CosmosMpower

Found a very clean elderly owned 02 Boxster S with very low miles (38K). The car is in VERY nice shape and looked/drove great. I've read lots of horror stories about RMS leaks, IMS failures, AOS problems etc etc.

I plan to daily drive the car and do 4-5 DE's a year. I will likely have a full PPI done but wanted to see what to look out for when buying one of these cars. Can the major problems be caught during a PPI by a good tech?

If I plan to track it do I need to plan on going ahead with a LN bearing retrofit, different oil pan etc or can I drive it like it is out of the box on street tires?

Macster

The 02 Boxster S is just a used car so a thorough used car check out is paramount. If you focus on the issues that get a majority of the (bad) press you could overlook something while less common equally bad.

Whenever possible you should be able to check out a car to the point that if you believe you can buy the car for an agreeable price, and if the PPI finds no reason to fail the car, you end up buying the car.

The more thorough your check out of the car the less likely you'll advance to having a PPI done for naught. Or worse, getting a bum car in case the PPI is as sloppy as you were in your check out of the car.

The only thing a PPI can do is note there are no signs of any issues at the time of the PPI.

This does mean that the car will not ever develop issues. The car is old, used, and will be used going forward and it will over time develop issues. Ones that you will have to be attentive to and address promptly.

During your check out of the car, your research of the car, I might add part of your job is to develop a sense of how the car was treated/serviced with the idea of being to have some confidence it was treated/serviced in such a way it is *unlikely* to develop issues arising from its treatment (poor or worse), and service (skimpy to none) by its current and previous owners.

I'm not a fan of the LN bearing upgrade.

This not a comment on the upgrade one way or the other it is just my nature to leave a car's engine unmolested unless absolutely necessary...

'course some would argue an LN bearing upgrade is necessary...

You'll have to make up your own mind.

If you are going to track the car you should be proactive in addressing possible oiling issues by using tried and tested engine oiling improvement mods. A deeper oil sump (watch that ground clearance!) with proper baffling and an extended oil pick up tube is one. Accu Sump is another. I would probably use them both. There might be other add ons as well that are worth well, adding on.

You do this before you venture onto the track. You do not want to wait for signs of oiling issues but take reasonable precautions from the outset to avoid ever subjecting the engine to oiling issues.

CosmosMpower

Thanks for the detailed write up. I do plan on investigating the car thoroughly. To my untrained eyes the car looks like a prime candidate. I looked at so many supposed "clean" S2000's that were just ragged with random tears/rips in the top and interior and this Boxster S was just a cream puff which leads me to believe it's been well taken care of it's entire life. The current owners are a couple that is retirement age and the wife drives it I'm sure very gently. (which I've read may or may not be bad in these)

It drove very similar to my 2006 Cayman S despite being 4 years older and I did not see any bad warning signs. I'm mostly worried about the big ticket items that cause complete engine failure and essentually devalue the car to nothing. The small problems I can fix no problem. Is there no way to tell if a part is failing prematurely or about to cause a major problem down the road?

CosmosMpower

Also what would be a good price on this car?

02 Boxster S Speed Yellow, 6MT with 38K miles.
Premium package (trying to figure out what this consists of)
Bi-Xenons
Crest in headrest
Speed yellow painted roll bar
PSM with ABD
Automatic climate control
Wider rear wheels

San Rensho

Be sure the PPI includes taking out the oil filter to check for metal and hooking it up to a durametric to check the codes and code history and for over-rev history.

Macster

Unless a part is currently failing, or has advanced enough in its failure to show signs of trouble -- water pump making noise, leaking, maybe the serpentine belt rubbing (gets a sharp edge from this), or a RMS (and possibly an IMS end plate) showing signs of an oil leak, unless the engine sounds or runs out of character, unless the oil filter oil has debris that can be a forewarning of internal engine trouble to name a few of the numerous possible signs of trouble -- there's no way I know of to tell if a major problem is in the car's future.

Check that: If you drive the car enough, if you keep the car long enough. it will almost certainly develop issues. (After 261K miles in my 02 Boxster I can assure you if you drive your S that many miles...) Whether the issues turn into catastrophic I can't say.

One way to lessen the odds is stay the heck off the track with the car. These are not race cars, or even good track cars in spite of their having the sweetest handling this side of a Ferrari and brakes that would stop a runaway freight train and decent power and torque bands and nice shifting.

Anytime you take the car on the track and keep the engine at sustained rpms there's risk something will let go. Now it may not take place until as in the case of one car, at nearly 200K miles and a lot of and I mean a lot of track time. Or it might happen at the first corner.

Even if the engine stays together, you may screw up. Sorry but it happens. Miss a shift and the engine goes boom! Miss a turn encounter a slick spot and either one could have your Boxster into a guard rail.

All you can do at least all I can think of you can do is do your best in finding a good car, and one with no outstanding issues.

Buy the car.

Enjoy the car.

This includes among other things that you drive the car having a reasonable degree of mechanical empathy for the car and its systems and take care of the car pay attention to the little things and do not let "little" things like a bit of an unexplained coolant leak go and the odds are the car will be like mine: While to name a few things, the biggest things like a water pump, fuel pump, MAF, coolant tank, O2 sensors, and even a VarioCam solenoid/actuator, over the years developed issues and had to be addressed; the engine proper will remain intact and healthy for as long as you can stand the sight of the car.

But the car could have one (or more) big ticket items require you pay the price to keep the car on the road. My 02 Boxster's biggest repair was a $3K repair to replace the passenger side VarioCam solenoid/actuator, at around 230K miles.

If that $3K repair bill (all others: water pump, fuel pump, etc.) have all be under half that cost) is out of your comfort zone (and it wasn't exactly in my comfort zone either -- but when I looked into replacing the car oh the cost... that was out of my comfort zone and then some...) an out of warranty older Porsche may not be right for you.

CosmosMpower

I completely understand the risks of tracking a car. I've tracked everything from a S2000 to a Lotus Elise and my current GT-R and am an instructor for BMWCCA and PCA. I was asking more about the mechanical reliability of the car on track for HPDE sessions. I'm not going to take it out and flog it at 10/10's for 4 hours straight but I need it to hold together for 4 twenty minute sessions a day running at a reasonably quick pace on sticky street tires.

San Rensho, thanks for the tip on removing the oil filter. I will make sure the Porsche tech does so during the PPI. Any other tips/tricks specific to this car that should be looked into during the PPI?

perfectlap

Do the IMS retrofit as a first order of business. Well that's my advice. I believe there's a new and improved IMS bearing coming out from LN for single row bearing cars. Dual row will need to continue with the current version. Not all Boxsters have the same need for the IMS upgrade. Some have been driven lots of miles and have no issue. Some Boxsters sit for long periods in between drives. Less lubrication under load means things get dried out, brittle and break when the cars mileage starts to tick up at an accelerated rate under new ownership. I'd sooner buy a car driven often than a car driven a few times a month. Of the cars that have had the IMS upgrade, something like 8,000 so far, the number of failures have been less than half a dozen. If IMS failure was low probability, then it becomes even more so. That includes both Boxsters and Carreras, those driven hard and those driven lightly. Seems like a no-brainer to me. Easier to sleep at night. Some put it off until the clutch wears out, I don't think its worth the gamble to save a few hundreds bucks by putting it off.

From what I've read, driving this engine hard is better for it rather than ignoring it or short shfiting at low revs. Once the oil temp is at the 12 o'clock position, it should live at 3,000 RPM at least. But that doesn't apply for the rest of the car, things break and wear out quicker obviously.

Macster

This car might hold together or it might not. No one can say.

I wonder why you seek out a low miles car? You'll pay dearly for the low miles and the car will depreciate very quickly at you add miles, track miles too boot.

My thinking is you might be better off finding a high miles car that still runs good and pick it for a lot less money. Cost of entry is lower, depreciation has already been absorbed by the previous owner or owners and if the engine goes boom you can source a spare engine or shove the thing in the weeds and go find another.

Mark Dreyer

I bought my 02 S about 4 yrs ago. It had 60k miles at the time. Since then I've converted it to full on race car. It has 88k miles, probably 5-10k of that track. The engine hasn't missed a beat, and still runs like a Swiss watch. I'm also a PCA instructor, and have purchased a lot of pro coaching, so I flog that car pretty good. I suspect I may have a tranny rebuild on the horizon as it is not going into second gear smoothly. Your experience may vary, but I'd say this car is definitely up to the task as a solid DE performer.

BTW the fun factor of this car on the track is off the charts. And I've tracked a GT3. I prefer the Boxster platform.

CosmosMpower

I didn't intend to find a low mileage car, I wasn't even looking for a Boxster! I was fully intending to buy a S2000 but was just curious and like our Cayman S so when I saw this one come along at a screaming deal I started investigating it. The owners are retiring to another country so I'm basically buying it for the price of the same year car with 100K miles.

After reading all this stuff it seems 50/50 if the car will be no problems vs a blown motor and I'm not sure if I want to deal with that. I may be looking for a S2000 again instead.

MikeBat

If you do not have the IMS retro fitted with the LN bearing, get the IMS Guardian.

The peace of mind I gained after the IMS was taken care of really increased my enjoyment of the car.

As well, if you are new to the Boxster, remember the "Boxster Chop". The rear window is plastic/vinyl, and increased care when putting the roof down will greatly increase it's life. When the roof is half retracted, stop retracting and gently chop the top, helping the window fold neatly. Then finish stowing the roof.

You and your car will thank me if you did not already know this.

perfectlap

I was in the same boat. I had every intention of getting the S2000 or trying out a standard Carrera. M3 and Mini Cooper S were on the list as well. I didn't care for the driving position in the S2000 and frankly I found it boring to drive in most circumstances, felt too much like my old Accord unles the revs were up.
Then I actually drove the Boxster S in earnest and it was like "duh!" Who needs a Carrera with the roof hacked off just buy a Boxster S...it does everything you need it to. What a no-brainer this should have been the first car I drove. And not this is important to me but I've lost count at the number of comments I still get for a car that's soon to be 13 years old. On almost every drive.

But make no mistake maintaining a Porsche is not the same as maintaining a Honda. If you spend the extra cash to do the IMS upgrade the blown motor thing because "overblown". LOL. If I had it to do again I doubt I would have kept the S2000 as long as I ended up keeping the Boxster S. Well maybe I would have kept the S2000 as an autocross or track toy and stored in winter.

VGM911

+1
And, I always took the precaution of inserting a towel into the "chop" to prevent the two "halves" of the folded window from rubbing against each other.

CosmosMpower

How expensive is a 03+ or aftermarket top retrofit on these cars?