M635uk

3 minutes ago, iborguk said:

Good outcome.

Sure is, my Boxster thinks it’s a 996 😃

Resolved.

removed connector on passenger air bag and fault remained.  Clean contacts with electrical contact cleaner, re connected and was able to clear air bag fault.

seems with the Foxwell I need to go in as 996 and then all is well…😕

Getting there.   Foxwell say code 31 drivers side air bag as a Boxster.  However if I load the Foxwell with a 996 designation (sacrilege I know!) it comes up code 31 PASSENGER side air bag

So need to prove which side by pulling stuff now.

That should be - I will pull the airbag connector on the drivers side and if that brings up a different fault then I will divert attention to the passenger side?👍

Thanks for the advice, i tried with an SRS resistor at the door airbag end and it would not clear.

the code is definitely referenced on the Foxewell as Code 31 DRIVERS airbag ignition circuit.  But I take your point as it depends on the car being rhd or lhd!  The Foxwell doesn’t accept myVIN either so I have to select the Boxster option and then it doesn’t give me an option for rhd or lhd

I will pull, the air bag connector  on the passenger side at the door and if this logs a different code then I will divert to the passenger side!  Such joys.

Thanks for  the  suggestions.

Hi, having trawled the internet for fault finding with air bag code 31, I ended up taking the drivers seat out, cleaning all contacts for the belt receptacle and checking all earths are good.  But the fault remains even after reset with a Foxwell.

so after more trawling of the internet I discover that euro and hence uk boxsters don’t have a sophisticated buckle that measures 400 ohms when open and 100 ohms when closed.  It’s just US models that have that arrangement. UK buckles are either open or closed (1 ohm).   They have two wires at the buckle connector whereas US ones have 4 wires.

So now looking at the wiring to the side airbag which I suspect is chaffed and open circuit somewhere.

I was going to check continuity/resistance to the drivers side air bag from the air bag module under the centre console but not sure if there is a risk of setting off the airbag if I do that.

Any thoughts?  Thanks.

If you can do the work yourself I would go for it.

if it turns out that it’s beyond the items listed in the ebay advert then You can part it and make money.  The list isn’t that daunting other then the engine swap.

as a guide I do all my own spannering, my Boxster s went from 57k miles with full Porsche history to 97k today in 6 years and I have spent circa £3.5k on maintenance.  So way less than £1k per year and that costs has included revised ims, new flywheel and clutch, new front shocks, disc and pads all round.   So you can run these on limited funds.   It’s still in fantastic condition mechanically as well.

Good luck if you go for it 

Lovely story. Enjoy it

I fitted aftermarket cats and the MOT man had to get them hot to pass the test, like running the engine at 5k rpm for 5mins.

Previously I have replaced both O2 sensors for new Bosch items and this vastly improved the way the car drove.  So these may need changing too.  I think they were only about £80 each off eBay for Bosch ones.

17 hours ago, TROOPER88 said:

Having sold so many 986's, I have met all of the new owners and 95% I would say are in the age bracket of 50-70. As such, one would like to think that they are experienced drivers and this is why insurance premiums are good value. 

I got my first 986 about 5 years ago as a weekend toy when I was 35 which is a lot younger than most owners that I meet. 

Spun mine on a straight dual carriageway in heavy rain 😳when I was 49.

Haven’t crashed since and I am 53 now!   So your age bracket is perfect!

didn’t roll it mind, just front and back bumpers and the aluminium support, bought back from insurance company and back on the road within 3 months. 

20 hours ago, ½cwt said:

Good work and problem solving.  Best of luck and hope you enjoy it even more once correctly tracked.

Thanks

21 hours ago, edc said:

You can widen the slot about 5mm until the strut hits the tower. This should allow up to about 2.5 Deg neg camber. 

Good to know especially if I take a visit to Oulton Park👍

Just set from camber to -0.6 deg left and right, steering wheel now off centre of course but easily corrected when I get the final toe done.  Think I am getting there now.  Thanks

Given I have about 13mm total adjustment on the top strut mount slots I calculate this will give about 1.15 degree per side.   So I should be able to get both sides equalised at about -0.5 degree.  Which I would be more than happy with from where I started!  

38 minutes ago, Lennym1984 said:

Whilst you're in there, you may want to check the actual hub assemblies. These can be bent or have manufacturing tolerances that will create a difference

Had a good look and they seem fine, would there be a method to check tolerances of the hub assembly?

thanks

30 minutes ago, edc said:

How does it get that bent and you not notice the impact or break a wheel? Did it happen before your ownership? 

The only part that you see is bent was the lhs strut shaft.  It had a run out of about 3mm when rotated.  The struts themselves had bends but only noticeable with a straight edge and even then only marginal.  They were also quite rusty.
looking the wheels themselves you could see the lhs was positive camber slightly, rhs was negative camber.

had a good look at the control arms, hub assemblies and no noticeable damage.

Suspect it was before my ownership at 57k miles, invoice claims alignment at Porsche at 53k miles, maybe it was the reason for the sale?  Haven’t hit anything although pot holes in the Peak District can be Cavernous if you can excuse the pun.

Hi, update as follows.

bought two new struts, b4 bilstein from Design911, £290 delivered which i thought was reasonable.

Fitted both and re measured front camber

Remember I was +2.5 deg front left and -3.5 front right with strut mounts slots set a max respectively to try and correct. So 6 deg difference.🤔

with new struts.

-1.5 deg front left (4 deg change) and +0.5 degree front right (4 degree change).   So a big change and now only 2 degree difference.😊  With the top mount slots set at max as before I should be able to correct to get it somewhere very close to zero difference.  Then get the toe corrected to suit.

so the problem looks like bent front strut housings and also one bent strut shaft.  Right side shaft was not bent.

I’ll post final alignment readings when they are done on the local hunter machine.

2 hours ago, ½cwt said:

I can recommend Koni Special Active struts as a good alterative to the more costly Bilstein B4s that are OE.

Ok sounds good.  Which supplier?  Ta

Ok, strut assembly out of car, rotating the shaft shows the shaft to be bent, not much by definitely a bend on it and it can be seen as a wobble on the top mount as it rotates, don’t know if that is the extent of the issue, perhaps the struct body is bent too.   I’ll take the other strut assembly off tomorrow and compare.  

Out

looks straight though, will measure tomorrow with a straight edge…

😀

5 minutes ago, bally4563 said:

I can remember reading an article some moons ago where a well respected indi could not get it to align, and after exhaustive investigation, found the strut was bent and from memory it was not much circa 5-10 degrees, but it showed with a straight edge, just at the point it came out of the hub, so you would need to remove it for inspection, otherwise you would never notice.   Good luck

Thanks,  measure twice…or 4 times 😊

Top mount

Some photos, not sure they help.

two showing top mounts at max to try to counter camber issue, no more to go.

one showing strut assembly

3 minutes ago, bally4563 said:

Unlikely the subframe is substantial and well secured plus I think you would see any distortion, however strut out and a straight edge against in several planes may show up the culprit 

Looks like my weekend job…need to resolve this.  It’s driving me bonkers.😊