various engine access methods.....
 

new member here....sorry if this has been asked and answered before....just getting used to the various forums, so if this type question should be posted in another forum just let me know....

i am a decent 'shade tree' mechanic from wrenching on mechanical things for the past 45 years or so....at first glance it would appear that our cars have very limited access points to the engine, but as i read archived and new posts it seems there are several ways to gain access to the engine for repairs or service....

has anyone compiled a list that shows all of the various engine access points and how to remove the panels or other items that need to be removed?....

thanks...
cliff

two covers, one on top, on behind the seats. Pretty good access when combined with under car access.

The panel behind the seats is easy enough to access, but with seats in place access to engine is a bit of a pain...you'll find that removing the seats is your best option. If your planning to do any wrenching in the future, I'd suggest that you might want to check how easy your seat bolts are to remove; you might want to go ahead and remove and replace bolts now (to make sure they aren't seized) so you don't spend a bunch of time later trying to remove seat bolts just to get to engine panel.

if you still have folding seats on a slider, just slide them full forward and tilt them forward and you have plenty of room. removal only necessary for bigger jobs.

The 2 obvious ones stated already, Laying on your back underneath, through the wheel wells that's about it.
It can be a bit of a contortionist act to get to some parts. Just make sure no young kids or Nuns are around when you have to change the Coolant expansion tank or AOS
Sometime just getting the car into position, jacked up, access panels opened, and then back again can take longer than the actual job. I try to group tasks together if I can

thanks for the replies....the car only has around 23K miles so hopefully repairs will be few for a while....the IMSB was replaced by the previous owner who is also a friend and the original owner.....i had the 'pleasure' of experiencing the coolant tank cracking....after a little research i decided to use the extended warranty i bought with the car to replace the tank...trying to access the hoses and clamps on the inside of the trunk wall were enough to help make my mind up.....the warranty is fairly extensive in coverage with a $250 deductible.....i have a good local independent shop that works on all types of foreign and exotic cars....when i spoke to them about the job they told me it would take around 5 hrs of labor since they would remove the body from the chassis instead of trying to replace the tank with the car assembled.....so i dropped the car off with them and picked it up the next day....the bill would have been around $1,100 so the $250 i paid on the warranty deductible was money well spent....this one repair paid 1/2 the cost of the warranty....plus this gave the Technicians time to thoroughly inspect things while the body was off and luckily it came back with a clean bill of health...but i am not afraid to tackle easy to moderately hard jobs if and when needed...i enjoy working with my hands and getting grease under my finger nails....

cliff

Buy the book, 101 Projects for Your Boxster, by Wayne Dempsey (who owns Pelican Parts, which is the owner of this Forum). It has 90% of what you need to know to do almost all of the typical maint/repairs.

Then whenever you do a job, search here on the forum to find tips and hints at how to make the job easier or at least what problems to avoid (the old "ask me how I know").

If you get stuck on a project, post up your problem and usually it will be answered within a couple of hours (sometimes within minutes!).

+1 on the 101 book plus the Bentley manual is a good investment.

thanks....i have already ordered the book '101 Projects' earlier today.....

cliff

Wait...what??

This... 100%!

No way the techs took the 'the body off the car'. Your warranty was well served though as an OEM coolant tank is over $200. Job is a PIA but can be done in the driveway.

I wonder how many sawz-all blades it takes to remove the body of a Boxster?

Just for clarification Wayne Dempsey no longer owns Pelican Parts .

Maybe they removed some chassis parts to access the coolant tank & hoses.

I forgot about taking the body off the chassis
That one needs more explanation
Man if that was an option

One!

http://986forum.com/forums/uploads02...1540681272.jpg

Dang, talk about easy AOS access! Do they keep that together with dzus fasteners?;)

What the Boxster needs is a 'clamshell' type set up like on the 904. Flip up access.
http://986forum.com/forums/uploads02/9041540740955.jpg

yeah, i was thinking the same thing, but being new to owning a Porsche i did not challenge them.....next time i will get more details and as i get more familiar with the car i will be able to call BS or not on things like this.....;)....

cliff