Brett Jenkins

I got a great deal on a 2004 Boxster S. High miles but well maintained mechanically. I also have a widebody 928 with a supercharged stroker engine and have had 3 other 928's, a 924SE and a 944. I've gotten a tremendous amount of help from rennlist over the years with the other cars, so I'm hoping this crowd is the same.

Apparently, the previous owners let their dog(s) use it for a play toy, it's covered in scratches. Most of them are white-ish (black car), so I hope it's mostly clear coat scratches. What's the most effective and quickest way to clean these up, short of a professional paint restoration or respray? I'm willing to put some time and hard work/elbow grease into it, whether it's all by hand or using something powered. What equipment and products should I use? Is there a good step by step DIY for this? The google offerings were all over the place.

There is a clunk in the auto transmission when shifting hard or downshifting. Normal or indication of a problem?

I can't seem to open the front hood/trunk. I can hear a click when pushing the button by the driver's seat, but it does nothing to the hood. The PO opened it when I was checking out the car pre-purchase. Thoughts?

Other than that, it runs great and seems to be a very solid car.

Brian in Tucson

How high are the miles?

Have you checked the transmission oil level? Low oil might cause a clunk. Might want to change the oil & filter, it's not difficult.

Check with your local autozone, advanced, or o'reilly's for scratch repair products. You see the car guys on TV doing these products and they seem to get good results. And/or take it to a body shop and see what they suggest.

Anker

There's an emergency frunk release inside the right wheel well. You have to loosen the front of the liner and reach all the way up on the inside of the headlights to reach a wire loop. Pull it and the frunk will release to the point where you can lift the lid up a bit and release the safety catch.

Brett Jenkins

175k well maintained miles. They gave me a pretty good maintenance history.

Tranmission oil level seemed ok. The clunk happens during downshift and then acceleration. It sounds and feels like it could be an engine or transmission mount. Possible?

I spent yesterday cleaning it up inside and out. I got a lot of the surface scratches out with a Griot product. There are still a lot that went through the paint. If this was going to be a long term keeper, I'd have it resprayed, but I think I'll just touch it up best I can and move on.

The front hood will come up with a slight tug on the front/left corner of the hood as I push the remote button. I inspected the latch and mechanism and all seem ok, so not sure why it sticks so much.

Macster

My 2002 Boxster's front trunk was towards the end a bit hard to open. The latch released when I pressed the button on the key fob or on the driver door sill but when I went to open the lid while the latch was released the lid was not up very much at all. Thankfully I could get my finger tips under the leading edge and the pull the lid up enough to release the safety catch. The techs told me the latch wears out and can fail to release but it was not clear a worn latch was the cause of the lid not popping up as much as it did when newer. The rear lid continued to pop up just fine.

I know the lid's position was ok, the leading edge is supposed to be *below* the rear of the front bumper cover. I suspected something maybe with the spring that pushes up against the lid and to keep the latch from rattling and to give the lid a shove up, but I got distracted by other things and never got around to resolving this before I got rid of the car.

shadow993

The clunk noise is probably the motor mount.

If you hear it right behind you in the middle ... that's its. It's common to break and break often. I bought a 986 S with 58k. It had a Broken mount that was the newer part ...987.

The only way to tell is pull it., but the noise is a give away.


Possibly transmission mounts. Those can be checked without removing.