Re: First, get the Bentley Manual...

Hi Folks,

I'm Tim a Canadian who's been living in Taiwan for the last... er.. 20 years! The reason you find me posting here is that at 50 years of age I've just bought my first car ever. A new to me 1997 Porsche Boxster! I had the 911 poster on my wall in high school (which I thought was the most beautiful car ever) and of course was influenced by Tom Cruise in Risky Business "Porsche... there is no substitute." movie line and later when the Boxster came out I was blown away by its design. A new favourite.

I'm not really a car guy but as I'm doing my best to enjoy my mid-life crisis, and as I needed a vehicle, I figured I may as well get my dream car. Now I've got a new (old!) baby that I need to figure out how to take care of... in a country where I don't speak the language (Chinese) very well.

I got a 200 point inspection from some British guy here who runs a sports car shop and "knows Porsches", he had another 986 on the rack when I went to his place. He generally praised my vehicle's condition and gave me a laundry list of stuff to start replacing since there aren't any records of what the previous owner did to maintain the vehicle. Nothing exceptionally urgent or potentially catastrophic according to him. The only downside being this British guy lives a long way away from my place in the mountains... By some miracle I managed to find a local Taiwanese guy working next to the place where I shoot pool that was a former Porsche maintenance mechanic here in Taiwan working in a Mobile 1 shop. He changed my gear-box fluid for me and now I'm researching what to change next. Very open to suggestions.

The vehicle's got 75,000kms on it, new suspension, not new but street tires that were replaced, the headlights seem to have been replaced, its an automatic (major bummer but that's how it goes here) and I'm guessing from lurking here and other forums that I should probably change the oil filter next? Does that require an oil change as well? The car drives amazing and doesn't make any weird noises I can tell, with the exception of the crap local radio stations I have to since I don't own any CDs

Pleasure to meet all of you fellow Porsche Folks!





Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/13/2017 09:13PM by Boxsterra. (view changes)

In general, maintenance on your car is little different from any other car. These cars are very durable. The good news is that you have new suspension (why, at 75k Km i don't know, they generally go 75-100k miles...) and your mechanic seems to like it.

Let's go through a few things.

1. change the oil and filter annually, regardless of mileage. Use A40 approved 0w40 synthetic oil and a filter. Changing the filter only is useless.
2. Tires should probably be replaced every 6 years regardless of mileage due to dry rot and chemical breakdown.
Get great tires - they are the single most important determinant of your car's performance
3. Change the brake fluid every 2 years or so
4. The accessory belt , unlike some, does no damage if it fails. But its also easy and cheap to do - every 80k Km or so. Access by removing a panel behind the seats.
5. The biggest issue with these cars is the so called IMS bearing, which, if it fails, fails catastrophically.
Many go forever. Changing oil helps. Automatics, for unknown reasons, seem to have fewer failures.
6. Ensure you have a spot-on alignment. Not "close enough".
7. Change the air filter. Its easy and cheap.
8. In fact, why not learn how to do a few of these things your self? Some require only simple tools and are more time consuming than difficult
There are many resources here and on youtube to help do things like air filter, oil change, accessory belt, etc.

But most importantly, enjoy the wonderfully balanced and communicative car.

Grant

Grant

gee-lenahan-at-gee-mail-dot-com



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 10/13/2017 12:12PM by Pedro (Weston, FL). (view changes)

Thanks for the welcome and great advice. I'm going to take on the 9 year old girl challenge and definitely try some of these things myself!
When you say "accessory belt" do you mean "drive belt"? I saw a youtube video of someone changing theirs and thought I could probably manage that as a first project. First I'll just try accessing it behind the seats and giving it an inspection in case it was one of the things the previous owner already replaced. I'm not sure where to buy a replacement one here in Taiwan yet... but I suppose I could order one off the internet?

Buy it from Amazon or Pelican or somewhere that will ship it to you that's close....if you cannot find a good parts vendor locally.

The aftermarket Continental ("Contitech") is in fact the OEM supplier. About $30

Grant

Grant

gee-lenahan-at-gee-mail-dot-com

There are a lot of easy things a newbie can do - even with limited experience. But if you don't do it yourself, at least you will know what the tech folks are talking about and perhaps save yourself some money in the process.

And when I mean easy - I mean easy. My girls have done work on my car. They are now 14 and 9, but they have worked on the car for some time.

I would echo much of what Grant said. But I would add, stay to the maintenance schedule. It is more expensive than an econobox, but the repairs if you fail to follow the schedule are WAY higher.

There are many resources out there.

Is the coolant filter cap the black one on the right? doesn't seem to have a number on it...

Or is it this one?

First welcome to Pedros Board and congratulations on you Boxster purchase. You're story reminds me of mine. My dream car was a Porsche Targa for many years until the Boxster came out. The second I laid eyes on the concept, that became the new dream and I finally purchased on back in 2006.

Back to your question. Here is a picture of a 2000 Boxster trunk, I believe the 1997 is similar.
#2 (black) is oil - it should have a picture of an oil can on it.
#3 (blue) is coolant


Unfortunately, you pictures didn't show up. There is a link to the picture posting instructions near the top left of the main page of the forum.
Here's a link to the instructions:

[pedrosboard.com]

Enjoy your new ride. we'd love to see some pictures.

Change your coolant filler cap, if it hasn't been done already. You can tell how new it is by the last two digits in the part # (00 = first revision, 04 = latest revision)

Change your Air-oil separator if it hasn't been done already. It will go, leaving you stranded. It's not that hard to replace. See here for more info: [pedrosgarage.com]

(You can tell if the AOS is the old style by just looking at it)

A radio with a CD player should be an easy thing to add. A fellow in TX parts out a lot of cars. Text him at 512-925-9171 and see if he has what you need. It's a really fun car as you've already found out.

Quote
tom coughlin
A radio with a CD player should be an easy thing to add. A fellow in TX parts out a lot of cars. Text him at 512-925-9171 and see if he has what you need. It's a really fun car as you've already found out.

His name is Woody!

ah... its got a CD player with multiple slots for CDs... its just it's 2017 and I haven't had a CD even in my home for years!

Congratulations and best of luck with your "new" car. You'll find these cars great fun to drive and if maintaned properly, will provide many miles of reliable transportation.
Regarding the radio, there should be a number of viable replacements by now. I'm thinking you should be able to stream Spotify or Pandora with one of those add-on bluetooth devices that connect into the aux. conector.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/16/2017 03:52PM by MikenOH. (view changes)