Shortlived Boxster engines survey

[Steve Tinker]

The can of worms is about to be opened....209,000 miles on a non Porsche approved oil!!
Jager,
I've not read one thread advocating that viscosity of oil, even in cold climates. I'm not saying its the wrong viscosity (I believe oil flow is probably better than oil pressure, but I'm in a minority).
More details of how long you have owned the car and how long the engine has been fed a diet of 5W30 oil is required.....

[Jager]

Originally Posted by Steve Tinker

The can of worms is about to be opened....209,000 miles on a non Porsche approved oil!!
Jager,
I've not read one thread advocating that viscosity of oil, even in cold climates. I'm not saying its the wrong viscosity (I believe oil flow is probably better than oil pressure, but I'm in a minority).
More details of how long you have owned the car and how long the engine has been fed a diet of 5W30 oil is required.....

Steve Tinker,
I have been using Mobile 1 5W30 since I purchased the vehicle in 2003, it had just under 30,000 miles on it at the time. I'm not advocating anything about oil viscosity (maybe there is something to it?). I think it's the fact that I drive this car every day and the motor runs at least 20 minutes after start-up. Just sharing my maintenance and driving information.

One maintenance item I forgot to list is that I had to change the water pump at~ 204,000 miles, it started making noise and leaking.

Jager

[Frodo]

Originally Posted by Jager

Steve Tinker,

One maintenance item I forgot to list is that I had to change the water pump at~ 204,000 miles, it started making noise and leaking.

Jager

That wasn't the first time the water pump was replaced, was it???

[Jager]

Originally Posted by Frodo

That wasn't the first time the water pump was replaced, was it???

Frodo,
Yes, that was the first time the water pump had been replaced (~204,000 miles). I had to cut the old metal gasket between the collant pump and coolant manifold at the connecting webs before installing the new gasket. For those not familiar with this task, that's the indication of original water pump. I was very impressed that no liquid sealant is used with the new gasket. The new water pump bolted-up easy and most importantly no leaks!

Jager

[Vaughan]

Originally Posted by Steve Tinker

The can of worms is about to be opened....209,000 miles on a non Porsche approved oil!!
Jager,
I've not read one thread advocating that viscosity of oil, even in cold climates. I'm not saying its the wrong viscosity (I believe oil flow is probably better than oil pressure, but I'm in a minority).
More details of how long you have owned the car and how long the engine has been fed a diet of 5W30 oil is required.....

The Porsche approved viscosities are probably for a wide range of operating conditions particularly aggressive driving. I am going to take a stab here and ask if the 5w-30 fed boxster is ever tracked much?

[Jager]

Originally Posted by Vaughan

The Porsche approved viscosities are probably for a wide range of operating conditions particularly aggressive driving. I am going to take a stab here and ask if the 5w-30 fed boxster is ever tracked much?

I have never taken my Boxster to the track... It's my daily driver. BTW I am putting a new set of tires on it this month.

Jager

[Paul]

Still waiting for the tools to remove the head to arrive, but since I had some time, I drained the oil.




Found no metal or coolant. Oil filter clean of debris.



Flipped the motor upside down in my stand so I could access the IMS. Loosened the tensioners and removed the IMS cover, some oil but the bearing looks good to my untrained eye.

[Paul]

Found some more time today so I removed the cylinder head cover for 4-6. Looks like 10,000 -12,000 mile oil changes with Mobil 1 at least kept the engine clean:



Another blow down check verified all valves are bent since air flows from both the exhaust ports and the intake manifold:



All chains are intact and working:




I'm guessing the gear on the IMS must have slipped 360 degrees. This means a complete tear down is needed.

[Paul]

Just to update everyone, I replaced this motor with a used one in 2011 and recently sold the failed motor to Jake with a request for a failure analysis. Today I received word that it was a stretched timing chain which I assume must have been the chain between the crank and IMS, since valves were bent on both heads.

From page 8 of this thread:

Originally Posted by Paul

Found some more time today so I removed the cylinder head cover for 4-6. Looks like 10,000 -12,000 mile oil changes with Mobil 1 at least kept the engine clean:



Another blow down check verified all valves are bent since air flows from both the exhaust ports and the intake manifold:



All chains are intact and working:




I'm guessing the gear on the IMS must have slipped 360 degrees. This means a complete tear down is needed.

[globaldriver53]

Originally Posted by Jager

I have never taken my Boxster to the track... It's my daily driver. BTW I am putting a new set of tires on it this month.

Jager

Good day, I'm new here;

I am due for new tires on my 2002 Boxster, I live in Southern Florida (hot year round), don't drive it much (30,000 miles in 9 years!), I don't take it to tracks either, but I do like to "open it up" from time to time, what tires do you recommend? I was looking at the Michelin Pilot Sport PS2.
Also on another subject, just replaced my battery for the second time, the car sits in my garage for weeks at the time, I work oversee, and the OEM batteries keep dying on me, won't recharge, so...I went to Costco and bought one of theirs, has a bit more cranking juice that the OEM, had to tape the vent tube to their venting port since it's oval, but apart from that it seems to work well. I have also ordered from Costco their 12V battery saver/charger/analyser, next time away I will plug it in the cigar lighter and see if it helps keeping the battery charged up. Do you have any experience or comment on that subject?

Thanks and happy driving

[clickman]

Many threads on this forum discuss the benefits of battery maintainers. Not chargers; maintainers.

[Jager]

Originally Posted by globaldriver53

Good day, I'm new here;

I am due for new tires on my 2002 Boxster, I live in Southern Florida (hot year round), don't drive it much (30,000 miles in 9 years!), I don't take it to tracks either, but I do like to "open it up" from time to time, what tires do you recommend? I was looking at the Michelin Pilot Sport PS2.
Also on another subject, just replaced my battery for the second time, the car sits in my garage for weeks at the time, I work oversee, and the OEM batteries keep dying on me, won't recharge, so...I went to Costco and bought one of theirs, has a bit more cranking juice that the OEM, had to tape the vent tube to their venting port since it's oval, but apart from that it seems to work well. I have also ordered from Costco their 12V battery saver/charger/analyser, next time away I will plug it in the cigar lighter and see if it helps keeping the battery charged up. Do you have any experience or comment on that subject?

Thanks and happy driving

I'm not going to recommend any tires (someone will say I'm crazy) but I will be installing another set of Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric (Max Performance Summer) (made in Germany). I like the way these tires evenly wear across the tread especially on the rear set.

There are many good brands of tires out there; I will say you get what you pay for so avoid the inexpensive brands. On other cars I have owned (Corvette, Trans Am GTA) I had other brands of tires separate or prematurely ware-out but the Goodyear tires held-up well. There is nothing better than driving your car with a new set of tires on it... Enjoy!

Jager

[dmatz]

The original thread subject here was to report all premature Boxster engine failures. I'll dutifully report mine (from last week):

04 2.7L Boxster with 58-60K miles. Not particulary strenuously driven. Some extended (1-2 month) periods of disuse. Oil changes at 15K miles, 0W40 Mobil1. Possibly some bearing noise preceeding incident by a week or so. Engine failed at 5-10 mi/hr after a 20 mile commute (fwy+in town). Engine died, but re-started and fired on only a few cylinders, making horrendous clanking noises. Parked immediately. No smoke. All oil drained out when tilted onto flatbed towtruck. Metal debris in filter. Finally: IMS bearing stud seen to be snapped off when transmission removed.

Next step: crate engine for $18K. 2 yr warranty, but with >06 remanufacture date, IMS cannot be upgraded.

End of story.

[dbw]

I too have 2.7 2004 Boxster, 70,000km (45000 miles) with one month to go on my cpo warranty. Have tried to find a 2009 or newer but here in Winnipeg there is no selection on the local dealer. However, I have found a Europeon car repair centre that specializes in Poesche that does the IMS bearing replacement (along with the clutch). I'd like to buy a new 2012 but no word on when they might be available and a 2011 with the depreciation hit it'll take when the 2012 come out makes no sense. If I put the money into mine I'll keep it for a year or two. I was tempted to roll the dice and run it for a while but hearing stories like yours makes me shudder.
Dave