New boxster owner

[jjanari]

Hi everyone,

I'm a new boxster owner (2002 base). I'm a lifelong porsche fan and this is my first p-car. I know the thread is useless w/o pix, but I'm in the process of replacing my broken digital camera. :P

I bought the car for a pretty good price, but it has pretty high mileage (a tick under 90k); it needs a lot of maintenance done, which I've been doing over the past couple of weeks of ownership. The biggest obstacle has been time and getting used to the uniqueness of working on a mid-engine flat 6. To make matters more interesting, I've got the updated glass top, so I have even less access to the top of the engine. fortunately, it's a 3rd car for me (and it's winter :P ), so I'm in no rush.

So far, I've fixed/replaced the following:

1) cleaned throttle body since i was having the fluctuating idle/heavy vibration. My impressions:

A lot of folks seem to have problems removing the plastic pipe from the throttle body; mine came off easily (I agree it works much better with the engine still warm). re-install was initially tricky, but again, having the engine still warm likely helped. I did not remove the throttle body, just gave it a pretty good cleaning. Result: great improvement in idle, no vibration. there's still some very slight hunting, so maybe taking the throttle body can be done at a later time.

2) changed the spark plugs; went with the expensive berus. The old plugs needed replacing and showed typical wear. Also replaced the spark plug tubes and o-rings...not fun. I had a hell of time removing the tubes. I saw someone use a transom (boat plug) to remove the tubes, but that did not come close to working! I ended having to make my own tool to pull them out.

3) flushed the coolant; got tricked by the 17mm engine oil plug nearby and lost a couple ounces of oil after cracking that one open by mistake :rolleyes: Initially freaked out thinking I had engine oil mixed into my coolant!

4) changed the serpentine belt - wow, very easy compared to other cars simply because, once you remove the carpet and inspection cover, it's easy to access the belt compared to the clearance issues seen on other cars.

5) awaiting a new ignition switch since I ordered the older switch (found out after removing the current switch that the entire lock mechanism had been replaced with the updated one).

Next up is changing the oil, replacing the front pads/rotors, replacing the rear tires/align and balance and I should be roadworthy. Sorry for the long post, but wanted to say hello and give an update on "project boxster."

[1schoir]

Hi everyone,

I'm a new boxster owner (2002 base). I'm a lifelong porsche fan and this is my first p-car. I know the thread is useless w/o pix, but I'm in the process of replacing my broken digital camera. :P

I bought the car for a pretty good price, but it has pretty high mileage (a tick under 90k); it needs a lot of maintenance done, which I've been doing over the past couple of weeks of ownership. The biggest obstacle has been time and getting used to the uniqueness of working on a mid-engine flat 6. To make matters more interesting, I've got the updated glass top, so I have even less access to the top of the engine. fortunately, it's a 3rd car for me (and it's winter :P ), so I'm in no rush.

So far, I've fixed/replaced the following:

1) cleaned throttle body since i was having the fluctuating idle/heavy vibration. My impressions:

A lot of folks seem to have problems removing the plastic pipe from the throttle body; mine came off easily (I agree it works much better with the engine still warm). re-install was initially tricky, but again, having the engine still warm likely helped. I did not remove the throttle body, just gave it a pretty good cleaning. Result: great improvement in idle, no vibration. there's still some very slight hunting, so maybe taking the throttle body can be done at a later time.

2) changed the spark plugs; went with the expensive berus. The old plugs needed replacing and showed typical wear. Also replaced the spark plug tubes and o-rings...not fun. I had a hell of time removing the tubes. I saw someone use a transom (boat plug) to remove the tubes, but that did not come close to working! I ended having to make my own tool to pull them out.

3) flushed the coolant; got tricked by the 17mm engine oil plug nearby and lost a couple ounces of oil after cracking that one open by mistake :rolleyes: Initially freaked out thinking I had engine oil mixed into my coolant!

4) changed the serpentine belt - wow, very easy compared to other cars simply because, once you remove the carpet and inspection cover, it's easy to access the belt compared to the clearance issues seen on other cars.

5) awaiting a new ignition switch since I ordered the older switch (found out after removing the current switch that the entire lock mechanism had been replaced with the updated one).

Next up is changing the oil, replacing the front pads/rotors, replacing the rear tires/align and balance and I should be roadworthy. Sorry for the long post, but wanted to say hello and give an update on "project boxster."

:welcome:

Wow, it sounds like you have been doing a lot of reading on RennTech and a lot of doing on your Boxster!

Don't forget to get that camera fixed! We love pictures.

Drive your new Boxster in good health, it sounds as though you are going to thoroughly enjoy driving it and working on it!

Regards, Maurice.

[jjanari]

Thanks maurice. This weekend I hope to get the front brakes completed. Next week will hopefully be the rear tires replaced and the car balanced and aligned. I'll need to borrow someone's camera :P

[70Sixter]

:welcome: :welcome: :welcome:

[White987S]

Jjanari, good job! There are days that I wish I could do stuff like this to my Boxster. Maybe someday I will learn...when out of warranty.

[jjanari]

I hear you. My last string of cars ('02 s2000, M3, etc.) were nearly new when I bought them, so they didn't need anything other than very basic maintenance done to them. Also, these newer sports cars are so expensive that it can be daunting to attempt your own work since bad results can mean big expense, so there is a lot to be said for having the pros handle it, particularly when the car is still under warranty. In my case, I've got 4 cars and a motorcycle, so I do most of my own work out of necessity. fortunately, with the advent of sites/forums such as these, it's a lot easier to work on your car, particularly if you don't have the shop manual. Also being able to ask questions and get a quick response on these forums makes it a lot easier than back in the day when I used to rely upon an old Haynes manual.