Jay_986

Hello everyone,

Due to the passing of a family member we have in our hands a Porsche Boxster S from 2000 with a 3.2 engine.

The car has lived in a garage for many years without being driven, every once in a while the car was turned in order to keep bthe battery functional.

It has developed some issues and we are trying to fix it I'm hoping the nice folks here can give me hand and some ideas of what might be wrong.


First the fuel pump died, we replaced it and the car is running once again. The gear box has play and it all feels a bit stiff but everytime the car is driven it gets better, sounds beautiful and I loved driving it.


Now for the issues:

- Both headights were working but after being turned on and moved from the garage the right one burned out. We replaced both and only the left one turns on, the new bulbs are both working. The problem is in the wiring/headlamp assembly(?)

- When replacing the bulbs we noticed that all the insulation on the wires, inside the headlamp, is falling apart and crumbling. So the wires are now live and touching.

- Radio doesn't turn on, at all.

- When the hardtop top is mounted there's a light that says that it isn't connected (even though it is)

- The fuel gauge needle doesn't move, it also has the low fuel light on. Despite having plenty of gas.

- The window on the drivers side doesn't go down when the door is opened, this means the window is stuck on the softtop. You can easily force the window down the appropriate amount and when the door is closed the window goes up without issue. Everything is well on the passengers side.

- All the rubbers and plastic around the doors and trunks are in a bad shape, brittle and just crumble.


We checked the fuse box and all the fuses seem ok, but please let me know if you should pay special attention to them and check again.


I'm really sorry for such a long post but I thought knowing everything might help diagnose the issues. I'm really hoping we can get it runing again smoothly.

ZuffenZeus

The best advice I can give you is purchase a Durametric so that you can run the codes and assist to isolate the electric problems which could be either a poor ground, damaged wiring (from rodents), or bad components like the ignition and light switch. Faulty ignition and/or lights switches are pretty well known to cause all kinds of electrical gremlins.

Thankfully, the car wasn't left outside to get flooded or you could be seeing some serious module and electrical problems. So many people live them outside, convertible top drains get clogged, then the car experiences water ingress that causes water to pool up and damage the immobilizer that's located under the seat. Nightmare to fix.

RL911

Your window issue is a bad switch at the door handle. not a difficult fix. Plenty of you tube videos on how to get the door card off.

Jay_986

Thank you! That's really good advice. Didn't know about Durametric. Unfortunately the idea is to sell the car so the Durametric would be used only once and it's an expensive tool. Rodents are super common here so you might be right on the money! The light switch does feel a bit off hard to explain but it seems to not always register when you turn the lights on.

Thank you very much! I'll look into it 🙂

RL911

Just to clarify, there is a switch at the inside handle and another at the outside handle. Does the window not drop for both?

Jay_986

Correct the window doesn't drop for both.

HartyWags

unless you are ready to do a lot of work to get it fully working I would suggest if your plan is to just sell it just sell it as is. How many miles on the car? any accidents? what is the condition of the paint etc. These things will help understand what you can sell it for as is. Is it a manual?