Boxster "clunking" when cornering.
 

1997 Boxster 5 speed car clunks a bit when cornering but only when turning left...should I check front engine mount?

Yes. It is probably toast.

Boxtaboy had the exact same symptom, and it turned out to be the front motor mount.

If you don't want to get under the car, you can get a pretty good look at the mount if you remove the engine access panel behind the seats. You will see it near the center, at the lowest edge of the opening.

If your look is not conclusive, start the car with the panel off and rev the engine. If the mount is toast, you will see a lot of movement (torquing) of the engine.

Be careful when you remove the panel if you start the engine. Lots of rotating parts!

Regards, Maurice.

Yep, as Maurice said, I had what felt like grinding or shudder in the left rear axle when making turns. In my case, it was on right hand turns under moderate power (usually in 2nd gear). There was not really a clunking sound though.

Turned out my motor mount was torn, and allowed the engine to shift enough during cornering to upset the driveline geometry. I thought at first it was a driveline or suspension issue, but the installation of the new motor mount cured the problem. and I can't recreate the noise anymore.

Hey guys,

My recent history with my '98 Boxster with 80k miles on it when I purchased it a couple of weeks ago were two separate clunk noises, under different circumstances.

The first clunk noise, which was the engine mount, happened mostly in straight lines, under firm to moderate acceleration, and most noticeably under shifting conditions.

Also, if I was at highway speed, cruising along at a constant speed, and let off the throttle, the car felt like it would pull to one side for just a moment, and then straighten out. If I then got hard on the throttle, the car then felt like it would pull to the opposite side. This feeling was very faint, but noticeable.

The second noise I had was coming from the right rear of the car, and only happened when I was taking a right hand curve under moderate power. The sharper the curve, and the more power I was trying to use, the worse the noise was.

That noise is better described as a shudder.

The cure for that was new rear struts.
I just replaced them yesterday, and the right rear strut was completely dead.
As soon as I removed it from the car, and remove the spring, the piston sank right into the strut body, and that was that. The left side is still good, and I will probably hold onto it for a while.

Not all noises are the same.

BC.

How much did it cost for the repair? Did you do the work or a mechanic?

Found problem. Engine mount torn to shiat...Thanks

There is a guy on PPBB who remanufactures these engine mounts. Might save you a few bucks.
His name is Pedro and he is in Florida.

I had my Porsche dealer do it, and had other stuff done as well, so I'm not really sure how much they ended up charging me for the new mount replacement alone. The replacement mount was a 987 part number, so I guess they updated it. All I know is, there's no more grinding/shudder, and another side benefit is that it also got rid of the driveline vibration I used to experience when letting off the gas at around 3k rpms.

As you can see, my old mount was shot at 58k miles:
http://i43.tinypic.com/2iv086t.jpg

Thanks for posting the photo. It might help someone else here in diagnosing theirs.

Regards, Maurice.

No problemo...I removed it myself. It takes about 45 minutes to get it off. 15mm wrench and deep socket required, car on jackstands. I am waiting on parts for my Variacam solenoid and will post pictures of how to change in car...I am not a professional mechanic but do all my own vehicle repairs. Forums such as these are very informative for new owners. I belong to a couple of Diesel forums for my trucks and they have saved me thousands over the years... :)

I took it to the shop, and the guy said I needed a lower control arm, and strut mounts. The price after labor was quoted around $1300.00. He said the control arm with labor is around $900.00 alone. It sounds like he was quoting me the price of an adjustable control arm. Does anyone know if the OEM part is adjustable or not? I found some non-adjustable control arms for a couple hundred vs. $700.00.

What are the symptoms that you are experiencing to lead them to believe those are the culprits? I'm not saying that the diagnosis is necessarily wrong, but you never started in the thread what your issues were. Maybe it's the motor mount, and not a suspension issue. It would just stink if they replaced those suspension pieces and then your problem was still there. JMHO.

I realize this is an old thread but I am having same issue. '03 986S 90K w/3.6L. We replaced rear motor mounts at time of swap but I don't recall us doing anything in front because it appeared fine. I've always had a slight drifting of the car when accelerating hard and now this makes me believe the front mount has been suspect over the duration of ownership. I've put about 15K on the car in the 9 years since the motor swap. The clunking I hear is exactly as described in this thread but I had not heard that a bad strut could cause a similar issue/noise. I did replace an axle when this began because it was originial and had a torn inner boot which I hadn't caught for some time. When an outer boot goes you know because it slings grease all over the inner wheel rim. The noise remained. My main questions are related to subsequent revisions to the motor mount it self from Porsche. Ex, I thought I read where it is now a 987 part number. Is there an upgraded version? Is it also a similar PITA as the 981 videos show?