hA!
to be fair, I think the car has been driven for a while w/o a fluid change for that flush.
Since then it's much much less oil in the pan. I need to flush it again to see where I am at. I'm still not 100% convinced it's not just gunked up oil getting pulled out into the coolant. (only 4 flushes in, so a guy can hope right?)
Hey, I got a message about parts in my 'spam folder' and when I tried to move it to my inbox, it was gone. If you sent it, try again.
In reply to AAZCD :
I will.
Mostly checking to see about black interior bits.
Seats? (Cannot recall if you had any)
Ashtray cover (and internal bits)
"Dome" lights
Shift knob 6 SPd
I am also missing the engine undertray
In reply to Mad_Ratel :
I sent you an email reply with what I have available. Let me know if it's better to just post it here.
So, this weekend was a trip to family in charlotte, but I was able to squeeze in replacing the factory radio which was good if the car was off, but shut off within 5 minutes of driving.
The car has the Bose system in it. I used Crutchfield because I just wanted an easy button. They dont have a Bose option but they do have a "front door speakers" option. Cool, bose has front door speakers. Should work right?
No, the premade wiring harness I paid good money for has RCA out's and an adapter to factory wiring, I plugged everything in. And nothing no sound. Looking closer I can see that there are no wires at all to the portion of the plug the purchased adapter connects to. 1 hour on the phone with support and they tell me I have a factory freak or someone has modified my car. (no way when I look at the wiring. it's all factory.)
They have never heard of this issue, they have me connect the speaker out wires to the harness and it works. PROBLEM SOLVED?
No, now when I turn the ignition off and on, the radio has forgotten EVERYTHING. So switched power is not correct.
In the wiring diagram it has several large disclaimers that the yllow must go to the red for a boxster. Purchased harness? nope red to red, yellow to yellow.
I resoldered that together and it now works.
Also, the new DIN cage did not fit the boxster hole, had to dremel and file it to get enough clearance.
I did cheap out on the stereo. just a cheapo DUAL with bluetooth abilities. ($59).
So onto the new issues. If I use FM radio, car sounds great. Switch to bluetooth? hissing / static that's nearly on par with the volume of the person speaking.
I guess I need to figure out what this could be? greatly annoyed at this point. If it was during all sources I'd assume my speaker wires are going past something adding static, but it's only during bluetooth...
Side note, when I posted on the 986 facebook group, it is a known issue that crutchfield refuses to fix. (that their harness is wrong.)
AAZCD you have email.
So update for the weekend:
a little backstory. I am THE guy that always has the stupid time consuming problem happen when it comes to cars and electronics. I used to build gaming rigs for LAN parties and would be the guy that tested everything at home. Then get tot he party and on first post my ram would fry itself. etc...
This weekends tasks:
Oil change
water change
Spark plugs and Tubes
Air Oil Seperator.
Air Oil Separator:
Supposedly my hard start issues and the random oil on first start were caused by this. Symptoms include "lots" of vacuum on the oil fill cap when you open it and complete failure is indicated by being unable to open the cap at all if the motor is on.
This job like all on the Porsche is supposed to be a bitch.
The AOS connects in four planes at different elevations, one is a hole in the block that the AOS plugs into.
I found if you disconnect the oil fill tube (from the trunk to the motor) you can rotate it past the AOS and now you have a huge hole in which you can fit wrenches to reach the two 10mm bolts holding the AOS on to the block. Except that the AOS is close to the passenger side of the car, which means you're wrists have to double bend to work efficiently. So I jacked up the passenger side 1 ft, left the driver side on the floor and laid over the motor, and comfortably removed it. To connect the bottom "accordion" you have to use either a hose clamp or the factory german clips that require a special tool. After struggling to get this one connection on, I pulled off the factory clip, found a suitable hose clamp and got it onto the hose. HOWEVER, now I have a loose hose clamp and the access is single hand only. You lay on your back, under the car, and reach up through the "cage" past the axle up to the hose clamp. This means you cannot hold the clamp, put the screwdriver to it, and turn it. Impossible right?
I had literally the exact right number of 3/8" extensions to make it work. Except I had to go dig for my deep socket as the 8mm regular socket was not long enough... Yes it was that close. I could feed this through the exhaust, up to the clamp and reach through the hole by the axles enough to guide the socket and when I pushed forward, the trigger on the drill hit the car and activated it...
Old AOS was oily. I had also just started the car and it reeked of gasoline. (part of my hard start prior someone mentioned that an injector may be leaking down. I think they may be right.)
Side note:
Secondary Air Injection. I clear the code and about 100 miles later it will return, I can hear it running. i did notice taht this hose was super lose and I could just pull it off when the motor was off. Going to look into this further later.
Spark Plugs and Tubes:
Super simple job right? should maybe take an hour for the entire car.
This job took me a combined 7 hours. 6 of them on ONE plug.
The first plug and tube came out easily. Pedro's method with the boat rubber seal worked alright, had to take a few tries before I could get the tube out. I put the new plug in with antiseize, put the coil in. it would not go in. One write up had mentioned with new tubes that it may be hard to get the coil to seat properly so I tried to really push it. still no dice. Pulled it out, spent 20 min trying to see by taking a picture with my phone until it dawned on me. I was using a socket with a rubber insert for spark plugs to hodl them. Look inside the socket. YUP no rubber grommet. It was on the spark plug, and now jammed up and over the hex of the socket.
I custom made wire hooks, I tried using my garage "grabber" that every parts counter shills out as the end all bolt grabber. Nothing would work.
I tried to reach out to Duster... who told me to set it on fire. Not the car, just the grommet. I would have willingly done this except that unlike what he's used to dealing with, i have a plastic tub, surrounded by engine oil around this grommet... so it would have set the car on fire. Another buddy recommended needle nose pliers.
Thing is, this was the by far worst plug this could have happened to. The one behind body work, with 6" clear before some tub runs by. This picture is at an angle and the hole is still behind the tubes top right of the opening.
Eventually, I spent three hours straight, laying on my back with a sharpened screwdriver and a chisel, slowly trying to cut my way through the grommet. Stopping every so often to put my phone up there on zoom, to take ten pictures to find ONE that showed me what I needed to see in focus.
Progress. Sweet progress.
Eventually, I had to give up, it was after dinner (i had stopped for dinner) and I just did not have the core strength to sit that way anymore, and my hip was making weird popping noises when I stood up. (yay riding a desk for work.)
i walked inside defeated figuring that the car may have just gotten the better of me over want of a stupid grommet.
Then I looked a bit closer at the last picture you see here, it looked like I'd made a cut in the grommet that went the whole way. You can see metal next to the plug rather than only grommet.
I walked back ou t, put on yet another pair of gloves and gave it one last try with the remote grabber.
I immediately threw it on the ground and walked inside. DONE for the day. 7 hours of work. only the AOS and ONE plug/tube replaced.
Just drop the motor to change the plugs, that's the easy way. Just following along, that's all.
You couldn't just put the spark plug socket back on and take the entire plug out with the grommet? Then separate them on the bench?
In reply to docwyte :
Oh how I wish. No the grommet got pushed up onto the hex of the spark plug. So the socket could no longer fit over. I tried this for thirty minutes as well.
i even bought fancy "extractor" sockets that have a counter swirl to them. These would grab the gasket, but then the 3/8" drive would just pop out of the socket. And when i turned them you could tell the gromment was just turning over the socket and not spinning it.
Sunday:
So on sunday, we had breakfast and made our plans for the day.
My wife "we have to go to costco and the zoo, they open at 10am. You need to be done with your stuff before then"
I finished up the passenger side plugs in 30 minutes..
We went to costco and the Zoo with my brood. Always good when you bribe your kids.
Costco: Be good so we can go to the Zoo.
Zoo: be good so we can go to Dunkin Donuts.
WHY SO SERIOUS!!!!
After we got back, I walked back out into the garage refreshed. The driver side took me 30 min total.
Only one tube was leaking. Middle cylinder driver side had a small pool of oil in it. I pulled teh tube and the hole still had oil in there.
I'll keep an eye on it, The car reaks of burning oil when i stop in the garage, really hoping the smell was this tube leaking oil out and hitting the exhaust (which is directly below).
I also drained the coolant (water) again.
Not quite Jupiter. Still cloudy but substantially less oil. Clean water went back in. I also added some Penzoil coolant system cleaner. Next time I'll change the oil. (I want it to be a good pull to send to blackstone and realized that i'd turned the car on and only gone a few feet so the readings would be off for fuel).
In other news, I have bits from AAZCD now to update the interior and my parts to move teh HVAC up to the cup holder location arrived as well.
I tried to pull the cigarette lighter and the entire panel came out. Whoops.
Also, 3 tires are date coded 2008, one is completely devoid of tread. So I probably should get around to that.
When I first started the car up, it still had the hard start. I then pulled the oil fill cap, same level of vaccuum as before. so either: my replacement URO AOS was DOA or the other URO AOS was still good. (sigh).
The wife came out as new kid 3 was napping and asked if I was done as i was tidying up. When I asked if she wanted to go for a spin "we cant leave the kids alone!". Ok fine, you go for a drive.
her "you sure? what if it breaks?"
me "then I can fix it. just give it a try"
her on returning "well that is fun!". witha huge grin on her face. Glad to see her enjoy it.
Need to figure out how to convince her we need a trailer and a canopy so I can go to autocrosses with the entire horde. (it's been a decade or so since I last hit a cone!).
Crikey, you just scared away anyone that was on the fence who was thinking of getting a Boxster! This thread rates an R rating. Congrats on your determination. I'll be doing the basics soon, too. Who did you purchase the parts from? I feel a certain indebtedness to Pelican for sponsoring their forum but not if there is a distinctly more affordable source.
This has been a fun one to follow along so far. As an FYI, not sure how versed you are with European cars and where to source parts... even if you're doing this on the cheap, anything branded "Uro" is just not worth the heartache of doing the job six times when six iterations of their parts fail over and over.
My first Porsche hooked me on sports cars. 1/24 scale 911 slot car. Silver, of course.
Rode in one for the first time at the autocross yesterday, 56 years later. Black Boxter S.
I hope you get to enjoy yours soon.
In reply to Hasbro :
Yeah, I'd love a Porsche, but this thread quickly makes me not.
Still a beautiful car, though.
To be honest, this car has not been loved or seen love in a long time. I would take this as the exception rather than the rule.
It has convinced me that once the funds are available I will be buying a nicer newer version of the car. (but probably 911 due to kids and my propensity to haul more than 1 but less than 3 more often than all three or just 1.).
Great info Ratel, by taking one for the team you've saved the GRM community thousands. The car looks nice. Looking back should you have just gotten a used engine of are you still seeing light at the end of this tunnel? Reminds me of my $1300 Marauder, by the time I got it on the road it was a $4500 Marauder, a price point where I could have found a running driving one. But the adventure and learning...
I
All of teh things I've done are things I'd have to do on a used engine.
essentially because if I do end up swapping motors, I'll probably put the two next to each other and take all the "new" parts and swap them.
I have not been adding up prices. I probably should. I know that "ok" boxster S's go for 10k or so right now. (it's winter.) I am still way under that.
I hate to say it, but somehow I feel better when I see examples of how I'm not the only one who can turn a simple job into a day (or week) long ordeal. Here's a couple after the fact tips:
URO parts are much cheaper than OEM to buy, but have a reputation for failing out of the box, or soon after. I'll risk them on low-labor jobs, but generally not an AOS or Coolant tank.
To check the AOS the best method is to use a manometer to check the vacuum at the oil filler cap. Vacuum should be 5.0 to 6.0 Inches of water on a warm engine at idle. Here's a good thread that shows a homemade tool (as I emailed): https://rennlist.com/forums/996-forum/992560-tested-my-aos-today-what-does-this-mean-2.html (Posts 17 & 18 to see the tool).
I can never remove a failed part without cutting it up to see what was inside. This one was a URO brand and actually looked okay.
To remove the spark plug tubes (1997 - 2002 model) the boat plug method works okay, but I really prefer a bolt with washers. http://986forum.com/forums/diy-project-guides/64565-spark-plug-tube-removal-tool.html
~4.5" bolt, 2 nuts, 2 washers, and optional scrap of rubber tubing. Insert the 'smaller washer end' in the tube. Pry out with the bigger washer end.
The coil boots are cheap and easy to replace. When I do plugs I get a 6 pack of these too (usually RockAuto):
Regarding the SAI, if that blower cycles on and blows air, it and the electronics are good. The most common problem is a vacuum leak. Those old brittle hoses break if you look at them wrong. The vacuum reservoir may have a leak too. Lastly I've seen a few rare cases of a bad valve, or blocked air passages where the exhaust manifold mounts.
Guess i need to look for a thread on replacing the vacuum hoses on Pelican parts then.
Just added a Manometer to my amazon cart and an oil cap.
Any chance you have an idea for the oil smell? when driving it's fine, but when I stop in the garage the entire garage smells like dad's 1983 911sc pulled into it. Which should not be the case because his car used to drip oil from everywhere...
I stepped into the "smoke" from the car today. (it was cold, not the white pu ff of oil smoke you get if AOS is dead). Stinks of being super rich. So i think MAF or stuck injector is getting closer to the issue I am h aving.
Mad_Ratel said:Guess i need to look for a thread on replacing the vacuum hoses on Pelican parts then.
Here's a video I made a while back about the vacuum hoses on a 1999 2.5L. In this case I removed the alternator to get access. If you need full access to the area, you can remove the throttle body and cross-tube, or the whole right side intake manifold.
Your car will be different (2002) in that it doesn't have a vacuum connection for the fuel pressure regulator and it has an additional vacuum connection for the flapper valve on the intake cross-tube.
I've been using this tubing for a while now with a small piece of the more rigid tubing where needed to make connections:
Oil smell...
AAZCD said:Oil smell...
- Have you cleaned all the oil from the AOS and spark plug tubes?
- PS reservoir vent tube left front top of engine?
- IMS seal and Rear main seal leak at the bottom center where the transmission joins. An occasional drip - meh. Puddle - bad.
- Green rubber camshaft plugs?
- Nasty burning grease smell? Cracked CV boots throwing it onto the hot exhaust.
- Oil filler tube and dipstick tube are not a problem if you have a strong vacuum with the cap off.
I did not clean up the oil from the AOS but it is new. Intake has oil in it.
Tubes are brand new. but one of the old ones was leaking. The entire underside of the motor is black from oil residue.
Will look at the PS reservoir.
IMS i have not looked at at all. (you know, access is a bitch.) But I have no drips on the floor under the car of oil.
I have not looked at camshaft plugs will look this up.
No grease smell luckily and I did check the boots while doing the tubes and they looked fine.
I have strong vacuum and if I remove the cap the car's idle drops drastically.
plenty to do over the next few weekends.
vacuum lines and cleaning the intake tract are next up.
I have a water pump in my hands now. (I got one with metal fins. I know plastic is supposedly better but i doubt this car is going another 100k somehow).
Manometer readings
another flush and oil change.
GT3 center console delete (cheap ass way)
Take passenger door apart and find the ONLY rattle in the car.
Tires.
I still really want an exhaust or something on the car. I love how the intake delete sounds (already done by prior owner.) I just feel like the punch holes in the exhaust mod is ghetto and barely changes the note. Local facebook marketplace has another exhaust for sale the last few months. Maybe I should buy it, cut it and then gut it...
so, running around like crazy but I did three mods to the car.
1.) new shifter (it's the little things that count right?)
2.) new rear trunk carpet courtesy of AAZCD.
3.) Measured the vacuum at the oil fill cap based on Jon's recommendations.
So I bought some parts from AAZCD. one of which was an ashtray (even if it wont stay closed it looks better than a hole in the center console). Another portion of which was a "newer" shift knob. Looked great but the leather had dried out some. (about the same as my original.) 
So I treated it to some Adams Leather Conditioner.
Measuring the Vacuum turned out to be super easy. Per the link:
Also, see the spiffy new carpet. I need to source ALL the holders. Also the reservoir is missing a bolt. I also should have checked to see if AAZCD has any wheel lug bolts. I'm missing 2 and the front has wheel locks that I do not have keys to (so another 2)...
I got hot/cold readings:
cold: as high as 8.5
hot: low as 6.83
So I gather this means that the brand new AOS I installed is failed. Guess I should reach out to Pelican Parts.
It took forever for the car to warm up, and then I realized that the front fans NEVER come on. At all. Guess i have another rabbit hole to go down PRIOR to summer. driving around, I can hear the fan in the engine bay come on, and teh gauge shows a tick above 180 in the cluster.
I realized today that what I enjoy most about this car is that it is NOT fixed and perfect. It'd be a boring car if it was. (my father pointed it out to me.)
I also enjoy buying random things slowly for it. Though I need to start working more and buying less. As evidenced by the parts list I have above.
but i do need to order the proper clips for the HVAC controls to move up. What I thought I had bought was the complete front and clips, instead I only got the clips.
I also need a new surround for the radio bezel area. The reason the cigarette lighter pulls taht area out is that the bezel has broken around the clip and therefor there is nothing for it to clip to.
I did catch a nice sunset on the deck though.
FWIW the radiator fans are controlled separately from the engine bay fan, and come on at (IMO) ridiculously high temps. Also basically impossible to hear from inside the car, even while stopped with the windows/top down. Even turning on the A/C which forces on the high speed fans I usually couldn't really hear them without getting out of the car.
dps214 said:FWIW the radiator fans are controlled separately from the engine bay fan, and come on at (IMO) ridiculously high temps. Also basically impossible to hear from inside the car, even while stopped with the windows/top down. Even turning on the A/C which forces on the high speed fans I usually couldn't really hear them without getting out of the car.
I'm talking standing in front of the car and not hearing them come on... Thanks for letting me know about the A/C I'll hit the button and see if they kick on.
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