Bought the boss's Boxster - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners

I've admired this car for years. Finally I asked my former boss (now retired) if I could buy it and he said yes. So now I am the proud owner of a well-cared for 2001 Boxster S. It just had a major service in the spring including a new waterpump, cv boots, clutch, flywheel, RMS, LNE IMS, coolant flush and oil change, so there is not much left to do with it, or so I thought... Over the past few days I noticed a few niggly things like the fuel door wouldn't lock. Turns out to be just a missing grommet and the safety hook was sneaking out the hole and snagging the pin. It was a simple matter to stuff the catch back in the hole and put in a spare grommet that I had, works well enough for now until can order the official Porsche grommet. I also noticed that neither remote works, even though the LED lights up on both. I tried taking the control module out of the key, pushed the button and it worked. Put it back in the key and it didn't work. Took it out and it worked. Then I realized the only difference was that when it was out of the key, I was holding the battery case to push the button. That little pressure on the battery case was enough for a good contact. So my temp solution is to put a little folded piece of paper in the key to put a bit of pressure on the battery and now it works consistently, though I suspect it will only be temporary. Has anyone successfully re-soldered the contact points on the remote? Just wondering if it was possible. I also did the radiator cleaning job (it really needed it!), and I noticed that the left fan does not work at all, just moans when it thinks it should be working. The right fan only works at high speed after it has idled for awhile. Bottom line is I need 2 new fans, and they're not cheap. Though I found some URO branded fans at Rockauto for substantially less money. Just wondering if anyone has had experience with these fans. And yes, I realize that URO stands for U-replace-often, but working on the car is part of the fun of ownership! Just wondering if they were noisier than the Bosch part. Thanks!

Congrats on your Boxster. Your going to love it. Yeah at this point these are old cars so there seems to always be something. Your car sounds well maintained so it should be minimal. Glad your first post includes a photo. If it didn't you'd be hearing it. I can't help you on your fan question but I am sure someone will chime in.

Welcome you are off to a great start. Search this forum for how to fix your remotes & you may only need to replace the problematic resistor for each fan.

It could just be the fan resistors are bad, but they cost around $110-120. You can get the fans from partsgeek for about $180 with resistors, so it makes sense to buy both and if you just need the resistor, you have a spare fan, which you probably will need in the future. I replaced both of mine within about a year of each other.

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Yes, I figured my right fan is probably just the resistor since it works fine in high speed but looking at the prices it didn't make sense to mate a new resistor with a 14 year old fan when the entire assembly is just a bit more, so I'll get the assemblies and keep the working fan as a spare. Partsgeek is the cheapest so far for the Bosch part but unfortunately they don't ship to Canada.

Where are you at in Canada? For Southern Ontario - nineapart.com is a good place to check out for used parts, although he does do a bit of new. But he's not cheap. I believe Pelican will ship to Canada no problem - but you will pay higher shipping and duty on most parts. Crutchfield.ca is good for any audio work you want to do. I've used them and not only are they super friendly and helpful, their prices are good. I've only had my ride for a few months too, so maybe others have a suggestion for us Canadians.

I get my parts from Pelican shipped to Ontario pretty quick, usually less than a week.

I usually get my parts from Autopartsway.ca. They are local here in Vancouver so I usually get my parts next day with free shipping for any order over $100, which for Porsche parts, is EVERYTHING! Pelican is still cheaper for a lot of parts and they have a wider selection so I think I'll be buying a lot of stuff there. This month is devoted to taxes and insurance, which is brutal here in BC. So this month I'm just going to enjoy the car since there are no urgent repairs required. The temps here are really mild so the fans can wait till I have some money.