Recent Posts

Getting a Rebuilt Title for the Porsche Boxster 986

I procured the Porsche Boxster with a salvage title on Copart as described in an earlier post. The car had a big dent and a broken tail light and in the pre-COVID-19 pricing era, the insurance company decided to total it and sell it for salvage.

However, nothing much was wrong with it as you may have read in the several earlier posts and I fixed most of the dent and paid a mobile body shop to fix the rest. Once that was done, the car was ready to go through the process that is for converting a salvage title to a rebuilt title in the state of New Jersey. A rebuilt title is a clean or standard title with one of the fields mentioning that the car had a salvage title earlier. The process to get this is pretty simple but slightly expensive.

Coolant Pump (Water Pump) Replacement on Porsche Boxster 986

In an earlier post I demonstrated how to go about testing for coolant leaks. I initially detected a cracked hose but even after temporarily sealing it with JB Weld and conducting the pressure test again, the system still leaked at the same spot. After discussing with 986forum members, I decided to try changing the water pump, thermostat, replacing the main hoses near the engine and change the serpentine belt anyway. This would remove all the issues and would make the system as good as new. This post describes the water pump and thermostat replacement process.

Boxster 986 Parts Catalog

To download the parts catalog of your favorite Porsche vehicle you can visit https://www.porsche.com/usa/accessoriesandservices/classic/genuineparts/originalpartscatalogue/ and select the model of your Porsche.

I selected the Boxster (986) and 1997 - 2004 values in the form and hit the DISPLAY button, as shown in Figure 1 below, which downloads a PDF.

I am mirroring the PDF here in case it disappears.

Moreover, I am also mirroring the radio CDR-220 manual here.

Perform Coolant Leak Test on the Boxster

Since buying the Porsche Boxster S, I had not done a coolant flush. After driving it for about 1200 miles in the last 2 years, one day I saw the engine overheating light blink on the dash. Turns out there was a major coolant leak and it was causing the engine to overheat. The Boxster has 142,000 miles on it and the leak meant several possible things &emdash; damaged hoses, failing water pump or cracked coolant tank.

To determine the correct cause of the coolant leak, I needed to conduct a coolant pressure test. This post demonstrates how easy this test is and how to go about doing it.

Oil Change on 4th gen. Toyota 4Runner V6

I purchased a 2008 Toyota 4Runner Limited (4th generation) with the 4.0L V6 engine, in June 2021, to replace my aging and failing 2005 Dodge Ram 1500. In the five years I owned the Ram 1500, I never towed anything. I did use the truck to carry some large and heavy loads but that is so rare for me now, that if you run the numbers it is cheaper to rent a truck from Home Depot for that purpose. So I went with a 4Runner with a V6 engine, since I have always wanted one and unlike a 5th generation Runner it had the multi-mode 4WD with locking and unlocking center differential. I also have never been off-roading and hope to go someday this year with the 4Runner.

I had driven it about 5000 miles in 8 months and it was time to do an oil change, since the oil change MAINT light was blinking on the dash. This post outlines how to do the oil change in a V6 4th generation 4Runner and it is very simple.