987 Gen2, same 987 problems

[Porschemad]

I had my 2.9 gen2 from 8000 miles, and after 7 years .and 42000 miles of ownership it’s beginning to have problems.

I bought the car in part because it was meant to have a more bullet proof engine (no IMS or bore score).

While the engine has proved itself to be excellent, it’s interesting to note that none of the other 987 weaknesses seemed to have been ironed out.

In the last year or so the car snapped the gear cables, leaving me stranded, and with a considerable bill. ALL the coolant pipes have been replaced due to multiple leaks secondary to corrosion, the thermostat has failed, temperature sender gone on the blink (£££) and last but not least the starter motor has imploded. Along with the normal front disc replacements due to corrosion, rather than wear.

Perhaps I’ve been at bit silly using it for commuting and as my only car.

I can’t bring myself to part with her, she still brings a smile to my face every time I drive her, so I’ve decided to buy a little run around and  keep the Gen2 for special occassions.

If it wasn’t for my local Indie I might have decided otherwise.

 

 

[Menoporsche]

I'd expect most of those after 7 years and 50k to be honest. But I wouldn't expect all the coolant pipes to corrode or the starter motor to implode.

Sorry to hear about it, thanks for flagging them up, and good luck in future with the special occasions.

I'm the opposite, my occasions are far too special

[Clivescoobydo]

19 minutes ago, Porschemad said:

I had my 2.9 gen2 from 8000 miles, and after 7 years .and 42000 miles of ownership it’s beginning to have problems.

I bought the car in part because it was meant to have a more bullet proof engine (no IMS or bore score).

While the engine has proved itself to be excellent, it’s interesting to note that none of the other 987 weaknesses seemed to have been ironed out.

In the last year or so the car snapped the gear cables, leaving me stranded, and with a considerable bill. ALL the coolant pipes have been replaced due to multiple leaks secondary to corrosion, the thermostat has failed, temperature sender gone on the blink (£££) and last but not least the starter motor has imploded. Along with the normal front disc replacements due to corrosion, rather than wear.

Perhaps I’ve been at bit silly using it for commuting and as my only car.

I can’t bring myself to part with her, she still brings a smile to my face every time I drive her, so I’ve decided to buy a little run around and  keep the Gen2 for special occassions.

If it wasn’t for my local Indie I might have decided otherwise.

 

 

I don't think that's too bad for 42K miles and 7 years tbh.  Also with a decent indie I'd be surprised if those jobs were much more than £2K in total? I think the lesson here is to get corrosion inhibitor on all brake, coolant, AC pipes, suspension parts as soon as possible in the cars life as it could save you a fortune in the long term.......it would seem Porsche had never heard of the stuff

[Jason986S]

It could definitely be a lot worse, but still not great. Least the engine is still as sound as ever.

[Mattman42]

none of those issues seem to be "Porsche" specific?  a lot of those could happen with any make of car over that period and mileage?

[Porschemad]

I agree that it’s probably not too bad, though I would have thought that if Porsche had known about the issues they might have done something. 

My indie seems spend a large part of his time with coolant leaks in all the water cooled cars. 

by comparison my wife’s Honda CRV racked up nearer 130000 miles in the same period, with nothing but routine servicing and one set of discs.😳

[Porschemad]

And your right, my indie has covered all the new pipe joints with some pink anticorrosion stuff he swears by. He packs its down the sides of the collars especially to try and prevent a recurrence👍🏻

[Clivescoobydo]

9 minutes ago, Porschemad said:

And your right, my indie has covered all the new pipe joints with some pink anticorrosion stuff he swears by. He packs its down the sides of the collars especially to try and prevent a recurrence👍🏻

ACF50 great stuff normally used in aviation and on motorbikes through the winter.  Can be a bit gloopy to use so put the can in boiling water first but spray it on anything exposed that could corrode and cause problems.  On a motorcycle also smells great when you start up and attracts strange looks until it burns off as it looks like your on fire at the lights 

[Nobbie]

2 hours ago, Porschemad said:

I had my 2.9 gen2 from 8000 miles, and after 7 years .and 42000 miles of ownership it’s beginning to have problems.

I bought the car in part because it was meant to have a more bullet proof engine (no IMS or bore score).

While the engine has proved itself to be excellent, it’s interesting to note that none of the other 987 weaknesses seemed to have been ironed out.

In the last year or so the car snapped the gear cables, leaving me stranded, and with a considerable bill. ALL the coolant pipes have been replaced due to multiple leaks secondary to corrosion, the thermostat has failed, temperature sender gone on the blink (£££) and last but not least the starter motor has imploded. Along with the normal front disc replacements due to corrosion, rather than wear.

Perhaps I’ve been at bit silly using it for commuting and as my only car.

I can’t bring myself to part with her, she still brings a smile to my face every time I drive her, so I’ve decided to buy a little run around and  keep the Gen2 for special occassions.

If it wasn’t for my local Indie I might have decided otherwise.

 

 

For that age and mileage, I agree that's very poor, particularly the coolant pipes. I thought they had changed the connectors after the problems surfaced on the 987, disappointing to see they're still cr*p. The only car I have owned that leaked from hose connections was my Triumph Spitfire, so it's hardly in stellar company.

[PaulQ]

I think thats pretty poor, especially when you get to the point that you feel the need to go out and buy a run about because you can't depend on a 7 year old car that cost 40k plus. 

Good luck, and hopefully less troubles ahead. 

[moneypit]

Sorry, but I think there's some rose tinting going on here, specs wise. All the coolant pipes, the gear linkage cables, a thermostat, a temp sensor and a starter motor in 42k miles? Jesus. Why is that ok? The car's only 7 years old, and frankly, I don't see why that has anything to do with it at the mileage. Would all this stuff be ok if it was 2 years old with 42k miles? I've got something I've had for 16 years that's done 10k more than the car in the op, outperforms the Porsche in every discipline  and hasn't had any of this.

The Porsche badge is meant to represent something prestigious, my way less prestigious, way more reliable 16 year old wears a Mitsubishi badge!  People sniff at that, yet the fact remains, it's a better engineered car. It had a heater matrix at 10 years old and an aircon rad last year. That's it! It's never left me stranded, and I'd be stunned if it ever did.

I like my Boxster a lot, but you can't be blind to the realities. And the Gen2 is hailed as the more reliable model. That's a pretty cr*p reward for buying into a supposedly quality marque. Just one man's ( possibly inflammatory ) opinion!

[Greenman]

I’d think carefully before you just decide to use you Boxster for special occasions. If doesn’t look like you put a big mileage on it as is (6k per year),  you could have more issues if you only drive it say 2 k per year. Regular driving prevents a number of potential issues.

[Clivescoobydo]

5 hours ago, moneypit said:

Sorry, but I think there's some rose tinting going on here, specs wise. All the coolant pipes, the gear linkage cables, a thermostat, a temp sensor and a starter motor in 42k miles? Jesus. Why is that ok? The car's only 7 years old, and frankly, I don't see why that has anything to do with it at the mileage. Would all this stuff be ok if it was 2 years old with 42k miles? I've got something I've had for 16 years that's done 10k more than the car in the op, outperforms the Porsche in every discipline  and hasn't had any of this.

The Porsche badge is meant to represent something prestigious, my way less prestigious, way more reliable 16 year old wears a Mitsubishi badge!  People sniff at that, yet the fact remains, it's a better engineered car. It had a heater matrix at 10 years old and an aircon rad last year. That's it! It's never left me stranded, and I'd be stunned if it ever did.

I like my Boxster a lot, but you can't be blind to the realities. And the Gen2 is hailed as the more reliable model. That's a pretty cr*p reward for buying into a supposedly quality marque. Just one man's ( possibly inflammatory ) opinion!

Put simply you don't buy a Porsche because its reliable, cheap to maintain and will never go wrong.......I would probably Japanese myself if they were my main car purchase reasons

[moneypit]

36 minutes ago, Clivescoobydo said:

Put simply you don't buy a Porsche because its reliable, cheap to maintain and will never go wrong.......I would probably Japanese myself if they were my main car purchase reasons

I think I might have to drive mine soon to remind me why I bought it, given the nature of this thread! To be fair, mine has been almost faultless in the 3 years and admittedly small mileage I've had it, but I'd be a mixture of furious and disappointed if I were the op and had some of that to deal with at the mileage his has done. In fact, the only things on mine have been a very minor and very easy to fix oil leak, an erroneous message on the dash telling me it needs pads ( it doesn't ), and an in dash cd player that works when it feels like it, cured with the fitment of a 2nd hand 6 disc Porsche changer.

I've been considering letting mine go to replace it with a Gen2 to give myself added peace of mind reliability wise. On 2nd thoughts, maybe I'll count myself lucky to have what I've already got.

[Araf]

1 hour ago, Clivescoobydo said:

Put simply you don't buy a Porsche because its reliable, cheap to maintain and will never go wrong.

Why not?

I might be jinxing it here but mine's now 9 years old and it's perfect as a daily.  Yes, some of the metalwork is cr*p but I'd rather have a Boxster than other performance cars costing double.

[PaulQ]

10 hours ago, Greenman said:

 you could have more issues if you only drive it say 2 k per year.

Plenty on here do low mileage, and/or lay up  their cars over winter with zero issues.

[bandit_287]

Gear cables snapped on my 987.2, drivers window regulator snapped too. A coil pack went a few months ago so they were all replaced and front discs, pads etc replaced too. All in nearly six years of ownership and 34k. I have it serviced annually too to spot any possible issues in advance.

Still love it though. 

[PaulQ]

11 hours ago, Clivescoobydo said:

Put simply you don't buy a Porsche because its reliable, cheap to maintain and will never go wrong.......I would probably Japanese myself if they were my main car purchase reasons

Mines 22 years old, approaching 150k and my only car, so needs to be reliable.

While I don't expect to run it for MX5 money, I wouldnt put up with unreliability either, just because of the Porsche badge. 

[Porschemad]

I agree that these are fantastic cars, and for that reason it’s a keeper.

the real surprise to me is that all the problems have been entirely predictable as they are so common. What seems strange is that Porsche must have known of these issues for years before the introduction of the Gen 2 and have done nothing about it. 

I presume in a few years time we’ll start seeing some 981s with these problems as well!

[DaveEFI]

Seems odd all the coolant pipes corroded. Did it have the correct anti-freeze from new, and changed by the service schedule?

New discs at 40,000 miles seems pretty good to me.

Starter motor will be the same design as used on many makes. You've been unlucky there.

[bandit_287]

It’s the same car as the 987.1 albeit with a different engine/gearbox and a few cosmetic tweaks so all the inherent 987.1 issues will still be there. I’m just waiting for the front suspension springs to break on mine and the water pump to go, although that could be a different design due to the engine change.  

[Greenman]

4 hours ago, PaulQ said:

Plenty on here do low mileage, and/or lay up  their cars over winter with zero issues.

There’s also plenty that do have issues after not being driven for a while,  battery issues, aircon seals, corroded disks, stuck varicam solenoids,  exhaust valves etc.   All things accentuated by lack of use and people on this forum (and others) have had issues with.  Of course some of these can me mitigated by a nice warm garage, battery tender, and monthly run out.   But the point is the OPs 6k per year isn’t anything that you would expect to have any detrimental affect at all compaired to say 2k a year.

[PaulQ]

24 minutes ago, Greenman said:

There’s also plenty that do have issues after not being driven for a while,  battery issues, aircon seals, corroded disks, stuck varicam solenoids,  exhaust valves etc.   All things accentuated by lack of use and people on this forum (and others) have had issues with.  Of course some of these can me mitigated by a nice warm garage, battery tender, and monthly run out.   But the point is the OPs 6k per year isn’t anything that you would expect to have any detrimental affect at all compaired to say 2k a year.

Whats a while ? 

A car driven once a week for 20 miles is only 1k miles per year for example, which is ample. 

Sorry, but unless the thing is parked up for months on end outside, then it will be fine. 

 

[Porschemad]

4 hours ago, DaveEFI said:

Seems odd all the coolant pipes corroded. Did it have the correct anti-freeze from new, and changed by the service schedule?

New discs at 40,000 miles seems pretty good to me.

Starter motor will be the same design as used on many makes. You've been unlucky there.

The car has been serviced as per schedule, and in addition yearly oil change.

im told the pipe corrosion is not related to the antifreeze, it’s from the outside starting between the hose and the collar, hence packing this area with corrosion inhibitor this time.

[Porschemad]

The car has been used to commute, in all weathers, including in snow with winter tyres on😄