The French Dude

Hi!

I recently bought a 62k 03' Boxster S that I don't have record maintenance.
But it appeared that it has been well cared all the same.
The car is presently stored and I would like anticipate the spring and do some maintenance by myself. I will certainly do sone DE's this year.

So I plan motor oil change, brake fluid change, and probably water pump.
As I will mount a UDP I will change the belt too.

Do I have to consider something I don't have in mind?
I saw on Ebay some tune up kits including spark plug, spark plug connectors O-rings filter etc.. Is a thing that I would consider ?

Thank you for your help !

sjfehr

Fluids & filters sounds like a good call; 60k was a "major maintenance" interval and if the owner doesn't have records, that probably means he didn't do it. The maintenance guides are all available over at Renntech. Porsche recommends new iridium plugs every 30k miles which is probably overkill, but it's not all that expensive or difficult to do. How do the pads & rotors look? These cars are pretty easy to maintain.

http://www.renntech.org/forums/files...r-986-my97-05/

Macster

My thinking would be to get the car up to date on all its servicing for any servicing I had no knowledge of having been done.

Engine oil/filter first. The car should have been put away with fresh oil and a new filter.

Engine air filter and cabin air filter. Fuel filter if applicable. (Some MY's do not have a serviceable fuel filter. My 02 for instance.)

Brake (and clutch if a manual) fluid flush/bleed next.

Plugs. At the same time the tech -- or you -- inspects the coils and if any show signs of deterioration they should be replaced. Frankly if one is bad unless the others were just installed I'd replace all 6.

Water pump? My philosophy is to let the water pump tell me when it is time to replace it, but if you want to proactively replace it that's your call. This of course should have a new T-stat installed -- I am *not* a believer at all in lower temperature T-stats -- and a drain of the coolant with a refill of fresh anti-freeze/distilled water mixture afterwards. If the coolant tank cap is not a newer one replace it.

Be sure the body water drains are all clear and water drains without any delay.

Clean out the radiator ducts. A real good cleaning requires the bumper cover be removed and the A/C condenser unbolted and carefully swung out of the way to expose the radiator -- both radiators of course -- and the area between it and the condenser for proper/thorough cleaning.

Pay close attention to how the bumper cover fits and where all the fasteners are. Techs tell me invariably when a car comes in if the owner or non-Porsche tech has been at the car the bumper cover is installed incorrectly and fasteners are not in their proper place, or simply missing.

Check tire age. Porsche considers tires past their replacement date if older than 6 years.

Give the car a thorough inspection -- road worthiness inspection -- before you put it on the road. Check for any leak sign and CV boot cracks, brake pad thickness/rotor thickness and condition, etc.

Be sure the windshield washer tank is filled with proper fluid to avoid the wrong or old fluid from forming deposits that can block flow to the jets or block the jets themselves. Many cars that get driven only in good weather retain this fluid for sometimes a long long time.

The French Dude

I know that brake pads and rotor are new, the clutch and the shocks too
Is that the only maintenance record I have.
As soon I bought it I've done a precautionary engine oil change. I've done the IMS upgrade too. It's why I know the clutch is in very good shape.

Spark plugs, air filter, cabin filter, transmission oil I have absolutely no idea.

Thank you for your help !

The French Dude

Do you have any recommendation about spark plugs ?

Mighty Shilling

60,000 miles per porsche maintenance schedule

Macster

For plugs I just install or rather have the tech install whatever the Porsche parts counter manager shoves over the counter to the tech.

I see no reason to experiment with plugs. In fact I know of one Cayman owner -- on another forum -- who installed some NGK plugs in place of whatever is Bosch plugs are called for -- and the reference charts "match" the NGK plugs with the Bosch plugs FWIW -- who had problems that I think will have him going back to the Bosch plugs.

Another owner removed some discount plugs and found one with a loose ceramic electrode shield and in spite of this installed the same discount plugs. Amazing.

Dave H.

the same, Porsche dealer spark plugs.

mikefocke

I'll confess that when I bought my second Boxster I looked at the 90k service as the most comprehensive of all and just did that in addition to an alignment as I could hear from the tires they were worn improperly. Then new tires. And I was pretty much done for the next 5 years with the exception of an O2 sensor and oil and fluid changes..

txhokie4life

I just bought a 100k mile S
85-90% drive to track car

I immediately added a deep sump kit and baffle kit and put amsoil racing oil in.

Check the cv axles and boots , I've seen a lot of them leaking or split.

Put track pads on, I'm using cool carbons.

I'd check the WP for play or seapage

I've had 4 strong track days since the first of the year. Hoping for many more.

Mike

DennisAN

I'm new here but am also going through a similar maintenance "baselining" process.
https://rennlist.com/forums/boxster-...-for-sale.html

With the introduction of the 2.7l and 3.2l engines in 2000, Porsche IIUC specified two plugs:
Beru 14FGR6KQU
Bosch FGR6KQC

Bosch's corp. website says an update is Bosch stock # 7413, part # FGR6KQE. Notice only the last letter in the part # changed, which I believe indicates a "detail change". Center and ground tips are Nickel-Yttrium. I always go to the mfg. corp. website for current part numbers as I don't trust parts locators on retail outlets. Amazon is especially bad at telling you to buy the wrong part.

And I don't trust "industry cross-reference" guides either. I come from the Miata world, and early Miatas run best on regular NGK plugs, and don't run well at all on fancy platinum plugs. It's not surprising that Boxsters run best on the Beru or Bosch recommended plugs.

The French Dude

Thank you! So it will be Beru's...

Macster

Just to get this on the record, while I typed "Bosch" I believe the Boxster and Turbo have only had Beru plugs. But what I did say earlier was accurate. Whatever the parts manager pulls from the shelf.

However, he just doesn't grab plugs blind.

He looks up the most current part number for plugs for my car -- based on its VIN -- and then pulls the plugs based on this part #.

sjfehr

I use Beru plugs in my 986S, too. $8/ea from pelican.

DennisAN

Of course, nowadays Beru and Champion plugs are made by the same company.......

http://beru.federalmogul.com/federal...n-platform-for