Jay15

Hi,

I am ready to buy my first Porsche which is going to be Boxster. I have been looking at cars.com, Craigslist etc. and found one 2002 Boxster - S manual transmission with a smaller car dealer.

I am buying the car out of state and can not see it personally. A local Porsche specialist did the PPI and found following.

1. AOS is bad.
2. The left rear axle boots are split open.
3. Slight leak from RMS.
4. Some leak in spark plug tubes.
5. Some spill/discoloration on driver seat.
6. The right side door and quarter panel has been re-painted. Car fax and national vehicle history does not show any crash records.
7. Car has no sign of frame damage or any kind of frame pull.
8. Overall condition is pretty good
9. Car has newer top

The Porsche mechanic suggested fixing 1 and 2 right away. Change RMS with the clutch whenever required. The tubes can be done at a later point.

The Porsche guy is asking $500 for AOS and $425 for left rear axle. Dealer is willing to pay for that.

What do you think about oil leak on RMS and plug tube. The asking price is 13K.

Please help out a potential buyer.

Regards,

Jay

Byprodriver

I would keep looking, if it was $10,k I would be more interested.

grrrmonster

Good luck on getting your first P-Car!

It's worth taking the time to find the right car.
I've had many over the past 30 years. Highlights of what I've learned:
- Get connected with your local PCA region. I promise you you will meet a number of people who can be helpful- and they're great folks to know.
- Find a GREAT independent Porsche service facility. You will come to depend on thier expertise.
* My techs and mechanics have been best referal source of cars to me. Nothing like buying a car with a known history.
- Porsches need regular service. Done properly, by trained techs. These aren't Chevys. I expect to see maintenance records on a car I am serious about.
- Don't be afraid to pay a premium for a nice, well maintained (and documented) car. Better to avoid surprises than go for the low purchase price.

My son just went thru this-- talked to several Porsche techs-- all of them recommended a Boxster-- and the guy who takes care of my GT3 had a Boxster S he wanted to sell. Again, it was a known car, documented service history, done by a tech I know & trust.

Decide if you want an S or the base car. (Personally prefer the S.- Depends on your intended use for the car).

I would budget $2k to have the IMS bearing replaced- have a KNOWN great independent shop or most trusted Porsche dealer do it. Better to have it done and have peace of mind. Yes, I know the IMS bearing failures were something like 5%. However if yours fails you lose 100% of your motor and it's VERY expensive to put another motor in it.

RMS (rear main seal). Shouldn't leak. A car that is driven shouldn't have a problem with it. Garage queens more prone to the problem.

We found a lot of good info here:
The following are great sources of information for those interested in purchasing a Boxster :

http://mike.focke.googlepages.com/mi...oxsterwebpages

http://www.iwantaporsche.net/

http://www.986faq.com/



Personally- I'd avoid a car with obvious paint work, and no documentation/explanation for it. Keep looking. Be patient. The right car is out there waiting for you

mikefocke

The car is wildly overpriced. 3 years ago I sold a near perfect '01S for the same price and the only thing a PPI would have shown was a slight tear in the rear window. It even had 4 Michelin n-rated with 50 miles on them.

Congrats on doing the PPI. It is winter. You can do lots better.

In addition to that Focke guy's site for a dozen buying articles, look at http://www.autotempest.com/ as it will search multiple classified ad sites

Macster

If you are going to have the clutch replaced that would be the time to have the RMS done. But does the clutch need doing? That's a rather expensive job

$500 for the AOS and $425 for the half-shaft seems low to me. A new factory half shaft is around $900 and if the boots are open then grit/dirt almost certainly has gotten into the CV joint/bearing and if so has ruined this. If the shaft CV bearings are serviced before the boot fails almost always they can be cleaned, packed with grease and put back into service. The ones on my 2002 Boxster were and they had at the time around 250K miles. They have covered not quite another 50K miles and are still ok.

The spark tube o-rings leak after awhile. The ones in my Boxster leaked and I had them replaced. But they had lots of miles. The tech reported they came out in pieces they were just worn out.

I do not like a messy car so my inclination would be to have the leaks addressed along with the AOS and the CV boots. The AOS if bad renders the car undriveable and even if it has not failed to that point yet it can do so in very little time.

BTW, with the AOS bad was the road test skipped? The PPI should have included this and more driving than just a short run down the street and back.

I can't help on the price. I am not current on used Boxster prices. Plug the car's numbers into www.kbb.com or www.nada.com and see that numbers come up for trade-in/wholesale, private sale and retail sale.

I have never known a seller to underprice a car and likely the car is priced with around a 25% mark up. I think it safe to say then there's some room to negotiate a lower price.

The car is worth, if it is worth owning at all, somewhere between its trade-in/wholesale price or how little the seller is willing to let the car go for and how much you are willing to pay for it.

steved0x

+1. and what if the RMS leak is really coming from a potentially failing IMS.

I would keep looking, for less than that price I found my 2000 S that was completely up to date with all maintenance, a recent clutch, new AOS/MAF, ignition switch, window regulators, a lot of the stuff that typically goes wrong as the cars age.

You should be able to find one that doesn't have so much "stuff" that needs immediate fixing. And if the previous owner did not do these things, who knows what else they skipped out on.

If you are going to be travelling to get your Boxster that opens up a LOT of Boxsters... I bought mine in PA, flew there and picked it up from the shop that did the PPI (I had them do the IMS before I picked it up) and drove it back down to NC.



Steve

relinuca

Jay,

Taking into account the PPI findings, and not knowing mileage and actual mntce. history, I would recommend passing on this one.

In most markets, there usually are several Boxsters for sale, and the on-coming winter months will bring even more to the fray. FWIW, I would never buy a car sight unseen, especially one with noted cosmetic problems; i.e., re-painted panels, stain on upholstery.

While not wishing to condemn all "smaller used car dealers", Porsches found in such places are frequently examples snared at auctions at bargain prices or are "fall outs" from secondary dealers. In other words, the better ones seldom show up in such venues.

As I said, "My 2cents".

relinuca

Jay15

Thank you all for your advise and wisdom. I will keep looking and hope something good shows up. Also, if you know someone and see a good boxster, please PM me.

Regards,

Jay

4kix66

My car going up soon. If you have not located one I can send you the details. I have lost my 6 car garage and can't part with the 968's so my wife's weekend car has to go. It is a good one.

Jay15

Hi,

I bought my car. Good luck for the sale of your car.

Jay

JayG

Without pictures it ain't real