Boxster sports exhaust removal - Page 2 - Boxster/Cayman - PistonHeads UK

I'm thinking of buying a 06 Boxster S with, amongst other goodies a sports exhaust. Whats the story (and likely cost) of reverting it to an OEM system. Quite like the car, but not the noise. Its also got carbon ceramic brakes, what are they like in real life, and whats the longevity of the discs and pads. In particular, how do I look for worn discs? The car belongs to a close friend of my sons who is in Spain at the moment, so I will be a bit sketchy on the details until he gets back next week. It's in excellent condition, full OPC history. Does £14500 seem about right?

Not sure about the questions you've asked but if you want to sell the exhaust let me know as could be interested.

Boxstercol said: Not sure about the questions you've asked but if you want to sell the exhaust let me know as could be interested. Have you got a standard one to part ex??

andygo said: I'm thinking of buying a 06 Boxster S with, amongst other goodies a sports exhaust. Whats the story (and likely cost) of reverting it to an OEM system. Quite like the car, but not the noise. Its also got carbon ceramic brakes, what are they like in real life, and whats the longevity of the discs and pads. In particular, how do I look for worn discs? The car belongs to a close friend of my sons who is in Spain at the moment, so I will be a bit sketchy on the details until he gets back next week. It's in excellent condition, full OPC history. Does £14500 seem about right? Regarding the exhaust, your best option would be to check on ebay/pistonheads as there are plenty of owners who have fitted after-market systems and have no use for the OE one. PCCB's are no problem and will likely last the lifetime of the car unless its tracked. The only way to check if the discs are worn is to remove them and have them weighed. The weights are stamped on there and there is a tolerance which I'm unsure of that will indicate their state of wear. A bit more information regarding options, mileage, condition and service history is required before an indication of value can be given.

Trev450 said: Regarding the exhaust, your best option would be to check on ebay/pistonheads as there are plenty of owners who have fitted after-market systems and have no use for the OE one. PCCB's are no problem and will likely last the lifetime of the car unless its tracked. The only way to check if the discs are worn is to remove them and have them weighed. The weights are stamped on there and there is a tolerance which I'm unsure of that will indicate their state of wear. A bit more information regarding options, mileage, condition and service history is required before an indication of value can be given. Yes, I appreciate that regarding mileage, options etc. I think it has lots of goodies (brakes for instance). He's had it for a couple of years, but done few miles in it. I remember him having it checked out by an OPC centre when/before he bought, and it had no faults, was a really good example apparently. Just concerned (due to my lack of knowledge really) about IMS, bore score etc.really. My first foray into Porsche ownership as a weekend toy.

It will be a 3.2 so no issues with bore scoring. IMS is a problem but can be replaced with an upgrade at the same time that the clutch is renewed.

I'm fairly sure its a 3.4 engine, I guess that makes bore score more of a potential issue. I think that unless its done very few miles I could be loo0king at a huge money pit!

If its a 3.4 then bore scoring is a concern but IMS isn't. Low mileage is no safeguard against bore scoring so your best option is to have a boroscope inspection carried out prior to purchase.

For whatever reason, the 06 Cayman has a high bore scoring probability, but the Boxster doesn't. No idea why.

andygo said: I'm fairly sure its a 3.4 engine, I guess that makes bore score more of a potential issue. I think that unless its done very few miles I could be loo0king at a huge money pit! I thought the 3.4 wasn't introduced until the 2007 cars? I assume it's not a Porsche Sports Exhaust which is switchable between loud and not so loud, otherwise i'd question why you'd bother removing it, so is this just an aftermarket exhaust thats been put on the car? if its the latter then removal is easy and picking up a standard genuine exhaust should be no real issue, like others have said eBay etc might be the best place to start. Edited by Beanoir on Sunday 7th June 13:20

I did say that I'm a bit sketchy on the detail as the owner is in Spain at the mo!

andygo said: I did say that I'm a bit sketchy on the detail as the owner is in Spain at the mo! Found out its a '56 plate. Owned by dealer principal at OPC. Had 111 point check 2 years ago and got 5/5 on box and engine and everything else clearly was good. sounds like a car to buy. Exhaust isnt switchable, so I guess its just loud, but never having been in another boxster, nothing to compare. It also has the sport mode, which drops the suspension and sharpens up the throttle response. Is that the chrono pack? I guess that's very nice to have!

It's not air ride! It doesn't lower the car, just stiffens the suspension. It seems odd if it was an OPC car yet had an aftermarket exhaust? If it is just the optional sports exhaust, you just leave the button turned off. I wouldn't go to the bother of wasting time and money switching exhausts if that is the case (because you'll make the car arguably less desirable too).

hondansx said: It's not air ride! It doesn't lower the car, just stiffens the suspension. It seems odd if it was an OPC car yet had an aftermarket exhaust? If it is just the optional sports exhaust, you just leave the button turned off. I wouldn't go to the bother of wasting time and money switching exhausts if that is the case (because you'll make the car arguably less desirable too). Air ride!! Haha, marvelous. Made me giggle that

So is the 3.4 engine to be avoided due to the IMS issue?

andygo said: So is the 3.4 engine to be avoided due to the IMS issue? No, it's just more likely to suffer from IMS or scored bores, but careful of the internet and its tendency to over egg the issues, there are da more threads on forums like this than there have been confirmed cases of 3.4 boxsters with scores bores.

The 3.4 has a larger, stronger IMS bearing that isnt considered an issue (but like all things can fail). It does, however, suffer to some extent from bore scoring. For some reason this appears to be much more of a problem in the Cayman and especially the early ones than the engines in the Boxsters. AFAIK the bore scoring is related to the coolant design for the engine allowing some of the cylinders to get localised heating beyond where the oil protects and then scoring up, mostly on cylinder 6. This can be checked by a specialist either by a borescope in an inspection or in badly worn cars you can hear it audibly. A couple of the main warning signs are: a) low coolant b) overly sooty tail pipes c) if the previous owner mentions it drinks oil (/the oil level is low). My 07 3.4 doesn't appear to use any oil, the previous 03 3.2 used none. FWIW it isnt unusual for the boxer engines to be a little smoky on start up due to their design. Both mine have leaked oil from the Rear Main Seal (RMS) which isnt an issue so long as it isnt a lot and is a £15 part when the clutch is replaced. The 3.2 in 05 and 06 cars doesn't have the same reports of bore scoring (not that these are really reported in the 3.4 Boxsters anyway), but do suffer to some extent from IMS bearing issues. This is something that can be inspected for on oil change (looking for metal particles) and if the clutch is being replaced a stronger ceramic bearing can be put in for minimal extra labour cost. In both cases, the forums get a little scared of both issues. If either occur it would be properly expensive to sort £5k+ (IMSB failures are more catastrophic though), but the incidence rate is really quite low. I wouldn't choose either engine over the other based on it. If you bought a 3.2 consider changing the IMS when the clutch needs changed, if it is a 3.4 change the oil annually (rather than the bi-annual required in the schedule) drive either considerately and enjoy.

AlR26 said: The 3.4 has a larger, stronger IMS bearing that isnt considered an issue (but like all things can fail). It does, however, suffer to some extent from bore scoring. For some reason this appears to be much more of a problem in the Cayman and especially the early ones than the engines in the Boxsters. AFAIK the bore scoring is related to the coolant design for the engine allowing some of the cylinders to get localised heating beyond where the oil protects and then scoring up, mostly on cylinder 6. This can be checked by a specialist either by a borescope in an inspection or in badly worn cars you can hear it audibly. A couple of the main warning signs are: a) low coolant b) overly sooty tail pipes c) if the previous owner mentions it drinks oil (/the oil level is low). My 07 3.4 doesn't appear to use any oil, the previous 03 3.2 used none. FWIW it isnt unusual for the boxer engines to be a little smoky on start up due to their design. Both mine have leaked oil from the Rear Main Seal (RMS) which isnt an issue so long as it isnt a lot and is a £15 part when the clutch is replaced. The 3.2 in 05 and 06 cars doesn't have the same reports of bore scoring (not that these are really reported in the 3.4 Boxsters anyway), but do suffer to some extent from IMS bearing issues. This is something that can be inspected for on oil change (looking for metal particles) and if the clutch is being replaced a stronger ceramic bearing can be put in for minimal extra labour cost. In both cases, the forums get a little scared of both issues. If either occur it would be properly expensive to sort £5k+ (IMSB failures are more catastrophic though), but the incidence rate is really quite low. I wouldn't choose either engine over the other based on it. If you bought a 3.2 consider changing the IMS when the clutch needs changed, if it is a 3.4 change the oil annually (rather than the bi-annual required in the schedule) drive either considerately and enjoy. That sounds reassuring, thanks. I always change oil at 5000 miles in pretty much any car I have ever owned as a matter of course. I have been rewarded with cars that have never used it otherwise. I'm always careful to get the oil nice and warm before caning them to within an inch of their lives. Not sure about clutch change, I can't think I have ever done a clutch in, even on various race and rally cars I have owned. (Touches wood..).

And there's the scaremongering... Can I suggest anybody new to these cars/engines reads the 6 page article by Peter Morgan titled M96/M97 Engine Tech in GT Porsche Magazine (March 2015) which was a collaboration of most of the top independents including Autofarm, Hartech etc etc. The conclusion was from these experts was that the problem is nowhere near as widespread as the 'internet experts' make out. Edited by Beanoir on Monday 8th June 20:29

I'd love to read it, but how?

andygo said: I'd love to read it, but how? You can either download and electronic copy or if you're nice I'll dig my copy out and scan it and email it over to you. PM me your email address if you like.

anonymous said: [redacted] Ah. by catastrophic I rather meant IMSB failures are more like "the engine is fine, bang, the engine is not fine". Scored bores will just increase the oil consumption till it becomes considerable. Neither are cheap to fix. The larger capacity m96 and m97 engines would appear to be more prone to this (inc/esp the 911s) but their does appear to be a higher reported rate among early Caymans than 07/08 Boxsters (not that there aren't some issues with the liner material/coolant system/oil service interval). Granted I haven't checked the reported rate vs cars produced. Most engines can score the bores and indeed some amount of marking is perfectly normal and causes no issues. That indies might be cautious isnt surprising, given the concern on forums that are more likely to buy from specialists that would know to check and the prevalence of PPIs. You can only really know if there is a problem if you run the car and measure how much oil is used. If you wanted a lower absolute risk then the 2.7 or 2.9 would appear to be a better option, but plenty of people own and run the S variants without an issue (bores or IMS). Agree that we are both speculating here though, I just think there are other things in the world to worry about!

andygo said: I'd love to read it, but how? http://www.porscheinspections.com/qanda.php#Cylinder%20bore%20scoring and http://www.revolution-porsche.co.uk/buying-porsche... Edited by AlR26 on Monday 8th June 21:09

AlR26 said: andygo said: I'd love to read it, but how? http://www.porscheinspections.com/qanda.php#Cylinder%20bore%20scoring Thats not what I was referring to actually, but interesting. Its this one you'll want http://www.porscheinspections.com/content/download...

Cheers chaps, some interesting stuff for me to read, thanks for your input for a Porsche newbie. Much appreciated.