Joel Lester

OK guys, I need a little help or reassruance. I sold my mid 80's 911 six months ago and now "have an empty space". I have come across a '99 Boxster that I'm seriously considering buying. It is cheap ($10K) but it does have a lot of miles on it (110K). I like to have little projects here and there and kind of tinker around in the garage. This would definetly be a toy car. Are these 986's easy to work on? I would do oil changes, brake jobs etc. I also like to do the occasional track / lapping day too (which I feel the Boxster would be much better for than the "tail happy" 911 I was used to!). I'm am planning the PPI now which I feel is a must. But with an engine with that many miles on it I don't want to spend a ton of money on a new engine/rebuild - hopefully the PPI will give me an indication on that topic. Anyway... any good advice before I jump into this? Any advice would be appreciated! Joel

Macster

With that many miles chances are if anything was going to go wrong with engine it would have by now. If the older/earlier Boxsters reach 100K they seem to be good for another 100K or more. I know of several that have reached 140K or higher. One or two are tracked regularly too. (My 02 has 223,000+ miles and is still on its orignal engine and clutch. No tracking though.)

Find Mike Focke's site and read up on buying a used Boxster. Excellence magazine (USA published) runs market updates on Boxster every year. Visit book store or find Excellence's web site and find most recent back issue for Boxster market update and and read up on Boxsters.

Have PPI done by qualified tech. Look for oil leaks, coolant leaks, etc. Avoid badly repaired cars that have been involved in big accidents. Avoid cars that have salvage titles due to theft, fire, or flood damage.

Check all systems work from top to taillights, from headlights to heater, from A/C to radio, etc.

Oil/filter services are DIY. Brakes ditto. Serpentine belt, spark plugs, engine air filter, vital fluids, even water pump, motor mounts, AOS, all can be done by the motivated DIY'er.

Sincerely,

Macster.

Joel Lester

Thanks Macster! Sounds like solid advice - I have checked out the sites/magazine you mention already. That Mike Focke's web site mentioned the cost of engine rebiuld and that scares me. I will see what the PPI says - exciting! Joel

sjfehr

Most of the worst engine problems manifested very early and were fixed under warranty. The warning zone is with low-mileage early Boxsters, not high-mileage.

If you have access to a lift, the engine is very easy to access from the bottom; coil packs, plugs, etc, are right there. There are two top hatches, one under the roof for the intake and top of the engine that you can get to without tools with the roof half-raised, and one behind the seats (tools required) for the serpentine belt. Neither are difficult, but clearly a little more of a PITA to get to than just popping the hood. Oil changes are trivial to DIY on a lift (only a little harder with jackstands), and at 15k intervals, few and far between. The brakes are well designed and easy to maintain. Everything on this car is extremely well thought-out.

mikefocke

Remember
Mike bought a second Boxster knowing what he knows and deliberately didn't buy an extended warranty. And his repair costs after 4 years have been less than $15 a month. And for a 99, even if you have to replace the engine, it would be with a used one. That wouldn't be unusual for any car with the kind of miles you are talking about. But, as macster says, if it got to 100k, it is probably one of the good ones and may go nearly forever.

MikeBat

I think the main thing t consider is a RMS retrofit from LN Engineering. While this will not 100% guarantee bombproof-ness... it would lay to rest any fears of a a real catastrophoc failure. At the cost of $600 or so, plus a few hours of labor... I think it is worth it.

Joel Lester

Wow! great info! I was wonder just how to access the engine and those pics really help. Now a couple of more questions... What are good books to buy for the DIYers? I had got the Bentley bible for the 911 and that was awesome - I assume they have one for 986's? Any other suggestions?
Also, I took another look at it today and got to see the soft top - it's trashed! It does have a factory hardtop so I had the guy take it off to see the soft one underneath. How much are those to replace and is it a big deal?
Joel

sjfehr

Bentley makes a 986 bible, too, which is certainly the one to get. A quick search will probably answer your soft top question. Here's some more angles of engine access:



Part of my one underbody panel was broken (later replaced), but it does give somewhat better visibility in this photo. Black cylinder is the oil filter, silver circle in the middle of the block is the oil drain plug:

Macster

Well, I have managed to get 223K miles out of my 02 Boxster. Car's been super reliable for me. As I think I mentioned a high mileage car has at least one thing going for it: It has made it over the hump so to speak of when early engine failures appear.

There are some other pluses about a high mileage car: Car can be had for lot less money; And the fact the car has lasted as long as it has says car pretty solid and owner took care of car.

PPI is a must though.

I'd not worry too much about serious engine problems. I bought a new 08 Cayman S in April in spite of all the bad press about the engine design.

'course, car came with a 4 year 50K mile warranty and I didn't plan on letting warranty expire on time. Most problems arise as miles accumulated not as time passes.

Recently bought an 03 Turbo with just 9500 miles and it came with 2 year 100K mile warranty. I won't be able to put 100K miles on car but I plan on putting as many miles as I can on it before warranty expires.

Turbo not same engine but I'm still going to give engine a chance to fail under warranty.

Sincerely,

Macster.

dennisafrompa

...just to let you hear the other side of the coin, I've owned 3 Boxsters, a '99 2.5, a '02 2.7 and a'04 S Anniversary edition.

Two of these had IMS failures and engines were toast. One under warranty at 6,000 miles and one out at 62K miles. Porsche eventually replaced the motor on the one out of warranty for a cost to me of 3 grand.

I no longer own a water cooled Porsche...nor a Porsche for that matter. Two out of three was enough for me.

I think the Boxster is the best sports car available and loved all three of mine....but I'm not prepared to deal with this potential issue anymore. I travelled extensively with my Boxsters, cross country many times,I autocrossed and did driver eds too. I did my own maintainance, including all major services as the car is easy to work on despite the mid-engne design.

Good luck with yours!