Going to look at a 986 Boxster today. Is there anything I should be wary of?

I once again have received not-encouraging news. Pete says the idler was modified in some way and the mounting hole in the block is stripped. He tried re-tapping it but apparently it didn't hold, so I guess the next step is a Time-Sert. I hope that holds, but every time I get a call it's starting to sound like $$$. I think I'm probably going to send this car down the pipeline. I like the Boxster, but if I own another I'll probably buy one in a little better shape to start with. Hopefully after this repair the car is finally solid, but I don't really feel like waiting around to find out.

Now you know why the other guy sold it!  

Welcome the 986 club! I have had my '99 for 2 years now and have 155k on the odometer. I have spent much of the first two years getting it back into the shape I want it and hoping to be reaching the end of the "maintenance catch up" period here shortly. If you are into rolling the dice and looking for another budget Boxster (if you do part ways with yours) the 987.1 gen seems like the best value out there.

Well at least Pete has finally found the root cause of all the belt-related issues - the tensioner is bent and is trying to roll the belt off, which is prematurely wearing out all the bearings. I stopped by his shop yesterday morning so that he could show me the carnage, and the idler is indeed bent. If you weren't looking for it, it would not be noticeable, but as soon as he pointed it out I could see that it was actually very tilted. Pete was baffled, since he's never seen a bent tensioner arm before - his best guess is that the engine might have been replaced at some point from a wrecked car, though he couldn't see any markings that would confirm this. Unfortunately, the idler arm is attached at a bracket that is under the intake manifold, so everything on top of the engine has to come out. All said, it looks like this $350 job is going to cost about $2,200. But I'm glad I wont have to worry about any of these failures again. I appreciate Pete for being so forthcoming and cooperative through this whole process, if anyone needs Porsche service in the mountains of WNC, I highly recommend him.

mxandcx5 said:

If you are into rolling the dice and looking for another budget Boxster (if you do part ways with yours) the 987.1 gen seems like the best value out there.

Can confirm.  Just bought a 987.1 Boxster S and it's wonderful.

This thread escalated quickly 

I finally got the car back today, and it should be OK indefinitely, but I'm not keeping it to find out. Whatever bozo owned this car before me caused one big problem that ultimately caused all the other small and not-so-small problems:

The previous owner had threaded an incorrect bolt through this idler pulley, causing the block to crack. This caused the pulley to be crooked and it would try to roll the belt off, which placed increased wear on the other components and caused the tensioner arm and water pump to fail. Basically, when Pete got it, this belt would barely stay on, and this was the root cause. In order to fix it he had to drill it out and put in a Time-Sert and replace all the worn components, which he believes will hold, but naturally he can't warranty that. He took a nice chunk of money out of the bill for me though, partially because he felt bad that he didn't catch it the first time through and he wasn't able to repair it to OEM spec like he would prefer, and also because I think he felt bad for me. He was great to work with, I'm glad I had to deal with him because with any other mechanic this process probably would have ruined me lol.

Anyway, that leaves me with the conundrum of how to sell this car ethically. I don't want to scare people away - I do believe the repair is strong and should be trouble-free, but I also need to disclose the full situation so that the buyer is aware and I can sleep easy, all while trying to recoup as much of the money I've put in as possible, which at this point is just over $11,000. Ah well, I'm sure it will work out.

In reply to AMiataCalledSteve :

what is immediately behind that crack? if it's not a cooling jacket or pressurized oil passage, the worst that's gonna happen is a slow fluid leak.  i'd keep it.

In reply to AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter) :

It just worries me that the pulley could work its way loose again, and ultimately the car just isn't wort it to me anymore. At $6,000 it was a fun little car that I could enjoy despite its faults. At $11,000, the faults that it still has aren't worth it, and I can't really afford another car at $11,000, which is why I bought a $6,000 car in the first place lol. I have other things that the money needs to go to, like my upcoming wedding :)

In reply to AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter) :

Agreed but anyone that needs to take an old Porsche to an indy better be prepared for a long and painful death by another thousand. 

OP,

$11k into a fun Porsche vert is nothing. Slam the gas on that beotch and drive it like you want it to pay you back. Surely if need be there has to be a cost effective way to slop on an aftermarket tensioner and longer belt worst case right????? Tis the life of experiencing $45k - $70k old German sports cars at quarters on the dollar. There will absolutely be something else that goes wrong, but better than driving a mustang anyhow. 

AMiataCalledSteve said:

In reply to AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter) :

It just worries me that the pulley could work its way loose again, and ultimately the car just isn't wort it to me anymore. At $6,000 it was a fun little car that I could enjoy despite its faults. At $11,000, the faults that it still has aren't worth it, and I can't really afford another car at $11,000, which is why I bought a $6,000 car in the first place lol. I have other things that the money needs to go to, like my upcoming wedding :)

I understand and sympathize with your predicament. But I feel like you need to weigh the options. Right now you have an $11k totally functional car that was supposed to cost $6-7k. Which is unfortunate, but if you sell it you're still going to be out $5-6k but not have a car at all. I kinda feel like I'd take the first option though neither one is really a great situation.

In reply to Olemiss540 :

Agree.  Older, cheap Porsches are rarely cheaper than buying an older, more expensive better kept example to begin with.  These are cars that you need to be able to do the vast majority of the work on yourself in order to keep them affordable.   Otherwise it's a thousand here, three thousand there to the shop to keep them up.

There aren't too many Porsches out there for the $11k mark that will be as sorted as the one you have now.  So either keep it and start doing the future work on it youself, or sell it now for a loss.

My experience with Time-certs would suggest that the repair is likely to be the last thing remaining on the engine after you drive the rest of it into the ground.

Kind of agree with the above. It's not what it was supposed to be and that is unfortunate but it is fairy sorted now at least. They're fun cars... take it for a good drive and see if it grows on you. The money is already spent... might as well get an experience out of your dollars. 

I mean at some point it's not worth putting more money into, but selling it now seems like you just burned $5k to make the car really nice for the next owner. If you're going to continue not doing the work yourself you probably shouldn't keep it long term, but at least get a little bit of value out of your investment first.

This thread is a bit of a heartache to read.  At the end of the day, though, you still have a Porsche, and an awful lot of good knowledge about said Porsche.  I'd list it, but not at a fire sale price -- enough to make you whole.  And then I'd drive it as much as possible until it sells.  If it doesn't sell, you still have a Porsche.  If it does sell, you are whole again (albeit with no Porsche). 

I had a fantastic C4 Corvette (six speed, LT1).  I ended up being underwater on it after a catastrophic engine failure.  But, I didn't dump it quickly, and held out until the right solution came along.  And it did.  Interesting cars require stewardship and care, and sometimes we have to do that for longer than we want.  But someone will want a Boxster, sometime, and make you an appealing offer.

I sure wish Caymans would drop to sub 10k. 

I'm really sorry to hear about that.  At the same time, don't write off a Boxster, or YOUR Boxster, yet.  The issue wasn't a Porsche issue, it was a PO issue...as is very often the case.  You've got it sorted and now have a properly repaired Boxster.  Go drive the living daylights out of it and enjoy.  I just sold the Boxster S that I purchased a few months prior, after my wife and I bought a house unexpectedly.  However my willpower was weak and I just bought another budget Boxster.  This one is a stripped down HPDE car and has a huge folder of receipts. I expect E36 M3 will happen, but it is what it is.  There's nothing like them (I admit, I'm biased).  Enjoy the car!!!

I appreciate the comments everyone. And perhaps my last post came across as a little overtly glum. I love the top-down driving experience and I love a lot of things about this car - the sound, the looks, the feel of the interior, the whole experience feels special. This certainly won't be the last one of these that I own! I have learned a lot through this whole experience, but the timing is no longer right for me. Like I said, I have a wedding to save for that I didn't when I bought the thing :) ZOO's suggestion very closely mirrors my own plan: put it on the market for a price that will reimburse me for what I paid, and when it sells it means I get to have owned a Porsche for 3 months for nearly free! I'll refill my car buying fund  to start saving for my next convertible, put most of it in the wedding fund, and use what's left towards upgrades for my miata and parts for my stock car project that I'm still working on.

I'm getting into this one a bit late, but will add  few comments. The purchase price of $5,800 was good for today's market for the car as it was presented. The seller probably knew it had issues and did not disclose them - bad seller. As these are now 25+ year old cars, each one will bring it's own history of care and maintenance that will outweigh the mileage and outward appearance. A 160,000 mile car could be in great shape or ready to retire mechanically. Also at this age just about any 986 that is still running on its original suspension and engine & transmission mounts should have them replaced (unless it is low mileage and has been sheltered). 

I think that a good PPI done by most shops would have missed that crack where the idler mounts. The best clue to it would have been a non-standard bolt. I'd guess that would have been the result of the owner doing his own maintenance on it, but I have found shops making mistakes like that as well. That brings me to the cost of maintenance and repairs. $150+ / hr seems like a lot. In many cases I see quotes for a water pump replacement being near $1,000. A good Pierburg water pump will cost a bit over $200 and I can do the job myself in about an hour. An inexperienced shop or owner could put the two long bolts in the wrong holes or use the incorrect type of gasket and slather sealant all over it. I have seen more than a couple posts of people doing their own IMS bearing replacement and slipping the timing or damaging their new bearing in the process. My point is that paying an experienced shop is part of the cost of ownership if you don't have the right tools and carefully follow the correct procedures. Random YouTube DIYs are best used to learn from mistakes of others - not for correct procedures to follow. There are some good ones out there though.

Put some miles on the repair. Drive the car and enjoy it. If you can't enjoy it anymore list it for sale and be honest about the work you had done. With the work you have done, it is worth more than your purchase price, but not the total of what you are now into it for.

Your plan (ZOOs) seems good. At least you'll get some smiles and end on a good note 

The internet in general is gloomy about marriage but my experience has been excellent and that's absolutely a worthwhile investment! Congrats and wishing you the best!

Every time I start getting that Porsche itch, all I have to do is look for one of these threads. There's a reason these things depreciate like a crazy. 
 

Then again, at $10k or less, these are sort of disposable. The really interesting thing is that a nicer, low mileage example is just as likely to implode as a high mileage car so there really isn't a good reason to pay a premium unless the aesthetics are important. 
 

Cheap to buy; expensive to run. 

tester (Forum Supporter) said:

Then again, at $10k or less, these are sort of disposable. The really interesting thing is that a nicer, low mileage example is just as likely to implode as a high mileage car so there really isn't a good reason to pay a premium unless the aesthetics are important.

More likely*

It's been pretty well proven with the ims bearings. If it makes it to 100k and you keep driving it and maintaining it, it'll probably last forever. It's the 10k mile garage art that someone buys and then tries to daily drive that have constant issues.

But yes, the right thing to do is buy cheap and treat it as disposable. Which is the reason I'd have (and did have) a base model before an S. Cheaper to buy, not a huge performance difference, and the 2.5 engines are basically free - in porsche terms at least.

Then once the hook is set, you can justify the expense of a newer model that's actually reliable.

This is a great deal at $8k. Somebody help this man pay for his wedding!!

I'm too tall (fortunately/unfortunately)