Status: 98' Boxster - After 4 days :)
 

Hello Forum,

I bought my boxster 4 days ago and now 4 days later I have some 'concerns'.

It's a 98' Boxster, TipTronic.

1.
When I start it and leave it in Park (automatic) it sometimes makes a very low metal rattle sound - it's not loud. It comes from underneath... it's just a very 'low' enige variation for about 0.5 second and it dissapears, I think it is mostly if it has been resting for 24 hours.

Is this something to worry about or is it just the exhaust, pipes or something that makes a noise ?

2.
It drips a bit of oil - approx 30 hours it dripped a spot of 1.5 CM diameter from where the enige is.

This scares me a bit as I know nothing about cars - is this a 'big repair' ?

3.
When I turn on the car the RED ALERT for the wing of the car. As soon as I start to drive just 10 meters the red light goes off. I tried with the manual raise mechanism and it works fine.

Is this normal ?


I hope people with more experience can share their knowledge about my 'issues'.

Kind regards
Morten

i can't put my $.02 on the other two but on the third one, that is normal.

2.
It drips a bit of oil - approx 30 hours it dripped a spot of 1.5 CM diameter from where the enige is.

This scares me a bit as I know nothing about cars - is this a 'big repair' ?

Possibly a RMS leak,anywhere from $800-$1k to fix.

3.
When I turn on the car the RED ALERT for the wing of the car. As soon as I start to drive just 10 meters the red light goes off. I tried with the manual raise mechanism and it works fine.

Is this normal ?

Yes it's normal,986 & 996 do this.

Blinkwatt - that's not nice to scare the guy - he just got the car ;). It could be from any number of things - and yes one could be the RMS.

Anyhow, here's a quick guess w/out seeing/hearing it first person or pictures:

1. Might be a heat shield on the exhaust or a loose bracket. Does it only happen on start up or is it prevelant all the time at idle or when driving over bumps, etc.?

2. Could be bad drain plug or crush ring (fix on next oil change). Also might be a loose plug or oil filler tube. And yes it could be the "dreaded" RMS (rear main seal). Did you get a PPI done? Can you post some pix of where it's dripping from on the underside (after wiping it down and letting it sit for a day)?

3. As others stated - normal. Light comes on until vehicle moves above 5 mph or so.

Congrats on the new to you Boxster and enjoy it. Post some pics and we'll all try and help you out.

all old things leak, including humans.

Dude you have a PORSCHE! youre friends must be jealous.

The first one makes me think that the starter solenoid is sticking.

Either that or one of the belt rollers needs to be replaced.

amazing :) what a good response from everyone. I truely appreciate this, you guys are the only one I know with this car!

Thank you for all replys to this post.

My Boxster 98' is my first Porsche, and first car ever (I just turned 24 and this is the result of serveral years of saving up and working hard. The price for this car in Denmark is approx 42-44.000 British Pounds due to sky-high car-taxes here (approx 200% added to the value of the car in Germany)). I read and learned what I could about this car from the internet (not the enige technical stuff) and I just jumped into it this Monday and purchased a 98' TipTronic Boxster, black with savannah leather and PCM1 + Cd Changer - I wanted this color combination and TipTronic :)

I had a friend with me when I picked up the car and we drove it past Porsche in Bremen (Import) for a PPI, they didnt comment on the engine sound but did see the oil leak, but I didnt ask enough questions about this, I didnt think it would drip oil - I drove it home from Germany myself and even though I am not even that old, I felt like a little child - 2.5l engine and 'only' 200 Bph was enough to completely shake my world after 10 minutes on the freeway - The car gave me a feel of 'more than enough' power for me... I love it, I love the suspension, the sound, the accelration, the design and the feel of this car - it is everything I hoped for and imagined (I dont know anyone with a Porsche so I had never tried one - I know you are probably laughing now)...

Regarding the 'questions'

3. That is perfect... One worry less :) I really cannot afford a major breakdown right now...

2. RMS fix for 1.000 $ I can handle, I still hope it is not that serious... new engine or something like that would mean the end of the world for me... I will take it for a complete checkup, it's been 20.000 kms since last BIG checkup, the previous owner was very confident he could change filters and such himself - I guess it is time a real mechanic worked on it :)

1. I know it is hard to 'guess' what it is - I was hoping for some general diagnose or if it is a common thing... It dissapeared after I turned it off two times more and released the handbrake... it was like a little metallic rattle that only lasted 0.4-0.5 seconds, but I told myself that might be normal....

It's a funny thing buying a used car - I felt I tried my best to be on the safe side but no matter what it's still a gamble - I know buying a Porsche is not something I will never regret, these last four days of my life have been amazing - I dont think a car will ever give me this rush again... I just dont hope it will be too hard a start for me. I read some places the Boxster is very stabile and doesnt break down so often.

New I just want to modify it with all sorts of features... but I wont write about this here, it will be too loong :)

Have a nice day... and if anyone has more to add please do so :)

DAMN... 200% taxes on a car? That's rape!!

I thought I felt bad about paying ~ $1400 in taxes on my 01 when I bought it in December!

Fray, just be thankful you don't drive a boxster in Singapore. One forum member paid $120,000 USD for a 3 year old base boxster. Yes, you read that right.

It's all about the taxes in Singapore.