Luca Signore

Hey guys,

I posted on here a while ago about some vibrations/judders I was feeling through my steering wheel that a few shops had been unable to diagnose. I took the car (2002 Boxster S with 85k miles) to a highly recommended Porsche specialist here in the Bay Area and he did a thorough - and I mean painstakingly thorough - inspection of everything the car needs. He scared me a bit with his list - I don't think he's suggesting I do all of it, but he said he could find $15k (!!!!) worth of stuff to do.

Here are the main things he mentioned needed doing - just hoping you guys could share some insight on fair-ish costs, just to make sure he doesn't try to screw me. His labor charge is $200 an hour, so I might not do everything at his place, but I'll probably have him do a couple of things. He said he'll call me tomorrow with some numbers.

1. He thinks vibration is caused by inner/outer tie rods and possibly strut mounts.
2. Rear passenger strut is leaking, suggests replacing all 4
3. Rear trailing arms need replacement according to him
4. Clutch and/or shift cables need to be replaced - this is the one that has me a little miffed. I did notice that the clutch was starting to get a little hard to push in, but it does not slip at all. Shifting into 2nd has been a little jerky recently, but I figured that it might be something to do with not having had the clutch fluid changed and I have no service records from the previous owner indicating that the fluid was changed. I probably won't have him do this one since he didn't say it's an immediate necessity, but I also don't want to risk damaging the transmission itself.

He mentioned other things like coil packs, spark plugs, and window regulators, brake pads and rotors, but I'm pretty confident that I can do those things myself.

Thank you guys for any insight you can shed on any of the above items.

Macster

First have to point out I'm not a mechanic so what I say is not a professional's opinion. And generally you listen to a professional tech's opinion first.

No reflection on the tech but my radar senses always go into red when I hear something like: "He thinks vibration is caused by inner/outer tie rods and possibly strut mounts."

I always want to reply -- but I don't -- "Ok, do the work and I think I'll pay you afterwards."

When I watched the techs check for suspension issues they used a bright light and a mirror on a stick to peer at the various suspension joints/bushings looking for any signs of (if present) dust boot degradation or signs the bushing was coming apart. The tech would pull and push on various suspension components or pry in some cases using a large pry bar and a block of wood or a heavy rubber pad to check for any excessive play. In some cases tire wear can hint at suspension issues.

Given this kind of check out the tech would at least know if the tie rod ends and strut mounts were loose and worn.

A leaking strut is, to state the obvious, bad and should be replaced. A very good argument can be made to replace both the bad one and its counterpart on the other side. A pretty good argument could be made to replace all 4. At 85K miles the bad one and the other side should both be replaced. The other 2? Well, I really hate to go against what a professional has said.

Rear trailing arms needing replacement means the bushings are worn I guess. I don't think Porsche sells these bushings separately. A quick search turned up rear trailing arms for sale at pretty low prices. If you trust the tech's diagnosis then go along with what he recommends and have the trailing arms replaced.

More than once I've thought either my Boxster's clutch and 5-speed on its way out. The normally smooth clutch engagement gets replaced with engagment that makes me look like a learner driver. The 5-speed's normally buttery smooth shifting has gone away and replaced with diffcult and crunchy shifting that has me thinking about a transmission rebuild or replacement.

Then I get the brake *and* *clutch* fluid flushed and bled and all is wonderful again.

Really, after just 2.5 years the brake/clutch hydraulic fluid can be degraded to the point the clutch action is affected and this then carries over to cause the transmission to manifest behavior that suggests a worn out transmission.

Might add that before the fluid flush/bleed braking action/behavior was just fine. And after I noticed no change, no improvement. But the improvement in the clutch's action and the transmission's shifting was very real.

In most cases I'm always willing to throw a fluid flush/bleed at a hydraulic system before going further. The several times when because the fluid had gone past its flush/bleed date -- but the signficance of that hadn't been recognized by me at that time -- and I was thinking I was facing a clutch replacement possibly even a transmission rebuild and of course I was facing the expediture of no little amount of money, had I gone again what would have happened is the clutch would have been replaced. Or the transmission would have been replaced/rebuilt. But along with this work the clutch fluid would have almost certainly been flushed/bled. I would have asked for it if the tech hadn't said it would have been part of the repair. The result would have been better clutch action and shifting action and the solution would have appeared to be the clutch being replaced or the transmission being fixed or replaced when at least in my situation it was just the fluid.

In short I'm willing to throw a fluid service at some behavior with the hope that the fluid service saves me from needlessly spending a much much larger sum of money for work that is not needed.