Thanks guys....
 

....and for what it’s worth, I never bought that Ferrari 308 when they were JUST affordable to me a decade ago because I knew I couldn’t afford the timing belt service and all the other “Ferrari” taxes.

If you met me, you would know I am as far from “Elite” as a janitor at Trump Tower.

��

Seriously, though, a 1993 Miata was my only car for over 20 years.

I scrimped and saved and bought the best quality, best maintained 986 I could find.

I have a great local technician and I can turn a mean wrench myself. I grew up in the “Fast & The Furious” days and “Sport Compact Car” magazine.

I WAS that “Rice Boy” kid.

I’m just trying to use whatever old man wisdom I have accumulated over my years to help my fellow forum members. Hopefully my past mistakes can prevent others from suffering the same heartbreaks I brought upon myself.

Just trying to help this awesome collective.

And I’m sorry if my crush washer post sounded harsh, as well.

Cheers, everyone.

Now go out and drive your Boxster.

Ike, you've got a sympathetic ear here, with me. There are lots of people who won't see this post because they've used the "block user" function. You sound just like me about there being nothing magical (or even particularly unique) about the innards of the Porsche 986.

BUT:
I read this thread and to me, it looks like you took offense where none was intended.

You must remember that for many owners, this car represents a culmination of a dream, and part of that dream is their obsession with OEM-Only, Factory-authorized, laminate-all-the-receipts-and-keep-them-in-a-binder sort of, for lack of a better word; worship. That ain't you, and it ain't me, but there's lots of room for people to love the car in lots of different ways. As with any forum (or any group of people) the answers you get will vary across the spectrum created by the variances of life's experiences.

Yeah, now I'm preaching. sorry.... I'm a Mormon, hahaha.

So, in all reality, 10/10ths is sorta on the money here. Many have tried other lubes and come back with horror stories; to the extent that most have determined that it isn't worth the risk to do otherwise. On my street-986 S, I used the OEM stuff from Suncoast. (But on the Spec Boxster, I didn't. that might tell you where my head is)

Enjoy this forum for the diversity found herein. Try to be a lover, not a fighter. :cheers:

otherwise, everyone will block you, like they have me. :dance:

Sorry for overreacting. My life experiences have taught me uniformly that mean people suck and I have a soft spot for the guy on the other end because usually there's no one to stand up for them. I tend to epitomize the "carry a big stick" philosophy lol.

Anyway, cheers to the knowledge base. As pedro would say, happy boxstering!

Sent from my POCOPHONE F1 using Tapatalk

Maytag! You really think you’ve been all that blocked?? I can’t imagine that—you offer some of the most sage advice I’ve read on this forum. Well, if you are much blocked at least I feel in good company, though I suspect I’m more blocked than you. (This whole discussion kinda puts me in mind of that “I’m rednecker than you” country song.)

I can’t figure out the mentality of “blocking” someone—why would you not just NOT read their posts if you so inclined. They're incapable of just skipping over those posters they don't want to read?? And it’s not like they succeed at a “I’ll show that guy!” by blocking—we don’t even know we’ve been blocked, or by whom. Whatever..

Aw hell 10, don’t worry about the crush ring discussion. I’ve been worked over worse than that on quite a few occasions. I usually have it coming. And I learned something important reading through that thread. (I never knew the LN magnetic plug was supposed to be torqued so much more gently compared to the OEM plug. I guess I just got lucky—time after time I’d crank away on the thing when replacing it, torqueing it to roughly the same level as I would the original. I had NO idea they could be stripped out as shown in pics on this thread.

As you say: "Cheers!" And “go out and drive your Boxster.”
It’s always hard to know exactly when winter’s over around here. But it’s almost 60 out there at the moment—I’m actually pretty much ready to break her out of her long hibernation about now! :dance:

You too, Ike.

Just called my Porsche dealer. They don't sell GL4 anymore. They can get GL5. I note on Pelican it seems to say the same thing. But the guy at Porsche is saying this is what Porsche suggests now. Is this true? Or is it just the only thing they have, so they suggest it?

GL4 and GL5 gear oils are NOT the same; some OEM's spec GL4 because it is friendly with brass/bronze alloy yellow metal synchro rings used in their trans, a GL5 gear oil contains additives the chemically attack and can destroy those synchro's.

Bit of a supposition here but applicable.

As someone mentioned Honda, I've had a 97 Boxster and 97 Civic at the same time, had the same issue with transmission fluid/additives as I do with my boat. Not all 75W-90 oils are the same of course...many people on Hondaland with the 5-speeds heard that you can "cure grinds" with this miracle fluid called GM Synchromesh, which on the bottle, doesn't list its viscosity. These people read it online while nobody reported back after using it for a year, and here's why: Its for a Corvette transmission is suppose to have additives for an LSD. Thus people with Honda transaxles with an OEM style auto-torque biasing style (the ten gears) LSD will try it, and it will cure grinds for maybe 6 months. Then, you get a lovely noisy sound. This is because Honda's m/t fluids are a 10W-30 oil, considerably thinner than what the 986 or even corvette uses (or most transmissions actually), and there is an input shaft bearing that never gets any oil up there to its seal, same reason we have the IMS problem. Honda recommends their own fluid, but you CAN use 10W30 oil in its place for a short time (so says their service manual), and in my opinion, Honda makes among the most durable manual transmissions on any road car, hands down. But thus are the 'additives', as Honda uses its gear where the synchro touches as a deliberate wear point that is solid iron, its m/t boxes use a magnet as a filter (their automatics do this too, the drainbolt has a magnet you wipe clean).

Back to the 986 tranny. Same issue, as you mentioned, the chemicals blended into it are meant for the metal the bearings are made with, such as copper and Zinc.

Similar issue on my boat. I have a 1997 boat engine which is a chevy small block and the rockers are not rollers, meaning they rotate and was recommended to use oil heavy in zinc (25W-40). Because the year after this used roller rockers, you do not need to use this older oil and thus is recommended a GL-rated flud too. Due to new laws requiring boats to have cat converters, they would rather you not use so much zinc in this boat oil as the older oil is not catalyst friendly. I then must make a bit of a cocktail here as well, wanting the correct viscosity, but also wanting all that lovely zinc for my old-ass spinners. I therefore use Rotella T5 15w40, not the correct viscosity i wanted, but its said to have lots of zinc, and then ill add one quart of 25w40, because the zinc-filled oil is not around.

Hope this side-trip helped someone to understand and research the stuff they put into gear oils and that if you change a type of bearing or component to a different material, you may need to change oils to ones with other kinds of additives.

Edit: a lot of these viscosities changing or disappearing are usually due to more new laws against certain chemicals, so blame the lawmakers, not the dealership.