Questions from new 2000 Boxster S owner

[Skitch]

Hello All –

I recently purchased a well maintained 2000 Boxter S from a friend of mine who has had it for a few years. IMS bearing replaced, timing chain tensioners replaced, oil pan removed and no metal particulates observed in pan or oil filter element. It has 111K miles on it but seems to be in very good overall condition for its age. I’ve owned a 911 in the past, and have a 71 VW/Porsche 914 which is my main toy car, and I like to wrench - but now it seems like I have a 914 on steroids with the Boxter S. I had not given them much thought in the past but since this was an easy purchase and I did not have to go on the hunt for one I figured why not. It is certainly a lot of fun to drive. With that said I have a few questions from reading the manual and inspecting all the functions of the car.

• “emergency” cable for popping open the fuel door, I put a borescope in the space where the cable is and saw that the loop broke off the cable. Any easy way to replace this? Or should I just not worry about it?

• “emergency” cable for the hood release by the passenger side headlight. Should I remove light, verify it is present and functions, and ensure I can get to it via the wheel well? Is there value in re-routing it or does that present an issue when you have to pull it with some force.

• Frunk and trunk operation – I understand that since this is a 2000 it is not electrically operated, but I have observed when you lock the car that the levers also “lock” – but if the battery goes dead does the frunk hood lever become inoperable? Year 2000 does not have the fuse box option to put power to the batter via a jumper battery. If the battery dies, and the car is unlocked, can I pop the hood through the lever? Is a battery tender recommended?

• Keys – so I only have one key, and it appears to function properly when locking the car via the door lock, and if you hold the key in left/right position it operates the windows up/down; however when you press the buttons the led light on the key case does illuminate, but the central locking via this function does not work. I followed the procedure in the manual to reset the function but no luck, and I opened up the key and the tiny microswitches seem to be functioning hence the illumination, but perhaps there is a break in a solder joint somewhere?

• Keys – of course I would love to have the above issue resolved, and have a new key, but is the sole process to take it to a Porsche dealer due to the immobilizer and the blackbox under the seat? The though of paying like a grand for another key is not very appealing though.

Anyway, thanks for reading this, and glad to be on a new forum and definitely love this car and hope to keep it a long time. Thanks in advance. Reg