Perhaps some minor inaccuracies?

[able2ski]

First & foremost, thanks for the wealth of info on this site. I certainly don't wish to belittle the efforts of others that took the time to compile this info and make it available to the masses, but perhaps my recent observations are worth noting:

On performing some of these DIY jobs, I encountered some inacuracies (at least compared to my 2000 C2 cabriolet).

1> brake bleed screws are 11mm, not 9mm. I have the black calipers (and only dream of the "big reds") Maybe big reds or other calipers are 9mm. No biggee here.........

2> on the manual transmission drain plug, there is an image link showing a 16mm triple square with a hole in the middle (tamper resistant). I spent several days calling tool distributers, dealing with moronic parts counter guys at assorted dealerships.......no tool could be had.......and I basicly got treated like I was from Mars. If I had brought my car to them to actually perform the fluid change I question if they would have really done it, based in the apparent unavailability of this special tool. However, In changing the motor oil yesterday, I crept forward for a firsthand peek at this "unobtainablely tooled" plug.........its a freakin' common allen, no different than the fill plug! Other than making a fool of myself at every dealership in the local area, I shouldn't *****; now I can do it myself and it probaby saved myself buying a $40+ tool (if I could ever find one!)

3> Maybe I'm blind, but I can't locate that clutch bleed nipple to save my life. It might also be worth noting that the same resevior for the brakes feeds the clutch master cylinder (unless my belief and other forumites have confirmed my belief wrongly). Since I bought a pre-owned car I want the peace of mind that I have personally brought ALL the maintenance items up to date and all old wear items / fluids are totally purged and replaced with fresh stuff. This is the trade off for not being able to afford a showroom new car..........I had to start somewhere.

4> in the section regarding changing spark plugs, it might be worth noting that it is VERY easy for your socket extension to dislodge from the spark plug socket, leaving you with a socket firmly attached to the new plug, lodged deep in that hole. I simply ran out of time to finish this and wiggled the extension side to side to finally separate the socket from the spark plug. I ended up putting the old plug back in until I can do all 6 at once; the plug didnt look bad at all anyways; perhaps the dealer really did change plugs at the 30K service which they claimed to have performed just before I bought the car. I'll try removing the rubber "plug holder" from my socket to allow it to release the freshly seated plugs when I go back to finish that job. On a separate note about plugs, the car currently has 2 side electrodes surrounding the center electrode. The new plugs I got at the dealership parts counter have 4 electrodes on the outer rim; is this an update? They share identical heat range & code numbers.

4> The Motive bleeder. This is really an issue I'm taking up with Motive.....but the product was highly recommended here. Mine arrived from a vendor witch nicely packaged in double boxing that hadn't been manhandled by gorillas at UPS. Upon opening the box, the guage glass was shattered. An e-mail to Motive confirmed guage glass is merely cosmetic; it will hold pressure regardless and they will cheerfully ship me a replacement guagefree of charge. So I go to use it yesterday. It won't hold pressure at all. I pump like crazy........**** near nothing. OK, maybe it needs more fluid, less air (which easily compresses), so I pour in my second (I planned to keep as a spare) liter of Super blue. Still no pressure, but now I can hear a hissing from the screw down plunger cap. I turned the unit upside down and brake fluid leaked out of those threads, confiring that is where the pressure loss originated. I wrapped the threads up with multiple wraps of pink (thick grade) teflon tape to try to get a seal. I even put a very thin layer of white lithium grease along the plunger chamber where it mates with the plunger cap and same with the plunger flange itself. That helped, but even with furious pumping, it could do no better than 15 psi. And by the time I scrambled around the car to open whichever bleeder, that 15psi has dwindled down to nothing. What should have been a 30 minute job for a frist-timer turned into a 2 hour headache.

I have faith that Motive will probably replace my tool, as it is obviously faulty, but I just wanted to point out a few inaccuracies and vent my difficulty with the Motive product. BTW, am I alone with getting a lemon Motive?

[Tool Pants]

The brake bleed nipple is 11mm and the Boxster clutch slaves I have bled were 9mm. The triple square transmission drain plug bit is used on the 5 speed Boxster. The fill plug on the 5 speed is a 17mm allen. Let me know the size of the allen drain and fill plugs on your car.

Are you using the black rubber gasket on the black cap of the Motive? There should have been one in the box. I have the Motive and have used several of them. Maybe yours will not hold pressure for some reason.

Loren can tell you more than me about the early 996 plugs. Apparently there was a switch from 2 side electrodes to 4 in 1999. When we replaced the plugs on Chad's 1999 996 at 30k he had 4 electrodes, but we half expected them to be 2. The plugs are a pain on a 996 due to the exhaust. They are not that hard to do on a Boxster.

I have a locking extension if I think the socket is doing to stay on the plug but so far that has not happened. Some shops use a magnetic spark plug socket.

There is no way to take a picture of the slave on a 996 so here it is out of the car. Good luck getting to it. The way I do it is to remove the Motive. Crack open the bleed and then close it with your fingers. Put the tube on and then hook up the Motve and pump it. Open the bleed with your fingers. When enough fluid has come out close it with your fingers. Remove the tube and tighten the bleed with your wrench. Do not tighten too much or you will strip it.

[able2ski]

I finally found the clutch drain plug; it was just covered in grime. I had enough fluid in my brake cylinder to bleed it by pumping the clutch (the hard way!) a half dozen times, but I never really purged enough fluid to see a definate color change to the super blue before my resevior hit the midpoint between max & min level. I quit there for now. It still feels better than before.

Yes both my fill & drain plugs for the tranny were 17mm allens. I couldn't find Mobil or Shell 75/90W as recommended but used AMSoil 75/90 and feel a noticeable impovement in my shifting over the old fluid. The old fluid (perhaps by nature......i assume it was the OEM fluid) was quite dark.........the AMSoil is see-through gold.

My Motive did have a rubber gasket for the screw down cap that attaches to the brake resevoir, but there was nothing of the sort to seal the plunger cap. This is where the leak was taking place. I've emailed Jose @ Motive again; he was very wiling to work out the damaged pressure guage glass, I'm confident they will make good on the leaking unit as well.

As for the spark plugs, the dealer parts guy was "going to look into it" and call me back, but that never happened. I';m guessing the 4 electrode style is just an impovement Porcshe made along the way and i shouldn't worrk so much about it. The stampings on the plug for the heat range, etc, were identical, so they can't be significantly different. I'm going to try removing the rubber gasket in my plug socket to see if that will help it turn loose of the plug before it separates from the extension. If that doesnt work, i may have to consider taping the two together or buying a different tool like the magnetic sockets.

[Tool Pants]

The plunger cap uses a black O ring.

[able2ski]

The plunger cap uses a black O ring.

With respect to the Motive Bleeder leak, theres the answer! Mine came without; imagine my disappointment and the mess that made!

Also, I failed to mention the clutch drain on my 996 is also an 11mm, not the 9mm as you have on the Boxster. I found it simpler to put the open end of the wrench over the nipple and leave it there before attaching the drain tube leading to my collection jar (a customized 2 liter Sprite bottle with a rubber grommet in the cap to hold the drain tube secure) to the nipple; this way I could open & close the nipple between clutch pumpings and never spill or dribble any fluid.

The DIY pages Loren & others have compiled are great; perhaps they are due a few updates or corrections as I discovered in my recent experiences. Please take it as constructive criticism, not a slam on the efforts made by those responsible for setting them up.

Anyways, with the clutch mostly flushed & any possible air bled and the brake lines thoughly flushed & bled, and fresh gearbox oil, shifting is definately improved.......I can't tell any significant difference in the braking, but i feel better knowing it has been done.

Thanks for all the help along the way.

[Scouser]

Jeff,

where have I seen that gearbox before?

[Tool Pants]

That gearbox is already famous. I will remove the yellow line before it is sent to you unless you want it there for when you bleed the clutch. ;)

The engine and transmission went very cheap - I'm suprised the seller did not have a reserve. Like to know how much it will cost to ship. If it was not so big you could come over here and bring it back in your suitcase.

[Scouser]

No way will you get me twice Jeff :)

Please take the yellow line off. It might confuse the mechanic and he may fit it back to front.

Yes I think I got a good deal. And especially with the Dollar/Pound exchange rate being so good in my favour at the moment. It's being crated and flown out to the UK at a cost of about $300. I guess I won't know if it's a good or bad deal until I see it in the flesh and then have it fitted and tested.....I can't wait to get my porker back in shape. The seller certainly has a good ebay record and he seems extremely cooperative so far. He's got good raport with me "so far" at least.

Do you know the guy who got the engine? I am interested in how his transaction went. He got a real good deal!

[auto-xr]

Hi everyone, I’m a newbie 1999 C2 owner here just chiming in on this spark plug topic. I followed the DIY article on changing spark plugs (thanks Loren!), and I ran into a couple issues when installing the plugs. Since the area was so confined, a small torque wrench is a must to do the job right it seems. I didn’t have one available so I had to tighten everything down by feel. 22 ft/lbs is pretty tight compared to the spark plug torque settings on other cars. I guess the alternative would be to remove the exhaust manifold but that seemed like even more work. I also had an issue with the coil connectors. Even though they each clicked as if they locked in properly, they still were loose. I was able to pull them off by wiggling them a little. To get past this, I had to push the connector hood up and out of the way. I was able to verify a proper connection only with the hood out of the way. All in all the spark plug change was very doable, but a lot of time and patience is needed. B)

[1999Porsche911]

Hi everyone, I’m a newbie 1999 C2 owner here just chiming in on this spark plug topic. I followed the DIY article on changing spark plugs (thanks Loren!), and I ran into a couple issues when installing the plugs. Since the area was so confined, a small torque wrench is a must to do the job right it seems. I didn’t have one available so I had to tighten everything down by feel. 22 ft/lbs is pretty tight compared to the spark plug torque settings on other cars. I guess the alternative would be to remove the exhaust manifold but that seemed like even more work. I also had an issue with the coil connectors. Even though they each clicked as if they locked in properly, they still were loose. I was able to pull them off by wiggling them a little. To get past this, I had to push the connector hood up and out of the way. I was able to verify a proper connection only with the hood out of the way. All in all the spark plug change was very doable, but a lot of time and patience is needed. B)

Plugs are tightened to 18 ft/lbs for reinstalling old plugs and 22 for new. Easier to simply tighten with socket and wrench and then 1/4 more turn. I have never used a toorque wrench on plugs in any engine.

Edited July 18, 2006 by 1999Porsche911