Boxster in SW Oregon

[WoodRat]

Greetings Fellow Enthusiasts,

My first sports car was a 1970 Triumph GT6, followed by a couple of Mazdas; a '85 RX7 and later a '96 MX5 Miata. While I enjoyed each of these very much I feel I have taken a step up having just acquired a 2001 Boxster with 86K miles on the clock. All indications are this car has been cared for with good maintenance, and I am keen to continue this by doing routine maintenance myself.

My home garage is pretty well stocked with all the usual automotive / motorcycle tools, minus anything Porsche specific. This shortcoming will not be for long however, since I've ordered the parts needed for an oil change from Pelican Parts, including one Porsche engine oil filter wrench!

And I still need a Boxster 986 service manual, so I would be most grateful to the community here for your recommendation on a good one to look for; especially if there is just one that would suffice. I am no expert mechanic and will not be doing anything like an engine rebuild.

Mil gracias,

[paulofto]

A Bentley Manual has 99% of what you need to maintain a 986. Also handy is the Pelican 101 projects book. I owned both but sold them along with my Boxster back in August.

[yachtlife]

Have a copy of the 101 projects book nearby if you want to look one over pre-purchase, or borrow.

also SW Oregon.

[WoodRat]

Originally Posted by yachtlife

Have a copy of the 101 projects book nearby if you want to look one over pre-purchase, or borrow.

also SW Oregon.

Thank you for offering, I may take you up on that, or just buy that one if it's well recommended.

Right now I have to get out the door, so I will check back later.

[WoodRat]

Originally Posted by paulofto

A Bentley Manual has 99% of what you need to maintain a 986. Also handy is the Pelican 101 projects book. I owned both but sold them along with my Boxster back in August.

Thank you for the recommendations. I see the first two replies both mention the Pelican 101 projects book, so has my attention out of the gate.

[78F350]

These articles are based on the 101 projects book: https://www.pelicanparts.com/boxster/boxster_tech.htm The book is laid out well and the pictures are great. It covers what an owner with a basic set of tools and limited experience will want to get into.

The Bentley manual covers more in depth maintenance and is basically an abridged version of the factory service manual. It includes things such as detailed torque specifications and wiring diagrams that are not in the 101 projects book.

[WoodRat]

Your input is much appreciated and has been helpful. I ordered the Bentley service manual for Boxster 986 from Pelican Parts, as I called them to identify and order a couple of rubber grommets w/metal nut imbedded; the anchor points for the plastic panels under the front hood on each side of the battery cover.

Surprise, they don't have a part number for these rubber grommets w/imbedded nuts on their 986 diagrams, so the parts specialist went to the 996 and found a similar grommet which at least has the imbedded metal nut, though it may not be the exact same item. It looks a little different, but if it fits the hole hopefully it be the correct thread for the w/ T20 head screws I find at that location in my car.

Hopefully the manual will help me resolve a vexing problem I have discovered, which is the wiper washer reservoir doesn't hold water and I don't find this addressed in the Pelican Project articles. Filling the tank just results in a puddle on the floor, and I don't see an easy way to take it all apart to fix. So we'll see what help the manual provides for this.

Sorry for going on so long, perhaps I'll have an update when I get something resolved. Oil change tomorrow if they deliver the oil today as scheduled.

[redpepperracing]

For reference, the part number for the rubber grommet/nut is 999-500-092-00 and I ordered mine from Pelican, so they do have them. Hopefully that is what you got.

https://www.pelicanparts.com/More_Info/99950009200.htm?pn=999-500-092-00-OEM

[WoodRat]

Today the mail carrier brought me two 5-Qt. jugs of Mobil 1, 10W-40 "High Mileage" Full Synthetic motor oil, so I dropped what I was doing and started preparing to change the oil. The new filter, drain plug & washer from Pelican Pts. arrived the other day , so I was eager to do my first oil change on the Boxster.

Fortunately the concrete apron in front of my garage slopes away from the house just enough, dropping about 8 inches over the 8 ft. span between the Boxster wheels center to center, so that when I back up onto the ramps the car is very nearly level.

Then it was a simple matter of laying some cardboard down, slide under with the 8 mm hex drive on the ratchet and removing the plug to drain it all into the oil pan. What a gusher! I've never owned a vehicle that holds 9 quarts of engine oil. My Silverado only holds 4.5 qts. with a filter change as I recall, with the 4.3 liter V6. I suppose this is why the recommended oil change intervals for the Boxster and other Porsches are so long ... 12K miles? I've even seen 15K miles recommended. Of course I am not ever going to let it go that far on any car of mine. But with a 9.3 quart capacity I don't see why it wouldn't be good for at least 7K miles.

Then I got under there with my new Porsche specific oil filter wrench which worked a charm, let it all drain a while longer while I cleaned up all the contact surfaces and adjacent areas, and put the new filter on with the newly cleaned filter housing with new o-ring. I did take the extra measure of filling the filter housing half full of oil before screwing it on and torqueing to 18 ft. lbs.

After refilling with 9 qts., running the engine a couple of minutes and rechecking, the dip stick showed slightly under midway between the marks, so I added maybe another pint which brought it close to the upper mark. Good enough I'd say, and followed up with a 20 mile drive and no issues. I'll check it again tomorrow.

I've seen the comments about cutting open the old filter to check for metal or other debris, so I did this and you can see the result here:



No trace of any debris @ 86,757 miles

[WoodRat]

@Redpepperracing, thank you, that looks like what they're sending for the grommets.