Another (My First) BCA Tale of Woe

[Rory RSC 596]

Every now and again in this job this sort of thing can happen. You either kick up a fuss at the time of collection delivery and kick the car back and get out of it, or alternatively you have a go at fixing it and it ends up being more but then you have no recourse. 

On this one you made your choice, with hindsight perhaps you would have done differently but other than venting not really anything you can do now.

[trader555 2]

On 7/9/2019 at 9:35 PM, C B said:

(you bid online, ended up with a lemon and will still make a half decent profit),

He didn't bid online he was at the auction, read his initial post. 

OP I don't understand if you were there and knew the roof was inoperative why leave it there? I would have paid and taken it straight out.

[RH Trading 80]

It took a week - 10 days from the hammer going down to it being delivered, is that normal? how long did they have your money for before delivery?

rarely use BCA or Manheim physical auctions now but is that generally the lead time nowadays?

[Mark101 536]

18 minutes ago, RH Trading said:

It took a week - 10 days from the hammer going down to it being delivered, is that normal? how long did they have your money for before delivery?

rarely use BCA or Manheim physical auctions now but is that generally the lead time nowadays?

Manheim are pretty good delivery wise.  Normally within 48 business hours.  BCA seems to take forever.

On balance, I prefer BCA as an auction house but Manheim are more customer focussed IMO.

[XFS 70]

I was at the auction. I knew the roof didn't go down and was pretty sure I knew why, hence why I bought it, thats how you get an edge. Other than this the car was an excellent example with no other faults apparent and no swimming pool.

I agree, my mistake was allowing it to stay at the auction for ten days. This is simply a forum thread. On a forum we moan about things, let of steam...its the cyber version of being in the pub.

Whether or not I make a profit will not change my life. Its taken 2 weeks and a lot of effort to dry it out. Seats out carpets out etc. The rear control ECU turned out to be fucked, but I got a used one for £130 and contrary to all the information, it turned out to be plug and play. I sourced the roof components including the chewed up drip trays for a very reasonable £320 from a Porsche main dealer. I now have the challenge  of putting it back together which I am going to have a bash at. The only electrical issue which remains is the PCM which I am pretty sure is related to the battery being disconnected and hopefully something I can figure out.

I'm cheesed off at being put in this position, but in a way its been strangely satisfying to overcome all the hurdles and get towards the point where I have one of the best examples of the model for its year on sale.

 

 

Edited July 12, 2019 by XFS

[XFS 70]

I thought I would give an update on this.

When I bought the car, the problems I identified should have been a low cost repair taking minutes rather than days and hours. Although due to the water ingress subsequent to purchase it turned into a marathon.

To dry out the car properly took two weeks plus removal of seats, carpets etc.

In the end I did the whole thing myself and gained a pretty substantial knowledge of Boxster roof and electrical problems along the way. So if anyone ever wants any help, please feel free to message me, I can probably save you a lot of time.

I learned a lot. Electrics are not as complex as some would have you believe and contrary to the advice on the internet and Porsche dealers/specialists, most parts are plug and play and don't need coded. The convertible roof is fairly simple mechanically and the motor is very robust.

First up...sort out the electrics. Brake lights and reverse lights on permanently, roof motor constantly operating, PCM light on, rear spoiler not working. Replacing the rear control unit under the passenger seat fixed most of this. A used part cost £130 although a new part from Porsche dealer is £270 with discount, although the Porsche dealer insisted it would need coded to the car at a cost of £180 plus VAT. A Porsche specialist told me a used part could be coded as long as I had the chassis no of the donor car, at the cost £188 inc VAT. An ECU specialist told me the part was almost certainly plug and play.

In reality it cost me £130 plug and play. This sorted out most of the issues, the remaining issue was that amplifier, sat nav and telephone didn't work. I learned these were daisy chain items and if one fails they all go down. The ECU man told me the most likely culprit was the amp, a BOSE unit which is temperamental and tends to shit itself if the other electric short. I was fearing another £200 plus, but I further learned via t'internet that the glass fuse at the back of the amp is inclined to blow. Checking involves removing trim and removing the amp, which I did...the fuse was fine, bugger! Then the penny dropped and common sense kicked in. If the rear control ECU got a prolonged bath, then so did the telephone module situated under the drivers seat. Sourced one for £50, plug and play...result!  All good.

Now to the roof. The pushrods and boomerang brackets were pieces of useless twisted metal, the rubber drip trays which funnel water to the drain holes were chewed to pieces. 

Drip trays and all the metalwork were sourced from the Porsche dealer at a very reasonable £300 odd in total.

To fit the drip trays the roof needs removed completely, which is easier than it sounds. There are three bolts on a triangular flange each side securing the roof to its axle. Other than that its disconnect a few wires, the seat belt mountings and out it comes. Replacing it is a different story. Relocating the studs is frustrating to say the least, but I found if you make sure to do the bottom right drivers side and bottom left passenger side first, its a lot easier.

Then to fixing the roof. Not that hard to fit all the parts really, just think methodically and take your time. Before connecting anything, make sure the car thinks the roof is in the closed position and this allows you to move the roof as necessary to make lining things up easy, although final connections must be done with the roof up. Calibrating the roof is not anything like as tricky as I imagined. One clip releases the cable for either side from the motor and basically just attach an electric drill to the cable and line everything up before trying the roof. You can tweek it as necessary by the same means.

So now I at least back to square one and in a position to prep the car for sale