all,

i am a 993 owner and have been mainly in that forum...

i am considering purchasing a 1997 boxster for my wife w/78K miles...black/red int w/5 speed tranny.

overall the car is in excellent condition but there are some issues: rear window is badly clouded and has a crack and front windshield has many chips and needs replacement.

there are no records of the clutch ever being replaced so i wanted to ask thios forum what costs are associated with:
1. top replacement or can plastic window be replaced on its own?
2. front windshield replacement
3. what the life of a clutch is on these cars.

any other issues on the 1997 boxster to look for??

thanks!

 

i am a 996 owner (half boxster?) so i will try to answer your question.
1. plastic window be replaced on its own
2. ask safelite.com
3. depends on driver.

check out www.ppbb.com where u will find more detailed answer
good luck

 

I have a 1997 for 9 years.

New window can be put in. Or, you can find an aftermarket top with plastic window for not much money. Or, for a bit more money you can find an aftermarket top with a glass window.

I am on my third windshield. http://www.renntech.org/forums/index...howtopic=10360

I have 67,000 on the original clutch, but I am due for a replacement.

 

You need to find a shop that Porsche/Mercedes/BMW dealerships use or a Porsche dealership that does its own rear window replacement.

Some, well at least one, Porsche dealership will attempt to sell you a new top claiming that Porsche advises replacing top for even just a rear window problem. New top (for an '02) is over $4000.

I was quoted $680 to have rear window replaced in my '02. Shop quoting me came highly recommended by other Porsche owners who had work done there.

If you go with aftermarket top with glass rear window this can change look of car with top up. Some like this change. Some do not. Look before you leap. Word is the glass window after market tops also make gaining access to engine compartment more difficult. 2nd (or 3rd) hand info is some dealerships balk at servicing cars so equipped. Find out before you go with the replacement top with the glass rear window. (Oh, glass rear window is located higher and is smaller than plastic.)

Had front glass replaced by glass company used by insurance company. Safelite? Asked for factory glass and insurance company refused unless I wanted to pay cost. Did some more checking and found out -- circa a year or so ago -- only factory glass -- OEM glass -- was available.

When installer showed up I checked glass and replacement glass identical to OEM glass in car (in there since new). Paid $500 deductible. Checked with local Porsche dealership and replacement cost was over $1300 and second hand info is this dealership farms work out to same company insurance contracts with to do its glass work.

Early Boxster clutch life is short. Fact of life with the 2.5l engine and its low (relatively speaking) torque output.

75,000 miles if original clutch is pretty good. (Got over 185,000 miles on my '02's original clutch, with 2.7l engine. Not bragging, well maybe a little, but just showing you a well treated Boxster clutch can last a long long time.)

Unless seller can find paperwork that shows when clutch replaced assume a new clutch is just going be required and adjust offer for car accordingly. No way current owner should foist off on you all the clutch's cost with you having little maybe no use of it before having to replace it.

Other issues: Be sure no signs of oil in coolant. Check oil tube filler cap for any signs of excessive moisture. If car driven infrequently some creamy goo can collect under cap but more than a tiny bit could be signs of coolant in oil and that ain't good.

Might run compression check just to see if cylinder compression up to spec and are balanced/near equal.

Check for any signs of body/paint work any signs -- get car up in air -- for any signs of off road excursions (accident damage).

If you spot anything troubling walk away. There's always another car. There are many many Boxsters available and more recent MYs come on the market al the time.

A '97 Boxster with some miles (75,000 is nice cause by this time if engine was going to blow up (so to speak) it would have done so by now) in otherwise good condition can be a relatively good car to buy. With proper care and some luck you should be able to double that number of miles with little more than scheduled servicing and replacing wear items (tires mainly).

Sincerely,

Macster.

 

..there are early Boxsters with over 100K on their clutches...drivers are everything when it comes to clutches. My car has 60K and clutch is AOK.

 

great cars I beat on mine every month

 

I had a '98, best-balanced car I've owned. Make sure you get a PPI. RMS is a common failure point. Oil separators too. Neither is necessarily expensive but RMS leaks can be a bad sign.

 

I'm not sure what a leaking RMS is a bad sign of....Many owners have ignored them for many years once the car is out of warranty.

A leaking RMS is not a predictor of any other failures and unless other work is required i.e. clutch, flywheel it need not replaced.