Door latch bollt question - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners

RandallNeighbour · 03-13-2010, 03:57 PM

I'm trying to replace my door latch assembly and what I thought was a 45mm torx head is something else I do not own. It has twice as many points as a torx bolt head.

The Bentley manual says "remove bolts" but does not indicate what tools I need.

Can someone tell me what I need to remove the two bolts that are on the exposed, painted part of the door (not on the inside of the panel). And if you know what it's called, where could I buy one tomorrow (Sunday) so I can wrap up this project?

I sure hope this isn't a special Porsche tool I have to order. That will be expensive and cause even more delays. Without this part, I cannot lock my car and thus, I can't drive it and park it anywhere.

I've attached a rather crappy iPhone pic ...

Quickurt · 03-13-2010, 04:41 PM

Randall, those bolts have several names. Some call them triple boxes or triple squares, as they have twelve points aligned like three squares evenly spaced around a center, but the angle of the flats is such that hex wrench (with half as many points) won't work them without stripping them.
Some also call them star drives (or twelve point star) or spline drives.
I think you can get them from better parts stores as sockets to go on extension/ratchets.
Good luck! They actually work very well with the proper tools, but MAKE SURE you also have them clean before inserting wrench!! Compressed air with a tubular blow nozzle works well to clean them.

MN 986 · 03-13-2010, 05:48 PM

I actually found a set at the local Checker Auto for less than $10.
I tried a bunch of tool stores first, thinking they would be the best bet. I had no luck, but I decided to stop at at the auto parts shop on the way home and found them.
It is worth a try!

vath2001 · 03-14-2010, 04:12 AM

I bought a set at Harbor Feight.

Quickurt · 03-14-2010, 09:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MN 986

I actually found a set at the local Checker Auto for less than $10.
I tried a bunch of tool stores first, thinking they would be the best bet. I had no luck, but I decided to stop at at the auto parts shop on the way home and found them.
It is worth a try!

I sent Randall to a parts store, rather than tool stores, as I have never seen these bolts used in industrial applications.

RandallNeighbour · 03-14-2010, 04:31 PM

It's an 8mm 12-point triple square head.

Found a set of them at Pep Boys for $12.00

Of course, I'd tried a few other things first (allen wrench, torx) so they were just stripped out enough that the 8mm would not work and I didn't have a 9mm to try.

Soooo, I used my handy vice grips because the head had enough to grasp and just loosened them that way. Scratched up the door jam just a tad, but that's no big deal to me.

Got the part installed and the car is now locking fine. What a pain in the ass. And expensive too!

The upshot is that I probably won't have to replace this part for another ten years.