981 High mileage issues - Page 2 - Boxster/Cayman - PistonHeads UK

Hi all. Have been lurking in the shadows whilst contemplating a 981...started with the Caymen, but now am actively considering a Boxster. I'm thinking of one that is high mileage, given I intend it to be my daily and put quite a few miles on it over the next few years. Can owners with experience of the 981 approaching the 100k mark give some feedback, good or bad? Thanks in advance.

I'd change the clickbait title to start with?

Did 34000 miles with 70 ish trackdays and no issues at all. What do track miles count as ? Racers have been rebuilding engines with no issues at three years and nothing to do other than the sensible consumables of a rebuilt race engine. Engine rebuilders have been waiting 10 years for significant failures ... ????

Think skinny Pete has close on @150k with little issues.

The engines seem quite reliable. I've heard of problems with the manual gearboxes. 3rd gear just breaks. Seems like a known fault but no recall or updated parts. The PDK isn't repairable as Porsche deliberately don't sell parts, although some specialists might be working on that. All nuts, clips and fastenings underneath rust away to nothing as per every other recent Porsche car. The complete exhaust too. The PCM hard drive can die with old age. It's a spinning disc type. You'd need to decide if you're doing with warranty or without. The warranty will run up to 125000 miles or 15 years. If you're doing high mileage the warranty could offer better value for money. I'd never suggest breaking the law but I'd be tempted to consider clocking the car regularly to keep up the warranty as you rack up miles and prevent it hitting their 125000 mile limit. A 2012 to 2015 car would have another 3 to 6 years of potential warranty. That gives you plenty of time to add miles. The clockers seem to believe it's undetectable but I don't believe that.

Youforreal. said: Think skinny Pete has close on @150k with little issues. I think he had a fair few warranty claims… Extended warranty seemed good value indeed, lol.

Bought my manual Cayman last year with just under 60k and have done around 12,000 miles in year with it being my only car. Granted that's not mega high mileage but when i was looking to buy it was one of the highest mileage manual ones on sale. General consensus seems to be that as long as you keep on top of servicing they are pretty reliable. One thing I have noticed is that lots of short journeys in winter can cause a low battery warning to flash up, but give them a longer drive and they are fine. Mines just been through a major service and while I was there I had the gearbox oil and aux belt changed as I wasn't sure they had been done. Really enjoyed my time with the car but fancy a change soon, they are fantastic cars that work great as a daily driver whilst still being very special and fun when the road opens up.

TheOctaneAddict said: One thing I have noticed is that lots of short journeys in winter can cause a low battery warning to flash up, but give them a longer drive and they are fine. I have a rule with myself that I always drive until the oil is up to temperature, even I only need to go a couple of miles. I'm doing a little bit of part-time work at the moment that is 2.5 miles away, and I do an 8-mile route to get there. It seems a bit over the top, but I think overall is good for the car.

paulguitar said: I have a rule with myself that I always drive until the oil is up to temperature, even I only need to go a couple of miles. I'm doing a little bit of part-time work at the moment that is 2.5 miles away, and I do an 8-mile route to get there. It seems a bit over the top, but I think overall is good for the car. The C-Tek battery charger is also great value for keeping the battery tip top if you're not using it much.

ATM said: The engines seem quite reliable. I've heard of problems with the manual gearboxes. 3rd gear just breaks. Seems like a known fault but no recall or updated parts. The PDK isn't repairable as Porsche deliberately don't sell parts, although some specialists might be working on that. All nuts, clips and fastenings underneath rust away to nothing as per every other recent Porsche car. The complete exhaust too. The PCM hard drive can die with old age. It's a spinning disc type. You'd need to decide if you're doing with warranty or without. The warranty will run up to 125000 miles or 15 years. If you're doing high mileage the warranty could offer better value for money. I'd never suggest breaking the law but I'd be tempted to consider clocking the car regularly to keep up the warranty as you rack up miles and prevent it hitting their 125000 mile limit. A 2012 to 2015 car would have another 3 to 6 years of potential warranty. That gives you plenty of time to add miles. The clockers seem to believe it's undetectable but I don't believe that. I thought a quick chesk of the ECU would tell the OPC the car had been clocked ?

paulguitar said: TheOctaneAddict said: One thing I have noticed is that lots of short journeys in winter can cause a low battery warning to flash up, but give them a longer drive and they are fine. I have a rule with myself that I always drive until the oil is up to temperature, even I only need to go a couple of miles. I'm doing a little bit of part-time work at the moment that is 2.5 miles away, and I do an 8-mile route to get there. It seems a bit over the top, but I think overall is good for the car. It takes a while for the oil to come up to temperature that's for sure ... the GT3 is completely different possibly because of the dry sump system. The third gear issue of GT4 was a re-call ... caused I understand by the manufacturer switching from a splined third gear to a welded third gear ... now history ? Maybe the topic should be ... has anybody experienced any high mileage issues on 981's ?

ATM said: The engines seem quite reliable. I've heard of problems with the manual gearboxes. 3rd gear just breaks. Seems like a known fault but no recall or updated parts. The PDK isn't repairable as Porsche deliberately don't sell parts, although some specialists might be working on that. All nuts, clips and fastenings underneath rust away to nothing as per every other recent Porsche car. The complete exhaust too. The PCM hard drive can die with old age. It's a spinning disc type. You'd need to decide if you're doing with warranty or without. The warranty will run up to 125000 miles or 15 years. If you're doing high mileage the warranty could offer better value for money. I'd never suggest breaking the law but I'd be tempted to consider clocking the car regularly to keep up the warranty as you rack up miles and prevent it hitting their 125000 mile limit. A 2012 to 2015 car would have another 3 to 6 years of potential warranty. That gives you plenty of time to add miles. The clockers seem to believe it's undetectable but I don't believe that. Ah yes, the old obtaining pecuniary advantage by deception. What could possibly go wrong ?

ChrisW. said: The third gear issue of GT4 was a re-call ... caused I understand by the manufacturer switching from a splined third gear to a welded third gear ... now history ? Owner of an early 718 (non GT4) in NI has recently had 3rd gear fail at I think 40k odd miles - Porsche GB very unhelpful. Details on boxa.net.

elisered said: ChrisW. said: The third gear issue of GT4 was a re-call ... caused I understand by the manufacturer switching from a splined third gear to a welded third gear ... now history ? Owner of an early 718 (non GT4) in NI has recently had 3rd gear fail at I think 40k odd miles - Porsche GB very unhelpful. Details on boxa.net. https://www.boxa.net/topic/99302-lost-third-gear/p... Bloody hell what a nightmare! Solid argument for a PDK?

elisered said: Owner of an early 718 (non GT4) in NI has recently had 3rd gear fail at I think 40k odd miles - Porsche GB very unhelpful. Details on boxa.net. Not good and feel for the owner although, not having paid Porsche for the extended warranty means not really a leg to stand on. I appreciate my post won't be popular. I'd say they made a fair gesture

ATM said: I'd never suggest breaking the law but I'd be tempted to consider clocking the car regularly to keep up the warranty as you rack up miles and prevent it hitting their 125000 mile limit. A 2012 to 2015 car would have another 3 to 6 years of potential warranty. That gives you plenty of time to add miles. The clockers seem to believe it's undetectable but I don't believe that. You ARE suggesting insurance fraud. The extended warranty is an insurance product.

ATM said: I'd never suggest breaking the law but I'd be tempted to consider clocking the car regularly to keep up the warranty as you rack up miles and prevent it hitting their 125000 mile limit. A 2012 to 2015 car would have another 3 to 6 years of potential warranty. That gives you plenty of time to add miles. The clockers seem to believe it's undetectable but I don't believe that . Irrespective of it being a stupid suggestion if you don't believe it's undetectable why suggest it? BTW if you think you could outsmart either Porsche or any insurers think again, you are not clever enough and they are not daft enough.

elisered said: ChrisW. said: The third gear issue of GT4 was a re-call ... caused I understand by the manufacturer switching from a splined third gear to a welded third gear ... now history ? Owner of an early 718 (non GT4) in NI has recently had 3rd gear fail at I think 40k odd miles - Porsche GB very unhelpful. Details on boxa.net. When and why did they swap from splined to welded? Are the earlier manual 981 cars splined?

981Boxess said: ATM said: I'd never suggest breaking the law but I'd be tempted to consider clocking the car regularly to keep up the warranty as you rack up miles and prevent it hitting their 125000 mile limit. A 2012 to 2015 car would have another 3 to 6 years of potential warranty. That gives you plenty of time to add miles. The clockers seem to believe it's undetectable but I don't believe that . Irrespective of it being a stupid suggestion if you don't believe it's undetectable why suggest it? BTW if you think you could outsmart either Porsche or any insurers think again, you are not clever enough and they are not daft enough. I suggest it because it is something someone could do. I would not. That does not mean someone else would not. We are all grown ups here right. This is a discussion. People or grown ups make comments and others reply. That's how a discussion works. See we're doing it right now. Assuming you are a grown up obviously. I might suggest someone drives their car quicker than the speed limit. I would never do that myself as it is illegal. Someone else reading this may think hmmm ok I could try it. Does that mean I told them to do it? Would they have not done it if I had not suggested it? Is everyone driving quicker than the speed limit doing so because I suggested it. These are complicated subjects which I choose to not get too heavily involved in as I am just a guy chatting with strangers on the Internet about cars. Hopefully that's clear but... Why would you ask me that? Why ask me why I posted it? Why do you think I suggested it? What do you think it says about me? What do you think it says about you asking me that? The cars ECU is just a little computer. Every computer can be hacked and reprogrammed. So while I believe it would be possible to alter the mileage without Porsche being able to detect it. I do not believe that the cowboys who offer this as a service are the best people to trust to do this well. Cars getting clocked has been going on longer than cars have been invented. And yes that is obviously not true. So why did I post that?

ATM said: So why did I post that? No idea

Not the same mileage, but I did 40,000 miles in a 981GTS from new, PSE packed up out of warranty and it wasn't going to be a cheap fix. Had a parking sensor fail within a few months from new, obviously covered under warranty at the time. Other than that it was faultless. There are a few companies now who are able to repair PDK boxes and I've seen one who doesn't even need to completely remove it from the car (I assume depending upon the fault).