Buzzing electrical sound - Help!!

[Boxstertom]

Hello all
I am a newbie to this site, but have recently purchased my first Boxster (2.5 '97 Metallic black with grey leather) and absolutely love it.

I have a couple of embarrassing newbie questions.
On day 3 of ownership, I started the car and there was this buzzing electrical sound coming from down near the fuse box (Right hand drive as I'm in the UK so fuse box is also on the right). And on the centre dash, the light on the switch for the mirror defrost (which I actually thought was rear window defogger) was also flickering. The buzzing got a bit worse and higher pitched and sounded like (for want of a better phrase) a wasp caught in a matchbox or stuck behind your curtains and finally stopped. Now the light on this switch is sometimes on and then goes off again and vice versa but the button itslef does not work anymore.
I am assuming the noise was a relay of sorts that went mad and died.
The fuse for the mirror heater (D2) is still OK. I even tried a spare.
So.... to get to the point.
Can someone tell me where in the car I can find the relay for this and also whether I can just buy a relay from a general automotive store or does it have to be a Porsche one?
If it can be general then what is the spec I need to be looking for.

Thanks for any help and advice you might have.
Cheers,
Tom

P.S. Does that vent near the back window actually blow air at he back window??? And if so, what button activates it?

[MNBoxster]

Hi,

The Relay you're looking for is Relay #4 in the forward Relay Panel which is located above the Left Footwell Kick Panel (I assume on the right-hand side for RHD models). The top row of Relays, going Lft.-Rht., are #1-#4. The Rear/Mirror Heater Relay is taller than any other Relays in that row. It is just Plug & Play (though it may be wedged in fairly tight). 1st try pulling it and cleaning the contacts to see if that fixes the issue. The Porsche Part# is: 996.615.117.00 . It lists for $26USD.

This Relay is unique and not used anywhere else in the car. That said, it's probably just a standard relay. I'd pull it and take it to a General Auto Parts store and see if you can find a generic which will certainly be less ££ than buying from the Dealer. Hope this helps...

Happy Motoring!... Jim'99

PS Not certain what you mean by vent near the rear window? But, there is no vent/forced air to the rear windscreen. Are you speaking of the side vents on either rear flank of the car? The Left is the Air Intake for the Engine and the Right is an Engine Compartment Purge, which has an Exhaust Fan behind it to aid in cooling the Engine Compartment...

[Boxstertom]

Thanks very much for your quick response MNBoxster. I will have a look at the relays this evening and see whats going on with number 4. I am hoping that no water has got it as I hate investigating leaks on cars!

With regards to the vent.... I did not mean the outside vents (although its good to know what they do now) but the little slot/hole that points towards the inside of the plastic rear window and is behind the headrests and storage box. Its on the rear side of the glass wind deflector thingy. I haven't really looked into it much, but from a breif inspection (looking through the back window) it looked like an air vent of some sort.

I'll perhaps get the roof down and have a closer look tonight - Its cold and dark here at the moment at 4pm so not a lot of call for top down motoring. I choose a great time of year to buy a soft top.

Cheers,
Tom