First Porsche...couple of little faults... - Page 1 - Boxster/Cayman - PistonHeads UK

As per my update to the Poverty Pork thread, I'm now the very proud owner of an '02 2.7 manual. The car had been laid up for a few months and was pretty minging, I took a massive risk on it, but she's scrubbed up beautifully and more importantly, had a big thumbs up from my indie today. Phew! She's in next week to get the hood looked at, once you've started it going down, it won't go back up until it's been all the way down if that makes sense. The latch also hits the wind deflector on the way down...they reckon it just needs some adjustment. Also, the gear lever has lost it's "springiness" in the left/right plane, so it's in for new cables too which should sweeten up the shift. But there's a few things I need to sort and just wondering if anyone has come across anything similar and has any tips... 1. There's an occasional rattle from the front end. This sounds like someone has removed all the carpet from the front boot, thrown a wheel nut in and shut the lid. The indy has ruled out any suspsension issues, it all looks fine, and the rattle is only occasional...as in you get lots of rattling then nothing for a 50 miles. I did wonder if it was the spare wheel but it looks tightly in place. Any ideas? 2. Rear boot lid. It won't open on the sill switch. The switch is illuminated so there is some kind of power there, and it opens fine on the key fob. Any thoughts before I start pulling the sills apart? 3. Wind deflector. One of the clips is broken...it seems to stay in OK but should I not use it until it's fixed? 4. Interior trim. It's a strange, very rough, matt silver grey paint. It has a few scratches here and there, especially on the gear knob. Can you get the touch up paint, or even better, is there a good (and reasonably priced) source of used alternatives? Something ally or carbon would be fantastic (although not cheap I guess) or perhaps even just the plain silver would do. 5. Seats...the backrest release doesn't work for the passenger side. TBH I can hardly ever seeing me need to use this, but if it's an easy/common job it might be worth a punt. 6. Seatbelt...the return spring on the driver's side is very lazy...the buckle is usually on the floor somewhere. Is this an easy fix in term of lube or a spring? I have visions of metres of steel scything their way through the air if I try and tinker with it...is it perhaps easier just to fit another from a breakers? Anyway, these are just minor niggles that really don't detract from an otherwise great car...I really am loving her!

Lovely motor - sounds like you found a right bargain - well done!

Looks very nice, what sort of extras? Am looking to buy at the moment myself so would be very interested to know costs, etc. please e mail me if you would rather not post these details Cheers Simon

Thats a great looking car.......... Just leave it as standard I'd say... Just don't fit anything after market. people will always buy an unmarked standard good looking car like that. well done. Gadgit.

Hi, congrats on your purchase, i am surprised your indi hasn't answered some of your questions and be able to help, I own an Porsche specialists garage "SP Autobahn" in scotland, you are probably too far away from my premises but can pm me and I have few solutions for you and there is a fix I can suggest to save you spending £££ on new gearchange cables

Guys Thanks for the compliments on the car. My indy have offered to take a proper look at these niggles, however their "on ramps" inspection was FOC so I can't expect them to really start digging around some of the niggles for free. WRT the boot lock, they say it's almost certainly a switch problem, however if it's something obvious I'd rather tinker myself than pay someone else to do it. Stup, WRT gear cables I had asked them to fix that at the time. Do let me know if you think there is a fix, however they had a guy in the car for a good 20mins whilst someone else was under it trying to sort it and they said they really couldn't do it, the cables were fooked and it needed new ones, whilst the gearstick end was very well lubed. In fairness, the indy knows the car of old and picked up on the same problem previously. TBH, I don't really notice it now, however the other half isn't totally happy driving it as is, and I'd rather spend a few hundred on cables now than £££££s because she found 1st instead of 3rd, and she can enjoy driving it without worrying. As it is, it was on the ramps for well over an hour at no cost, and even when I said "what about x and y" they said "nothing wrong with those" so I really don't think they are in it to make a quick buck. But I'mm all ears if you have a quick fix!!

At the rear right hand side of the gearbox you will see an aluminium shield held on by 2 x 10mm nuts, if you remove this you will clearly see the part no.18 as per diagram Another pic of this below 2 x 8mm bolts (13mm spanner) hold on this bracket/linkage (number 14 on first diagram is these bolts)...On the pivot of this linkage you will see a rubber dust cover on the left hand side of it, if you remove this with your fingers, below this you will see a circlip which you should remove, once circlip removed you can slide out the pivoting pin and clean up and grease, re-assemble and your good to go, no harm in popping of the other link points of their ball joint and grease also whilst in that area. 9 times out of 10 it's this pivot pin drying out that makes the gear lever not spring return between 3rd and 4th gear rather than the cables. Good luck Stuart SP Autobahn

Stup, many thanks for posting that. My indy did say "probably just needs lubing" and then come back 30 mins later with "not made any difference, looks like it's cables" so I'm hoping (or maybe not) that they did try your suggestion. However I will definitely mention it to them. The issue is not the 3rd/4th element, it's the side to side element. If you changed from 2nd to 1st, pushing with just one outstretched finger in a straight line slowly, as the lever goes through neutral, it should ping to the right and end up the 3rd/4th plane. Mine doesn't, it just stays on the left side of the H pattern and would go into 1st. TBH, the only tricky change is going 5th to 3rd, as there's just no feel as to whether you're about to go back into 5th, get 3rd, or worse, 1st. If you go into 4th, leave the clutch down and then forward into 3rd it's obvious where the gears are, but clearly not ideal! Thanks again for the post though and I'll see what they say...

That is exactly what that pivot lever does,,,,if not lubed(has to be stripped to be lubed). IT STOPS the gear lever ending up inline with the 3rd to 4th plane...if this was stripped and lubed 9 times out of 10 this would fix your gearshift stiff going from left to right. Cables are usually pretty good but you could be that 1 out of 10 scenario Just some free advise to potentially save you some money. Good luck Stuart SP Autobahn

Stuart...thanks again. Today I treated the car to new numberplates (same VRN, just shiny new plastic plates to replace the bent metal ones), a replacement wind deflector clip and some plastic polish for the rear screen. Oh, and a damned good, 100 mile, roof down hoon. In return, she treated me to an "as if by magic" cure on the gear lever. Not sure if it was a combination of the lube attempted by the indy working its way into whatever was stuck, plus just some use, but it's absolutely fine now. I'd also like to think she is enjoying a good spank following months sat on someone's driveway. Anyway, I'm dead chuffed about that, saved a good few quid there!