Help needed with some electric issues on a 2000 Boxster S 3.2

[Jay_896]

Hello everyone,

Due to the passing of a family member we have in our hands a Porsche Boxster S from 2000 with a 3.2 engine.

The car has lived in a garage for many years without being driven, every once in a while the car was turned in order to keep bthe battery functional.

It has developed some issues and we are trying to fix it I'm hoping the nice folks here can give me hand and some ideas of what might be wrong.


First the fuel pump died, we replaced it and the car is running once again. The gear box has play and it all feels a bit stiff but everytime the car is driven it gets better, sounds beautiful and I loved driving it.


Now for the issues:

- Both headights were working but after being turned on and moved from the garage the right one burned out. We replaced both and only the left one turns on, the new bulbs are both working. The problem is in the wiring/headlamp assembly(?)

- When replacing the bulbs we noticed that all the insulation on the wires, inside the headlamp, is falling apart and crumbling. So the wires are now live and touching.

- Radio doesn't turn on, at all.

- When the hardtop top is mounted there's a light that says that it isn't connected (even though it is)

- The fuel gauge needle doesn't move, it also has the low fuel light on. Despite having plenty of gas.

- The window on the drivers side doesn't go down when the door is opened, this means the window is stuck on the softtop. You can easily force the window down the appropriate amount and when the door is closed the window goes up without issue. Everything is well on the passengers side.

- All the rubbers and plastic around the doors and trunks are in a bad shape, brittle and just crumble.


We checked the fuse box and all the fuses seem ok, but please let me know if you should pay special attention to them and check again.


I'm really sorry for such a long post but I thought knowing everything might help diagnose the issues. I'm really hoping we can get it runing again smoothly.

[spinjockey]

You need to rewire the headlights internally. This happens, if you search on the forum you’ll find a bunch of people who have dealt with this issue. There are places where you can buy new harnesses.

The radio could be dead. They are not reliable.

Sounds like you’ll need to buy a new set of gaskets. They aren’t cheap. You might be able to get some pieces from salvage through eBay.

My guess on the fuel gauge is that you have the fuel pump sending unit installed in the wrong orientation or the leaver is stuck from corrosion due to sitting in the same bad gas that killed the pump.

You need to replace the microswitch in the door handle.

The top status light requires the microswitches in the doors, ebrake, and top to all have continuity. One or more of these are faulty. They get gummy with age and dust but also the solder connections degrade. Get new parts for these items or else you’ll just keep fixing these.

You also need to service the fluids - brake, oil, transmission, and replace the water pump. You might need to service the transmission a couple of times but you should also check that your clutch master and slave cylinders aren’t leaking. The brakes and clutch use the same fluid and brake fluid is pretty corrosive. People also don’t usually flush the clutch enough when they service the brake fluid so old fluid tends to linger in the lines. Be careful with your shifting until you service the brake and transmission fluids.