If you’re not sure what maintenance has been done on a car you’ve just bought it’s sensible to replace all the regular wear items just in case, especially given how cheap they are.
For the Boxster, I knew the brake pads were brand new as you can easily see them through the spokes of the wheels. Crossed off the list! I also knew the brake fluid was still good as my brother had already tested that for me with a tricky little machine that can tell how much water is in the fluid (in this case, my Golf had more water in there than the Porsche did!).
I decided to just buy an air filter, cabin air filter and a new serpentine belt as I assumed the car still had an 8-year-old belt in it.
Once parts arrived I bought a few tools (a 24mm spanner and a new ratchet for our socket set to replace the one that had gone walkabout) and started installing the parts.
The cabin air filter was obviously the original (they normally only get replaced at 40-60k kms) but this one was stuffed with leaves – MORE WEIGHT! The replacement is a carbon-infused one which should do better at neutralising stinks from outside the car. Sadly it can’t do anything about any stinks we might make inside the car.
The old air filter didn’t look terrible but it’s a cheap part and I know it’s done now.
This surprised me. I really didn’t expect a belt from 2003 to be completely undamaged. I’ve left the old belt in the car for now and will re-inspect it in 12 months.
Total cost for maintenance so far – $70 in parts and $150 for an oil change. Total: $220.
That finishes the maintenance for the Boxster – next time we’ll look at the repairs I needed to do.
