Jim, Your post completely made my day. Thank you for the in depth explanation, detail, and for actually answering my question! Hopefully the car will hold out for at least a little while.
denverpete, The car is a 97 Guards Red on Black with about 100k on it. The top was already replaced. It also has several other parts that have been replaced and the car has been maintained well. It will be traded in next week, and I have the opportunity to buy it for $11k.
From what I've gathered, late model 98 and 99 MY Boxsters have sleeve problems.
I also don't know if the intermediate shaft problem is related to the RMS issue or not.. I am also very concerned about that. Jim, if you explained it in your post, I apologize. It's going to take a couple readings for me to make sure I understand everything you said in detail.