2005 Boxster S
Discussion
Longtime lurker here, thought I would share my experience with my current fun car. Previous ownership history include a ~1500 mk2 Mr2, ~£600 306 GTI, a £1200 E46 330Ci manual intersperced with some less interesting cars (Vectras, Astras, 306 estates etc). I am generally a sucker for a fun car at the cheaper end of its price range and try to do all of the work myself.
Anyway, about a year ago I decided I would like to get something fun again and fancied the idea of a sporty convertible. Budget was slightly higher than before and after considering Z3s and Z4s of various eras I decided that I didnt really want to go back down the BMW route again. I had plenty of experience fixing the 330Ci and never really gelled with it even after making it drive bascially like new. The Boxster was supposed to be a better drive than the equivalent BMW and since it would be run alongside a relatively modern estate the potential reliability difference hopefully could be worked around.
I viewed 3 Boxsters before buying the 4th;
-A 986S that was really quite tired. The owner would have let it go seriously cheap but even I could see it would take a lot to get it nice again. Although I love the look of a 986, I really wanted a 987 for the interior and nicer headlights (although I prefer the back of the 986)
-A 987S that had a new roof and was in great mechanical condition but had been resprayed in a modern porsche colour (car was keyed apparently). The colour and paint was lovely, but when you opened the door you could see the original colour.
-Another 987S that had good paint and was in good mechanical condition as far as I could tell but had a big dent from being dropped off a jack and a little too much corrosion around the damage.
My main criteria for a 987 was that it was an S with the 3.2 engine. This ensures the tax is based on the older system (~£400 rather than ~£700) and also that the engine is unlikely to get bore scoring. From what I can gather the IMS issues are also rare on the later 3.2s, which use a big (albeit not easily replaceable) bearing.
I had a bit of back and forth about a car based around Wolverhampton. Initially it was being sold with a short MOT and the owner was being quite sporty on price and this made me suspicious. I questioned if he would MOT for the price and he initially wasnt interested. Fast forward a few weeks and I could see he had it MOTd and serviced and was more realistic on asking price.
So in March 2023 I drove around 5 hours round trip to view the car. I have learned from previous purchases that its worth avoiding a situation where there is pressure to buy, so I drove there without having the money in my account and being clear that I would collect another week if we could come to an arrangement. To be honest it wasnt as good as had been described and I think the seller could see that he had been quite keen in the description;
-Lots of algae buildup on car generally (especially roof). Car generally dirty
-Some mould in car, although no wet carpets etc and no condensation on windows
-Roof would not fully retract without balljoint popping off
-AC didnt work (AC condensers looked battered)
-Slight surface corrosion on front arches
-Door handle had a decent scrape and was missing paint
-Headlights significantly yellowed
The car seemed as though it had not been run regularly, which squared with the conversations with the seller. The car had just over 100k but had some reasonable Porsche service history and was entirely standard. The fact that the car hadn't been run much but had no condensation gave me confidence that there were no active leaks (it was also stored outside in a damp alley). Overall I went away from the visit in two minds and this helped me from getting carried away negotiating. It was more of a project than I was really looking for so I ended up offering about £750 less than advertised and this was accepted. My aim was to have a good car for ~£10k and this allowed me around £2k so sort these and any other issues. The seller was actually a really nice guy who had a young family and just didnt have time to drive or look after the car. He had previously used it for some large commutes and I think his wife was not keen on the idea of holding onto the car until he might have the time to use it again.
So I took the ~3.5hr train ride to collect the car the next weekend. Some photos from the drive home (these for some reason make the car look in much nicer condition than it was).
![](https://thumbsnap.com/sc/SosRtg27.jpg[/img]</a> <a href="https://thumbsnap.com/6hJrPWWu" Target="_blank" rel="nofollow">[img]https://thumbsnap.com/sc/6hJrPWWu.jpg)
Anyway, I hope the photos upload and ill end the first post there.
Anyway, about a year ago I decided I would like to get something fun again and fancied the idea of a sporty convertible. Budget was slightly higher than before and after considering Z3s and Z4s of various eras I decided that I didnt really want to go back down the BMW route again. I had plenty of experience fixing the 330Ci and never really gelled with it even after making it drive bascially like new. The Boxster was supposed to be a better drive than the equivalent BMW and since it would be run alongside a relatively modern estate the potential reliability difference hopefully could be worked around.
I viewed 3 Boxsters before buying the 4th;
-A 986S that was really quite tired. The owner would have let it go seriously cheap but even I could see it would take a lot to get it nice again. Although I love the look of a 986, I really wanted a 987 for the interior and nicer headlights (although I prefer the back of the 986)
-A 987S that had a new roof and was in great mechanical condition but had been resprayed in a modern porsche colour (car was keyed apparently). The colour and paint was lovely, but when you opened the door you could see the original colour.
-Another 987S that had good paint and was in good mechanical condition as far as I could tell but had a big dent from being dropped off a jack and a little too much corrosion around the damage.
My main criteria for a 987 was that it was an S with the 3.2 engine. This ensures the tax is based on the older system (~£400 rather than ~£700) and also that the engine is unlikely to get bore scoring. From what I can gather the IMS issues are also rare on the later 3.2s, which use a big (albeit not easily replaceable) bearing.
I had a bit of back and forth about a car based around Wolverhampton. Initially it was being sold with a short MOT and the owner was being quite sporty on price and this made me suspicious. I questioned if he would MOT for the price and he initially wasnt interested. Fast forward a few weeks and I could see he had it MOTd and serviced and was more realistic on asking price.
So in March 2023 I drove around 5 hours round trip to view the car. I have learned from previous purchases that its worth avoiding a situation where there is pressure to buy, so I drove there without having the money in my account and being clear that I would collect another week if we could come to an arrangement. To be honest it wasnt as good as had been described and I think the seller could see that he had been quite keen in the description;
-Lots of algae buildup on car generally (especially roof). Car generally dirty
-Some mould in car, although no wet carpets etc and no condensation on windows
-Roof would not fully retract without balljoint popping off
-AC didnt work (AC condensers looked battered)
-Slight surface corrosion on front arches
-Door handle had a decent scrape and was missing paint
-Headlights significantly yellowed
The car seemed as though it had not been run regularly, which squared with the conversations with the seller. The car had just over 100k but had some reasonable Porsche service history and was entirely standard. The fact that the car hadn't been run much but had no condensation gave me confidence that there were no active leaks (it was also stored outside in a damp alley). Overall I went away from the visit in two minds and this helped me from getting carried away negotiating. It was more of a project than I was really looking for so I ended up offering about £750 less than advertised and this was accepted. My aim was to have a good car for ~£10k and this allowed me around £2k so sort these and any other issues. The seller was actually a really nice guy who had a young family and just didnt have time to drive or look after the car. He had previously used it for some large commutes and I think his wife was not keen on the idea of holding onto the car until he might have the time to use it again.
So I took the ~3.5hr train ride to collect the car the next weekend. Some photos from the drive home (these for some reason make the car look in much nicer condition than it was).
Anyway, I hope the photos upload and ill end the first post there.
Edited by iangex on Sunday 14th January 19:36
So the drive home went smoothly. Since the car hadn't been used much I was apprehensive about doing a >100 mile trip in it. I brought some oil and coolant and basic tools with me in case I had issues and always have breakdown cover (this comes in useful later on) but none of this was needed.
The engine felt great, making a lovely noise and just the right amount of power. I live a little north of Bristol and avoided the motorways around Birmingham since I didnt trust the car yet and some of them are smart motorways that I really didnt fancy breaking down on. This meant I was on some nice flowing A and B roads and it felt great to be back in a fun car after a few years of less interesting driving.
I did notice the front end felt a lot looser and the car was wandering over bumps in a way I didnt remember from the test drive and to be honest was quite disappointed for not picking this up before. Having chased suspension issues in the past I was determined to positively identify likely causes rather than guessing and throwing money replacing everything.
Anyway, as soon as I got it home I took a look at the roof issue. The seller had reciepts for new balljoints and the units looked to be new. It was clear that no one had popped them on all the way (takes quite a lot of force and makes a loud click). Once this was done, all was well and the roof worked as expected so a nice easy fix to start with.
The engine felt great, making a lovely noise and just the right amount of power. I live a little north of Bristol and avoided the motorways around Birmingham since I didnt trust the car yet and some of them are smart motorways that I really didnt fancy breaking down on. This meant I was on some nice flowing A and B roads and it felt great to be back in a fun car after a few years of less interesting driving.
I did notice the front end felt a lot looser and the car was wandering over bumps in a way I didnt remember from the test drive and to be honest was quite disappointed for not picking this up before. Having chased suspension issues in the past I was determined to positively identify likely causes rather than guessing and throwing money replacing everything.
Anyway, as soon as I got it home I took a look at the roof issue. The seller had reciepts for new balljoints and the units looked to be new. It was clear that no one had popped them on all the way (takes quite a lot of force and makes a loud click). Once this was done, all was well and the roof worked as expected so a nice easy fix to start with.
So next on the list was a good clean of the interior and exterior. I am not really into car cleaning but do have a pressure washer, clay bar, wax etc. Paintwork came up really well and was thankfully in really good original condition under a lot of dirt. I couldnt find many scratches apart from the one on the door handle.
I gave the roof a good clean and protect with an autoglym kit. In hindsight I wish I had been more agressive as some small signs of algae remained, but ill probably have another go this spring and get the last of it.
The headlights are easily removable and so I did this to fix the yellowing using a kit to sand back and polish the surface before adding protectant that cures in the sun. Because the headlights were removed this was much easier, especially in the corners. I forgot to take a before picture, but they were pretty bad. The headlight release mechanism is via a bar that is twisted from the frunk using a tool. On one side the bar was pretty corroded, and the tool had been damaged slightly using it so I got new bars and tool from Porsche, which were about £40 all together if I remember right. I've come to the conclusion that any Porsche part you see advertised new online seems to be cheaper if you just call up the dealership and my local dealership seem to also be happy to post any smallish bits for free.
Anyway, photo after a clean and headlights sorted
I gave the roof a good clean and protect with an autoglym kit. In hindsight I wish I had been more agressive as some small signs of algae remained, but ill probably have another go this spring and get the last of it.
The headlights are easily removable and so I did this to fix the yellowing using a kit to sand back and polish the surface before adding protectant that cures in the sun. Because the headlights were removed this was much easier, especially in the corners. I forgot to take a before picture, but they were pretty bad. The headlight release mechanism is via a bar that is twisted from the frunk using a tool. On one side the bar was pretty corroded, and the tool had been damaged slightly using it so I got new bars and tool from Porsche, which were about £40 all together if I remember right. I've come to the conclusion that any Porsche part you see advertised new online seems to be cheaper if you just call up the dealership and my local dealership seem to also be happy to post any smallish bits for free.
Anyway, photo after a clean and headlights sorted
I had been driving the car a few hundred miles at this point and thought the shifter was slightly tricky to get into gear. The gearchange is via a cable system and is set using a tool that Porsche sell called a bridge shift lock or something. This is another part thats just best to buy from Porsche because everywhere else just does that with a markup. Its just a plastic piece that holds the gearstick in the centre accurately.
The task is to remove the centre console then set the lock on the exposed gearstick. There are then two cables that need to be adjusted so that they have no tension. This is done by rotating and moving the blue piece to expose the circular 'threads'. The bit that looks like a male thread is attached to the gear cable and can then be slotted out and back in at a different height if needed, ensuring that the cable tension is set correctly.
Probably not a great explanation, followed by a not-great photo that I took at the time to be able to set back to how it was if I did something wrong.
This noticably improved the gear change, the box now slotted into any gear easily. It also allowed me to clean under the console, which was good because it was gross.
The task is to remove the centre console then set the lock on the exposed gearstick. There are then two cables that need to be adjusted so that they have no tension. This is done by rotating and moving the blue piece to expose the circular 'threads'. The bit that looks like a male thread is attached to the gear cable and can then be slotted out and back in at a different height if needed, ensuring that the cable tension is set correctly.
Probably not a great explanation, followed by a not-great photo that I took at the time to be able to set back to how it was if I did something wrong.
This noticably improved the gear change, the box now slotted into any gear easily. It also allowed me to clean under the console, which was good because it was gross.
Edited by iangex on Sunday 14th January 19:35
Thanks for all the positive comments! I don't normally go for posting things online, social media etc and im aware of much more expensive/in depth projects being documented on readers cars so im really glad people are as excited as me about older cars with interesting issues - there are a few to come!
So by April I had clocked up around 600 miles. The car was primarily to enjoy my once a week commute through the Cotswolds (from South Gloucestershire to Banbury and back) and the looseness in the front suspension needed looking into. Having learnt from previous cars to spend time on the diagnosis before firing the parts cannon I jacked up the car and pryed at various things for some time to make sure I understood what was going on. There was quite a bit of play on the inner tie rods and the big round bush on the coffin arms was quite 'soft' when pryed on. This would allow geometry changes, particularly when hitting bumps. These two observations aligned with what I was feeling at the wheel.
I ended up replacing the inner and outer tie rods, coffin arms and 'tuning forks' along with new rack boots and coffin arm bolts. Most of these parts were aftermarket and bought from Spyder performance and I have no complaints. Cost was around £500.
Getting the original coffin arms off was a nightmare because the original bolts corrode into the metal sleeves and need to be cut out. This doesnt sound too bad but actually is because;
-There is no space to get a grinding wheel in there, its strictly cutting blades
-There is a plastic cooling piece about 2" from the bolt
-The coffin arm bolts into an aluminium subframe, which can apparently crack if you get too heavy-handed. This turns an annoying job into a really annoying and expensive job to replace the subframe
Both arms ended up being cut out using a multitool and junior hacksaw. This took me about 1 hour for the first side and 3 for the second because the carbide multitool blade got progressively blunter. I have no photos of this process because I would rather forget it. A reciprocating saw would probably make light work of it, but I only realised this when had committed.
Refitting was straightforward apart from the rack boots, which have a crimp clip which is a nightmare to get on with horrible access. New tools were required to do this task but its done now.
Alignment-wise I have had some experiences with even reputable shops that havn't filled me with confidence in them and so set it up using tape measures and 1m long straight edges attached to both wheels to get the toe right. A couple of test drives to balance the two sides and get the wheel straight. I cant remember the exact alignment I went for, but from memory was just a small amount of toe in. Its probably not as good as a good mechanic on a laser system, but since this alignment the car has done about 2.5k with no handling weirdness or uneven tyre wear. The front end now feels tight and precise even on uneven roads.
So by April I had clocked up around 600 miles. The car was primarily to enjoy my once a week commute through the Cotswolds (from South Gloucestershire to Banbury and back) and the looseness in the front suspension needed looking into. Having learnt from previous cars to spend time on the diagnosis before firing the parts cannon I jacked up the car and pryed at various things for some time to make sure I understood what was going on. There was quite a bit of play on the inner tie rods and the big round bush on the coffin arms was quite 'soft' when pryed on. This would allow geometry changes, particularly when hitting bumps. These two observations aligned with what I was feeling at the wheel.
I ended up replacing the inner and outer tie rods, coffin arms and 'tuning forks' along with new rack boots and coffin arm bolts. Most of these parts were aftermarket and bought from Spyder performance and I have no complaints. Cost was around £500.
Getting the original coffin arms off was a nightmare because the original bolts corrode into the metal sleeves and need to be cut out. This doesnt sound too bad but actually is because;
-There is no space to get a grinding wheel in there, its strictly cutting blades
-There is a plastic cooling piece about 2" from the bolt
-The coffin arm bolts into an aluminium subframe, which can apparently crack if you get too heavy-handed. This turns an annoying job into a really annoying and expensive job to replace the subframe
Both arms ended up being cut out using a multitool and junior hacksaw. This took me about 1 hour for the first side and 3 for the second because the carbide multitool blade got progressively blunter. I have no photos of this process because I would rather forget it. A reciprocating saw would probably make light work of it, but I only realised this when had committed.
Refitting was straightforward apart from the rack boots, which have a crimp clip which is a nightmare to get on with horrible access. New tools were required to do this task but its done now.
Alignment-wise I have had some experiences with even reputable shops that havn't filled me with confidence in them and so set it up using tape measures and 1m long straight edges attached to both wheels to get the toe right. A couple of test drives to balance the two sides and get the wheel straight. I cant remember the exact alignment I went for, but from memory was just a small amount of toe in. Its probably not as good as a good mechanic on a laser system, but since this alignment the car has done about 2.5k with no handling weirdness or uneven tyre wear. The front end now feels tight and precise even on uneven roads.
Edited by iangex on Monday 15th January 14:24
So by May 2023 I was enjoying the car for my regular ~140 mile round trip commute. The car felt great and was a nice balance between sporty and refined. My route takes me up the M5 and even with the roof down this is comfortable and fairly quiet. Its a cliche but the flat 6 behind you is a really lovely thing. My previous MR2 was definately more raw and connected, but I can drive the Porsche for longer without being tired.
So for 10 year wedding anniversary, the wife and I decided to go back and stay the night at the venue where we got married. This sounded like a great excuse to take her out in the car (she has only been out in it briefly, we have young kids and there arent many opportunities). Anyway, having covered well over 1k miles without issue, the car decided to throw an engine light about 5 minutes from leaving the house. Great.
It drove ok and so I decided to push on. Due to an accident closing the m48 bridge what should have taken up ~50 minutes took more than twice that but we got there.
The car continued to show EML and it was a few days until I got a chance to scan it. From memory the code was P0492 and P0491, which relate to the Secondary Air Injection (SAI) system. From what I understand this is a big air pump that blasts the cats for the first minute with extra air to get them up to temperature. This was a relief (as it wasn't damaging the car driving it with the code) and I cleared the code and continued driving.
Over the next few months and dozens of long drives the codes only recurred a few times, suggesting something intermittent was going wrong. More on that later
So for 10 year wedding anniversary, the wife and I decided to go back and stay the night at the venue where we got married. This sounded like a great excuse to take her out in the car (she has only been out in it briefly, we have young kids and there arent many opportunities). Anyway, having covered well over 1k miles without issue, the car decided to throw an engine light about 5 minutes from leaving the house. Great.
It drove ok and so I decided to push on. Due to an accident closing the m48 bridge what should have taken up ~50 minutes took more than twice that but we got there.
The car continued to show EML and it was a few days until I got a chance to scan it. From memory the code was P0492 and P0491, which relate to the Secondary Air Injection (SAI) system. From what I understand this is a big air pump that blasts the cats for the first minute with extra air to get them up to temperature. This was a relief (as it wasn't damaging the car driving it with the code) and I cleared the code and continued driving.
Over the next few months and dozens of long drives the codes only recurred a few times, suggesting something intermittent was going wrong. More on that later
Next drama came in June. I was driving into Banbury and was caught in traffic when I noticed some smoke/steam coming from behind me. Due to the traffic I thought little of it and thought it might be someone vapeing or something. As I continued along in stop-start conditions it became more and more clear that this was coming out of the right hand vent of the boxster. Not having anywhere good to pull over and with no warning for low coolant or high temperature, I persevered and got to the work carpark.
Underneath was not pretty - water was dripping very quickly from the bottom of the car, almost flowing out.
Thankfully the coolant circuit on these takes a LOT of coolant and the car hadn't run low yet but the rate of loss was quite high. I knew I wasn't going to fix it in the work carpark so at the end of the day called breakdown who drove me all the way home.
Driving off the tow truck the power steering also started acting up, so I crossed my fingers that the fix would be something related to both issues and not ruinous.
It was a few days before I got a chance to take a look. There is a panel behind the driver that gives access to the front of the engine. When I removed this it looked like something had tried to build a nest in there.
The belt that runs behind is meant to have 6 ribs, but one had been entirely lost and the belt was sitting wrong on the pulleys.
The waterpump bearings had failed, leading to significant leakage and wearing of the belt against various parts of the engine as it was severely misaligned. It must have completely gone when driving the car off the tow truck, so I am quite grateful for making it to work.
Anyway, the fix was a new waterpump and belt. The old belt hadn't done many miles before being chewed up. I flushed the coolant system through with a hose before draining and refilling as I was a little paranoid about bit of the plastic impeller being left in the system (although thankfully that looked intact). I made sure the replacement pump (Meyle HD) had a plastic impeller too. Apparently there are some with metal impellers which will wear into the aluminium block if they fail. Bleeding was relatively straightforward without special tools or methods, although I did have the car jacked up at the back to access the undertrays so this may have helped.
Once I had it back together I thought it would be fun to take it out for a quick spin with the engine cover off. It wasn't. I was expecting to hear more induction or exhaust noise but all you get it more noise noise. It is seriously loud and not in a nice way. It just sounds like valvetrain and belts and pulleys. Its also very hot. Porsche knew what they were doing when they put that cover there and leaving it removed even for a short test drive to check for leakage was unbearable.
Underneath was not pretty - water was dripping very quickly from the bottom of the car, almost flowing out.
Thankfully the coolant circuit on these takes a LOT of coolant and the car hadn't run low yet but the rate of loss was quite high. I knew I wasn't going to fix it in the work carpark so at the end of the day called breakdown who drove me all the way home.
Driving off the tow truck the power steering also started acting up, so I crossed my fingers that the fix would be something related to both issues and not ruinous.
It was a few days before I got a chance to take a look. There is a panel behind the driver that gives access to the front of the engine. When I removed this it looked like something had tried to build a nest in there.
The belt that runs behind is meant to have 6 ribs, but one had been entirely lost and the belt was sitting wrong on the pulleys.
The waterpump bearings had failed, leading to significant leakage and wearing of the belt against various parts of the engine as it was severely misaligned. It must have completely gone when driving the car off the tow truck, so I am quite grateful for making it to work.
Anyway, the fix was a new waterpump and belt. The old belt hadn't done many miles before being chewed up. I flushed the coolant system through with a hose before draining and refilling as I was a little paranoid about bit of the plastic impeller being left in the system (although thankfully that looked intact). I made sure the replacement pump (Meyle HD) had a plastic impeller too. Apparently there are some with metal impellers which will wear into the aluminium block if they fail. Bleeding was relatively straightforward without special tools or methods, although I did have the car jacked up at the back to access the undertrays so this may have helped.
Once I had it back together I thought it would be fun to take it out for a quick spin with the engine cover off. It wasn't. I was expecting to hear more induction or exhaust noise but all you get it more noise noise. It is seriously loud and not in a nice way. It just sounds like valvetrain and belts and pulleys. Its also very hot. Porsche knew what they were doing when they put that cover there and leaving it removed even for a short test drive to check for leakage was unbearable.
Edited by iangex on Monday 15th January 00:35
Ok so now we are in September. I had noticed the drivers side rear wheel getting a layer of grease on the inside. Upon investigation this seems to be a common issue. The driveshaft outer joint has an outer metal cap that corrodes over time until it becomes porous and leaks the CV grease. Not easy to see on the picture below but you can see its separate from the CV boot.
Now I couldn't see any obvious non-used replacements for sensible money so I went down the used route here. I found a much better condition one on ebay for about £40 delivered and wire wheeled and derusted the area that failed originally then gave it a good coating of bilt hamber electrox followed by black hammerite. I figure that will pretty much stop the corrosion in its tracks.
Removal was straightforward - I have a large impact gun to remove the hub bolt and nothing was corroded. Refitting was harder because you are fighting the suspension more but this was an easy job.
Now I couldn't see any obvious non-used replacements for sensible money so I went down the used route here. I found a much better condition one on ebay for about £40 delivered and wire wheeled and derusted the area that failed originally then gave it a good coating of bilt hamber electrox followed by black hammerite. I figure that will pretty much stop the corrosion in its tracks.
Removal was straightforward - I have a large impact gun to remove the hub bolt and nothing was corroded. Refitting was harder because you are fighting the suspension more but this was an easy job.
So moving onto October. The nights were drawing in and I didn't really fancy driving the car on my commute through the winter. I was also keen to investigate the intermittent SAI fault codes, and because it takes ~30 mins to get the car into and out of the 'service position' (analogous to opening the bonnet on a front engined car) its not something I want to be doing outside if theres a change of rain.
I gave the car an oil and filter change before parking it up, carefully checking for any flakes in the filter paper (none found) and sending off a sample for oil analysis. I've never done oil analysis before, but since this was the first service in my hands and being mildly anxious about IMS-type issues I thought it best. Nothing suspicious reported, which is great.
Now I dont benefit from a large garage, nor a garage that is only for cars. My garage has bikes, tools, gardening stuff, recycling and all sorts in there. The Porsche fits, but working on it is challenging.
At least now I can leave the car in the service position whilst I get to the bottom of the SAI issue. This turns out to be a good thing, because theres a few things to fix in there...
I gave the car an oil and filter change before parking it up, carefully checking for any flakes in the filter paper (none found) and sending off a sample for oil analysis. I've never done oil analysis before, but since this was the first service in my hands and being mildly anxious about IMS-type issues I thought it best. Nothing suspicious reported, which is great.
Now I dont benefit from a large garage, nor a garage that is only for cars. My garage has bikes, tools, gardening stuff, recycling and all sorts in there. The Porsche fits, but working on it is challenging.
At least now I can leave the car in the service position whilst I get to the bottom of the SAI issue. This turns out to be a good thing, because theres a few things to fix in there...
Really glad people are interested! Ill try to give some more general thoughts on ownership once I get up to date on where I am at with the car
So next up was a simple one - the sound system always sounded pretty bad, with lots of rustling noise coming from the door cards. The car only has the basic speaker setup (I think one in each door card and two in the dashboard but I might be wrong there).
Removal of the door cards was actually really difficult - once all bolts were removed the clips were extremely tight to the point I thought I was breaking something. I read something online that Porsche used the 'wrong' clips at some point and I certainly hope that was what happened here. Anyway, once removed I got a look at the speakers.
The speaker had basically disintegrated, with no connection between the outside of the speaker and the cone remaining. Pushing the cone in and out led to a loud rustling sound. Replaced with some halfords £40 units and now sounds quite a bit better. I would like to put a new headunit in because the display is intermittent and it has no aux capability. This is job for the new year.
So next up was a simple one - the sound system always sounded pretty bad, with lots of rustling noise coming from the door cards. The car only has the basic speaker setup (I think one in each door card and two in the dashboard but I might be wrong there).
Removal of the door cards was actually really difficult - once all bolts were removed the clips were extremely tight to the point I thought I was breaking something. I read something online that Porsche used the 'wrong' clips at some point and I certainly hope that was what happened here. Anyway, once removed I got a look at the speakers.
The speaker had basically disintegrated, with no connection between the outside of the speaker and the cone remaining. Pushing the cone in and out led to a loud rustling sound. Replaced with some halfords £40 units and now sounds quite a bit better. I would like to put a new headunit in because the display is intermittent and it has no aux capability. This is job for the new year.
Next up was cracking into the SAI issues. I couldn't find many people with SAI issues on a 987, and thankfully the system is a lot simpler than that on the 986 (which has a vacuum operated valve, vacuum tank and lines to all go wrong as well as a pump). The 987 unit is the same as that on the 997, being just a pump into a valve that opens when the pressure is sufficient.
This means there are very few things to go wrong - valve, electrical supply or pump. Unfortunately the pump is not as accessible as it looks on the 986, being tucked away under the right hand intake manifold. This is made more tricky because I found working in this area quite awkward for long periods of time due to poor access. Removing the intake manifold is a matter of removing bolts and jubilee clips and being careful not to drop them into the exposed intake valves but I spent a while working out where each bolt was as its quite busy in this area.
Once the manifold is out, the SAI pump and bracket can be removed. I dont have a picture of this, but here is the engine at this stage.
I bench tested the pump via a 12v battery and it worked ok. Damn. I kept trying the pump and found something interesting. The pump would work about 9/10 times, but would sometimes fail to start. Very interesting and would make sense given the intermittent nature of the fault.
Now the pump disassembles ok to a point, but the motor is sealed up. I took the brushes out and they looked worn but ok. Icould see the commutator looked worn so tried to clean it by spraying IPA through the available holes. This didn't help and it was clear it would need replacing. To check this was the issue I broke open the motor to have a good look. Here is what I found;
Definately found the issue. This seemed to be a fairly uncommon failure on 997 and 987 cars, and a new part was >£1000 so I thought it worthwhile to try a second hand unit. Many sellers wanted a lot of money for these, but I found one from a 997 in Germany for ~£55 including shipping. The part number (99760510400) appears to be superceeded by 99760510402. I couldnt find out why this was done (possibly reliability), but the replacement part was the same as the original part number.
I bench tested the new unit and it checked out every time. I also disassembled it slightly to check its air filter condition (air from the engine bay is used for SAI operation, so a small foam filter is used under the pump case to prevent debris being sucked up). The filter looked fine. I also cleaned inside the valve with a little intake manifold cleaner spray.
The SAI pump assembly went back in ok. I put new seals between the engine and SAI pump bracket and torqued everything to spec.
I noticed some oil pooling and general grottyness under the pipe below
I realised the retaining clip wasn't in place properly so installed it correctly but then realised something else was up. Those hose clamps are not supposed to be there! Someone had damaged the tube and tried to fix it with tubing and hose clamps. This was quite an ugly fix and possibly a vacuum leak. This tube carries oil from the boot (where the filler is) to the engine and I had been noticing a slight 'hot engine oil' smell after extended runs. Hopefully this is why
New pipe ordered for £30. There are different ones on different years so I was careful to cross-reference it against how the pipe looked
Removal of the old pipe was honestly one of the most difficult jobs ive done on a car. I bought the remote clamp pliars like these;
Even with them the cable had to take a convoluted route and the whole job was done completely blind and by feel. Because of the routing of the wire even once on I had to pull the pliars to the point I thought they were going to break. I even tried to get access by loosening the expansion tank from the boot, but that didnt help at all. There are a lot of other pipes and cables exactly where your hands want to be to do this job. Removing this one tube took around 2 hours. I am pretty sure I could do it quicker the second time around but I am hopeful not to have to mess with that area of the engine bay again.
The new hose went on easier as I could lubricate the connection and get the tool on the clip and compressed really well before introducing it into the engine bay but was still very blind. I bought a cheap endoscope to check I had it on correctly and actually had to re-do the job a bit to get it fully seated. Overall I am not surprised (albeit a bit disappointed) if a shop chose to bodge it together - that was a nasty job.
Next up I cleaned up the oil that had leaked from the original pipe and remembered that the starter motor very occasionally squealed a little after startup. Having seen a youtube video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJ9qnnf2kWU) where someone had the same issue and fixed it by disassembling and cleaning the unit, I thought now was a good time to do this.
This process was straightforward when following the video. I did have to replace the bolts that he did as they were siezed. The starter was sticky but after cleaning and regreasing moved freely. Time will tell if thats a real fix.
Next up I was cleaning up the intake tubes and decided to check the secondary throttle butterfly thing.
This unit is vaccum actuated so can be tested by twisting the valve fully against the spring and blocking off the vacuum port. The vacuum should stop the valve returning but on this one it returned easily. An easy fix - new one from ebay for ~£25 which tested fine and was fitted.
Then it was just a case of putting the intake manifold back on with new seals and torquing everying to spec.
I started the car and let it get up to temperature, no squeals and no fault codes present but as its on SORN now I haven't taken it for a good drive to ensure everything is 100%.
This means there are very few things to go wrong - valve, electrical supply or pump. Unfortunately the pump is not as accessible as it looks on the 986, being tucked away under the right hand intake manifold. This is made more tricky because I found working in this area quite awkward for long periods of time due to poor access. Removing the intake manifold is a matter of removing bolts and jubilee clips and being careful not to drop them into the exposed intake valves but I spent a while working out where each bolt was as its quite busy in this area.
Once the manifold is out, the SAI pump and bracket can be removed. I dont have a picture of this, but here is the engine at this stage.
I bench tested the pump via a 12v battery and it worked ok. Damn. I kept trying the pump and found something interesting. The pump would work about 9/10 times, but would sometimes fail to start. Very interesting and would make sense given the intermittent nature of the fault.
Now the pump disassembles ok to a point, but the motor is sealed up. I took the brushes out and they looked worn but ok. Icould see the commutator looked worn so tried to clean it by spraying IPA through the available holes. This didn't help and it was clear it would need replacing. To check this was the issue I broke open the motor to have a good look. Here is what I found;
Definately found the issue. This seemed to be a fairly uncommon failure on 997 and 987 cars, and a new part was >£1000 so I thought it worthwhile to try a second hand unit. Many sellers wanted a lot of money for these, but I found one from a 997 in Germany for ~£55 including shipping. The part number (99760510400) appears to be superceeded by 99760510402. I couldnt find out why this was done (possibly reliability), but the replacement part was the same as the original part number.
I bench tested the new unit and it checked out every time. I also disassembled it slightly to check its air filter condition (air from the engine bay is used for SAI operation, so a small foam filter is used under the pump case to prevent debris being sucked up). The filter looked fine. I also cleaned inside the valve with a little intake manifold cleaner spray.
The SAI pump assembly went back in ok. I put new seals between the engine and SAI pump bracket and torqued everything to spec.
I noticed some oil pooling and general grottyness under the pipe below
I realised the retaining clip wasn't in place properly so installed it correctly but then realised something else was up. Those hose clamps are not supposed to be there! Someone had damaged the tube and tried to fix it with tubing and hose clamps. This was quite an ugly fix and possibly a vacuum leak. This tube carries oil from the boot (where the filler is) to the engine and I had been noticing a slight 'hot engine oil' smell after extended runs. Hopefully this is why
New pipe ordered for £30. There are different ones on different years so I was careful to cross-reference it against how the pipe looked
Removal of the old pipe was honestly one of the most difficult jobs ive done on a car. I bought the remote clamp pliars like these;
Even with them the cable had to take a convoluted route and the whole job was done completely blind and by feel. Because of the routing of the wire even once on I had to pull the pliars to the point I thought they were going to break. I even tried to get access by loosening the expansion tank from the boot, but that didnt help at all. There are a lot of other pipes and cables exactly where your hands want to be to do this job. Removing this one tube took around 2 hours. I am pretty sure I could do it quicker the second time around but I am hopeful not to have to mess with that area of the engine bay again.
The new hose went on easier as I could lubricate the connection and get the tool on the clip and compressed really well before introducing it into the engine bay but was still very blind. I bought a cheap endoscope to check I had it on correctly and actually had to re-do the job a bit to get it fully seated. Overall I am not surprised (albeit a bit disappointed) if a shop chose to bodge it together - that was a nasty job.
Next up I cleaned up the oil that had leaked from the original pipe and remembered that the starter motor very occasionally squealed a little after startup. Having seen a youtube video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJ9qnnf2kWU) where someone had the same issue and fixed it by disassembling and cleaning the unit, I thought now was a good time to do this.
This process was straightforward when following the video. I did have to replace the bolts that he did as they were siezed. The starter was sticky but after cleaning and regreasing moved freely. Time will tell if thats a real fix.
Next up I was cleaning up the intake tubes and decided to check the secondary throttle butterfly thing.
This unit is vaccum actuated so can be tested by twisting the valve fully against the spring and blocking off the vacuum port. The vacuum should stop the valve returning but on this one it returned easily. An easy fix - new one from ebay for ~£25 which tested fine and was fitted.
Then it was just a case of putting the intake manifold back on with new seals and torquing everying to spec.
I started the car and let it get up to temperature, no squeals and no fault codes present but as its on SORN now I haven't taken it for a good drive to ensure everything is 100%.
Edited by iangex on Monday 15th January 14:22
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
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.
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).
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????
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