Going to look at a 2003 S, have some concerns

[clnilsen]

Hi everyone!

Been a long time, and nice to be back. I used to have a 1980 911SC, and frequented the 911 boards here until I sold the car a few years back. I did some light wrenching on the car myself - oil changes, etc - but never went as far as valve adjustments and the like.

Now, the wife is interested in a manual boxster, and we've located a 2003 S with 53k in the right color, etc near us for $19k, which seems like a good deal. I do have a couple questions and concerns after reading the threads on this board, especially on maintenance costs.

1) Is there a checklist of things I can look at? The car is not an auction car and has some papers, but almost every car we've found seems to be lucky to have the owners manual, let alone any records at all. I think so many of these cars were leases in this era, finding 1-2 owner cars is highly difficult.

2) What the average expectation of a clutch in these cars? Any estimates on what a service would cost?

3) I was close to pulling the trigger on this car (or any boxster) until I came across the many threads on the IMB bearing issue, which has caused me to pucker up severely, to the point of nixing entirely boxsters. Without a clear view on oil change frequency, how paranoid should I be? if i buy the car, I wouldn't be able to immediately drop another 2500$ into the bearing replacement and I do not have the wherewithal to do it myself if it can be done with the engine in the car.

This will be a third car for us, and something we'd like to keep for a long time. I also want to avoid making a bad decision and appreciate anyone's input, especially recent buyers.

Thanks!

Chuck

[mikefocke]

I just sold my Boxster after 6 years of ownership to someone who never even drove the car. All he did was listen to me describe it and judged from my approach to it that I was a maintenance fanatic. He got 4 inches of documents, manuals, CDs and perhaps 5 years of magazines plus maintenance supplies. So there are cars like that out there, you just have to keep looking and not settle.

I had not done the IMS relying on the statistic that my chances were less than 1% that in the next year I'd have the problem. I did change the oil frequently and run the engine to high RPMs when warm.

The time to do the IMS is when the trans is out for a clutch. Some clutches go 200k, some 20k. Depends on the clutch, the driver's skill, the terrain.

PedrosGarage.com has a PPI or pre-purchase inspection discussion which you should find useful (disclaimer: I helped him develop his form by supplying the one I had had done on my car when I bought it.) If I was in FL and wanted to know the condition of a car I was buying, I'd enlist Pedro to find me a car or at least do a PPI. He races his personal Boxster with over 200k miles.

[Wayne 962]

The cars are generally very reliable - much more so than the 1980 SC era. Don't be too worried about the IMS issue - it's similar to the Carrera chain tensioner issue on the air cooled cars. I would recommend picking up a copy of my 101 Projects book for the Boxster and that should give you a good idea of what you're getting yourself into.

-Wayne

[Stiletto Pat]

I purchased an '03 Boxster S last year prior to becoming a habitual reader of this and other Boxster forums. I've discovered that I was probably an extremely lucky purchaser, since my car came from an estate sale, and although it had all owners manuals, it came with only very sketchy maintenance information. That said, the car was extremely clean and appeared to be garaged and well maintained, and my test drive went quite smoothly, with no odd sounds or car handling input quirks to alert me to any problems, so I bought it.

I've been reading all the information that's being passed down through the forums regarding the IMS issue. Wayne's book is a wonderful primer on the world of Boxsters. Most of the contributors on the IMS issue will tell you to look at the oil and filter when you do a change. Perhaps if you're really serious about the car, you can make arrangements to do a quick oil change on the car to examine the the old oil and filter for metal shavings. Since you're already used to doing that, it's not hard - purchase a filter from Pelican, buy the 9 quarts of synthetic oil, all for about $70 = examine the old oil, and get some peace of mind. My car had just had an oil change prior to my purchase, so I just did my first oil change this weekend - and was quite pleased to get clean bill of health - very clean filter and oil. I think that buys me time on the IMS bearing replacement, at least until the time you're ready to service your clutch or start seeing major metal shavings in your oil.

I have to see you shy away from such a wonderful driving and handling vehicle. I never knew I'd enjoy this car so much. Not to mention, our local Porsche clubs have a lot of great events, auto-crosses and DEs to attend. BTW, you'll be pleasantly amazed how the Boxsters dominate the auto-cross events.

Best of luck,

Pat

[newlife]

Hi,

I bought my Porsche 2000 S Boxter two months ago, and I had service records going back to year 2000. This made the car more valuable to me and I paid a little bit more because of the paper trail. Also, I am the third owner. I didn't know anything about service records or Porsches before I purchased my car. I am learning everything after the fact. And because of the service records, it has been a lot easier for me to diagnose a recent smog issue/problem I had and I know everything that was done to the car. Also Mike's web page here

https://sites.google.com/site/mikefocke2/mikesporscheboxsterwebpages has been very

has been helpful, along of course with Wayne's book and the Bently book. I'm learning as I go and I have 4 other cars to drive if the Porsche has a major failure.

Rod


https://sites.google.com/site/mikefocke2/mikesporscheboxsterwebpages

[thstone]

1. Don't worry about the lack of service history. 99.999% of Porsche owners take very good care of their cars and with only 53K miles, the car was likely well serviced.

2. Change the oil as soon as you buy it. Then do the 60K service on time and the maintenance should be fine from there on out ($300 DIY parts, $700 local shop, up to $1,000 at a dealer).

3. Don't worry too much about the IMS bearing. Very low chance of a problem, 1-2%.

4. Get a Pre-Purchase Inspection (PPI) from a local Porsche mechanic. It is money well spent to know exactly what you're getting into.

5. As you know, there are no cheap Porsche's. If you don't have $2,500 in reserve, then you might want to think twice. I just put in a new starter for $400 DIY ($750 local shop), alignment for $100, and will need new tires after my track day this Sunday ($700-$900). Its easy to put $2K into an 8-yr old car that is behind on repairs/maintenance.

[Wayne 962]

All good advice here.

-Wayne

[clnilsen]

Going to check it out today for initial wife inspection... ;-P

[clnilsen]

Well, that was a boondoggle. The car was in pretty sad cosmetic shape with signs of a rear end collision. Dealer was desperate to deal, which was another sign of flee as fast as you can!

[mikefocke]

There are thousands for sale right now. And you just did the best thing a car buyer can do, don't buy the first one immediately but shop and compare. How will you know a good one if you don't see a sample.

[WhipE350]

clnilsen -

Camp out for a few weeks on the classifieds section of a Boxster forum (I use this forum and 986forum) and a great car will come through...next one I buy will be found this way for me...usually the best kept and lower prices. The Boxster enthusiasts community takes care of it's own, generally wanting a buyer to love the car as much as they did.

Good luck!