Nobbie

Most likely the cap was not on correctly after you topped up and the heat soak after you turned off the engine raised the pressure enough to pop it off allowing a bit of coolant to escape causing the vapour. I’d pop it back on and see how it goes.

I thought AGM were only needed for cars with stop/start, not aware there are any advantages over lead acid on cars not originally spec Ed with them. Could be wrong though.

3 minutes ago, Castaway said:

Thanks, yes that sounds likely. Is it simple enough to undo and remove the roof mechanism (big circular thing, not sure what its called)? And put it back in the same alignment? Thanks

Yes, I don’t remember having to align anything. I watched this video first, but didn’t have someone on hand to help me lift the roof off, so I just undid the bolts on both sides and pushed it back a few inches which just gives enough room when you lift the side you’re doing to slip the tray under.

Suspect that patched area was caused by a broken ball joint allowing the arm to penetrate the tray. That’s where it did it on mine. Changed mine out about a month ago. Didn’t even need to remove roof, just unbolted it and moved it backwards to allow me to slip the tray into place.

17 hours ago, McDonald said:

Has anyone seen a Boxster with front spotlights? How did it look?

I saw video of a 911 in snow, fitted with spotlights. I thought it looked great.

It made me wonder...

Yes, f*cking awful. Mind you, they were just some cheap led things off EBay for @Mr96er’s “night manoeuvres”😀

RMS should not leak again if it’s been fitted correctly as I think they upgraded the part. No idea on the IMS, must depend on what replaced the original one.

Hard tops aren’t that uncommon, but worth maybe £500. IMS is not a particular issue on the 2.5 cars. There were early issues with the piston coating, but it would have shown itself by now. With low mileage, people are often tempted to skip services which is the worst thing to do as low mileage often means short trips with the oil never getting properly warm and lots of contaminants from running rich during warm up. Sending a sample of oil off for analysis would give you peace of mind if there was no service record.

Unless there is evidence of work, you might expect to need to do a fair bit of maintenance as most rubber bushes and hoses will be past their best. Listen carefully on the test drive for squeaks and creaks as these can get expensive to sort, especially if no it’s are corroded in place. Go over a few speed bumps as these often reveal issues.

Lift carpet behind seats as water often leaks into here if the door seals go or the rear drains are blocked or the drip pan punctured under the soft top when the ball joints fail.

Isn’t the OE spec Mobil 1 0w40? Might explain it.

1 hour ago, Simon said:

I’ve just bought a big supply of pasta - got the fekkers in my house, they come in through the garage.  Last time they ate through the plastic heating pipes and wrecked the place.

Happened to a mate of mine who’s CH packed up. He got in a pest controller who laid poisoned bait which the rats/squirrels dragged onto the lawn where their black Lab ate it😳, so it was then followed by a trip to the vet. Dog was OK, friends wallet less so.

Just bought one of those traps for the allotment as mice are the bane of my life up there since I built some big covered compost heaps. Caught a few with snap traps last year, but they’re very fiddly to set up.

42 minutes ago, Mattman42 said:

I always wonder how much time they charge me to point out these niggles - especially with things like the loose key cover.

slight smell of damp is surely subjective? 

It’s subjective, but if you’re in and out of different cars all day you are pretty well placed to spot the ones that smell more than average. If it’s your car you may have just got used to it over time.

Wouldn’t niggle me in the slightest, it is what I would pay a good Indy to do. No need to show a buyer the reports, stamped up service book is enough if you want to hide this stuff from a potential buyer, but things like a damp smell they are likely to notice themselves, so good that the Indy mentioned it so you can do something about it. A lot of cars that do short journeys get very damp inside because because they never get hot enough to dry the cabin out properly and you bring lots of water in on wet shoes and by breathing. I pop a dehumidifier in mine occasionally to get it nice and dry if it hasn’t been given a long run out for a while.

Think the tensioner is about £100, so add a couple of hours labour and £300 seems likely ballpark.

1 minute ago, Hainesy said:

Will shortly be needing some new rear tyres on my Boxster 2.7 on 19" wheels.  It's currently got Falken Azenis rubber on all four corners, I don't really have an opinion on whether they're any good or not, having had a brief google round the internet seems to think they're ok. Looks like they're £196 a corner for the rears to replace (annoyingly up about £15 since I looked last month).  The fronts have plenty of tread left on them. I'm not looking to put ditchfinders on but equally I probably wouldn't be able to appreciate the difference with £300 tyres either. What does the hive mind recommend?

The Falkens: https://www.blackcircles.com/catalogue/falken/azenis-fk510/265/35/R19/Y/98/f?tyre=35880202

 

Probably worth mentioning your average annual mileage, type of driving, track days, whether you like spirited driving etc. On commuter car you probably want something with good wet grip so you don’t get caught out while not concentrating, whereas for some it’s a weekend car that will never see the wet. I’ve found Khumo to very good on grip, but don’t last long with my spirited driving. 

5 minutes ago, Mattman42 said:

Did you see the Jensen on Car SOS - bright green and a complete basket case, but they worked their magic and looked awesome by the end

I caught that half way through once they had stripped it back to what was left of the bare metal😳. I’m surprised the programme budget stretched to the amount of work that needed.

Back OT, I think the 987 exterior is a little bland compared to the 986, but not necessarily in a bad way. I’ve never liked the interior to look at, just seems dated rather than classic.

2 hours ago, GmanB said:

Great boxes in my opinion, you just need to learn how they work. They do adapt to your driving style over time, so worth disconnecting the battery if you buy a tip car. Double tap the accelerator while in full auto and the box will change to the optimum gear for accelerating (certainly this works on the later models). Semi auto is also great and again a completely different drive to full auto, you need to learn when to change. It will change quicker than most people that drive 986 manuals anyway as most of them are scared of crunching the gearbox. 😄

Also in semi auto, you can just floor it in 1st and it will change up the gears as it hits the rev limit in each gear. Less chance of engine abuse as I’m not sure you can over rev the engine with a tip gearbox?

1 hour ago, dave Morgan said:

I had been avoiding them in my search, but as there seems to be a positive response to them here I will be looking at both manual and auto .

Will only know by driving the auto if it feels right for me.

Something to bear in mind for the test drive is that In full auto mode they adapt to your driving style, so you may find it quite lazy at changes unless you start to drive it aggressively. I must admit I barely got above 3k rpm on my test drive as it was the first time I’d driven one and the owner was sat next to me. Probably best to drive in ‘manual’ mode for at bit to see how it feels when pressing on. 

I wasn’t looking for an auto when I bought mine, but the car was so well looked after and cheap that I couldn’t resist. Have never regretted it. I tend to use it for weekend fun and have fitted flappy paddles which are great when pressing on. On the way to a meet I’ll just leave it in auto to do it’s thing. I’m sure PDK is hugely better, but what you’ve never had, you never miss.

1 hour ago, And.rs1800 said:

Do I do this with the tank cap on or off?

On, the air escapes through the bleed valve. 

Could it be an air lock somewhere or a dodgy coolant tank cap causing an over pressure and venting via the overflow valve? Have you tried leaving the bleed valve open? Air lock seems most likely given the recent work.

I’ve done all mine dry without any problems.

36 minutes ago, dpg123 said:

It was a massive dog and my wife slammed on the brakes. She probably hit it at 10mph. There are literally teeth marks on the plastic grille it smashed! I hope it’s alright.

My sisters beagle ran out through a hedge in front of a Fiesta and trashed the grill. They took it to the vet for a few cuts and bruises, but it was fine, still stupid though. Hopefully this dog was just a bit bruised.

As you’ve discussed a possible claim with your insurer, you wife will now need to declare the incident when applying for insurance for the next five years and anyone putting her as a named driver on their insurance will also need to mention it. Do not be tempted to forget to mention as they will probably have put a note on your file following the call. It gets very expensive very quickly if they think you are lying to them.

If you don’t claim, I doubt your premium would rise much if at all. If you do claim it definitely will as although your NCB is protected, the base premium is likely to go up. You could try some dummy quotes to get an idea of the difference, but use false details as they may otherwise conclude that you are deciding whether or not to declare it.

I reckon if your current insurance is £2-300, then you may as well claim as the extra premiums will probably not exceed the claim value. However if you have a number of vehicles to insure, then the extra on each may make it not worthwhile to claim (if the wife is a named driver on these as well)

If you enjoy tinkering then it might be satisfying to clean and replace, but if you just want it sorted it’s probably worth paying for a new/ re-conditioned one to avoid the faff. I think West Lancs Auto Electrics do them for a decent price.

here’s a run down of the disassembly required

Starters can squeal a bit if the pre engaged gear starts sticking. Taking off, cleaning and relubricating should sort it.

21 minutes ago, iborguk said:

There seem to be plenty of 986 module options on the Bay of E for not too much money.

You’re right, It’s changed since I did mine when the Boxster ones were all £80-90.