secretdonkey

On the verge of trading my 986 Boxster in on a 2008 CS. Prepurchase inspection revealed an empty power steering fluid reservoir and evidence of fluid leakage. My mechanic said he couldn't discern the whole story due to the tight location of the PS pump. He saw evidence of dark fluid on the block and was unsure because PS fluid should be light in color, but the stuff he could see was dark-colored. I've read around that PS boil-over and failure can happen when the car is tracked, especially with race rubber. Wondering what to make of it. It's a Porsche certified car, the dealership says they'll take care of the issue and the car will be under warranty for the next 2.5 years, but I am speculating on a few things:


1. I'm wondering if the car may have suffered a boil-over / leak / failure at some point and the leaked fluid cooked to a darker color. Plausible?

2. Can a power steering problem be taken as evidence the previous owner tracked the car or otherwise drove it hard, or do PS issues often appear in cars driven on the street only?

3. Any suggestions on what I should accept as a "fix" from the dealer before buying the car? It's a reasonable suspicion that they'll do as little as necessary to remedy the problem, and I'll have to keep a close eye on PS levels and potentially return the car for warranty service. I plan to autocross the car and some DE events. Not worried about autocross overheating or stressing the PS system, but the DE events might. Where should I place my concerns?

4. The car shows evidence of being driven hard and treated like the leased vehicle it was. Clutch, shift cable and brakes all replaced by the dealer. I'm wondering if the PS issue may be further evidence of hard treatment that might lead me to opt for a different specimen?

Thanks.

cvazquez

First of all, power steering for the 997 is OIL (CHF 202) known as PENTOSIN. This stuff is DARK not clear, so the mechanic is having a brain fart.

If the steering pump is your only concern, have them document the vechicle as such. Get them to drain the old PENTOSIN oil and fill with new PENTOSIN. If it fails, the warranty should cover it since the PPI noted this issue as a future concern.

Best of luck!

Dave DE

The PS fluid overflow drips onto the top of the engine. It could be it was darker because it had been there a while and picked up dirt.

I have not heard of any street driven cars with PS problems, but that doesn't mean it never happens.

Did the PPI include checking the ecu for over-revs? That might be a reasonable precaution given what you know about it so far..

PTEC

Check the boots on the rack, its very very rare to have a leak from the actual pump.

Mark Dreyer

Once I improved my track times via coaching, and went to Hoosiers, my power steering pump failed quite fairly soon thereafter in my 986S. Previously the original pump had survived the 20k mostly street miles on the car since buying it 3 yrs go with 60k miles on the odometer. In addition to replacing the pump, my mechanic installed an under drive pulley. This allows the pump to rotate at lesser rpms on the track, saving the pump.

Bill Lehman

When my power steering failed there was a leak at the connection between the hose and the steering rack and an accumulation of fluid in the belly pan. After the fluid is gone the pump fails. In addition to track, low fluid level can be the culprit. Its a PITA to check but it is now part of my pre track prep. The dealer replaced my complete system under warantee (took almost a month and 3 visits). I added a P/S cooler, the underdrive pulley may help but is not the solution.

Mark Dreyer

According to my mechanic who is a master Porsche mechanic at a dealership, as well as an enthusiast who tracks his own Boxster, the under drive pulley is indeed the solution. As a regular at the track, I've heard the same thing from a number of other 986 track car owners. I can't comment from my own experience as I have not put many track miles on the new pump since installing the under drive pulley. I'm hoping all my friends are right and you are wrong.

BGB Motorsports

While the underdrive pulley may have helped you, it's not the solution but a band-aid. A power steering cooler IS the only solution if you're going to ever track the car.

If you see power steering fluid on the motor, it can be for two reasons:

1. Reservoir was overfilled and then when fluid got heated on track from lots of turning and RPMs it expanded and it burped out.
2. Fluid got so hot it burned the tiny red plastic thingamabobber on the lower power steering reservoir and then began spitting.

These two things will lead to Pentosin on the motor. Typically #1 happens and then #2 happens and then what happens is you have fluid up front by the rack leaking on your garage floor, if it gets passed the under tray. At that point, #1 and #2 have probably happened and the damage has already been done, the fluid has been overheated and it's now eaten away at the inside of the high pressure power steering line going to the steering rack. You can replace that line it and then drive it on the street normally. Or, if you're going to ever track the car, you can replace it over and over and over and over again until you get a power steering cooler. We had a customer come in, get the line replaced and then come back 2 weeks later for the cooler.

Bottom line is that if you want to heavily track a Boxster/Cayman/911 that's not a DFI car, then you ABSOLUTELY need a power steering cooler especially if you're raising the rev limiter and not slowing down the P/S pump. Interestingly enough, Porsche also is concerned about it, given that the newer DFI cars actually have the power steering lines routed through the oil cooler. While redundant, we're still running a power steering cooler on the DFI Cayman we run in Grand-Am, just to be safe. But we're also spinning that motor to 8100RPMs so...

Mark Dreyer

Sounds like you know what you are talking about John and I need to upgrade to the power steering cooler. Thanks for the detailed response.

Macster

Have the dealer investigate the reason why the PS reservior is empty and fix. It may require (almost certainly will require) more than just adding fluid.

The system has a leak. And the components are probably damaged from running low or sans any fluid.

The dealer might just tell you refilling up the fluid is all that is required in the hope that nothing raises its ugly head.

Also, check for paint and hose damage That power steering fluid is nasty stuff. It is water soluble so if the stains flush away with water you have a pretty good idea the what fluid caused the stains.

If you think the car has been tracked get the car in the air and look for ***** of track rubber on top of the underbody panels and other places. Look for signs of gravel too.

Frankly, I'm a bit leery of lease returns. Many people who lease cars brag that they spend little on servicing and dealers do not seem to delve much into this lack of servicing.

Also, there are too many cases of odometer rollback. Sans any paper trail of regular servicing that helps confirm the mileage is real well, I just am leery of lease returns.

If the dealer can't produce service records then maybe you want to rethink the car, or at least offer less money as a way to mitigate the risk you are assuming.

Sincerely,

Macster.

umwolverine

John is absolutely correct, and I can say from several dozen track hours on my 2010 Cayman, with Gen 2 they have solved the PS problem. I can also add a little bit more from practical experience.

If you are driving a Gen 1 car REALLY hard, an underdrive pulley, ps cooler, and even an overflow bottle may not completely solve the problem. I went through three high pressure power steering lines after I had the pulley installed, then installed the cooler and still had to fill every couple sessions, and installed an overflow bottle that would return the 'boiled' fluid back to the tank. Still had to add fluid every track day.

I think part of the problem was I was driving on the stock suspension with a modded engine (RSS 350 kit). That was definitely the wrong way to go for the track, but I didn't want to compromise the street ride. I do know that some very good drivers on coilovers etc. with the stock Gen 1 engine that aren't having anywhere near the problem I had.

BGB Motorsports

Even running more caster will exacerbate the problem. I've seen cars that run more caster burn pumps up faster than others because of how much more cranking on the wheel you're doing on the way down to the apex. So, that might be one facet of it.

But as you found out, having more of the right ingredients helps deliver the correct recipe for the fix.