Project 2000 Porsche Boxster - SOLD and GONE! 😥

[Peter C]

I am sorry to hear that you've had a few problems with the Boxster. As you know, I treated the Boxster more as a garage ornament than a car and it certainly never got as much regular use during my ownership as it has during the brief time you've had it.

 

I am surprised that your honeymoon period is starting to come to an end. I've had the Boxster for four years and was besotted by it for the first 3.5 years. As mad as it sounds, I got completely hooked on a rusty old W124 and lost interest in a shiny Porsche, hence the sale. 

 

Keep the updates coming, I enjoy seeing more of your photos. It's such a pretty car.

[SiC]

Smallish update on this. It's back down and swapped with the MGB this week.

Mileage increase has slowed down a lot now that the MGB is in active rotation on the fleet now. Speaking of mileage, here are a bunch of satisfying odometer readings that happened today.




I've been using it for work the last 2 days. Thankfully in the shopping centre multistorey car park that I use, both days I've managed to find single spaces next to pillars where no one else can park next to. I hate parking nice cars in the centre as they just get dented and ruined by careless idiots.

It is going to need some TLC soon though. Juddering/lumpyness is still noticeable and feels worse. But then driving slow speed around the city could mean I come across it more. Hoping that it's something simple like the coil packs and/or MAF. A set of six Beru coils are around 200quid for the parts. Porsche genuine are double.

Top mounts I think maybe suspect, but they can wait till it goes for a service later this year.

It's also suffering a small water leak too. When in regular use, it stays where it is. However if sat for a couple of weeks it will drop the level. Not chronically but still enough to go from max to mid way on the level. I've topped it up twice. At the moment I'm keeping a close eye on it but I'm hoping it can wait till when it gets serviced later in the year and let them diagnose it then. Not sure where its leaking from. Hopefully somewhere cheap and easy to fix!

Noticed that the alternator only puts out around 13.98v to the battery. To me that seems a little on the lower acceptable end for a modern alternator + battery?

Oh and the passenger window seal does this:
https://www.youtu.be/ZEEt5i96UQ8

Bloody annoying!

[mrbenn]

9 minutes ago, SiC said:

Noticed that the alternator only puts out around 13.98v to the battery. To me that seems a little on the lower acceptable end for a modern alternator + battery?

Seems ok if the battery is well charged as charge rate surely would be at the lower end?

[MorrisItalSLX]

If we do not get a BOOBS odometer shot than you have failed adulthood.

[SiC]

5 hours ago, MorrisItalSLX said:

If we do not get a BOOBS odometer shot than you have failed adulthood.

[Kiltox]

Specialist I use quoted £460 for the top mounts, fyi. 

Glad this is still doing the business. Taking mine out tomorrow I think, supposed to be significantly cooler than today!!

[SiC]

1 minute ago, Kiltox said:

Specialist I use quoted £460 for the top mounts, fyi. 

Glad this is still doing the business. Taking mine out tomorrow I think, supposed to be significantly cooler than today!!

Useful to know thanks. My local garage said they don't mind doing simple stuff on the Boxster like suspension work. I'd probably supply the parts though. 

Definitely needs all the bits looking at soon. Aircon is cold but not freezing, so a regas m8. Doesn't seem to pull as well as I feel it should either - hopefully coils will fix that. Maybe MAF if I'm unlucky. 

[SiC]

I did realise today that the car comes with a flip flop holder too.

[Noel Tidybeard]

will crocs fit as well?

[SiC]

I've been having a lot of fun in this over the summer. About to click over 3000 miles since buying it from PeterC.

Issues are just starting to mount up now.

Coil packs still need changing, however the engine isn't throwing the Check Engine Light yet. So I've carried on using it. Main thing is that it's juddery on low throttle. Unpleasant but not dangerous. TADIS

Top mounts are almost certainly the clunking noise when you turn the steering wheel. Jacking it up today, I turned the wheel with my hands and it was clear the noise was coming out the mount. The other side was making similar noises. TADIS

There is a clonk coming from the rear too over speed bumps. I can't see anything amiss so wonder if it might be the heatshield. TADIS

Aircon works but it's really not very cold. Also the compressor doesn't seem to cycle. I guess probably needs a regas.

Biggest issue is that it's loosing water. Sometimes it doesn't move but then other days it drops a bit. So far I've put about 700ml in the last few months. Not urgent to be fixed yet but disconcerting where its going. I guess it's got a slow leak out of a pipe or water pump.

All the above will have to wait till next year. It'll need it's yearly service soon but with summer over soon, I'll park it up in storage where it can hide away from all the autumn and winter elements. Then in Spring next year it can come out and have everything done. I reckon the above will probably cost the best part of a grand.

Headlights on dipped are pretty crap, so I bought a set of 150%+ brightness Philips bulbs. Found that these cars have a really nifty way of releasing the headlights. Take the 5mm box spanner tool out of the tool reel (all the best cars have tool reels!),


remove the bung,

insert tool,


twist

and the whole light cluster pops out the front to be removed



The back of the light has a simple panel that unclips to gain full access to the bulbs.



Interestingly, Porsche have used two H7 bulbs instead of a single H4. There is two reflector parts. Top is dipped, bottom is main beam.


Fog light is integrated above the indicator light

[SiC]

Next up was to sort this warning light demanding attention - brake pad wear warning.


One good thing about this car is that some of the consumables are very reasonably priced. Set of genuine Brembo pads from ECP was only £35. Pair of Brembo discs only £70. Cheaper than the Dolomite!

I would have liked to have done the discs too but budget priorities with the fleet dictate not. However the lip isn't that large and not enough for me to worry really. Also I'm going on holiday soon and Mrs SiC is insistent that we go in the Boxster (I'd rather the MGB...). Hence they need sorting before putting another 500miles on the clock.

Jacked up the car. Got to love the stiffness of this car.


This is where an impact wrench is incredibly handy. Just buzz those studs off without having to fart around with a breaker bar on the floor first.


The Boxster had fixed calipers. I do love fixed calipers over sliding units. So much quicker and less faff.


Cleaned down with brake cleaner to remove some of the dust. Remove the R clip and knock the pin out. Thankfully my punch was a perfect fit to go through the hole.


Retaining clip comes off and sensor wire removed. You can just about see the hole that the sensor fits in.


Basically these sensors fit in a hole in the pads and when the brakes wear down they cut through the wire. This breaks the circuit and causes the light to go on.


Also if the wire wears through and hits the disc. This shorts out the wire and causes the light to illuminate. Hence this is why you can have the light sometimes on but not always, as they wear to the replace level.



This one hasn't quite worn in yet.


Being a cheapskate and because they haven't worn all the way through (only one pad actually wore the wire insulation), I reused them. At a tenner a side, I'd rather have the money right now.

Because of the lip, some creative use of the piston spreader was needed.


Once the pads were out, more cleaning was in order. You can clearly see the four pots on the calipers.


A case then to put ceratec on the back of the pads + pin and put it all back together.


The pads still had a fair amount of meat left on them. Probably could have got away with leaving them longer in hindsight. However replacing them now meant reusing the pad sensor wires, saving enough to justify it.


All in, it took less an hour to change them. Even at my slow working speeds! Fixed Calipers are awesome.

[HMC]

Interesting contrast with the price of parts! Those calipers do look service friendly compaired a lot out there.

[SiC]

Removing the discs isn't supposed to be that much hard either. Two massive hex bolts on the end to remove the caliper and then two Philips retaining screws on the disc.

I guess these are made easy to work on this sort of service part, as they're likely to be driven spiritedly and thus go through them quickly!

Even that front bleed nipple can be got to without removing the wheel if you want to do a quick brake fluid flush.

[seacow]

Nice job. I’ve just done pads and discs on the back of my 996 and it’s same set up. Surprisingly easy!  ECP for me too. Bought the sensors but didn’t use them so they are going back!!

[The Moog]

That does look good with fixed calipers. Nice design with the lights as well .

[SiC]

14 minutes ago, seacow said:

Nice job. I’ve just done pads and discs on the back of my 996 and it’s same set up. Surprisingly easy!  ECP for me too. Bought the sensors but didn’t use them so they are going back!!

I didn't know someone on here has a 996! Have you done a thread on it?

[SiC]

That does look good with fixed calipers. Nice design with the lights as well .

It's stuff like this where you can tell that the Boxster is another league from the MX5. But then the purchase price at the time makes you expect some of these differences!

In 2000, a Boxster started around £33k iirc. MX5 MK2 was around £15k start price. While my 2002 Laguna was £16k and that was one off top spec. So it was a pricey car!

Where as now, that double price difference still holds but at the other end of the scale. £3k for a really nice MX5 MK2 and £6k for a nice 986. Admittedly £3k will get you in a tatty 986 too.

 

[purplebargeken]

Nice work.

 

[Steviemillar]

Nice work, I found working on my old Boxster was pretty straightforward.

You can also easily change the headlights from RHD to LHD by moving a lever that's in the same compartment as the bulbs. I did this on my Boxster while waiting to disembark from the Harwich-Eisjberg ferry one time! 

[They_all_do_that_sir]

What's the pros and cons between the 2.5/2.7/3.2?

Do they all have issues with the IMS?

Sent from my TA-1012 using Tapatalk

[seacow]

16 hours ago, SiC said:

I didn't know someone on here has a 996! Have you done a thread on it?

I haven’t never really thought of doing one for some reason but suppose I should. Was going to say not had it long but it’s 10mmonths now!!

[SiC]

Last big trip of the season in this over the last 3 days.

Went to see a rusty bridge.


Some scenery


Old town


Steam powered stuff


Big houses


Big towers


Amusing signs


And ate pork pies


Car was pretty filthy at this point


Found solutions for two of the problems it has.

Rattle from rear suspension? Actually was this loose.


A single screw at the top retained it but there are clips around holding it on


This lip had broken. Don't think it's completely necessary though


Prised the grille off the housing


Reattached the grille first


Put outer cover on and screwed the retaining screw back in.


Rear end rattle now gone!

Water leak I'm 95% sure is the cap. Porsche are currently on revision 4 of the cap. The cap on mine is revision 0. Also there is water residue marks underneath it. It being the cap would explain the temperamental nature to the loss of water. I'm guessing it is only happening when it gets above boiling point and escaping gradually then. So essentially parking up when hot for the most part.

You think the easy thing would be to just replace the cap? Not so on this! The plastic reservoir is known to crack on these too. If the cap is original, chances are so is the reservoir. Change the only cap will probably create additional pressure in the tank causing it to split. Creating even more leaking.

Most appropriate solution will be to replace the tank and cap together. Doing one will just create more issues.

For now it's gone into dry, covered winter storage. Next spring it'll come out and I'll get all these bits sorted together.

[SiC]

What's the pros and cons between the 2.5/2.7/3.2?

Do they all have issues with the IMS?

Sent from my TA-1012 using Tapatalk

They all have issues with IMS. Some more than others. Plenty of info online if you Google. It varies on the year with each engine size too.

2.5 is a bit under powered really. Early Boxsters had this engine.

Later Boxsters got the 2.7 or the Boxster S with the 3.2.

Boxster S is more powerful, lower suspension, slightly bigger brakes, 6 speed gearbox and white backed dials amongst other things.

The standard Boxster suspension is quite low and hard. Over bumps it's fine but I wouldn't want it any harder. Very much glad I didn't go for an S in the end. 6 speed boxes do have their issues too.

Standard 2.7 Boxster with its 220bhp is quite suffice. They aren't that heavy a car either so it goes a long way. Genuinely never had a moment where I've wanted/needed the extra 30bhp or so with the S.

Overtaking is emmently easy with the 2.7 - passing two cars with foot buried in third will get you over 90mph before getting to the red line. Second gear is 65mph.

Just have to be careful not to forget to change gear. It's a clique but the engine is turbine smooth right to the limiter. None of this raucous noise you get on 4 bangers as you start getting to the limiter.

[Peter C]

Greetings from sunny Crete.

I’m pleased that the Boxster is generally behaving itself. I’ve never had any issues with coolant loss or staining around the often temperamental reservoir cap so look there first if there’s evidence of leakage.

Still looks great. 

[SiC]

12 minutes ago, Peter C said:

Greetings from sunny Crete.

I’m pleased that the Boxster is generally behaving itself. I’ve never had any issues with coolant loss or staining around the often temperamental reservoir cap so look there first if there’s evidence of leakage.

Still looks great. 

Yeah I'm almost certain it's the cap. Given its the original revision with plenty of subsequent revisions and the tank is a very much known weak point, it makes complete sense to replace them both even as a precaution. If it dumps all the coolant out of it, it will become an expensive day. 

So far I've put about 750ml of distilled water in it to keep it topped up. Some trips it uses none, other it drops half way between max and min. Not so bothered about using plain water rather than antifreeze in it though, as the complete system holds 22+ litres of coolant! So got a long way of topping up before it's weak enough to cause problems with its anti freeze and anti corrosion properties. Fixing the tank will require a partial drain anyway. 

Definitely needs the juddering at part throttle sorting next as it's quite annoying! I'm sure it's got worse but Mrs SiC thinks it's the same. Forums say it's very much likely coil packs. Again they're original to the car, so it's no bad thing that they are replaced. Pretty much consumables on these with them being at the bottom getting wet+dirt all over them while baked by the engine. 

Also as above, top mounts definitely need doing now. Creaking really badly in the heat after a drive. Just now starting to feel they're binding up around corners too. Again, they all do it and it's a consumable with Porsches.

All of this is definitely nothing critically bad, just standard Boxster/Porsche of this age stuff. Which ever one I got is likely to have needed it. Kiltox Boxster S is needing similar and that had a professional mechanic (Panhard56) on here owned it. Panhard went over with a fine tooth comb as a professional mechanic while on his 2 post lift to make sure everything was perfect. These cars are relatively low volume performance cars, so they aren't machines to be run on a shoe string budget. If they are, they end up having far more serious issues. 

My local garage has said they're more than happy to do those jobs which is good. They do a good job and I trust them a lot. I could do it myself too as it's all not hard. Not particularly hard cars to work on. We will see how the winter projects go and if I get some spare time after them. 

Yearly service which is supposed to be due next month, I'll get a local Porsche specialist. Partly for the stamp but also partly to find anything else that may start to be looked at in the near future. No point doing it now as I rather get fresh oil put in at the start of the season before I start putting miles back on it. 

Currently just done over 3500 miles since I bought it from you about 6 months ago. Probably the mileage will slow down a lot now until next year though. 

[SiC]

While I think about it, the seats in this car are ace. Despite being sporty tombstone, they are really comfortable. Long journeys I don't have any back pain at all. Suspensions is hard but no worse than our A4 S-Line estate. Refinement + NVH is excellent and performance is of course more than adequate. 

It has given me thoughts about getting a 996 as a daily driver....

Isn't crazy as it sounds either. Most of the parts are readily available from ECP/GSF, aren't that expensive and they are easy enough to work on. Except the engine itself. Which of course is the big risk factor on these generation Porsche engines, due to the ways they can go bang in interesting and expensive ways. If it wasn't for that, I'd have one in a heartbeat as a main daily driver. But then if the engine was 100% bulletproof, these cars wouldn't be as cheap as they are. 

[SiC]

This came out of storage briefly a week or two ago when we had all that hot weather. Reminded me that I really need to give it some mechanical love and get those top mounts + coils done.

In the meantime, I need to go back up and realign my wheel centres because I bet I've got them wrong...
https://jalopnik.com/porsche-has-a-very-specific-official-way-of-aligning-th-1838539888

[Noel Tidybeard]

this is the way i align the H logos on the spaceship ?

[BorniteIdentity]

That storage looks good - plenty of airflow and space. 

Is it underground? 

Anyway - jealous. 

[SiC]

13 hours ago, BorniteIdentity said:

That storage looks good - plenty of airflow and space. 

Is it underground? 

Anyway - jealous. 

Above ground. It's the bottom bit of an old battery chicken shed. Basically where the chicken shit fell down from the cages above. Farmer reckons he makes similar from when he kept chickens but cars are obviously far less hassle.

48 quid per month per space, which I don't think is too bad. Unlike many other car storage places, I have free access to come and go when the main gate is unlocked. That's 364 days a year, 12 hours a day.

Was on a bit of a waiting list but to my surprise they came up in just over a month and a bit. Currently have two bays ... tempted to get a third (don't tell Mrs SiC!). £96 per month seems a lot of money (well it is really), but I don't drink/smoke/gamble/play golf/etc and really just the cost of the classic car hobby. Some people at the barn rent whole rows for their cars! Odd mix too. Some exotica and some MOT expired old Scenics/Jeeps/etc.

If I get another car though, I think it would have to be more modern (90s+). Owning two pre 80s cars are enough maintenance to keep on top of. When we ever move, hopefully I'll have a garage parking space at home + room for tools. This will allow the Boxster, MGB and Dolly to all live permanently undercover.

 

I do keep getting bad thoughts of getting a V8V or a DB9 on tick after we move though.... Boxster would have to go though (AM and Porsche are too needy cars)