High mileage boxster s 987 (3.2)

[menor95]

Hi all,

After a quick browse of the classifieds I have found some 987 Bosxter's have dipped bellow 10k and temptation is rising however many of these cars have circa 100k on the clock. I am aware of IMS failures and other issues however I would be interested to hear from anybody who is running one of these cars with over 100k on the clock and what if any unexpected problems or issues have arisen. To summarise I am thinking if I would be better spending £2-£3k more for a lower mileage example?

Menor

Edited by menor95 on Tuesday 19th May 05:42

[Trev450]

TBH by the time these cars get to around 100k, most of the components known to fail will have been replaced. This is not to say that they won't need doing again at some point, but should give you an idea of how well the car has been maintained assuming the seller has kept receipts.

In no particular order, these are likely items to have been done or will need doing: water pump, gear linkage cables, ball joints, front suspension bottom arms, discs, radiators, condensors.

I have not mentioned the IMS bearing as this really can go at any time.

[edc]

Same engine in a 986 here but 112k miles. I bought it with 105k on it and proceeded to overhaul it based on my experience of a previous Boxster. At this mileage the engine is the least of your worries.

[Rockster]

menor95 said:

Hi all,

After a quick browse of the classifieds I have found some 987 Bosxter's have dipped bellow 10k and temptation is rising however many of these cars have circa 100k on the clock. I am aware of IMS failures and other issues however I would be interested to hear from anybody who is running one of these cars with over 100k on the clock and what if any unexpected problems or issues have arisen. To summarise I am thinking if I would be better spending £2-£3k more for a lower mileage example?

Menor

Edited by menor95 on Tuesday 19th May 05:42

Not a 987 Boxster, but my 2002 Boxster has over 290K miles on its original engine (and clutch).

Been pretty reliable so far. 'course, your, pardon the expression, mileage may vary.

If a thorough road test finds no issues that the car has made it to 100K miles indicates the car and the engine have been taken care of.

About all that happened before 100K miles was RMS leak (25K), AOS (<80K), a wheel bearing (~80K), O2 sensors (<100K), water pump (172K), another AOS (<200K), fuel pump (220K), some brake light, clutch switches, door lock controllers, window regulators in there somewhere. A biggie was the passenger side VarioCam solenoid/actuator at IIRC around 300K miles. CV boots after that. The CV bearings were cleaned, inspected and deemed ok so the tech repacked them with fresh grease, installed new boots and put the things back on the car. Oh, a MAF. Coolant tank but I forget when this went bad. Under 250K miles is about as close as I can remember. Before this an oil filler cap (leaking) and a coolant tank cap (also leaking). Another AOS (the 3rd one).

Car in now for a problem with instrument cluster. Airbag warning light on all the time. No airbag errors though. The diagnosis is a short to ground. This is kind of tricky. The way I understand the way warning lights work is they are all fed power from a common source. To turn a light on a ground is made. This is done by letting a pin go low. To turn off the light the pin must be driven high. If this pin -- the circuit that is the pin so to speak -- fails the pin's level can't be raised and thus is always low and the light is therefor always on.

The "fix" is to replace the buffer chip that the instrument cluster controller "talks" to and which is directly connected to the LED to effect a ground to turn the light on or not a ground to turn the light off. We'll see. The cluster is on its way back from the instrument cluster repair facility located in Lake Havasu City, AZ, USA.

Anyhow, the Boxster has nearly 300K miles on it and the engine runs as good now as it ever has. I can still run 0w-40 oil with no oil consumption issues, but I have taken to using 5w-50 in it because it can get so blasted hot here where I live while it doesn't get that cold. But the engine was just fine in very high ambient temperatures with 0w-40 oil. Regardless of the oil viscosity, I change it it every 5K miles.

[DavidJG]

I've just bought a 987s gen 1 3.2 - early 2005 model. It currently has 70k and is in near perfect condition (it's a one owner car, with full main dealer history).

Based on the history, I'm planning some preventative maintenance and refresh work over the next couple of years.

This year: upgrade IMS bearing as this car almost certainly has the weakest IMS bearing that Porsche used. Whilst we've got the engine out, new RMS, new clutch (never been changed), new engine / transmission mounts, new AOS. These are all items that will need changing eventually, so makes sense to do them all together.

Next year: new springs / dampers all round - again they're all original items so 10 years old and won't be as good as they should - although to be fair nothing feels bad in this department. Also considering upgrading the brake master cylinder to a GT3 item, which apparently improves brake pedal feel / response.

At some point, it will probably need the exhaust system replacing (read upgrading) - this will take some time to decide upon. Carnewal seems like a popular option, but I want to listen to a few alternatives before deciding on this.