, thanks for the wealth of info on this site. I certainly don't wish to belittle the efforts of others that took the time to compile this info and make it available to the masses, but perhaps my recent observations are worth noting: On performing some of these DIY jobs, I encountered some inacuracies (at least compared to my 2000 C2 cabriolet). 1> brake bleed screws are 11mm, not 9mm. I have the black calipers (and only dream of the "big reds") Maybe big reds or other calipers are 9mm. No biggee here......... 2> on the manual transmission drain plug, there is an image link showing a 16mm triple square with a hole in the middle (tamper resistant). I spent several days calling tool distributers, dealing with moronic parts counter guys at assorted dealerships.......no tool could be had.......and I basicly got treated like I was from Mars. If I had brought my car to them to actually perform the fluid change I question if they would have really done it, based in the apparent unavailability of this special tool. However, In changing the motor oil yesterday, I crept forward for a firsthand peek at this "unobtainablely tooled" plug.........its a freakin' common allen, no different than the fill plug! Other than making a fool of myself at every dealership in the local area, I shouldn't *****; now I can do it myself and it probaby saved myself buying a $40+ tool (if I could ever find one!) 3> Maybe I'm blind, but I can't locate that clutch bleed nipple to save my life. It might also be worth noting that the same resevior for the brakes feeds the clutch master cylinder (unless my belief and other forumites have confirmed my belief wrongly). Since I bought a pre-owned car I want the peace of mind that I have personally brought ALL the maintenance items up to date and all old wear items / fluids are totally purged and replaced with fresh stuff. This is the trade off for not being able to afford a showroom new car..........I had to start somewhere. 4> in the section regarding changing spark plugs, it might be worth noting that it is VERY easy for your socket extension to dislodge from the spark plug socket, leaving you with a socket firmly attached to the new plug, lodged deep in that hole. I simply ran out of time to finish this and wiggled the extension side to side to finally separate the socket from the spark plug. I ended up putting the old plug back in until I can do all 6 at once; the plug didnt look bad at all anyways; perhaps the dealer really did change plugs at the 30K service which they claimed to have performed just before I bought the car. I'll try removing the rubber "plug holder" from my socket to allow it to release the freshly seated plugs when I go back to finish that job. On a separate note about plugs, the car currently has 2 side electrodes surrounding the center electrode. The new plugs I got at the dealership parts counter have 4 electrodes on the outer rim; is this an update? They share identical heat range & code numbers. 4> The Motive bleeder. This is really an issue I'm taking up with Motive.....but the product was highly recommended here. Mine arrived from a vendor witch nicely packaged in double boxing that hadn't been manhandled by gorillas at UPS. Upon opening the box, the guage glass was shattered. An e-mail to Motive confirmed guage glass is merely cosmetic; it will hold pressure regardless and they will cheerfully ship me a replacement guagefree of charge. So I go to use it yesterday. It won't hold pressure at all. I pump like crazy........**** near nothing. OK, maybe it needs more fluid, less air (which easily compresses), so I pour in my second (I planned to keep as a spare) liter of Super blue. Still no pressure, but now I can hear a hissing from the screw down plunger cap. I turned the unit upside down and brake fluid leaked out of those threads, confiring that is where the pressure loss originated. I wrapped the threads up with multiple wraps of pink (thick grade) teflon tape to try to get a seal. I even put a very thin layer of white lithium grease along the plunger chamber where it mates with the plunger cap and same with the plunger flange itself. That helped, but even with furious pumping, it could do no better than 15 psi. And by the time I scrambled around the car to open whichever bleeder, that 15psi has dwindled down to nothing. What should have been a 30 minute job for a frist-timer turned into a 2 hour headache. I have faith that Motive will probably replace my tool, as it is obviously faulty, but I just wanted to point out a few inaccuracies and vent my difficulty with the Motive product. BTW, am I alone with getting a lemon Motive?

Converting the rear fog light to extra brake lighting is great idea, but with the advent of the upper 3rd brake light years ago, I think it is redundant. I know I probably pay more attention to that 3rd light than distinquishing the difference between brakes & runing lights if i am the follower. Besides, I rarely drive at night, but habitually run full lighting during day. It is then i'd prefer to have a full compliment of fog / running lights all around as added measure to make me visable. Even disregarding the upper 3rd brake light, the difference in tailight illumination when you hit the brake pedal is substantial; any driver that can't distinquish the difference had better carry **** good insurance! Maybe I'll wire up a bridge to get my dual rear fog lights. Thanks for saving me the embarrasment of ranting all this to my local dealer. As I said, I'd rather stay on their "good side" for when i really need them......like an RMS!

I didnt see that coming...........then why mold the bulb socket position & install a socket & wiring? Its not like the left & right lights are interchangeable. Thats just ***nine. Ooooopps I did it again! Andrew

I didn't realize we had "auto-censor" here. *** = rear end, butt, caboose.......whatever PC term you want to call it. If I was telling a story about a donkey that crossed the road would jack*** get censored too? ;) Sorry to soil this family-friendly place- I'll watch my language. Andrew

A buddy followed me part way home and celled me to inform me a had a taillight out. That was cool of him. Upon inspection at home, it was merely the passenger side rear foglight bulb. All the mandatory signals still function, so no big deal, right? I stop by the dealer and buy a bulb. I come home, disassemble the lamp assembly to discover there is no bulb in the socket at all. 100+ point pre-owned certified inspected car my ***.......at least I didn't pay nearly full price. Anyways, I put the new bulb in. Still no foglight. Bad bulb? I swap it with an identical (& functioning) neighbor bulb, still no foglight (but the newly bought bulb works elewhere). Switch it back with same results; no foglight. So I totally disconnect the whole taillight assembly and hook up my multimeter to the leads for the various bulb sockets. All have consistent ohm ratings like a bulb filiment would illustrate. Then I switch the meter over to read voltage and touch the coresponding leads exiting from the car. AH-hah! No 12V power off the leads! Ok.........maybe on a prayer the fusebox has separate circuits for left & right rear foglights. No so; same fused circuit, in fact ALL fuses in the entire panel are intact. So, it has to be either a wiring harness glitch or a failure in the light switch contacts. Anybody else have a similar experience or am I possibly overlooking something else I can check myself before I have to go back and pester the dealer? I know it is their job to fix warranty issues, but I hate to nag & nitpick over small stuff. I'd rather bank their goodwill towards an impending RMS failure or something like that.

thanks for the tips..........I simply can't get it to work on my own. I guess i'll have to pester the dealer......as much as it pains me to over such a nitpicky little item. I'd rather bank their goodwill for when i might really need it, like an RMS failure! Andrew

My manual simply says "your Porsche dealer can activate this feature"........well, I can't walk into that place without spending a fortune. Actually, on my first return trip I was forced off the road and over a street sign, a mere 75 yards from the dealership. Sustained $5K in repairs on my 9 day old car........the other driver sped off & no witnesses stopped either. Small children within a 1 mile radius probably learned a few new words that afternoon! Anyways, I read elsewhere online that with the ignition on (but not running), car in reverse, mirror selector set to driver side, then press buttons for the memory seat settings will activate this feature. I just tried a couple combinations in the garage, but got no results. Anybody care to try explaining this process a little better? As always, the wisdom here is appreciated. Andrew PS: If anyone can also explain how to activate the auto door lock options that would be welcome too. I'd prefer the option that locks the door once the car hits 3-5 MPH, but it would be fun to know how to do them all. PPS: If it matters, its a 2000 C2 cabriolet.

What have any of you guys figured out for upgrading the factory speakers, without cutting or having to give up the factory look? For now, I can certainly live with the head unit and amp........but as a first step I'd like to try speaker improvement. I hope this car is my "starter Porsche", and I can't justify going wild with stereo upgrades on a car I hope to trade up from within the next 2 years. Its a 2000 cabriolet with the factory hi-fi system which has the 5 1/4s in the doors, and 2 sets of 4 inch mids and (whatever size) tweets in the dash and backseat sidepanels. I've been told the factory amp houses a crossover to separate the 5 1/4 drivers from the other 4 componet sets. I'll wager each of the componet sets have their own crossovers tucked somewhere nearby in each mounting location. I've had MB Quartz & some French brand (which I can't recall) recommended thus far by local stereo installers. One setup was quoted @$1000 installed, the other $1400. Any suggestions or advice? Any other brands worth looking into? While the back set is probably a no brainer install, the doors and dash may pose more difficulty. One installer mentioned some dilemma with the passenger side front airbag hardware on other 996s they had done. Any tips, or just let a "professional" hack away at my car?

Thanks for the leads on the Motive brake bleeder & the very helpful DIY faq here. Even so, I still have a couple questions: Where can I order the tool needed to drain the tranny? (other than the dealer.....if they are even a source). Any tips on how to get the new oil into the tranny? Just pump it in with a Motive bleeder?........its not like you can just pour it in like my Ford truck. Also, when bleeding the clutch........what is the source of its fluid? Does the brake fluid resevoir share its fluid with the clutch? I'd like to totally purge & replace all the existing fluid in both systems. BTW, its on a 2000 996 cab. Andrew

Where can I get one of these? Thanks in advance- Andrew