Tool Pants

I am going to ask Peter if there is a mistake on the PCA tech section. The question had to do with a 2001, but Peter's answer talked about a 1998. The original top transmissions and the cables that drive them are very different for 1997-1999 vs. 2000-2003. There are 2 parts to the cables. A black plastic housing and an inner metal cable that is like a speedometer cable with square ends. One end is driven by the motor and the other end turns the transmission. It is the plastic housing that stretches/grows with heat and age, and when it does the square end pulls out of the drive motor. Then when one cable turns and the other does not you break or bend things. The original cable housing was made of unreinforced plastic which permitted them to stretch. A reinforced replacement cable came out last year for 1997-1999. This is what we have been replacing on the older cars. The picture shows the replacement reinforced cable housing on top which you can tell from the texture, and the old plain smooth housing on the bottom. You can see that there is very little of the square drive cable sticking out of the old cable as the plastic housing has stretched. 2000 up has always had reinforced cable housings, and that is why I think there is a mistake on the PCA tech site. Jeff

This is what I was told by Peter, who is the shop foreman at my local dealer, PCA tech advisor, Boxster owner, and if he does not know it then you have to ask Weissach. The Most system is fiber optic loop or ring for the radio head, amp, and cd changer. The wires from the amp to the speakers are normal copper wires. I saw them on Raman's 2003. Raman hooked up the wires from the rear speaker kit directly to the amp. They work fine but he cannot fade the rear speakers as they are not controlled by the radio head. On the 1997-2002 we would hook up the rear speakers to the back of the radio head, but that will not work with MOST. Think I'm going to have to borrow Peter's 2003 tech intro so I can read up on the MOST system. Jeff

You have to buy the entire cluster. The only parts you can buy are the 2 knobs. I have a broken new style Boxster S cluster I have been playing with. I wondered if you could get the trim rings off and just have them painted silver. I got one off, but it is glued on so I do not suggest you try it. I do not see why it cannot just be painted if you are very good at masking it off. When I saw the price for the silver trim rings that are being sold I was going to check with a shop that plates plastic in any color you want. Jeff

I have seen beat up cable connectors as they are made of plastic. But not your problem. On the next B&M shift install I will have to measure to see if the connector sits lower in the shift tower. I think it must since when we do this on a Boxster there is a green plastic plate just below the connector on a 5 speed, and we are told to remove it, I asume for clearance reasons. Got to love Porsche plastic. The floor of this shift tower I worked on was cut out - but it had nothing to do with a B&M. Jeff

We filmed the rear speaker install. But it will not work on a CDR 23 with MOST and the factory amp. There is a plug in the back of the radio head for the rear speakers, but it does not work. Raman did put in the rear speaker kit in on his 2003 but he had to wire it to the amp in the front trunk to get the speakers to work. This is the hook up on a 220. Jeff

Copy the first image while you can. Driver's side, as you can tell from the white connector to the switch on the chart. Let me know if you need the color code for the wires. It has 5 wires like most every other switch. Good thing is you can buy the connector and terminals that are an exact fit for all Boxster switches if you want to do hacks using a Porsche switch.

Let me know if you can get your hands on this booklet which is given to the mechanics at one of the 3 training schools in the US. Ok, I had my hands on 3 of them over the past few months but it cannot be ordered from the parts dept at my dealer as the part number does not exist for customers, and we may have to wait until it is on a cd. Jeff

Every Boxsternaut should have these books Each year Porsche puts out a technical intro booklet. In 2002 it came out on a cd with all Porsche models on the cd. For 2003 this is what they give the mechanics, but us customers cannot buy it as far as I know. I think we have to wait until Porsche comes out with a model year 2003 cd. For 2003 the fact book that had combined all models came out for just the Boxster. This you cannot buy as it is for the sales department. I know someone in sales. Then there is the workshop manuals in 15 binders. I had hoped that after 7 model years the after market would come out with a good DIYer repair manual, like Bently or Haynes. Jeff

Peter said he found some extra wiring in a car. :o

Doug, I bet your traffic install pro was done at Stevens Creek Porsche. I was there on Saturday talking to Peter about the wiring for the traffic pro and he said he had just put one in a 996. Us local Boxster owners have been getting together for years to work on cars and now we have been video taping projects. Would have liked to video a traffic pro install. We have a few local Boxster owners who are good with electrical stuff. Maybe Loren can set up a 996 hack day, like we did for the B&M shift installs on two 996s. Jeff

Glad you 996ers have figured it out. We have been doing this for years on Boxsters but we have a much simpler top relay/control unit in the relay tray next to the fuse box. We pull the relay/control unit out, bend pin 18, and put it back in. This defeats the speed signal. Sometimes we solder a wire to pin 15, put the relay back in, and ground the wire. This defeats the need to pull up on the brake handle until the light comes on. Someone needs to look at the wiring diagrams to see which wire is going from the hand brake switch to the top control unit connector. Perhaps if you ground or do something to this wire you can eliminate the need to pull the brake lever up one notch. Pic of modified top relay from Jason. Jeff

I have a Boxster and bought a 996 cluster off ebay so I could have the 2 extra gauges. When I put the 996 cluster in my Boxster the middle LCD display was bad as it had broken segments. :angry: I took it apart to see if I could fix display by replacing the bad LCD - can't get parts from VDO or Porsche. Since Loren still has a warranty I thought of putting my ebay cluster in his car and driving down to the dealer..... The 5 clear plastic dials are all part of one unit, you cannot remove just one, and you cannot remove the dial unit without first removing the entire pod from the dash as the instrument cluster is held to the pod with 2 torx screws in the back of the pod. Here is a 996 pod removed. We do this all the time with the trip computer retrofit as we add new wires to the connector in back of the instrument cluster. Then you remove the 2 knobs and flip the pod over and remove the 2 torx screws. There are 2 black metal spring clips at each end of the cluster that the screws go through. Pull the clips off. The clear plastic dial unit is held in place with 3 plastic clips on the unit that clip to the body of the cluster. You have to get a thin tool in the cluster to release the top clip from the back of the cluster. The 2 bottom clips you can release with your fingers. I am releasing the top clip in the next 2 pictures, and you can see the knife blade just to the right of the top clip. Here is the dial unit out, and you can see the top clip and the 2 bottom clips. I blew out the cluster with compressed air to get the dust out and used a soft cloth to clean inside each plastic lense. You don't need to do this. I kept on going to see if I could fixt the center display - too bad I could not get the part to fix it - but there is always that nice 996 owner with the old style cluster and a warranty :D These instruction are for 2001 or older 996 clusters. The new style cluster that came out in a 996 in 2002 and on a Boxster in 2001 is a bit different. I have also taken apart the new style cluster just to see what was inside. Jeff

On a Cayenne, right? If I had seen your post I would have looked and asked. The front was off this truck when I saw it in the shop a few hours ago. Jeff

An independent shop, rmg enterprises in Sunnyvale, California, put on a Boxster OBDII tech session today. They have a PST2 which is an expensive investment for an independent shop. Bob first explained the OBDII emission system on the chalk board. This also applies to a 996 and other cars, but they happened to have a Boxster there. Chalk talk. So we did not all have to cram around the PST2 screen to see what going on it was projected so we could all see it while Bob explained and the motor was running. I asked to the the revs in range 1 and 2. :o Only 2,946 in range 1 and none in range 2, on a 1999 2.5. Jeff

Went to the Boxster tech session in Sunnyvale and stopped by AB to check on some parts. Peter was in the shop replacing a motor on his newest personal 944. I'm in the shop and Peter says to look at a 2004 Cayenne S that just came in - yawn. If you have not seen this b/f it is the battery disconnect for when they are shipped. This is what Peter wanted me to see. There is no second battery in the rear, just the Bose subwofer. So, I ask, when are they going to put in a rear spare tire..... Jeff

I remember Chad.

Need to fill a blank space. :huh: 310 is the base boxster and 320 is the 3.2. Jeff

of a Cayenne.

After a few years of Boxstir 1997 ownership no one had a picture of the Boxster Chop for the rear plastic window. I though I should take a few pictures as it will be a lost art with the 2003 glass window. Jeff

Some more pictures. In the second picture you can see the old and new style seal for the intermediate shaft. The new style seal will not fit on the old intermediate shaft cover, as you can see the seal is wider than the old black O-ring style seal. So to get the new style seal you have to replace the cover. Jeff

It seems like Porsche has been replacing a few rear main oils seals, and if they still leak you get a new motor. This has been going on for years. Prior to the second generation seal they would cut the spring to tighten the sealing lip against the crank or try a 993 seal. At a tech session in April Peter Smith showed us 2 new tools that had just come out for the RMS issue. In this picture the transmission, clutch and flywheel have been removed. You can see the end of the crankshaft - the holes are for the bolts for the flywheel. The round black thing is the RMS, and you tell from the number of 'dimples' that it is the new style seal. Below the crank is the intermediate shaft. The 3 bolt holes are for the intermediate shaft cover, which is removed in this picture. There is a seal on the cover which can also leak, and a second generation seal for the intermediate shaft. This a fuzzy picture of a new style seal on the parts counter. This is the seal that went into production in Feburary 2000 and, yes, this seal has not solved all RMS problems as some car with the new style seal also leak. The true problem is with the M96 motor. These are the special tools for the RMS. On the left is the orignial tool used to push in/seat the seal into it's bore. Next is the new tool to seat the seal. The next 2 tools are the same. A go-no-go fixture to determine if the seal bore is concentric to the crankshaft. This is the new fixture tool again. The mechanics used to measure with a caliper the distance from the crankshaft to the seal bore in several places to determine if they were concentric to each other. If the variation is .03mm or less you get a replacement seal. If more than .03mm you get a new motor. Now with the new fixture they attempt to slide the tool over the crank and into the seal bore. If the fixture goes in you get a replacement seal. If it does not go in you get a new motor. With the go-no-go fixture the mechanic no longer has to measure with a caliper. Jeff

This is how a Boxster gets the C4S look, from Paul in Australia.

At Henry's house of course. We shot some more video for the DIYer DVDs. This is the video shoot of a B&M install on Doug's 2000 S. We shot a total of 4 B&M installs. 2 on Boxsters and 2 on 996s. You can see Doug's center console resting on his top after it was removed. He has the bird cupholder unit which it was the armrest looks so big. Jeff