Help and suggestions wanted - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners

Hey all, I recently checked out an 01 S and posted a thread with some photos of oil on the rocker covers. I was very pleased to get some help from a few members and the general consensus was that the spark plug o-rings could have gone. If correct then such a diagnosis is fine with me as the DIY for that is not to hard. Anyway I am now hoping to get some more thoughts on this car as it's still for sale and I feel it could potentially be a good buy (at the right price of course) for someone who is prepared put in some hard yards to fix a few things themselves then just enjoy driving the car as it was meant to be. So a few details: ● UK delivered Black on black 01 S with 240,000km or 150,000 miles (very high I know) ● Some options include 030 sport running gear, XLF sport exhaust system, 476 PSM option ● Updated head and tail lights to clear 03/04 parts. ● Allegedly €5000 has been spent on the car in the last two years. I have requested and am awaiting more info on this. ● Asking price of 6500 euro neg. I have taken some more photos of this car which can be seen below. There are clearly quite a few areas in need of attention so I was hoping to get some more feedback from you guys and girls on what you see as being potential issues. I used to own an 04 S back in Australia until earlier this year before moving to Germany so I have some ownership experience to refer to. I was not able to drive the 01 but I was able to start it up. It turned on fine and had no issues idling and revving. All gears could easily be engaged when running too. Remote key worked fine, the convertible top opened and closed with no issues and the plastic rear window looked intact and not to faded. Interior and exterior lights all functioned and there was no CEL on. Interior condition was better than I expected for the mileage except for the drivers seat which was definitely a fair sign of 240,000km. To me it looks like what was a well optioned car that had a good life up until the last 100,000 km (60k miles) where things gave gone down hill. My concern list so far: ● Rust and corrosion. UK cars are known for this. Clearly they're evident but how bad does it look? ● Brake Rotors are shot. I physically inspected all four and the lips were all quite sharp. ● Rear main seal looks to be leaking to me ● Wheels missing the centre crests ● Oil leak from the plugs (as previously discussed) ● Missing service history for the last 100,000km ● High mileage. Although I have read the high mile threads on here for a confidence boost... At the moment the asking price of 6500 euro (approx $8500 US) is at the most, about twice what I think it's worth. RHD in Germany is not ideal but being from Australia I have the option of taking it home with me in a year or more if I wanted. So I'm keen to hear what you all think it would be worth, that's if you think it's worth anything at all!

Some more photos.

I guess it all comes down to how much work you want to put into it. That's a very high price for something that needs a huge amount of body and mechanical work. Now I don't know the market there, but would assume you would have more than one option to look at as comparisons? And don't overlook the fact that while you might do much of the work yourself - Porsche parts are quite expensive. This job could add up to A LOT of $$$.

Is there anyone at hand you could pay to do a pre-purchase inspection? It'll cost a bit, but much less than you'll spend fixing the "surprises" on this one. A couple of observations from a non-expert: it appears that you folks in the UK pay a premium for RHD, but that still looks quite high for a car with those issues. That's where the PPI really pays for itself. The RMS is going to run you something like £600-800 (incl. IMS bearing), if prices there are proportional to the US. Is that the muffler that's covered in rust? Should be able to pick one up second-hand, cheaply, from someone who's installed an aftermarket exhaust system. Good luck with it! Don't rush into, though. You have lots of negotiating points there, it seems.

Instead of paying another 5k quid to fix this one, I would think about spending that same money up front for a cleaner specimen and spend more time driving and less fixing! Just my 2 cents worth.

Sorry, I meant to add: PPI is your friend!

Judging by your original post, it reads like you are trying to justify buying this example. Some observations: 1. Rust never sleeps. It never gets "better". It's a cancer that spreads throughout a car that cannot be reversed. 2. 240K kilometers is a LOT of miles. How many more are you expecting to get out of this Boxster? 3. Every high-mileage car owner reaches a "point of no return". That's when he has to make the decision to either fix the car or sell it. After that, if it doesn't work to his satisfaction, he has no choice but to sell the car, and hopefully recoup some of the original expense. It reads to me that the seller has invested a lot of money already and reached that point. I may be wrong; I probably am. I'd walk, but then again...............I'm just sayin'......... TO

Thanks for all the replies. All raise very good points on this one and I'll say straight up that I don't deny trying to justify this example if possible. I miss not having a Boxster big time and my approach to ownership again has changed. When I first inspected this one a while back my first impression was definitely "walk away, it's not worth the trouble" and so I did. Last week I revisited the photos and got thinking about it with a different attitude. I searched the net and got out my 101 projects book and read up a bit on all the DIY things I could do and now here I am. I didn't make it very clear in my first post but I'm living in Germany at the moment and good LHD examples are out of my budget. No one here really wants a RHD but they occasionally make their way here with people moving to and from the UK, hence the lower prices. A PPI is invaluable I know and I would do this before purchasing any Porsche, including this one. It's one thing to have a good look over the car and take some photos but engine, gearbox and structural subtleties are another thing and I would definitely pay someone with experience for that. The rust evidence alone warrants professional advice. . TeamOxford, you ask a good question in "how many more miles would I expect to get out of it?" In its current state I'd say not long at all. But if the motor had decent compression and the RMS/IMS was sorted then I think another 100,000km is not out of the question with the usual maintenance and oil changes every 5-7 thousand km. Rust report pending of course. If the AC, remote locking or any other things that I consider to be 'Non-essential' issues are broken then I would not be rushing to fix them. My attitude would be to fix only the essential things. Before my 04 Boxster I lived with 80s Hondas and really enjoyed their simplicity. Just fix what needs to be fixed to drive the thing. Deciding whether or not to proceed with a ppi is the point I'm at now. Oh and checking the classifieds each day for another distraction!

With that mileage and all those problems, especially the rust, I would not touch it. As for bringing it back here to Australia, I think that the local Porsche market is strongly biased against imported cars, so it would have to be something really special to bring a decent price here. There are plenty of Boxsters on sale here at the moment. Find a better car I would say.

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+1 on this. Rust makes a car very hard to work on also. Some of those bolts look like they will never come off. Is the interior in good shape besides the driver's seat? Don't know yuor market but this is a rough one.

You should not expect to get 100K Km out of that engine…that is a bad bet. The only situation that car would make sense is to buy it and keep your costs LOW….don't fix anything motor related that is not essential and then be prepared for a new /used engine. And that only makes sense if the rest of the car is above average and you pay not much over salvage value.

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I wouldn't think about taking this back to Aus. I looked at importing a older car from the UK and the costs were just too high to be worth it. Pretty much anything you buy in Aus will likely have no rust, so an imported rusty car won't be worth much at all. I'd try and get something better if I were you, but forget about importing it unless it's much newer and you can get a killing deal on it.

Parts car. I have a history of trying to fix things Women, Cars, Airplanes etc and after 50+ years I'm starting to catch on. It's a lot cheaper in the long run to get a good one in the first place.

Truly- JUNK-- these cars are just too complex and expensive to keep with all of that rust plus high miles. It's just a money pit and most of the parts are close to the end of their lifecycle. It will be one repair after another forever... Use your rational side and Wait.

There is a clear consensus in the responses so far and that is to leave it alone. That's what my gut feeling was when I first saw the car so I'll move on from this one. It definitely has helped to post this up on a board like this though as it can help put your mind at ease when curiosity begins to point you down a path will most likely regret. Thanks for all the replies and hopefully a better example is not to far round the corner.

I'd keep looking if I were you, unless you like to work on your car more than enjoy it. The car looks like it needs a lot of work.

There are 5,000 to 10,000 dollars US or more in repairs on this possibly more if an individual owner did the work. Picture show 1. Struts leaking 2. Rust on the windshield frame (Structural problem) 3. Looks like a header that has a cracked rusted mounting plate cracked around at least one exhaust tube 4. Cracks on coil packs 5. Are those the power steering tube that rusted (scary dangerous) 6. Transmission leaking 7. Spark plug tubes leaking 8. Calipers and brake 9. RMS or IMS oil leak I'd say Run far, Run fast. I would'nt even waste time on a PPI