Found a very clean elderly owned 02
Boxster S
with very low miles (38K). The car is in VERY nice shape and looked/drove great. I've read lots of horror stories about RMS leaks, IMS failures, AOS problems etc etc.
I plan to daily drive the car and do 4-5 DE's a year. I will likely have a full PPI done but wanted to see what to look out for when buying one of these cars. Can the major problems be caught during a PPI by a good tech?
If I plan to track it do I need to plan on going ahead with a LN bearing retrofit, different oil pan etc or can I drive it like it is out of the box on street tires?
A PPI should tell you if you have any oil leaks specifically where the trans and motor are joined. The could be an indication that you have an RMS or IMS, or both, leak. That would be cause for concern.
There is another test done with a PS2 that will tell you if you have any deviation in the crankshaft (I believe that is correct) which will also be an indication of IMS failure.
If you decide to DE the car you may want to plan on freshening up the clutch and that would be a good time to install an LN bearing and check the RMS.
As far as any other changes unless you decide to run R compound tires you shouldn't be facing any oil starvation issues but some do install the extended oil pan which alleviates that issue.
I DE my
Boxster
right off the street because I want to learn to control the car at higher speeds just the way I drive it on the road. If you get competitive though you may want to run R compounds and make the mods.
I installed the LN bearing at 84K miles and the OEM bearing was showing a little slop and the seal was gone.
The feeling among
Boxster
owners is that it is mostly the garage queens that are prone to IMS failure and that driving the car the way it was built to be driven results in a smaller percentage of IMS failures but there really is no evidence to support that.
Have fun with the car if you buy it as the Boxsters are a blast to drive in any situation.:cheers:
The critical scan test is for "camshaft timing deviation" this is basically the only way to get a "peek" at the IMSB condition externally.
QUOTE=BadToTheBox;682406]A PPI should tell you if you have any oil leaks specifically where the trans and motor are joined. The could be an indication that you have an RMS or IMS, or both, leak. That would be cause for concern.
There is another test done with a PS2 that will tell you if you have any deviation in the crankshaft (I believe that is correct) which will also be an indication of IMS failure.
If you decide to DE the car you may want to plan on freshening up the clutch and that would be a good time to install an LN bearing and check the RMS.
As far as any other changes unless you decide to run R compound tires you shouldn't be facing any oil starvation issues but some do install the extended oil pan which alleviates that issue.
I DE my Boxster right off the street because I want to learn to control the car at higher speeds just the way I drive it on the road. If you get competitive though you may want to run R compounds and make the mods.
I installed the LN bearing at 84K miles and the OEM bearing was showing a little slop and the seal was gone.
The feeling among Boxster owners is that it is mostly the garage queens that are prone to IMS failure and that driving the car the way it was built to be driven results in a smaller percentage of IMS failures but there really is no evidence to support that.
Have fun with the car if you buy it as the Boxsters are a blast to drive in any situation.:cheers:[/QUOTE]
Thanks BYprodriver I couldn't remember if it was camshaft or crankshaft.:cheers:
[/QUOTE]
I agree, i think it just need to be driven hard and all the time..my friend's 2001 boxsterS has 250kmiles..lol! he drives his daily and tracked it a few times.
PS2 I believe is intended to be "
PST2
" which stands for
Porsche
System Tester 2 which has been replaced by
PIWIS
which in turn has been replaced by
PIWIS2
.
These jumbles of letters and numbers are referencing
Porsche
specific diagnostics computers which dealers are required to have and which some indy shops have, at least the
PST2
and maybe the
PIWIS
provided these have not gone dark.
Anyhow, with the proper working diagnostics computer a knowledgeable tech can check out various systems including the VarioCam and VarioCam Plus systems and in doing so find any scary camshaft timing deviations/variations which can be a sign of pending trouble in the VarioCam/VarioCam Plus or other cam related hardware.
