JFP in PA

The car's charging system is fully capable of charging an AGM battery, as are most battery maintainers and chargers. AGM batteries charge at a very slightly higher finishing voltage than a flooded cell battery, but nearly all chargers will get them to full charge, it will just take a bit longer.

The factory dash layout diagram (below) does not show that symbol, so you may be loosing that display:

You are both overlooking a simple fact: Boxsters have cooling system volumes way in excess of the vehicles you are comparing warm up times with. WIth the radiators up front, and long cooling lines running nearly the length of the car, you have a lot more liquid to warm up when compared to a conventional engine location layout. How fast a given heat source can warm up a volume of liquid is dependent upon how large that volume is.

I'd also check the crankcase vacuum level to see if your AOS is on the way out, which leads to excessive start up smoking. Do a search, been covered multiple times.

This coding will require either a PST II or a PIWIS.

Grant, by your own admission, this engine had a lot of bad bearings when you pulled it apart, so I am not at all surprised that the IMS bearing was a bit loose with metal running around inside the engine. I would also be willing to wager that if a DOF had been in use, it would have probably been even worse as you would have been needlessly pumping debris containing oil directly into it, rather than the mist based oiling system that the LN uses. Open bearings are all susceptible to oil born debris; oil fed bearings are even more so. We have taken apart multiple factory engines with the OEM sealed IMS bearings in place that had suffered rod or crank bearing failures, and every one had resulted in some level of damage to the IMS bearings, so it is not the LN bearing not holding up, it is the debris circulating in the engine that tears up the IMS. This is the primary reasons that shops pre qualify every engine before doing an IMS retrofit; if there is already metal in circulation, the new IMS is not going to make it, no matter who's IMS bearing it is.

To lay a couple of false "old wives' tale" to rest, the use of thread lubricants like ARP Ultra Torque, penetrating fluids, or anti seize will never cause fasteners to come loose; the only thing that causes that is the fact they were not torqued to the correct specs in the first place, or were dry or unclean when they were assembled. And before you ask, the use of any of these compounds will not cause over torqueing of the fasteners, but the assembly of dry or rusted fasteners will cause under torqueing and the potential for fasteners to come loose at a later time.

I do not really know, but I assume so as there are core charges when replacing existing units with replacements. That said, there are many OEM systems that carry core charges where only the factory can rebuild the component. The PDK transmission is a good example.

I would stick with Loren's advice. When a manufacturer replaces a part with a superseded number (read higher), it is typically because they have found a defect or problem with the earlier unit. Quite often, these updated units carry multiple upgrades that have accumulated since the original release (updated pressure settings, orifice sizes, etc.) to correct faults or failures. It is also not unusual for electronic systems in the car to need to be recoded to optimize the updated mechanical system's performance. Going backwards can create difficult problems, some of which are insurmountable. As for the Bosch numbers, they can easily represent the housing, and not the contents, as updated components are often visually exactly the same, but work differently. If you cannot source the newer updated unit, get yours rebuilt.

Anytime, that is why we are here, and always caution against letting air get into this system. Without the diagnostic equipment, you can get into expensive difficulties.

Once the reservoir goes dry, you have air in the control network as it is just below the master cylinder, and no, you may not get an immediate PSM fault MIL.

Problem is that once air is introduced into the system control network, this is the only way to get it out.

What will need to be done is rebleed the system with the ABS/PSM pump activated, which will require a Porsche specific diagnostic too

Before doing that, I would load test the battery and alternator on the car, and check the voltage drop across the primary battery cables. These cars are prone to throw ABS and PSM faults when the battery and/or alternator act up, or when the resistance in the cables gets too high, and testing is much cheaper than jumping for some very expensive and possibly unneeded parts.

Guys, I am not really sure what you are trying to get at, but the reality of the situation is that all of the M96/97 engines came with fairly well documented issue, namely the IMS bearing. Risk level varies according to which version the car has and is well documented. Porsche has never acknowledged the issue other than within the bounds of the class action, which did not cover all cars. The aftermarket recognized the opportunity to step up and offer a fix, which multiple companies have done; albeit some very good fixes, others not so much. But choices are readily available, and at varying price points. From direct experience, PCA is by far more a social organization rather than a lobbying arm or enforcement agency for car owners. While they may choose to communicate member's concerns to Porsche, they obviously do not see their role as interceding for the car owners. If they had, there probably would not have been a class action in the first place. So were does leave current or potential owners? You have choices: You can buy the car, knowing the issue exists, and factoring in the expense of doing a retrofit, or move on to something else. Current owners can access where they see themselves going, and either doing the retrofit or accepting the potential risks. We do PPI's on these cars just about every day, and cars with documented quality retrofits are doing just fine in the resale arena. As for warranty, like most things in life, these cars and their replacment parts have limited warranties. LN only offers a 30 day on their ceramic hybrid replacement bearings, and recommends replacement every 75K miles. This is not out of line for automotive replacement components. If you want a better warranty, they also offer their IMS Solution, which comes with a 5 year part warranty when installed by an approved installer. The Solution is also the only known permanent (read life of the engine) retrofit system, so there is no recommended replacement window, but it costs more money. And as with their ceramic hybrid retrofits, cars carrying the Solution command a significant premium at resale. So there are choices, you can choose to own one of the cars or not. If you do choose to own one, you have choices of whether to retrofit or not. If you choose to retrofit, again you have choices. But PCA is not going to fight a battle with PCNA over this issue. It is not why they exist.

Suggest you contact Sunset Porsche in OR. The bay harness has been changed a couple of times, and they should be able to tell you what harness you need from your VIN. It is imperative that you get the right one as these harnesses are anything but cheap, and often non returnable.

The pump should be beneath the cowl on the left side of the engine bay.

Welcome to RennTech. The car should have fans on both sides, so one fan may not be working. Using a Porsche diagnostic scanner, you can test activate the fans to check them..

Check the condition of your crank position sensor, they are well known for causing a hot engine to refuse to start.

I think it is time to get the car scanned with a Porsche specific diagnostic tool.

See Loren's diagram above, you need to pull the cluster to get at them.

Not particularly. Because the OBD II system is a federally mandated item, OEM's do not go out of their way to make them robust. Having said that, we have seen OBD II connection issues on several makes besides Porsche.

No. Porsche only sold the bulbs and the complete light assemblies, no other components. If you cannot repair your lights, you may need to buy a used but serviceable replacement either off someone of from a breaker's yard.

You can still find the parts, either new or used from a bone yard. Once you get all the part and have them installed, you need to have the system activated with a diagnostic computer.