987 3.4s Boxster 2007 - where to find options and any tips before buying?

[sierra5]

Hi,

I'm looking to buy a 987 3.4s boxster with 60/70k. I've had a 986s for 6 years. Can anyone help me with the following:

1) Does the 987s 3.4 2007 have any issues with ims or is that all resolved by then?

2) Car options - on my 986s i had a white spec sheet that had codes detailing option fixed to underside of bonnet and also in service book - can you confirm where this is located in a 987s 3.4?

3) any known issues with 987s i need to be aware of and properly check?

4) looking for a car with PASM and 18 in alloys

5) any other advice greatly appreciated

 

Thanks

 

[Menoporsche]

IMS solved by then. They replaced it with bore score

Not sure where the options are, but you can get them from the VIN, cost a fiver here. 

[sierra5]

appreciated, where can i get the options from the vin? 

 

[BBB]

30 minutes ago, sierra5 said:

appreciated, where can i get the options from the vin? 

 

As @Menoporschesaid, pay £5 in the VIN lookup service thread and post the full VIN and you’ll get a full list of all the options the car has in return. The £5 goes towards running BoXa.net.

The VIN codes for my 987.1 were in the owners manual and it’s then a bit if work googling all the codes. I only got so far so stumped up the fiver.

[sierra5]

i just got them from potential sellrer

 

[½cwt]

Contact @T911UK on here for the factory list, or if you have the numbers, you can look up here by pick ing teh model and year:

Porsche Equipment & Options Codes - Stuttcars

[Ninesomething]

For the sake of your wallet/marriage/sanity don't buy it without a borescope check.

[paulchamby]

I’d be checking for:

borescore

front coolant and crossover pipes

PASM shocks

A/C

[Codfanglers]

Fear of borescore is one reason I chose a 987.1 with a 2.7 engine.

If you don't want to calm your anxiety, want an honest borescore story that goes through denial, decision making, man maths to repair it, and the shock of the actual final rebuild cost of his M97 engine, Joetalkscars series of youtube videos goes through his ordeal with a relatively low mileage Cayman S. 

[Menoporsche]

I am convinced bore score is no more likely than IMS problems. 

[Bike Loon]

3 minutes ago, Menoporsche said:

I am convinced bore score is no more likely than IMS problems. 

What he said.

 

On the 987.1 3.4 Boxsters bore score is relatively rare. I think I have only seen 2 or 3 cases of it on this forum.

 

[sierra5]

thanks all

 

[½cwt]

2 hours ago, Bike Loon said:

What he said.

 

On the 987.1 3.4 Boxsters bore score is relatively rare. I think I have only seen 2 or 3 cases of it on this forum.

 

Agreed, my understanding is it is more of a 997 problem on the larger capacity M97 motors.  Low temp thermostat is supposed to help reduce the odds too by getting cooling to the affected cylinder sooner in the warm up cycle.  It was covered by 'Elvis' in a recent Wheeler Dealers or Wheeler Dealers Dream Cars IIRC.

[And.rs1800]

Bore score does seem quite prevalent on caymans though-and yes I bought a gen 1 cayman S😎.I bought it because I wanted it.I knew about bore score obviously.mine is an 06 model on 64,000-doesn’t use any oil and is a fantastic car.

 I bought it from a cayman owners club forum member that had owned it for five years,and was only selling due to being in a position to get himself a 911(which I have since been in ,and now require one myself but cannot afford lol)

 there are much more cases of bore score on the Tip models,which joe talks cars on YouTube has.

 The tiptronic gearbox pulls away in second,and apparently one of the contributing factors are letting the engine Labour/wide throttle openings at low revs.

Mine gets thoroughly warmed up ,and gets used as it should.I also had a low temp thermostat fitted.

[Ninesomething]

If you can get an 06 3.4 that should still have the cast pistons which 'they say' are immune to scoring. It's the later forged pistons that give trouble - from 07 on.

Gen 2s just about never score but of course much more money.

[dim33]

On 5/11/2022 at 1:09 PM, Bike Loon said:

What he said.

 

On the 987.1 3.4 Boxsters bore score is relatively rare. I think I have only seen 2 or 3 cases of it on this forum.

 

I'm guessing I'm one of the unlucky 3. 

Having gone through the pain of the rebuild, I would definitely have the cylinders scoped if I bought another.

Not a reason to not buy, but the downside is large if you're dead unlucky as I was.

When the engine was in pieces the ims bearing was checked and it was fine. It had the later larger bearing.

[Araf]

9 minutes ago, dim33 said:

I'm guessing I'm one of the unlucky 3. 

Having gone through the pain of the rebuild, I would definitely have the cylinders scoped if I bought another.

Not a reason to not buy, but the downside is large if you're dead unlucky as I was.

When the engine was in pieces the ims bearing was checked and it was fine. It had the later larger bearing.

My commiserations.  How much oil was it using?

[½cwt]

1 hour ago, dim33 said:

When the engine was in pieces the ims bearing was checked and it was fine. It had the later larger bearing.

All but the first few 1000 built in the tail end of 2004 (2005 model year, but using surplus 986 engines in effect, estiamted to Nov/Dec '04 build dates) do have the larger IMS bearing that requires the crank case to be split to remove the bearing.

[dim33]

3 hours ago, Araf said:

My commiserations.  How much oil was it using?

I've just checked a spreadsheet that I kept at the time.

Before the rebuild it was using approximately 600ml of oil for 1000 miles.

After the rebuild it has used around 600mil of oil for 3300 miles.

[Menoporsche]

At 2k per year, as some do here, an owner could ignore that…

[dim33]

2 hours ago, Menoporsche said:

At 2k per year, as some do here, an owner could ignore that…

Indeed. I didn't as I wanted to have redress with the dealer if there was an issue. I got it scoped one month after buying it and got a big shock with the result. By all accounts it was a car that had been looked after.

[Menoporsche]

Very fair comment re the dealer.

I sort of make the point that people often mention it in the same breath as IMS, but one destroys the entire engine in 3 seconds while the other is accelerated wear which can be quite tolerated if an owner's driving style fits.

[bally4563]

On 5/11/2022 at 1:09 PM, Bike Loon said:

What he said.

 

On the 987.1 3.4 Boxsters bore score is relatively rare. I think I have only seen 2 or 3 cases of it on this forum.

 

+1

[Darkstar]

On 5/18/2022 at 7:25 PM, dim33 said:

I'm guessing I'm one of the unlucky 3. 

Having gone through the pain of the rebuild, I would definitely have the cylinders scoped if I bought another.

Not a reason to not buy, but the downside is large if you're dead unlucky as I was.

When the engine was in pieces the ims bearing was checked and it was fine. It had the later larger bearing.

+1

[boer13]

On 5/14/2022 at 6:26 PM, JonSta said:

If you can get an 06 3.4 that should still have the cast pistons which 'they say' are immune to scoring. It's the later forged pistons that give trouble - from 07 on.

Gen 2s just about never score but of course much more money.

Interesting. 56 plate 3.4 here..

On 5/18/2022 at 11:23 PM, dim33 said:

I've just checked a spreadsheet that I kept at the time.

Before the rebuild it was using approximately 600ml of oil for 1000 miles.

After the rebuild it has used around 600mil of oil for 3300 miles.

Useful reference point. To date I've covered just more than 2,000 miles and have not topped up oil as the level has remained at the 'full' mark on the display.

Bought it with a bore scope report, but you never know..