Another newb -more questions - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners

Gforrest2 · 07-30-2010, 08:27 PM

Sorry, I know I should search the forum first, but I just bought an '03 Boxster off Ebay and I'm out of town picking it up and have limited computer access. So.......

Car won't start with first turn of key. Dash lights up but car won't crank. I need to turn the key back to "0" and then turn again and it usually starts. What am I doing wrong?

I figured out the two bottom buttons on the remote are for the hood and trunk release. Is this an option, because mine doesn't do anything when you press these buttons.

Do these cars come with an alarm, meaning, will the horn start blowing if the alarm is tripped. How is it armed and disarmed? Is it armed and disarmed when you lock and unlock with the remote?

And finally, and the most scary, how do the speedster humps attach? I was having a grand old time on my first drive, going about 70, music blasting and I happened to notice in the mirror that the driver's side hump was bouncing around. I thought it might go flying off. The guy I bought it from showed me how they just snap into place, but it looks like it's supposed to be strapped to something with a velco strap, but I don't see anything to wrap the strap to.

Anything else I should look out for? It's an 03 Boxster, manual transmission with 80k miles. It did have an oil change on June 15 .

Thanks. Looking forward to being part of this community.

Highlow · 07-30-2010, 08:53 PM

Read the manual for the first three questions. You will get your answers along with a TON of information you didn't know. Very good to learn about the car.

Can't help you with the humps issue.

Welcome to the community! Have fun and post some pictures.

Gforrest2 · 07-31-2010, 08:30 AM

Got up early this morning to explore the new car. Figured a couple of things out. Looks like when you first switch the ignition on, there's a countdown timer (fuel pump pressurization?). So now I wait until this counts down before cranking the starter. But my problem was I wasn't pressing the clutch pedal down far enough (duh).

With the humps (don't know if they're factory or aftermarket (the storage bags say Porsche) I see they strap on to the roll bar. I didn't figure this out yesterday because of the mesh insert and clear wind deflector. I see now that these just pop out. But I imagine they'll still bounce around a bit, so I'm going to need something on the bottom to keep them from scratching the paint.

Looks like the car arms the alarm when you walk away from it (horn sounds).

Still need to figure out how to get the remote trunk/hood release to work. Maybe this is an option my car doesn't have.

Also need to figure out the lever in front of the seat rake adjustment knob. The manual says it's the seat height adjustment, but nothing happens when I move it (maybe broken?).

Anyway, learning little by little. Will do some more forum searching when I finally make it home tomorrow.

Sorry for the long winded post - I'm just an excited new owner!

blue2000s · 07-31-2010, 10:20 AM

I agree with the above. Reading your manual will (and would have) answer your questions.

JTP · 07-31-2010, 12:42 PM

I'm not positive on the '03 but on older 986 models, if the horn beeps upon locking it there's something left open such as the oddments tray. (confirm with your manual).

Overdrive · 07-31-2010, 01:13 PM

Ditto on the manual reading. First thing I did when I got the car home was pull the manual out of the car and sit in the house and read for about...oh, three hours. I practically cover-to-covered the manual, and you learn quite a bit from doing so. Whenever you don't know something, something seems weird, or you need to know some info about the car (like what replacement light bulbs to use, or how many quarts of oil it takes...you may be surprised), the owner's manual should be your first reference and line of defense.

Just to clarify, while I don't believe the key for your '03 should be all that different from the one for my '97, if you've only got two buttons on there, one's for the door locks & alarm, and the other is to open the rear trunk. The front trunk can only be opened by having the driver's side door open and lifting the front lever located next to the seat. The symbols for what they do should be on the buttons (a key and a picture of a car with the trunk open), unless they've been worn out and you can't make it out. In that case, the bigger button's the lock button. If you've got more than two buttons on there, then I dunno bout that, but in any case, you may want to try replacing the battery in the key and try then to see if the buttons work then. If they don't, you may want to get it checked out by a dealer to make sure the key is working properly, but I'm figuring the battery's juiced out and the seller thought it was too much trouble to pop in a new one for the new owner.

From the dealer, and again all this is in the manual, the alarm is designed to arm about a minute after the key is removed from the ignition and you exit the vehicle, provided you don't open any doors or trunks after that. Or let's say you opened the trunk, which will unlock the doors as well, and then close it. Again, about a minute later, the doors will lock and the alarm will set. Also, if you unlock the car but do not open the door and get in, the doors will lock and the alarm will reset. How long it takes can be adjusted by a dealer to anywhere from 4 seconds to about 2 minutes, I believe. But you can arm the alarm yourself with the key, either by pressing the lock button or using the key in the door. I wouldn't make it a habit of letting the car wait to lock itself. Find out what's up with that remote, and use that or use the key in the door to lock the car and set the alarm. To go with what JTP was saying, if the horn beeps more than once, something's not completely closed, so the car will not lock and the alarm will not set until you close it (this can inlcude your gas filler door, which is locked when the car is locked). If you get one beep and two light flashes, you're good. And yes, the alarm will still set with the windows down, so keep that in mind if you lock it and then go reaching in for something later on.

For the seat height, once again in your manual as you saw, that requires you to physically move your body in the seat to adjust it. You can lift the lever, but until you actually lift yourself and/or press back down on the seat, the height of it won't actually change. It's one of the few adjustments the did not motorize, though I don't know if that may have changed by the '03 model (doubt it). So give that another try and figure out what height you like for the seat. I'm not a tall person at all, and I actually slammed mine all the way down to give myself more leg room between my knees and the wheel, and I can still see out of the front window just fine.

Have no fear about the long posts and being an excited new owner, I'm sure plenty of people on here can relate, myself included. If anything I'll apologize to you for being a little too wordy myself, but I figured I'd try and give you some explanation along with the advice to reference the manual rather than just tell you to look it up and figure it out. Congratulations, and make sure you pick the brains of the people on here, there's a lot of very knowledgeable folks who do 95% or more of the work on these cars themselves.

VGM911 · 07-31-2010, 02:05 PM

I'm amazed at how many people don't read their owner's manual. Including my sister, who also owns a Boxster.

TenaciousD · 07-31-2010, 02:38 PM

On our '02 the smaller buttons on the key open the front and rear hatches, but you have to hold the buttons down for a good 2 seconds before they pop. If you just click the buttons like you do the door lock button, nothing happens. At least that's the way mine works.

clickman · 07-31-2010, 03:13 PM

Let's cut the guy just a bit of slack as maybe the car didn't come with the owner's manual.

If that's true, go here:

http://www.renntech.org/forums/index.php?/files/file/602-my03-boxster-986-owners-manual/

blue2000s · 07-31-2010, 08:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by clickman

Let's cut the guy just a bit of slack as maybe the car didn't come with the owner's manual.

If that's true, go here:

http://www.renntech.org/forums/index.php?/files/file/602-my03-boxster-986-owners-manual/

He says he has the manual in his second post.

Gforrest2 · 07-31-2010, 09:36 PM

Thanks for the responses. Yes, I have the manual and I too am the sort of guy that will read it from cover to cover. But like I mentioned, this was an Ebay purchase, out of town, but close enough to pick it up. Turned the pickup into a family vacation, so no real time to search the forum or thoroughly read the manual.

I also need to brush up on what is standard equipment. I was surprised not to have cruise control and non-variable intermittent wipers.

Still enjoying the heck out of this car.

vath2001 · 08-01-2010, 03:59 AM

Welcome aboard. I didn't read manual until after the first month of driving too. The count down is for the oil level check... nothing to do with starting.

Overdrive · 08-01-2010, 01:04 PM

GForrest2, I'm also surprised that you don't have cruise control...are you sure? I'm sure there were models that didn't have it, but it kinda seems like one of those things that just ended up on the majority of the cars assembled. I'm in the same boat as you are with a non-adjustable intermittent setting, but I've also got a first-year model, but I think it cycles something like every 4 or 5 seconds, which isn't too bad.

Hope you're enjoying the ride home.

Gforrest2 · 08-07-2010, 12:19 PM

I'm back at home and no longer have to use the hotel lobby computer. Now that I've spent some time on the site, looks like I should have made my posts in the, "Intro to the Porsche Boxster" category, so sorry about that.

Just had the (Post) Prepurchase Inspection done. Car was an Ebay purchase so no chance for PPI. After perusing some of the horror stories here, I was a bit worried. Again, this is an '03 with 80K miles I got for $12,500.

Report: needs tires (figured that one out myself) but brakes, the belt, cooling system, and electronic diagnostics all checked out, plus all the other stuff they are supposed to check. The service writer told me stories of cars that looked good (recent detail?), but mechanically, were trashed. So I guess I got lucky. He did recommend a brake fluid flush (said this is recommended every two years, comments anyone?) and that the CV boots were throwing some grease and would need to be replaced soon (at $450 each, ouch). Oh, also needs an alignment. So a bit of relief and my smile is just a little bigger as I motor down the road with the top down.

Frodo · 08-08-2010, 04:44 AM

You may be able to find a better deal on the axle boots. I had my done not too long ago---both done for a little over $500, IIRC. Then again, you may just be in an area where everything is more expensive than around here.

Gforrest2 · 08-08-2010, 05:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Frodo

You may be able to find a better deal on the axle boots. I had my done not too long ago---both done for a little over $500, IIRC. Then again, you may just be in an area where everything is more expensive than around here.

$450 was the quote from the dealer. I'm sure I can get it done at an indy for less. Just need to find a good indy in the Seattle area. I read through the whole "Find your local mechanic/porsche specialist" sticky and saw two listed in my area. Might give one of them a try.

Mark_T · 08-08-2010, 07:45 AM

That's a sharp looking Box you have there but, if it was me, I'd lose the humps.

Gforrest2 · 08-08-2010, 09:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mark_T

That's a sharp looking Box you have there but, if it was me, I'd lose the humps.

That was my first thought and first question when I saw the photos, do those (ugly) after thought looking things come off? They looked like a cheap add on to me. The seller said yes, they just snap off. So I put my bid in and won the auction. But now that I have the car, they've kind of grown on me. The only PITA is having to take them off in order to put the top up. And they got to go in just so in order to fit into the truck. So for me, they stay on. And to each his own.