Maintenance questions

[twelchb]

New to the Board. Have a 2002 Boxster and have about 150,000 miles. It has been pretty reliable and a great car to drive. Auto crossed a bit and have done a couple track days. All service has been done and I change the oil every 3K to 4K miles. Pretty basic question - I am getting ready to do a clutch, flywheel, probably a water pump, belt, brakes, IMS, main seal, engine mount and transmission mounts, and a few other little things to the car. With 150,000 miles on the car are there any things that I should have checked with the engine/transmission before I commit to the repairs. I would really hate to put a bunch of bucks into the car and then have something happen. No smoke at all. Engine pulls very well. No problems with the clutch (but probably 80K miles on it). A couple small oil leaks. Sport exhaust is good. interior is OK. Top was replaced about 10 years ago and is rarely up. I live in New Braunfels, Texas - great weather - if you don't mind heat. A/C works great, but dampers stay open for both the foot well and the dash. All-in-all a great car. Still looks great (at 10 feet). What should I look out for? I really like the car but it is 16 years old. Thanks for any and all advice.

[mikefocke]

Thermostat, AOS while you have things apart. Fluids. But I note no brakes or suspension plans. How old are the front O2 sensors?

[Brian in Tucson]

Clean, repack, new boots on the cv joints.

[twelchb]

AOS replaced about a year ago. Planning on brake flush, new rotors and pads. Good point on CV boots. O2 sensors - not sure. Don't remember doing them. Will check them. Suspension refresh will follow if I go with all other items. Too much $$ at one time. Thanks for the input. Any engine-specific things I should worry about? Any way to check bearing wear, what is a "normal life" for them?

[mikefocke]

I've found choosing what preventative maintenance to do is almost impossible to do from a return on investment standpoint. The minute you do something expensive the engine could blow from one of 28 known problems or you could total the car or a weather event or .....

I've over maintained many cars I then quickly sold. OTOH, my second Boxster I put $1200 in tires plus $3k in maintenance into it the first week I had it and it ran beautifully for years.

A leakdown test will give you a reading on the valves and piston rings and cylinders. M96 engines have been known to go 300k plus with regular use and maintenance. Or not.

[dlud]

I would check the camshaft deviations. The variocam wear pads are notorious for wearing out. And while the cost is not great to replace them it requires pulling the cam covers off which is a pain with the engine in the car (I did them recently with the engine in the car). If needed replace the wear pads and the camshaft timing chains (also a relatively inexpensive part).

[twelchb]

Thanks for the great advice. I am going to take the Boxster in and have them do a leak down test. Based on that (if it looks good), I think that I will go ahead and do the work. I really do like the car. Very clean and simple looks, enough power for me, handling that is superb, and a joy to drive. Also - out running errands yesterday and two people commented on the looks of the car. Not bad for the very basic Porsche entry model and 16 years old. Incidentally, I sold an 06 C4S a couple of years ago and still regret it, but I found out that out of 10 times I drove the 911 and the Boxster, I drove the Boxster 9 times. Love the convertible. The 911 was actually scary fast and handled great, but I was more at home in the Boxster. Thanks again for the help and advice. Also, thanks to the folks at Pelican for making this great resource available to Porsche owners. What a wealth of knowledge out there.

[cnavarro]

Originally Posted by mikefocke

I've found choosing what preventative maintenance to do is almost impossible to do from a return on investment standpoint. The minute you do something expensive the engine could blow from one of 28 known problems or you could total the car or a weather event or .....

I've over maintained many cars I then quickly sold. OTOH, my second Boxster I put $1200 in tires plus $3k in maintenance into it the first week I had it and it ran beautifully for years.

A leakdown test will give you a reading on the valves and piston rings and cylinders. M96 engines have been known to go 300k plus with regular use and maintenance. Or not.

Another good test is a manometer test. If your AOS is good, it will also provide a indication of ring seal.

One plus is that you have a early 2.7 base model - other than IMS failures, they are bulletproof. Just be sure to put a deep sump on the engine if you track it so you don't wipe out the bearings from oil starvation and be sure to use a race oil too.

If you do a used oil analysis, that will also indicate overall engine health and let you monitor the engine's health if repeated over several oil services.

I put together a document on preventative maintenance, which can be downloaded here:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/u9n36qjlxu4dxa9/2017-Protecting-Your-Investment.pdf?dl=0

I also created one on tracking your car with the M96 engine:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/qxsa57xetrc3rwn/2017-Tracking-your-car-and-the-M96-engine.pdf?dl=0

[twelchb]

Thanks for the info sheets. Really good source of simple and effective maintenance and track info.