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Carfax reports the dealer just performed a service including a brake fluid flush within the last couple hundred miles. Would they flush the brake fluid and not the clutch fluid - same reservoir, right?
I do like the fact that all 3 owners weren't home mechanics - less likely to find botched repair jobs. The second owner shows up on Carfax as having it serviced at dealers all over the western US - even bought a pair of TIRES from a dealer 4K miles ago. Who the heck buys tires from a dealer?
Same reservoir but the clutch slave cylinder needs to be bled and it is difficult to get to. My dealer always bleeds the clutch slave cylinder when I have the car in for a brake fluid flush/bleed but I always say "brake/clutch fluid flush/bleed" just to be sure both are done.
I've always bought my Turbo's tires at a dealer and every set but one from a dealer for my Boxster. I ordered a set of tires for my Boxster to have installed at a Firestone store and the service was lousy. The store wanted to lift the car wrong and when I insisted it be lifted using the lift to support the car at its factory sanctioned lift points I had to wait hours until the only lift was available.
Never again.
My dealer lifts the car right and load force balances the tires after mounting. Also, because the dealer techs only do Porsches they know how to handle the wheels to avoid damaging them. (Retail cost of the Turbo wheels is around $1800/each. Hollow spoke.)
Plus, I often get a price break on the cost of the tires. As icing on the cake sometimes the dealer will throw in an alignment -- if I and the tech think the car even needs one (often it doesn't based on it steers fine and tire wear is even) for a discount.
Wait there's more: As the tires wear they can go out of balance again and the dealer will -- has so far -- rebalanced at no cost to me when the tires cause the car to vibrate.
My experience is indy tire stores suck, save one here in Livermore, CA (oh, and another in Mountain View, CA) that if I didn't have a dealer handy I might consider using for my cars' tire servicing.
Amazingly enough in Boise there's one Big-O shop (of all places) with a Hunter, and the owner autocrosses. If you speak to him up front they do a decent job.
A PPI on Monday came back mostly clear....didn't reset some codes after replacing the battery last November, and the rear drains were plugged.
So on a cold Tuesday I was able to negotiate downwards some and ended up with something new in my garage.
Dealer service during the time he had the car include oil change, brake fluid flush, coolant flush, and new battery. He will clear the codes when the second key comes in and he programs it. How the heck do people "lose" car keys? I negotiated the dealer throwing in a second key as part of the purchase price.
After 6 hours of sitting in my 50* F garage, puddles of clean water appeared under the outlets of the top drains. My guess is that they got plugged with ICE due to the rain/snow/low temps here with the car sitting out for months.
We shall see. I got it home on the only dry-pavement day of the week, Tuesday, as it's been snowing ever since. Temps will go up into the 40's over the weekend so maybe I can actually drive it on, say, Monday. But the old adage of being able to strike a deal on a convertible in the snowy depths of winter holds.
To prevent having to glue a temp plate in the plastic rear window, the salesman put on a dealer plate and drove it to my house behind me in my 4WD SX4, so I literally haven't driven it since owning it. By 4 PM Tuesday AAA had sent me a "Proof of Ins." form PDF and I'd stopped by the local Idaho DMV to register it and pick up new plates (plates stay with the seller in Idaho). The color scheme of the ID plates matches well with the rear of a silver Boxster.
More than anything else the car needs to be exercised. I'm retired, and a typical drive in the country for me is a 50 to 100 mile jaunt on country roads posted 45 to 65 MPH. The poor car has only been driven about 3,000 miles since July 2012.
I'm from San Jose originally (family there since the 1800s) and know all about Livermore conditions. Are you familiar with Idaho? The Rockies right beyond Boise city limits make the entire central part of the state look like Yosemite but on a far larger scale.
Not too familiar with Idaho. I've been through the state a couple of times. Once entering at the southwest corner coming up from Salt Lake City and driving up on I-84 then across to leave the state after somehow getting on 20 highway and going on into eastern Oregon.
Another time -- in 2001 (just a few days after 9/11 in fact there was still a ban on air travel -- after driving up from San Jose CA I took I-90 from eastern Washington into Idaho. Spent the night in Coeur D Alene. Then drove on east across Montana and then North Dakota and then Minnesota (spent the night near Minneapolis) and then the next day down and eventually into Missouri where I was living/working at the time.
In both cases my schedule did not permit me any free time to dawdle and look around. At other times, for other trips I take a more southern route more directly east/west and thus Idaho is generally not on my route.
From what I remember I liked the state. Beautiful scenery. 'course the people are very nice. And geologically it is very interesting.
Idaho is on my short list of states to which I will consider moving to when I retire.
Working through my to-do list with the car. Tires are RE760s. All tires are at 8/32" tread depth. Date codes for fronts are 1409 and 4808 so they probably need changing due to age later this year. Rears date codes are 4811 and 4711 so probably good for now. All tires were down 6 to 7 psi. Car drives better with properly inflated tires. Dealer apparently didn't check tires after August 2012 servicing.
Car delivered with 1/3 tank of gas. Dealer drove the car about 280 miles in his possession so maybe most of the tank was of last-summer vintage. Car drives better after filling up with fresh gas.
I'm getting acquainted with the 986 dipstick. Looks like the dealer overfilled it by about a half quart when he changed the oil last August. My plan is to change the filter in another hundred miles or so to inspect for debris....won't have to top off after that. I'll let the API/SN detergent package do its thing for a couple of thousand miles then change it. M1 is only $25 for 5 quarts at WalMart.
I'm not familiar with 986 engine noises but I have a certain amount of trust in that the car was given a dealer inspection/service 300 miles ago and a PPI from a local independent Porsche tech 100 miles ago. Both gave it a clean bill of health although the dealer is not a fully-objective party when selling a car.
Inspection through the wheel shows front brake pads about 1/4" (6mm) above the backing plate. New pads are 11mm and wear limit 2mm. I'll get a more accurate measurement when I take the wheels off. This supports my guess that the car has seen mostly highway miles.
I'm not sure what else I should do to "baseline" the car. Most service items are based on mileage not age. A set of spark plugs and an accessory belt would be cheap services. The tranny lube change is only scheduled at 90K miles but it's already 14 years old. I've already bought the stupid tamper-proof 12 point 16mm bit to drain it.
Service whatever you have no record of having been serviced within a reasonable amount of time before the time you bought the car.
Top of my list would oil/filter. Next would air filter, cabin filter. Check the serpentine belt, or just replace it. Not that much money. You might want to run a bottle or two of Techron through the engine to help clean the fuel system including the injector tips which might have deposits from short trips followed by heat soaking.
While your there check the water pump for any play, signs of coolant fluid leak.
Oh, tires due to their age. Tires might have been ok in the heat of August but in the middle of winter ( Polar Vortex...) cold tire pressure drops around 1psi for every 10F drop in air temperature.
Brake/clutch fluid flush/bleed. Just had this done to my 02 -- last one done around 2.5 years ago. Made a big difference in clutch action and shifting. Before the fluid service I was having a tough time getting the car to move from a dead stop smoothly, when it was easy to do this before. (To get 277K miles out of the original clutch smoothness counts.) The shifting was becoming balky/more difficult to engage the next gear without some crunch. After the fluid service clutch is once again very easy to be smooth with and take off from a stop is like the car has an automatic in it. Shifting is also much much better with no real resistance and the crunch is gone.
Coolant drain/refill with fresh coolant. The coolant is important to the water's longevity and head gasket integrity and of course radiator life and oil/water heat exchanger and even the heater core.
Be sure the body drains are clean of any trash and water poured into each drain catch basin runs right out the bottom of the car promptly.
Check the drain at the gas tank filler tube too.
Wipers. Refresh the fluid in the washer tank.
Be sure the spare tire is properly inflated. These should be replaced after 10 years but many do not bother, including me...
I've never bothered with a power steering fluid change. Techs say they never have done one just as a preventative service. They tell me they never see any power steering systems bad unless there is a fluid leak and the power steering pump runs low on fluid. In the Boxster this can happen if a power steering fluid line high pressure relief valve fails and routes too high fluid pressure to the rack. This forces fluid out past the rack seals. The fluid is caught by the dust boots. The car is brought in only after the owner notices the noise which is from the pump. But by this time, most of the time, it is too late for the power steering pump and the rack.
Periodic power steering fluid level checks should suffice.
Transmission/diff fluid change is due on miles (at 90K IIRC) with no consideration given for time. I favor an early change so my advice would be to budget for this but not right away if you want to spread the cost out over time.
OTOH, the shop may give you a discount if you have all this done at one time. Talk to your shop and work the numbers.
There is some worth in getting the car current with its servicing and at the same time this gives you and a tech some time to put some serious eyeball on the car.
Then you get enjoy the car without having to every so often take it into the shop for yet another due service item.
Top of my list would oil/filter. Done at dealer 400 miles ago as part of 45K service.
Next would air filter, cabin filter. Dealer did cabin filter, air filter unknown.
Check the serpentine belt, or just replace it. Dealer and PPI checked but I'll throw a new one on.
You might want to run a bottle or two of Techron through the engine to help clean the fuel system including the injector tips which might have deposits from short trips followed by heat soaking. I have a bottle ready to go.
While your there check the water pump for any play, signs of coolant fluid leak. Dealer and PPI checked hoses and coolant, but I'll check for play when putting on a new belt.
Oh, tires due to their age. Tires might have been ok in the heat of August but in the middle of winter ( Polar Vortex...) cold tire pressure drops around 1psi for every 10F drop in air temperature.
Brake/clutch fluid flush/bleed. Dealer did this 400 miles ago.
Coolant drain/refill with fresh coolant. Dealer did this 400 miles ago.
Be sure the body drains are clean of any trash and water poured into each drain catch basin runs right out the bottom of the car promptly. PPI caught clogged rear drains but appeared to clear out when car defrosted.
Check the drain at the gas tank filler tube too. Good idea, just use water from a cup.
Wipers. Refresh the fluid in the washer tank. Dealer just replaced.
Be sure the spare tire is properly inflated. These should be replaced after 10 years but many do not bother, including me... Spare had never been touched and was down to about 8 PSI. I put it back up to 60 psi.
I've never bothered with a power steering fluid change. Techs say they never have done one just as a preventative service. Some cars eat PS fluid. My 2001 F-150 developed PS groaning at 60K miles - a fluid change fixed it.
Periodic power steering fluid level checks should suffice. Dealer & PPI just checked.
Transmission/diff fluid change is due on miles (at 90K IIRC) with no consideration given for time. I favor an early change so my advice would be to budget for this but not right away if you want to spread the cost out over time.
There is some worth in getting the car current with its servicing and at the same time this gives you and a tech some time to put some serious eyeball on the car. The PPI tech spent 4 hours checking and then driving the car.
Then you get enjoy the car without having to every so often take it into the shop for yet another due service item.
I did another 40 mile drive today, some on a remote highway posted 65 mph. Did a British tune up....I presume it's really good to flush the VVT valves with fresh hot oil. At what RPM do they start moving the cams?
I did another 40 mile drive today, some on a remote highway posted 65 mph. Did a British tune up....I presume it's really good to flush the VVT valves with fresh hot oil. At what RPM do they start moving the cams?
My info is the intake valve timing is active, adjusted, at engine start and during idle. The timing is adjusted to help lower cold engine emissions.
At above 1400 the timing is again changed to improve throttle response and mid-range torque.
Then the cam timing is again changed (retarded IIRC) at a bit over 5K to improve high engine speed fuel economy.
There is no real magic to getting oil to flow through the variable intake valve actuators and the rest of the valve hardware (zero-lash adjusters, etc.). Just driving the car around will see to this.
Well it's time to update my history post....
After purchase I first changed the air filter and topped up the PS reservoir with CHF11S. Then I put on a new Contitech belt since I didn't know the belt history.
I bought a bunch of oil filters and changed them at 500-600 mile intervals until I could get around to servicing the IMSB. No metal was ever found.
I pulled off the front bumper cover and did a scrub job on the radiators. I also changed the 4 coolant hoses that attach at the motor and learned how to use the "Airlift" purging tool. Using the Durametric tool I found my coolant temp gauge was reasonably calibrated, and that cleaning the radiators lowered the normal operating temperature a measureable amount.
Then in June I tackled the IMSB. I pulled the exhaust, tranny, and flywheel, and confirmed I had a dual -row IMSB in my 2000. The HF tranny jack did yeoman service.
Once you get in there removing and installing the LN IMSB did not take too much time at all.
Then back on with the (tested) flywheel and the new LUK clutch kit. As I was informed, the $300 LUK clutch kit for the base 986 contains OEM Sachs clutch parts. What a deal. While the tranny was out I changed the gear oil with genuine Porsche gear lube.
I've now put on about 1,200 miles after the IMSB change and the car runs better than ever.
Excellent, looks like you got a deal! I bought my 2002 with 43k miles on it in 2011. I've had it 3 years and it now has 83k miles on it with almost no issues. I've also got a buddy that bought a 2000 with only 15k miles on it just a couple of years ago and I believe he's doubled the mileage on his as well. These cars seem to do alright even if they have spent most of their lives as garage queens.
02-01-2014, 12:42 PM
