2005 Boxster S
Discussion
So thats me up-to-date on spannering so far. One thing I missed was fixing a rattle that turned out to be the rear number plate screws being loose (replaced with sticky plate fixers). With the car garaged probably until March, and the MOT running out before then there may be some more work in spring. There are also a few things I want to do to it this year;
-New windscreen (old one is ~19 year original and scratched / pitted and sun glare detracts from the drive)
-New numberplates
-Driver side rear mudflap is a bit cracked and ugly
-Aftermarket headunit (Screen in current one is temperamental and no aux in)
-Fix the small amount of stone chips / minor corrosion on front arches. Theres a point just behind the wheels that gets blasted by stones etc and it seems to affect all 987s. I put dynax UC on this when I first got the car but want to sort it out with a better (DIY) fix and some touch up paint. I have seen people make little mudflaps for the front from thin rubber sheet that looks interesting too.
-Possibly look into ceramic coating the wheels. The brake dust from the brembo pads is significant and although I love how the wheels look when they are clean I am not up for washing cars on a super regular basis. I waxed them last year and that really helped but won't last. From my limited research this looks to be something that could be done with a day and ~£50. My wifes car is a cosmetic wreck and can be the guinea pig. I would be interested in anyones thoughts or experience as a novice DIYing this.
I would also like to drive it more, and take more photographs of my experiences with it in 2024.
In terms of thoughts on ownership, my main comparison is to my MR2, 306 gti and 330Ci. Gratuitous photos because I found them again;
Having searched for those cars, none of them have an MOT anymore. The 306 in particular was not in bad condition and would probably be worth a lot more than the ~£600 I paid for it ~10 years ago at ~80k miles!
The Porsche is a lovely car. I always looked forward to driving it and I can't wait to get it back out of the garage. I love the way it looks (particularly roof-down) and I do love mid-engined cars for just being different to most. 987s are often criticised for having a quiet exhaust, but I think thats more to do with the exhaust not running under the passenger compartment. I am sure an aftermarket exhaust would make the car more fun, but any drone would really grate on me. The carnewal option does look interesting. The intake noise dominates, which I am fine with. It makes my ~2 hour each way commute a really enjoyable experience, especially with the roof down.
I suspect a cayman would be dynamically a little better but ive not tried one. The boxster doesn't feel like a slouch in that department, but ive not taken it on track yet and I don't feel like I am near its limits on the road. The equivalent cayman would be 3.4, which I ruled out due to the absolute certainty that worrying about bore scoring would ruin the experience. I would therefore have gone with the 2.7, which lacks the 6 speed box and big red brake calipers! Even in 2.7 guise, I doubt I could have got one for ~£8k although the market may be a bit different now.
The 3.2 feels nicely powerful - not too much but not too little. The 330Ci engine always felt too slow and smooth to a fault (yes it had Vanos rebuild and the DISA fixed - it was running right). The boxster engine doesn't feel silky smooth and has a slightly syncopated idle and makes some lovely harmonics up in the rev range. The gearbox and clutch are quite heavy and it takes some effort to drive (which is a nice feeling when you are in the mood for it). A new clutch may lighten up the pedal, but im pretty sure the gearbox is as it should be (gearbox serviced by Porsche within last few years and no stickyness in linkages). The steering feels lovely, although if I am being honest its not as communicative as I remember the 306 or MR2. The seats go very low, I really feel like I am 'in' the car rather than 'on' it. The car generally feels like a quality thing - there isn't any scratchy plastic, cheap carpet etc and even with mine not being a pampered example I cant find any gremlins.
The gear ratios feel too long. From memory second takes you over 60 and third over 90. Then you have 3 other gears, but they are largely pointless because the car can pull 6th from about 30. This means you only regularly get to redline in first and second unless driving like a complete tool, which seems like a shame. My 306 Gti was the opposite - not much power but lots of gear changes made it feel frantic. In reality, the Porsche is a lot quicker even in the wrong gear. Possibly in Germany this gearing makes more sense, but on the UK A/B roads not so much.
The space in the frunk is massive for this sort of car and this makes it quite usable even without using the boot. I bought a large plastic storage box, forgetting I was using the Porsche and thinking I would have to return it when I realised. It easily fit in the frunk. It averages around 30mpg on V power on my longish commute with a few blasts but generally being limited by slower moving traffic. Ive seen 34mpg in the past. Shorter trips would be considerably worse. I gather the 987.2 can do a fair bit better, but I am happy with that.
The comparison with a Focus ST is interesting - ive briefly driven a remapped mk2 ST (with the 5 pot) but nothing newer if thats what we are talking. Going to any medium-sized NA engine might feel a bit flat powerband-wise after a turbo petrol. I liked the ST engine, but the driving position was quite high and the car felt nose-heavy. You could fix all of this with modifications. If you are into driving on track I suspect an unmodified 987 would be more stress and less fun than a modified ST and modifying the 987 for track use would be expensive.
I saw a few threads before buying with people saying that they were underwhelmed test driving 987s and I think there is something in that. Its not particlarly raw as standard but is super competent and ticks a lot of boxes (mid engined, roof down, flat six) to the point I am not sure what else I would buy afterwards without doubling the budget. I am about £9k into the car now and I am very comfortable with that. I think I would get less enjoyment out of a more expensive/newer 987 as I would tend to be more precious about it.
The issues ive had with it this year would be financially painful if I had to pay someone else to fix them, and I don't consider any of them that bad. Because I was doing the work at my own pace, I could search for used parts at a good price and avoid paying over the odds. I don't think I would run one of these if I had to pay a garage for this work and would instead go for something newer. I enjoy a little problem solving and so the repairs are part of getting to know a car and so up to a point I dont really mind the issues.
Fingers crossed the coolant crossover pipes dont need replacing this year - that looks like a really unpleasant job!
-New windscreen (old one is ~19 year original and scratched / pitted and sun glare detracts from the drive)
-New numberplates
-Driver side rear mudflap is a bit cracked and ugly
-Aftermarket headunit (Screen in current one is temperamental and no aux in)
-Fix the small amount of stone chips / minor corrosion on front arches. Theres a point just behind the wheels that gets blasted by stones etc and it seems to affect all 987s. I put dynax UC on this when I first got the car but want to sort it out with a better (DIY) fix and some touch up paint. I have seen people make little mudflaps for the front from thin rubber sheet that looks interesting too.
-Possibly look into ceramic coating the wheels. The brake dust from the brembo pads is significant and although I love how the wheels look when they are clean I am not up for washing cars on a super regular basis. I waxed them last year and that really helped but won't last. From my limited research this looks to be something that could be done with a day and ~£50. My wifes car is a cosmetic wreck and can be the guinea pig. I would be interested in anyones thoughts or experience as a novice DIYing this.
I would also like to drive it more, and take more photographs of my experiences with it in 2024.
In terms of thoughts on ownership, my main comparison is to my MR2, 306 gti and 330Ci. Gratuitous photos because I found them again;
Having searched for those cars, none of them have an MOT anymore. The 306 in particular was not in bad condition and would probably be worth a lot more than the ~£600 I paid for it ~10 years ago at ~80k miles!
The Porsche is a lovely car. I always looked forward to driving it and I can't wait to get it back out of the garage. I love the way it looks (particularly roof-down) and I do love mid-engined cars for just being different to most. 987s are often criticised for having a quiet exhaust, but I think thats more to do with the exhaust not running under the passenger compartment. I am sure an aftermarket exhaust would make the car more fun, but any drone would really grate on me. The carnewal option does look interesting. The intake noise dominates, which I am fine with. It makes my ~2 hour each way commute a really enjoyable experience, especially with the roof down.
I suspect a cayman would be dynamically a little better but ive not tried one. The boxster doesn't feel like a slouch in that department, but ive not taken it on track yet and I don't feel like I am near its limits on the road. The equivalent cayman would be 3.4, which I ruled out due to the absolute certainty that worrying about bore scoring would ruin the experience. I would therefore have gone with the 2.7, which lacks the 6 speed box and big red brake calipers! Even in 2.7 guise, I doubt I could have got one for ~£8k although the market may be a bit different now.
The 3.2 feels nicely powerful - not too much but not too little. The 330Ci engine always felt too slow and smooth to a fault (yes it had Vanos rebuild and the DISA fixed - it was running right). The boxster engine doesn't feel silky smooth and has a slightly syncopated idle and makes some lovely harmonics up in the rev range. The gearbox and clutch are quite heavy and it takes some effort to drive (which is a nice feeling when you are in the mood for it). A new clutch may lighten up the pedal, but im pretty sure the gearbox is as it should be (gearbox serviced by Porsche within last few years and no stickyness in linkages). The steering feels lovely, although if I am being honest its not as communicative as I remember the 306 or MR2. The seats go very low, I really feel like I am 'in' the car rather than 'on' it. The car generally feels like a quality thing - there isn't any scratchy plastic, cheap carpet etc and even with mine not being a pampered example I cant find any gremlins.
The gear ratios feel too long. From memory second takes you over 60 and third over 90. Then you have 3 other gears, but they are largely pointless because the car can pull 6th from about 30. This means you only regularly get to redline in first and second unless driving like a complete tool, which seems like a shame. My 306 Gti was the opposite - not much power but lots of gear changes made it feel frantic. In reality, the Porsche is a lot quicker even in the wrong gear. Possibly in Germany this gearing makes more sense, but on the UK A/B roads not so much.
The space in the frunk is massive for this sort of car and this makes it quite usable even without using the boot. I bought a large plastic storage box, forgetting I was using the Porsche and thinking I would have to return it when I realised. It easily fit in the frunk. It averages around 30mpg on V power on my longish commute with a few blasts but generally being limited by slower moving traffic. Ive seen 34mpg in the past. Shorter trips would be considerably worse. I gather the 987.2 can do a fair bit better, but I am happy with that.
The comparison with a Focus ST is interesting - ive briefly driven a remapped mk2 ST (with the 5 pot) but nothing newer if thats what we are talking. Going to any medium-sized NA engine might feel a bit flat powerband-wise after a turbo petrol. I liked the ST engine, but the driving position was quite high and the car felt nose-heavy. You could fix all of this with modifications. If you are into driving on track I suspect an unmodified 987 would be more stress and less fun than a modified ST and modifying the 987 for track use would be expensive.
I saw a few threads before buying with people saying that they were underwhelmed test driving 987s and I think there is something in that. Its not particlarly raw as standard but is super competent and ticks a lot of boxes (mid engined, roof down, flat six) to the point I am not sure what else I would buy afterwards without doubling the budget. I am about £9k into the car now and I am very comfortable with that. I think I would get less enjoyment out of a more expensive/newer 987 as I would tend to be more precious about it.
The issues ive had with it this year would be financially painful if I had to pay someone else to fix them, and I don't consider any of them that bad. Because I was doing the work at my own pace, I could search for used parts at a good price and avoid paying over the odds. I don't think I would run one of these if I had to pay a garage for this work and would instead go for something newer. I enjoy a little problem solving and so the repairs are part of getting to know a car and so up to a point I dont really mind the issues.
Fingers crossed the coolant crossover pipes dont need replacing this year - that looks like a really unpleasant job!
Edited by iangex on Wednesday 17th January 00:17
Such a great read, and more power to you for diving in and tackling the problems yourself.
I looked long and hard at exactly this model (for all the reasons you describe) when I wanted a drop-top track/trip car. Unfortunately, without my own garage or a specialist nearby I just couldn't get myself in a place where I wanted to take it on. I compromised with a two-seater BMW built from the repmobile parts bin, but I still occasionally look at these for £10-11k and marvel at the value for money.
I looked long and hard at exactly this model (for all the reasons you describe) when I wanted a drop-top track/trip car. Unfortunately, without my own garage or a specialist nearby I just couldn't get myself in a place where I wanted to take it on. I compromised with a two-seater BMW built from the repmobile parts bin, but I still occasionally look at these for £10-11k and marvel at the value for money.
That's an interesting update, especially your comparison between your 330Ci and your Boxster as I have an E90 330i daily driver and a Z4M Coupe for fun drives.
Like yours my 330i is very smooth and refined, which suits a daily, but the Z4 is just so much more raw and edgy with a heavier clutch and steering even though both have Hydraulic PAS. I feel like I'm sitting in the Z4 rather than on the 330i.
But they both have very high gearing with 60+ in 2nd and 90+ in 3rd - it really must be a German thing!
Good luck getting through your job list before it goes back on the road in the Spring.
Like yours my 330i is very smooth and refined, which suits a daily, but the Z4 is just so much more raw and edgy with a heavier clutch and steering even though both have Hydraulic PAS. I feel like I'm sitting in the Z4 rather than on the 330i.
But they both have very high gearing with 60+ in 2nd and 90+ in 3rd - it really must be a German thing!
Good luck getting through your job list before it goes back on the road in the Spring.
The Z3/Z4 driving position looks great - sitting so far back over the rear wheels must feel really special. Both the convertibles and coupes of both look great too. BMW have a habit of making cars that look a bit awkward at first but age really well.
I didn't used to think the round BMW logo indicator bits looked good, but the whole design looks just right to me now.
A Z4M is definitely one of the cars to tempt me to double the budget but we are looking at a house move/upgrade including more garage space at some point so I can't really justify it for a bit. Once that's done I dream of filling the driveway with cheaper examples of my favorite cars and spend the weekends fixing all the mechanical issues
I didn't used to think the round BMW logo indicator bits looked good, but the whole design looks just right to me now.
A Z4M is definitely one of the cars to tempt me to double the budget but we are looking at a house move/upgrade including more garage space at some point so I can't really justify it for a bit. Once that's done I dream of filling the driveway with cheaper examples of my favorite cars and spend the weekends fixing all the mechanical issues
Got a few hours today to take a look at the Porsche so decided to start it up and make sure everything works and give it a quick wash.
Connected the battery and the car started right up with obligatory PASM fault (goes out after a few meters driving). Moved the car out of the garage and was greeted with this under the front right wheel;
Oh dear - coolant. Based on the location and further inspection this is a weep from the front coolant crossover pipes. They didn't look too clever before being parked up and I think they are now leaking. From reading other peoples experience with this is generally a slow leak but the fix can be quite tricky and involves lowering the subframe. The coolant level hadn't noticably dropped in the ~2 months since it was laid up so I am hoping this doesnt need immediate attention yet. The individual pipes aren't that expensive but there are a lot of them. The pipes also corrode together, which looks fun!
Anyway, I cleaned and treated the roof and gave the whole car minus the wheels a gentle wash.
Plan is to put it in for its MOT later this month and hopefully have it back on the road in March. It will need to come back off the road to do the crossover pipes fairly soon, but I would like to give it a good run to find any other issues that can be fixed at the same time. The condensers do also need doing, so I might combine the two jobs.
Connected the battery and the car started right up with obligatory PASM fault (goes out after a few meters driving). Moved the car out of the garage and was greeted with this under the front right wheel;
Oh dear - coolant. Based on the location and further inspection this is a weep from the front coolant crossover pipes. They didn't look too clever before being parked up and I think they are now leaking. From reading other peoples experience with this is generally a slow leak but the fix can be quite tricky and involves lowering the subframe. The coolant level hadn't noticably dropped in the ~2 months since it was laid up so I am hoping this doesnt need immediate attention yet. The individual pipes aren't that expensive but there are a lot of them. The pipes also corrode together, which looks fun!
Anyway, I cleaned and treated the roof and gave the whole car minus the wheels a gentle wash.
Plan is to put it in for its MOT later this month and hopefully have it back on the road in March. It will need to come back off the road to do the crossover pipes fairly soon, but I would like to give it a good run to find any other issues that can be fixed at the same time. The condensers do also need doing, so I might combine the two jobs.
Yeah you are probably right about the leak rate - ill keep a close eye on it and keep coolant with me until its fixed. I didn't notice any under the car after running it up to temperature so I am hopeful it will be a slow weep. There were some forum posts about someone who left a similar leak for years without it getting much worse, but my OCD wouldn't allow me to do that anyway.
Top tip on those power steering lines, will take a close look when its all apart.
I am hoping its only the front ones that are bad - The parts seem to be around £300 providing the large plastic 'distributor pipes' are in good condition.
Top tip on those power steering lines, will take a close look when its all apart.
I am hoping its only the front ones that are bad - The parts seem to be around £300 providing the large plastic 'distributor pipes' are in good condition.
What a great thread. It's really the best of PH and shows you can still own and enjoy a great car on a sensible budget. Documenting it takes a chunk of time too, it's much appreciated.
My days of "fettling" like this are probably over, but I fondly remember taking the heads off Crossflows (711M obviously), cleaning in the dishwasher, a bit of porting and lapping the valves and having it back on the block the same day. Simple engines by comparison and I admire your practical approach to dealing with the relative complexities of a modern engine.
My days of "fettling" like this are probably over, but I fondly remember taking the heads off Crossflows (711M obviously), cleaning in the dishwasher, a bit of porting and lapping the valves and having it back on the block the same day. Simple engines by comparison and I admire your practical approach to dealing with the relative complexities of a modern engine.
I am really glad people are enjoying the thread! I will try to keep it up to date. I certainly wouldn't get away with cleaning car bits in the house
Exciting news for today;
12 months ticket and no advisories!
I did notice the bottom of the door card was slightly damp after it was outside in the rain for a few hours today. I was expecting this to be honest, when I replaced the speakers last year I didn't appreciate that the door card clips form part of the waterproofing of the door and should have been replaced. I've laid the car up in the garage again until next month but that will probably be the first job.
Exciting news for today;
12 months ticket and no advisories!
I did notice the bottom of the door card was slightly damp after it was outside in the rain for a few hours today. I was expecting this to be honest, when I replaced the speakers last year I didn't appreciate that the door card clips form part of the waterproofing of the door and should have been replaced. I've laid the car up in the garage again until next month but that will probably be the first job.
Ok so mini-update from last weekend. I knew the drivers side door was letting water in so removed the door card again to check where this was happening. I had assumed the door card clips were the cause and ordered replacements (something like £1.05 each with free postage from Porsche, I ordered 18 which is enough for both sides).
Anyway, once the door card was off I wanted to check where the leakage was coming from. This is easy as you can drop the window and spray water into the door like this;
It was clear that the leakage was not from the door card clips but from the bottom of the metal door membrane. Undoing the bolts holding the membrane on uncovered this;
Its probably not that clear, but the original seal between the door membrane and door is completely perished and someone has applied silicone sealant. This was sufficient to seal before, but must have become damaged when I removed the door card previously. It took a huge amount of force to remove the door card when I replaced the speakers, and I wouldn't be surprised if the silicone repair didn't survive it. I read a rumour at the time that Porsche used the wrong clips or something, seemed to be a common issue on the early 987s and a cause of a lot of difficulty removing the door cards.
Anyway, I removed the silicone and cut away the original damaged seal up to a height several inches above the bottom of the membraine. I then ran some butyl tape in its place and bolted it back in place. No photos of this because it was extremely tricky and I was trying to get the tape in just the right place. Butyl tape is evil stuff and sticks to everything you don't want it to much better than what you do want it to. Also I didn't fully remove the door membrane as there is various wiring that runs through it making that difficult.
I am hoping this is a more robust solution than the silicone because as I understand it butyl sealant tape doesn't really cure and stays tacky. Also because ive gone a few inches up the door its not trying to be watertight against the original seal.
The door card clips got replaced and the door card put back on. Everything seems good and I repeated the leak test. Water drained correctly (out of a series of holes on the outside of the door seal). I took a photo of the difference in seal condition of the door card clips (old on left, new on right).
The door clip seals do get squashed down a bit, but I expect the left ones are original and so in most cases where there is a big leak that these wouldn't be the cause and more likely to be the seal on the membrane as was the case here.
Ill keep an eye on the passenger side but I don't really want to disturb things to replace the clips that are probably fine anyway. I did repeat the leak test on that side and it drained out ok.
Anyway, once the door card was off I wanted to check where the leakage was coming from. This is easy as you can drop the window and spray water into the door like this;
It was clear that the leakage was not from the door card clips but from the bottom of the metal door membrane. Undoing the bolts holding the membrane on uncovered this;
Its probably not that clear, but the original seal between the door membrane and door is completely perished and someone has applied silicone sealant. This was sufficient to seal before, but must have become damaged when I removed the door card previously. It took a huge amount of force to remove the door card when I replaced the speakers, and I wouldn't be surprised if the silicone repair didn't survive it. I read a rumour at the time that Porsche used the wrong clips or something, seemed to be a common issue on the early 987s and a cause of a lot of difficulty removing the door cards.
Anyway, I removed the silicone and cut away the original damaged seal up to a height several inches above the bottom of the membraine. I then ran some butyl tape in its place and bolted it back in place. No photos of this because it was extremely tricky and I was trying to get the tape in just the right place. Butyl tape is evil stuff and sticks to everything you don't want it to much better than what you do want it to. Also I didn't fully remove the door membrane as there is various wiring that runs through it making that difficult.
I am hoping this is a more robust solution than the silicone because as I understand it butyl sealant tape doesn't really cure and stays tacky. Also because ive gone a few inches up the door its not trying to be watertight against the original seal.
The door card clips got replaced and the door card put back on. Everything seems good and I repeated the leak test. Water drained correctly (out of a series of holes on the outside of the door seal). I took a photo of the difference in seal condition of the door card clips (old on left, new on right).
The door clip seals do get squashed down a bit, but I expect the left ones are original and so in most cases where there is a big leak that these wouldn't be the cause and more likely to be the seal on the membrane as was the case here.
Ill keep an eye on the passenger side but I don't really want to disturb things to replace the clips that are probably fine anyway. I did repeat the leak test on that side and it drained out ok.
Right, another update. The weather has been so bad that it delayed getting the Porsche out of the garage until now. Finally some nice weather so on Friday I thought I would move it out of the garage and give it a run over the weekend. I have a track day booked for May in Llandow, and want to get some miles in before then.
Anyway, battery fully charged I went to turn the key and....click. Damn!
Checked battery voltage and no issues. From memory about 12.4v resting and 11.6v with key turned so I don't think its a battery issue. The click was coming from the starter motor so rules out ignition barrel or relays IMO.
Anyway, car back into 'service mode' - I have got pretty good at this now! Gave the starter a tap but no joy. Turned the engine over by hand and its not siezed/locked. I started to remove the intake to get access to the electrical connections on the starter and get my multimeter in there to check its getting the full voltage.
At this point the car turns over as if nothing is wrong and does so multiple times in a row (ive got the fuel pump fuse pulled to build oil pressure before starting since its been sat a few months). The starter is getting the same voltage as the battery but I clean up all of the connections anyway and reassemble the intake and take the car out of service mode (~20 mins of scrabbling around in a cramped garage).
At this point the car starts and runs fine, so I take it out for a few miles to get it all up to temperature. It all works well and feels great.
I return and park up. At this point the car won't restart. I try again a few hours later and it starts fine. Argh!
Anyway, ive concluded that the starter is getting the right signal (because the starter always clicks) and that its getting the right voltage (because of mulitmeter checks) so its either the solenoid not making the right contact or the motor brushes being worn and not being able to start (much like the issue with the secondary air pump). Either way, easier to just swap the starter out. Design911 have an aftermarket (Hella) starter at ~£180 but I found the same part number elsewhere for £105 delivered so ive gone for that. I couldn't find anywhere locally with one in stock so it wasn't getting fixed this weekend.
Thats a pretty reasonable cost but my frustration is that I had the whole starter out and solenoid mechanism cleaned over the winter and its a bit of a faff to replace when I feel like ive already done that 1.5 times. It would have actually saved me time to swap the starter at that point but im going on the philosphy of not just throwing parts at a problem so I didn't. I cannot see how the solenoid cleanup I did would cause this issue so it must have just been bad timing. Anyway, hopefully the starter will arrive this week and we will be up and running next weekend.
Anyway, battery fully charged I went to turn the key and....click. Damn!
Checked battery voltage and no issues. From memory about 12.4v resting and 11.6v with key turned so I don't think its a battery issue. The click was coming from the starter motor so rules out ignition barrel or relays IMO.
Anyway, car back into 'service mode' - I have got pretty good at this now! Gave the starter a tap but no joy. Turned the engine over by hand and its not siezed/locked. I started to remove the intake to get access to the electrical connections on the starter and get my multimeter in there to check its getting the full voltage.
At this point the car turns over as if nothing is wrong and does so multiple times in a row (ive got the fuel pump fuse pulled to build oil pressure before starting since its been sat a few months). The starter is getting the same voltage as the battery but I clean up all of the connections anyway and reassemble the intake and take the car out of service mode (~20 mins of scrabbling around in a cramped garage).
At this point the car starts and runs fine, so I take it out for a few miles to get it all up to temperature. It all works well and feels great.
I return and park up. At this point the car won't restart. I try again a few hours later and it starts fine. Argh!
Anyway, ive concluded that the starter is getting the right signal (because the starter always clicks) and that its getting the right voltage (because of mulitmeter checks) so its either the solenoid not making the right contact or the motor brushes being worn and not being able to start (much like the issue with the secondary air pump). Either way, easier to just swap the starter out. Design911 have an aftermarket (Hella) starter at ~£180 but I found the same part number elsewhere for £105 delivered so ive gone for that. I couldn't find anywhere locally with one in stock so it wasn't getting fixed this weekend.
Thats a pretty reasonable cost but my frustration is that I had the whole starter out and solenoid mechanism cleaned over the winter and its a bit of a faff to replace when I feel like ive already done that 1.5 times. It would have actually saved me time to swap the starter at that point but im going on the philosphy of not just throwing parts at a problem so I didn't. I cannot see how the solenoid cleanup I did would cause this issue so it must have just been bad timing. Anyway, hopefully the starter will arrive this week and we will be up and running next weekend.
Another mini update. New starter is in and car starts perfectly. Ive done about 200 miles in the car and it turns over with an enthusiasm that it never had before. I've watched a lot of Porsche youtube videos and it seems common for the starter to sound lethargic. I did clean the positive battery feed that sometimes corrodes, but this was a while ago.
Old starter looking tired
I am keeping a close eye on coolant level, but ive not noticed a change so far.
Anyway, am planning on spending some money on the thing;
-Stereo really is unacceptable. I am no audiophile but the sound quality just isn't there and the lack of inputs is annoying me. Its a toss up between a mid range android auto compatible unit from Pioneer etc or one of the Aliexpress type 987 units. I am loathed to buy the Aliexpress unit, but it does look the part and I like the physical volume controls.
-Coolant crossover pipes still need doing at some point
-Windscreen has many chips and scratches. I will probably get this replaced as the glare when the sun comes out is going to be annoying.
Ive also booked onto a track day in the car at Llandow next weekend. I am interested to see how the car gets on, but I don't expect to be really pushing it. It is currenly forecast to rain and I've noticed recently that the rear tyres (Bridgestone Potenza RE050A) seem to give up relatively easily in the cold greasy conditions we have at the moment despite having reasonable tread and not being too old (less than 4 years).
Old starter looking tired
I am keeping a close eye on coolant level, but ive not noticed a change so far.
Anyway, am planning on spending some money on the thing;
-Stereo really is unacceptable. I am no audiophile but the sound quality just isn't there and the lack of inputs is annoying me. Its a toss up between a mid range android auto compatible unit from Pioneer etc or one of the Aliexpress type 987 units. I am loathed to buy the Aliexpress unit, but it does look the part and I like the physical volume controls.
-Coolant crossover pipes still need doing at some point
-Windscreen has many chips and scratches. I will probably get this replaced as the glare when the sun comes out is going to be annoying.
Ive also booked onto a track day in the car at Llandow next weekend. I am interested to see how the car gets on, but I don't expect to be really pushing it. It is currenly forecast to rain and I've noticed recently that the rear tyres (Bridgestone Potenza RE050A) seem to give up relatively easily in the cold greasy conditions we have at the moment despite having reasonable tread and not being too old (less than 4 years).
iangex said:
-Stereo really is unacceptable. I am no audiophile but the sound quality just isn't there and the lack of inputs is annoying me. Its a toss up between a mid range android auto compatible unit from Pioneer etc or one of the Aliexpress type 987 units. I am loathed to buy the Aliexpress unit, but it does look the part and I like the physical volume controls.
The reviews on the Aliexpress units do seem quite mixed, so much so that I wonder if there are completely different models that look the same, but some are good and some bad!I fitted a Pioneer SPH-DA120 in mine six or seven years ago and it has been excellent, but I do still miss having a physical volume 'knob'!
Having Apple CarPlay really makes the car feel more up to date and should definitely bring an improvement in sound quality if your car only has the standard speaker set up. I actually thought the Pioneer improved the sound slightly in my Bose-equipped car, even though it's still the same Bose amp feeding the speakers!
I look forward the update, I've really enjoyed the thread so far.
Yes, I did read somewhere that the Aliexpress units can have different chips and there seems to be a million options for RAM etc. It seems like a beta product and that you may end up spending a lot of time setting it up. I am not really keen on spending ages trying to get it to work, and I would be extremely annoyed if it failed after a few months with no worthwhile warranty.
I think you have sold me on buying a reputable branded unit like Pioneer! It certainly seems to bring the cabin more up-to-date and I love having the functionality in my other car.
I forgot a fun audio related thing that happened on the commute this week. Set off on my ~70 mile drive to work with the radio playing and went to adjust the volume slightly. The stereo didn't respond and there was a flashing light to the right of the unit. Since the volume was okish I just thought it must be a quirk of having the battery removed and that it would sort itself out after a few miles.
Anyway, around 20 miles later the radio reception became poor with lots of hissing and merging of stations making it hard to listen to and quite annoying/distracting. Again the stereo would not respond to any command and just continued playing noise. Even turning the car off and on didn't help. I ended up driving all the way into work with about an hour of static blaring. I googled the issue and it seems that sometimes this happens and the car and radio don't recognise the paring. The solution is to disconnect and reconnect the battery again, but I had no tools.
Thankfully, there is a fuse for various modules in the footwell that includes the radio (I forget which one, it was a bit of a guess to be honest). This seemed to give it the kick it needed and thankfully I didn't need to listen to static on the way home!
I have no idea why Porsches strategy for audio security included the radio working to its last settings but not responding to inputs. Surely just making it so the stereo didn't play anything would make more sense for everyone involved????
I think you have sold me on buying a reputable branded unit like Pioneer! It certainly seems to bring the cabin more up-to-date and I love having the functionality in my other car.
I forgot a fun audio related thing that happened on the commute this week. Set off on my ~70 mile drive to work with the radio playing and went to adjust the volume slightly. The stereo didn't respond and there was a flashing light to the right of the unit. Since the volume was okish I just thought it must be a quirk of having the battery removed and that it would sort itself out after a few miles.
Anyway, around 20 miles later the radio reception became poor with lots of hissing and merging of stations making it hard to listen to and quite annoying/distracting. Again the stereo would not respond to any command and just continued playing noise. Even turning the car off and on didn't help. I ended up driving all the way into work with about an hour of static blaring. I googled the issue and it seems that sometimes this happens and the car and radio don't recognise the paring. The solution is to disconnect and reconnect the battery again, but I had no tools.
Thankfully, there is a fuse for various modules in the footwell that includes the radio (I forget which one, it was a bit of a guess to be honest). This seemed to give it the kick it needed and thankfully I didn't need to listen to static on the way home!
I have no idea why Porsches strategy for audio security included the radio working to its last settings but not responding to inputs. Surely just making it so the stereo didn't play anything would make more sense for everyone involved????
Ok so Llandow was yesterday. The day was setup to run in groups based on ability/experience in the morning with 15 minute sessions for each and then moving to an open pitlane for the afternoon. I had signed up for the Novice group and got to ride with a friend in a highly modified E30 to get to know the track. For those that havn't been there its a very short track with only a few corners, which is great for novices because you get to really dial in a smaller number of corners.
Anyway, after two laps under yellow flag we were off. The group as I remember it had a bunch of MX5s and a focus ST170. The boxster immediately felt right at home. Any apprehension I had over setup (stock brake pads/fluid, fairly old road biased tyres) were quickly dispelled. The car felt poised and balanced in a way thats not always obvious when driving more slowly on the road. Grip levels felt high, and the power felt more than adequite. Overtaking the other cars in the class on the straights was drama free and the brakes never felt lacking. This I can only put down to the ability of the car, rather than the driver. There is one main braking area into the bus stop where I was coming in from the top of third (about 95mph) to around 25mph and the car did his about 15 times in the session with no signs of fade. The long gearing made sense, only needing second and third gear to cover the track at speed.
On the last lap before the cooldown the car started throwing an "alternator/battery" warning light intermittently. I did the cooldown lap and went back to the paddock, hoping that the alternator had just got hot and the issue would go away after cooling completely. To be honest, I hadn't realised how long we were out for and the car had done far more than I was expecting.
Anyway, long story short the fault didn't go away after cooldown. I took the bulkhead panel out to let the alternator properly cool and to inspect for obvious issues but no luck. None of our group had a multimeter to problem solve and I didn't want to risk running out of battery on the way home so ended the day after lunchtime.
Picture with roof down to get better access to the bulkhead area;
Annoying that it looks like I will have to put the car back into service position AGAIN to fix this. I suspect the alternator is cheesed but ill do some proper diagnosis over the next few days. It may have digested some fan belt fragments from the water pump bearing failure incident despite my efforts to vacuum them out. It also looks original, so may just be an age thing and the heat from the track just pushed it over the edge.
On the way home, the battery/alternator warning would go on and off seemingly at random. At one point on the M4 towards the end of the trip a brake distribution fault also came up, so I think/hope the car was running low on electricity and causing some other issues at this point. Thankfully that message was a one off and the car made the ~70 mile trip home with the roof down and the sun beaming so not a bad end to the day really. Overall I was happy that the car performed well and didn't leave me stranded afterwards.
Anyway, after two laps under yellow flag we were off. The group as I remember it had a bunch of MX5s and a focus ST170. The boxster immediately felt right at home. Any apprehension I had over setup (stock brake pads/fluid, fairly old road biased tyres) were quickly dispelled. The car felt poised and balanced in a way thats not always obvious when driving more slowly on the road. Grip levels felt high, and the power felt more than adequite. Overtaking the other cars in the class on the straights was drama free and the brakes never felt lacking. This I can only put down to the ability of the car, rather than the driver. There is one main braking area into the bus stop where I was coming in from the top of third (about 95mph) to around 25mph and the car did his about 15 times in the session with no signs of fade. The long gearing made sense, only needing second and third gear to cover the track at speed.
On the last lap before the cooldown the car started throwing an "alternator/battery" warning light intermittently. I did the cooldown lap and went back to the paddock, hoping that the alternator had just got hot and the issue would go away after cooling completely. To be honest, I hadn't realised how long we were out for and the car had done far more than I was expecting.
Anyway, long story short the fault didn't go away after cooldown. I took the bulkhead panel out to let the alternator properly cool and to inspect for obvious issues but no luck. None of our group had a multimeter to problem solve and I didn't want to risk running out of battery on the way home so ended the day after lunchtime.
Picture with roof down to get better access to the bulkhead area;
Annoying that it looks like I will have to put the car back into service position AGAIN to fix this. I suspect the alternator is cheesed but ill do some proper diagnosis over the next few days. It may have digested some fan belt fragments from the water pump bearing failure incident despite my efforts to vacuum them out. It also looks original, so may just be an age thing and the heat from the track just pushed it over the edge.
On the way home, the battery/alternator warning would go on and off seemingly at random. At one point on the M4 towards the end of the trip a brake distribution fault also came up, so I think/hope the car was running low on electricity and causing some other issues at this point. Thankfully that message was a one off and the car made the ~70 mile trip home with the roof down and the sun beaming so not a bad end to the day really. Overall I was happy that the car performed well and didn't leave me stranded afterwards.
So regarding stereo experience, first hand experience of fitting the AliExpress unit to a 987.1 Cayman here. Like yourself, I was sold on the OEM appearance, the presence of button & know controls and the price difference between a Pioneer or Sony unit plus fitting kit.
I ordered the 8GB RAM version and the fibre optic box as a 'just in case', which it did turn out I needed. Whole lot arrived within a week or so of ordering. Good comms from the seller via WhatsApp. I used this YouTube video to help with installation:
https://youtu.be/j82mrHTDdkg?si=l3XPSpUCIHEKUHew
In my case, I had some auto electrical bits lying around so managed to crimp a pin terminal onto the switched power and place it in the connector on the head unit side. So absolutely no modification of the harness on the Porsche side required.
...but the unit didn't work. The back-light for the switches all lit up and I could hear the beep response from pushing the buttons through the speakers but nada on the screen. Double checked all my wiring and continuity checked my joints under duress. All good. No useful response from seller. So took the unit out and took it apart. Turns out a two-pin power/ground connector for the screen wasn't fully home. 2 second fix, reassemble, refit, worked perfectly. And has done since.
Apart from that little bit of arsing around, well impressed. Sound quality is better than the original PCM unit. It's responsive, picture quality is great and it's really improved the experience of using the car. As added benefits, it's reduced battery depletion when parked vs. original PCM and the wife likes it too.
I'm having trouble getting Torque Pro working on it for proper coolant temp, vacuum info etc. But that's not the unit as I can't get it to work on my phone either! Nevertheless, that'll be useful on trackdays and I need to work out why Torque doesn't seem to connect to the ECU...
I ordered the 8GB RAM version and the fibre optic box as a 'just in case', which it did turn out I needed. Whole lot arrived within a week or so of ordering. Good comms from the seller via WhatsApp. I used this YouTube video to help with installation:
https://youtu.be/j82mrHTDdkg?si=l3XPSpUCIHEKUHew
In my case, I had some auto electrical bits lying around so managed to crimp a pin terminal onto the switched power and place it in the connector on the head unit side. So absolutely no modification of the harness on the Porsche side required.
...but the unit didn't work. The back-light for the switches all lit up and I could hear the beep response from pushing the buttons through the speakers but nada on the screen. Double checked all my wiring and continuity checked my joints under duress. All good. No useful response from seller. So took the unit out and took it apart. Turns out a two-pin power/ground connector for the screen wasn't fully home. 2 second fix, reassemble, refit, worked perfectly. And has done since.
Apart from that little bit of arsing around, well impressed. Sound quality is better than the original PCM unit. It's responsive, picture quality is great and it's really improved the experience of using the car. As added benefits, it's reduced battery depletion when parked vs. original PCM and the wife likes it too.
I'm having trouble getting Torque Pro working on it for proper coolant temp, vacuum info etc. But that's not the unit as I can't get it to work on my phone either! Nevertheless, that'll be useful on trackdays and I need to work out why Torque doesn't seem to connect to the ECU...
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