2006 3.2 boxter 1 missing service
Discussion
Four years is one hell of a gap but if you check the car for smoke on start-up (after standing) and check for smoke on the throttle there's probably not too much reason to panic.
What I would want to know is HOW the car has been used. At the extremes,
A. Commuter car - one mile each way to the station every day of the week
or
B. Weekend car - 50 mile runs twice a week
In my opinion car A would be a massively more risky buy than car B, even though their annual mileage might look exactly the same.
Question: Have you checked the MOT records to see what was going on during those 4 years?
What I would want to know is HOW the car has been used. At the extremes,
A. Commuter car - one mile each way to the station every day of the week
or
B. Weekend car - 50 mile runs twice a week
In my opinion car A would be a massively more risky buy than car B, even though their annual mileage might look exactly the same.
Question: Have you checked the MOT records to see what was going on during those 4 years?
Technically none of this would kill a car but does raise doubts about whether owner realised they're not dealing with say a Toyota here. If they can't at least muster oil/fluids change in 4 years ...it's easy to get complacent when a cars worth £5k as it might have been when current owner purchased it.
What tyres does the car have on it?
What tyres does the car have on it?
I don’t think that would bother me but I’d want to know other things: how many owners, was the car owned by the same person for, say, six years who had other services done during his ownership? If so then he may have simply forgotten to get the book stamped. This has happened to me on a 911 but I have the receipt for the service, which I show a potential new owner.
Also, I’d be wanting to get a rev check on the car.
Also, I’d be wanting to get a rev check on the car.
so got a chance to look at the car today and there was a heap of paperwork showing infact it did have a service in 2017 and 2019 but not put in the book. The last owner had it 6 years and seemed very well cared for. i would like to do a bore score check on this but im led to believe its rare on the 3.2 models from the searches i did? Waiting to hear back from hartech on that one
If it’s any help, there was a gap in the history of my 80,000 mile 2003. It’s everything the buying guides say to avoid: I’m the 10th owner, hole in the service history, run away!!!
However. The car is nearly 19 years old. The gap is early in its life, and corresponds to one owner during whose tenure there is simply nothing, no stamps, no invoices, no receipts. For the rest, indeed the last 12+ years, it’s all meticulous and there are no suspicious invoices. The car was a good price and seems sound, so I rolled the dice and went for it, hoping it’s just bad admin on the part of that owner.
I’m over 3000 miles in and the car is still ok, and I’d do it again. The gamble is that it may hurt resale, but whatever. I bought the car to realise a dream and enjoy, and immediately took it to Scotland and back to do the NC500 - I didn’t buy it to polish nooks and crannies with a toothbrush while being adenoidal about OPC stamps and so on.
TL,DR: if you want a perfect concours winner don’t do it. If you want to use the thing and it hasn’t blown up yet, (and it ticks all your other boxes) go for it.
However. The car is nearly 19 years old. The gap is early in its life, and corresponds to one owner during whose tenure there is simply nothing, no stamps, no invoices, no receipts. For the rest, indeed the last 12+ years, it’s all meticulous and there are no suspicious invoices. The car was a good price and seems sound, so I rolled the dice and went for it, hoping it’s just bad admin on the part of that owner.
I’m over 3000 miles in and the car is still ok, and I’d do it again. The gamble is that it may hurt resale, but whatever. I bought the car to realise a dream and enjoy, and immediately took it to Scotland and back to do the NC500 - I didn’t buy it to polish nooks and crannies with a toothbrush while being adenoidal about OPC stamps and so on.
TL,DR: if you want a perfect concours winner don’t do it. If you want to use the thing and it hasn’t blown up yet, (and it ticks all your other boxes) go for it.
Edited by BS62 on Sunday 21st November 16:30
Chubbyross said:
F6C said:
You do not need to check the bores on a 3.2.
I’d be extremely happy to be corrected here but I thought the 3.2 could also suffer from bore scoring. The 3.2 Boxster and 3.4 996 do *not* routinely borescore. These engines have ferrous coated pistons. The later engines - 3.4 Cockster and 3.6 / 3.8 996 / 997 have plastic coated pistons. It's the breakdown of the plastic coating that starts the bore scoring process.
Magnum 475 said:
Chubbyross said:
F6C said:
You do not need to check the bores on a 3.2.
I’d be extremely happy to be corrected here but I thought the 3.2 could also suffer from bore scoring. The 3.2 Boxster and 3.4 996 do *not* routinely borescore. These engines have ferrous coated pistons. The later engines - 3.4 Cockster and 3.6 / 3.8 996 / 997 have plastic coated pistons. It's the breakdown of the plastic coating that starts the bore scoring process.
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