Replaced starter, it was a breeze
 

My starter has barely been turning over for a while now, so I decided to replace it with a rebuilt.

Took me about 45 minutes to take out the old one and put the new one in. The trick was to use a very long extension and go in from the passenger compartment to loosen the lower mounting bolt for the starter.

The biggest pain was getting out the tube from the air box to the throttle body and removing the throttle body along with the intake tube. After I did that there was plenty of room.

And what really made the job easy was removing the trunk hatch. It comes off with just 4 bolts that have to be removed. I scribed around the bracket holding the hatch so when I put it back on, I could align the hatch perfectly. With the hatch off, I could kneel in the trunk and access to everything was so easy. Next time I have to dig around on the engine from the top, I'm definitely going to take the trunk hatch off.

The new starter cranks like a champ now.

san rensho - Thanks for posting. Interesting maneuver, haven't heard others doing that on the forum (at least in recent months). Wondering what other jobs might make sense to remove the lid?

Probably all of them!

There is no need to remove the lead to get exelent access.
It's enoght to remove the metal clips on each side, and you will be able to set the lead at 90 degrees. The procedure is well described in the 101 book.
If you insist to remove it. You can remove all 4 clips, and pry out the joint.
Very easy and no need to mess with adjustment when installing it.

Edit: by the way, exelant tip on the starter low bolt removal.

Look here at figure 3.
Pelican Technical Article: Boxster Air Filter / Pollen Filter Replacement - 986 / 987
I do it all the time when working on the engine bay.
Instead of a screwdriver I use plastic tie raps on both sides.

Pretty sure the last two guys misread the original post. He removed the TRUNK lid, not the top cover sheet metal. He says in his post that he "kneeled in the trunk" while working in the engine bay.

Can't believe I never thought of that. Thanks for the post and the idea as it will help relieve the sore back muscles.

:D:D:D:D
you are right.
i guess my English is worst then i thought :D.

My starter has started to make noise upon startup. It sounds like a belt is slipping when the car fires up. You only hear it when the car hasn't been started in a while. I'm having some major service done in a month and I will probably have it replaced. I was just wondering how much more life does my starter probably still have if I don't replace it.

Hard to say. My problem was different than yours, my motor just slowed down over time so that I would turn the key, the starter would stall for a moment and the turn over slowly. I lasted months like this.

It could go at any time, so be sure to park it on a hill.

If it sounds like a short grind right after the engine starts, I believe it is the "bendix" shaft (correct the name if wrong) anyway its somewhat common that over time it doesn't retract fast enough after cranking the engine so it grinds. You can start by greasing it if you do not want to replace the whole unit.