Day 1 of my first Porsche - noob looking for advice
 

Hello all - we picked up our very 1st Porsche today, a 1998 Boxster with 70k. Black paint / Black interior. Runs and drives really well.

I had a pretty detailed pre-buy inspection at a local shop, and I'm hopeful this will be a pretty good intro for us. The car is very original.

Stuff to fix soon includes an oil / filter / air filter change followed by new front (and maybe rear) tires with an alignment. I am looking at Continental ExtremeContact DW tires (maybe).

The prebuy mechanic said the coils are original, but working... he said they tend to fail so I might replace them. I don't know about the plugs so I was thinking of doing those too. Should I replace the spark plug tubes? The Porsche brand grease listed for the spark plug tubes on pelican parts is $45, surely there is some equivalent?

Also the accessory belt is marginal. I'm planning on doing all of this myself over the next few weeks.

There are some oddities too. The key remote doesn't work (although it lights up). The horn doesn't work.

There are a couple of interior issues. There is supposed to be a drawer on the drivers side, in that box? Also the hinge on the center console is broken so you can just lift up the cover. Where does one get interior parts like these?

The owners manual talks about "treating" the top. What can I treat it with?

Thanks for any info,

dave gribble

Try Pelican Parts, Auto Haus, www.parts.com (which is Autonation, so OE parts) for items you need. Pelican has a console lid repair kit, I believe.

The Conti DWs are good tires. May also want to check the Hankook Ventus V12 Evo (I have them, very satisfied).

Recommend picking up the 101 Projects book from Pelican, very handy as is the Bentley service manual. I can't really comment on the spark plug tubes, but if it were me I'd only change them if they're leaking. :o

Box under the steering wheel, you mean? That's the shelf for the owner's manual.

Top treatment can be done with Raggtop, 303 Aerospace (which is available at West Marine, among other boat stores). Use a good convertible top cleaner and follow it up with a protectant to keep it looking nice (I need to do mine).

Swapping plugs really smoothed out my idle. No leaking tubes. Clean your throttle body (inside), check your AOS condition, inspect around the water pump for any signs of leak and with belt off check for any play whatsoever, and consider IMS. Also consider cleaning radiators properly and always cut your oil filter open after an oil change to check for anything foreign in the oil.

I would change the plugs and coils. You might get a little boost in power. Also change the accessory belt and while you're at it put in a performance UD pulley. Check the oil for any metal particles and put in a magnetic oil plug. You're also getting near the transmission oil change interval, I changed the oil in both my boxster and 996tt at 48k miles and though it was a worthwhile service. The interior finishes can be easily fixed with a few bits from eBay. Enjoy the car and good luck.

I'll be replacing my motor mounts and transmission mounts soon to tighten up the car a little give these a check as they must be gone at 70k miles.

Per the Bentley manual you can just a little motor oil on the spark plug tubes/O-rings when you put them in, you don't need the super $$$ lube. That's what I did and it was fine. Solved my oil drip/weep problem too.

I have heard good things about the Conti DW. Sumitomo has a $50 rebate on a set of 4 tires, the HTR Z III is a good budget summer tire, I just finished up with a set of those in 17"s 9and the set of 4 is in the $350'ish range on tire rack with the rebate now), were happy with them, including several track days and autocross. (I moved up to a more extreme tire for next time but if I wasn't doing track I would have probably gotten another set; they wear really well for a max performance summer tire.

Good luck! There is lots of fun to be had driving and working on these cars!

Steve

Tires speaking i would check out Michelin super sports, They are amazing handling and great wear!

+1 for the Michelin Super Sports. Wish they made them for the TT rear wheels.

Second this. Exactly the same experience.

Ive got the conti DWS on my 996 and I like them a lot. It's a very nice all season tire, and they were good in the snow this winter.
For the key fob, there is a very inexpensive fix over on Renntech.org

Welcome to the forum. All the issues you have are very common to the Boxsters and can be found here. You can still ask if you cannot find the answers. :cheers:

Welcome:
Personally - do the oil+Filter, air filter, plugs and belt. You'll be in the $200 range here. This will give you a good tour of the motor and a good base to do the other things.
Then drive it a while to feel out the next things to tackle

If the plug tubes aren't seeping do you really need to change. Same with the Coils. If there aren't misses or codes being thrown.
I have a couple tubes starting to seep so I'll have to tackle that soon

Of course if you have the extra dollars, when doing the plugs, you'll have everything apart and jacked up, so doing the coils, tubes and plugs together saves a repeat visit and the prep needed to get to the plugs

Sometime the prep work (jacking, removing underside panels, fender liners, engine cover, etc) can be as time consuming as the repair itself

Thanks to all you for such quick helpful responses. I'm going to take your advice, and I'm sure I'll be here with questions soon. I'm really excited to hear about a cheap key fix...headed over there first.

BTW I have 2 Miata friends and they are jealous after a ride....:)

Oil weight?
 

Ok I'm confused. I don't want to start a flame war about oil brand....but I'm confused about oil weight.

The shop that did my prebuy said to use 0W40 (they use Mobil 1 European blend). I see many people online using 0W40.

The owners manual lists the following viscosities for synthetic oil, "mostly higher than 50F":
10W40
15W40
15W50

For "mostly lower than 14F" they list:
10W40
10W30
5W30

So how would 0W40 be ok? I guess because it is warm now the oil will be thick enough?

lots and lots of oil threads, so a search may help (or be completely overwhelming) and you're right. quick way to start a flame war.

anyway, the 0w oil is more of a compromise that i think makes it fairly reasonable to expect that if the car is in really cold climates it'll be fine and in warmer climates it'll be okay until it's warm. remember, the lower the number the less viscous the oil. so it'll flow easier at colder temps.

personally, i use 10w40 (castrol syntec) as i think a lot of people on the forum do as well. some stick with the porsche factory mobil 1 0w40.

just don't do anything-30... :matchup:

my choices:

tires: dedicated wheels and winter tires for snow months (nov-april). factory porsche wheels and RE-11 for spring/summer.
best of both worlds. Expensive summer rubber last longer. Winter tires get you over ice patches which all seasons only do a marginally better job of vs. summer tires.

oil: Motul 8100 5w40, Castrol Edge before that, I dumped Mobil 1 once mileage went over 50K. Motul has an adqueate amount of ZDDP according to the Porsche engine experts featured in Excellence magazine.

Top treatment: Raggtopp cleanser with an OXO feathertip brush.

Black car? look into Finishkare #425 as after-wash detail spray from autogeek.net
Also use the Griot's Garage green and blue towels that have the long nap fibers instead of the prickly ones on typical auto store microfiber towels. If those prickly towels are not 100.00% clean they will marr your paint.

FACT! So you might as well plan do as many related things as you can. When I am getting ready to do a new thing I post a thread along the lines of "I am about do XYZ, what else should I do when I am in there" and I always get a lot of good advice.

Noob no more
 

Thanks for your support guys. Today was my first attempt at Porsche maintenance. Because of your encouragement (and Pelican Parts!) it went pretty well.

Getting under the car was really easy - I used a set of Rhino Ramps which worked great in my garage, and jack stands for the front.

Oil & Filter change - OK! Found there was no washer on the oil drain plug, and installed the magnetic plug. Also replaced the filter housing since someone nearly tore through it with some sort of who knows what.

Cabin Air Filter change - OK!

Engine Air Filter - FAIL :( I'll post a thread about that one.

Power Steering Fluid - it was a tiny bit low, and there is a weird hose thing going on (another new thread).

Next is fuel filter, spark plugs, and a new plastic panel on the bottom of the car.

Thanks again!

I found things changed when I got oil on a small cut on my hand. Something happened. It's part of me now. It's in me. We have bonded and it's like the car begs for attention like the dog...I hear it call to me from the garage. I know it's lonely out there, and the Touareg just isn't interested.