Q – I have a Boxster S and my rear tires are wearing our really fast. I had the springs replaced with lowering springs and when the shop was done, they tried to align the car. They were unable to get the rear toe adjustment within the normal range. There is no way to adjust the original rear toe adjusters any further than they did without hacking up my car. I didn’t want to drive it that way but I had to and my new tires were toast in 2,000 miles! What can I do? Chuck

A – Wow, what a coincidence, I ran into this too! Calling Techart was the obvious first step but they were unaware of the problem. Since this did not work and modifying the car is not an option, what you are left with is the need for adjustable rear tie rods that have a lot more room to adjust than the factory allowed. Since the front tie rods have exactly the same taper as the rear toe links, replicating the inner bushing and mating it to a pair or front tie rods works just fine. Now you can have the lowest Boxster around and your tires will last a lot longer too. MC

Q – I have a 99 Boxster and I have been reading about the convertible top failure and the huge cost involved. Is there any way to prevent this?

A – Interestingly, the factory does not specify ANY maintenance for the top but the dealer will gladly repair it if it breaks or sell you the parts to fix it for a princely sum. No thanks! “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” I have found that parts of the top vibrate loose. When they do, the mechanism can get out of index, bind, and bingo, the game is over (and you lose). I suggest an annual inspection of the top to check for loose parts and a lubrication to keep things moving freely. Incidentally, when the top fails, the body sometimes bends. You can tell this has happened when the “clam shell” no longer fits flat. Autometric is the source we recommend for straightening the inner flanks of the car if this has happened to you. The youngest Boxster that I have seen with this problem was only two years old. I was stunned at such an early failure until the client told me that he had left a two liter bottle of pop in the back when he put the top down. Oops! $2,500 later, it was back to normal. MC

Q – I have a 98 Boxster and it has an interior rattle that annoys me. I tracked it down to the screen that fits behind the seat in the hoop of the roll bar. Got a hot tip before I Gorilla glue it? A – Ed Sure Ed, get some Velcro and remove the screen. You will notice four points where rubber pads cushion the plastic piece against the roll bar hoop. They have gotten squashed over the last 10 years or just fell off. You can replace the rubber pads with the “loop” part of self adhesive Velcro tape (You won’t be using the “hook” part, just the loop.) Once you clean the old goo off with alcohol, cut little rectangles of Velcro to replace the rubber pads. The Velcro will be a little thicker (more cushion) than the rubber pads. While you are at it, do the drivers side. I promise the rattle will annoy you no longer and they will snap in place with authority. MC

Q – My Boxster suffered that broken intermediate shaft failure and I had the engine replaced two months ago. Today while I was on the freeway, it started to blow giant clouds of blue smoke then the check engine light came on. The engine still runs fine and I checked the oil. It is only ½ quart low and there are no leaks (unlike the last time it croaked) I am ticked! After a $10,000 bill on the engine I want to burn this sucker.

A – Such language! I am not an attorney, if you burn it you will need one now that everyone knows about your evil thoughts. But seriously, it is probably not as bad as you think, just another speed bump on the road of life. Porsche has updated a device called the crankcase breather assembly three times. My hunch is that yours has failed. They fail suddenly and dramatically but do no harm except for the smoke screen that you have been laying down and possible fouling of the spark plugs and OXS sensor. The unit is located on top of the engine and it costs a little over a hundred dollars. Labor to replace it will cost a few hundreds but if you don’t drive very far after if fails (and how could you without attracting the authorities) it is likely that resetting the computer will shut off the warning light. MC

Q – I just bought a Boxster S and it has a K & N air filter. My mechanic said that it needed to be serviced. I wondered what your thoughts are on the K & N versus the factory filter? He suggested that I go back to the original dry filter. Pete

A – Well Pete, if you are the one servicing the K & N and if you have extra time on your hands, keep it and buy the kit to clean and re-oil it. However, for my money, I recommend the original dry filter in your Boxster. Here is my logic: Considering the time it takes (and time is money when you are paying someone else) the cost/benefit ratio does not work out. To get to the filter alone is a chore. Cleaning it is messy and then you are supposed to let it dry after you clean it. Another disadvantage of the K & N is that is uses oil to attract and trap debris. When you consider oil as a contaminant of the Air Mass Sensor on your Boxster, you need to be careful not to over oil the filter. If you do, the check engine light can set and your car might not run very well. I have a K & N in my Carrera but that is a different application. First of all, it is a cone (non original) style air filter rather than the conventional “panel” filter. On my older Carrera, there are also a few other factors to consider. My car does not have the same design Air Mass Sensor so a little extra oil doesn’t hurt it. My filter is easy to access. And when I service it, I can leave the car apart for however long it takes to clean it and oil it. I usually wait for rainy weekends. Do the K & N’s really give you more power? I defer to the manufacturers literature on that question and I am sure they can, but here’s the rub. When the filter is buried in an engine compartment, where you can’t see it, how do you know when it is dirty? The factory dry filter has the advantage of releasing some of the dirt into the air filter housing that it collects while the engine is running. The K & N does not. It just keeps packing it in. I think that the benefits of a new K & N are real, but as it gets clogged with crud, what benefit does it have then? Frequently I find these filters neglected due to the hassle factor. Now if you still want to use the K & N, buy a stock filter and simply swap the two during the cleaning/re-oiling process and take your time cleaning it. – MC

Q – My Boxster had been slowly losing coolant for a couple months and every once and a while, I just added a cup or so but now it went down over the weekend and I couldn’t see where it was going. I took it in to a local shop and they told me it was the reservoir and estimated an astronomical price for the part and the labor. I am stunned! I had a reservoir replaced on my Audi A-6 and it cost me less than $200.00. What makes these so tough? – Kevin

A – Kevin, my sympathies and I am sorry to say, it is probably worse than you know. When I have been involved in these repairs, it is always an adventure and rarely goes well. The problem is where the bottle is located and how it was installed. The reservoir was mounted to the body before the powertrain and so, the easiest way to remove it…is to remove the powertrain first!! Now that’s absurd so what you are left with is multiple hoses grouped tightly together and clamped with spring clamps that you cannot get a straight shot at. The pliers alone to compress the clamps will set you back $100.00 on the Snap-On truck. So lets say you manage to compress and sneak the clamps down the hoses and you naively think the hose will slide right off…WRONG! The hoses are baked on! When hot coolant has circulated about ten years or so through the hoses, the easiest way for removal (again absurd) is to cut them off. I can see that sometimes that might even be cheaper. Here is the “worst” part. The plastic tank is made of a similar material as some of the other hoses, pipes, and flanges in that system. So don’t be surprised if other parts break in the process of working around the area. When the chemists and engineers designed these cost and weight saving pieces, they did their best to quality test the materials and design in the R & D lab on dyno test stands. They test run engines 24 yours a day for weeks and months trying to make sure that their computer derived components would stand the test of time. Unfortunately… they never test them in the world we live in, where these things have to last for years. There is an elf somewhere in Bavaria who decided to make water pump impellers out of plastic to save a few pennies per unit. He sold the idea to BMW, VW and Porsche. Now he is laughing his butt off, enjoying his retirement (you know he is related to that other elf who has the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow that no one can ever find…) while those of us who bought the product would love to tell him how much we appreciate a water pump that will randomly fail, usually on the hottest day just after a high RPM romp on the freeway. Heaven help him if we ever find him and heaven help you if you don’t notice the gauge or the red light in time. Of course there is another side to the story here. Those of us in the auto repair business would like to thank him for the thousands of hours of “job security” that he designed into a product that was doomed to fail. So with one kid in college and another one soon to follow, Thanks! – MC

Q – My Boxster is driving me crazy. I bought it at auction for a great price but three months later, the transmission failed. I only paid 12,000 for the car but the transmission cost me another 9 grand. So I’ve got $21,000 into the car and I was OK with that until it started overheating. I have never had any problem driving it until it overheated; and even after that, the engine still runs fine. My local mechanic replaced the water pump and the thermostat but still after a few miles, the temp gauge starts to rise and then the heater quits producing heat! I took it back and now he is telling me that he thinks the head gaskets have failed. I have read all about Boxster engine problems on the web and now I am thinking that the engine might be bad. – Brian

A – Brian you have my sympathy. I understand why you would be worried. The water pump impellers do fail. They are made of plastic! And the thermostat is a good hunch too. And although it may seem simple to replace both parts, there is an added complication that your mechanic might not have realized. Here’s the best news. I believe that the most likely problem is that cooling system has not been properly bled. Based on Boxster cooling system design, this is not an easy task and depending on where your mechanic got his information, he might have been doomed. The factory manual is vague on the topic (presumably they handle it in on-the-car training) and we have found that the Robert Bentley manual has the most detailed written & pictorial procedure. It’s not easy or inexpensive but getting all the bubbles out sometimes takes a couple hours, a couple spirited road tests and even after that, a pesky air bubble may rise to the top and require a coolant top up. The key ingredient is patience. Under the plastic trim panel where you fill and check coolant and oil, there is a bleeding port which is very well hidden. Porsche does not want the car owner to ever touch it and you shouldn’t. During servicing however, if the tech doesn’t find it, it can’t be bled properly. Another cause of coolant loss (and potential overheat) is the coolant cap itself. The original cap on the early Boxster has been superseded to a newer, better design. If you have the original cap, check the number and buy the newer version. So before you give up on the car, take it to a qualified shop and trust the process (trust but verify…make sure they know about the bleeder port first!). Even if your mechanic thinks that the engine is damaged, you need a second opinion. Based on the last Boxster engine swap I was involved in, if it actually needs to be replaced, it will cost what the car is worth, or more! I hope that is not the case. – MC

Q – My Boxster flooded and now my power locks don’t work. I sopped a half gallon or so of water from under my driver seat and I am afraid that the box under there may have gotten wet. Ed

A – In the “boot”, where the top lives when it is down, there are two drains that sometimes clog with leaves, twigs, etc. Think of them as an onboard composting pile. (Boxster owners take note) When the drains clog, the boot overflows and that is how the water got in. After you get them unplugged, the driver seat should be removed and everything dried well. As soon as an electrical component gets wet, you should disconnect the power and dry the component. If you leave them wet and powered up, they are certain to get fried in short order. MC

Q – The air bag light on my 99 Boxster is on and the code that was extracted from the computer is #43 which indicates a failed seat belt buckle. I can still fasten my seat belt. So I have two questions: 1) What makes the buckle go bad and 2) Do my air bags still work. – Ray

A – The buckle still works fine mechanically and to answer your last question first, no…the air bags do not work while the light is on even if the seat belt still does. Now why the buckle failed is a bit more obscure. According to Porsche, the buckle and harness suffer from a resistance problem that is cured with a new design. For years, wire terminals and harnesses would last for the life of the car but now, corrosion and environment conditions damage these components. With computer circuits being as sensitive as they are, if a signal is corrupted, the computer gets confused and shuts the system down. This is considered a “fail safe” strategy versus the possibility of a false air bag deployment. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but better safe than sorry. – MC