To learn more what makes the Boxster alarm control unit fail you need to do some detective work. Firstly look under the nearside front seat (right hand drive UK car) you`ll find an alarm control unit this also houses an immobiliser. Situated in a depression of the floor pan, which is a problem due to the fact that any water making its way into the vehicle will fill that depression causing damage to the alarm control unit.

The alarm control unit will probably now be toast. It might still work, but will be doing very odd things. The alarm could randomly sound, electric windows could have a mind of their own, the windows might start rolling up or down without you ever pressing the buttons, you might return to the vehicle and find yourself locked out – even though you know you never locked it. Now there`s a problem nobody wants!

Drying out the unit – maybe it`ll come back to life, solving the leak for me is the most important 1st step. Check the roof drains, a simple check and most often overlooked until trouble strikes. Because replacing the alarm control unit and remote keys, starts at about 1500 pounds from an Independent Porsche garage.

It’s possible you could source a second-hand alarm control unit, but not advisable. This involves a host of immobiliser programming problems, and is false economy. Another point to consider is that an independent Porsche specialist garage or Porsche main dealer won`t be able to carry out specialist tasks to your system ECU`s like programming in new software that is released regularly

What Can Kill An Alarm Control Unit? Water is the enemy of the Boxster models, you can bet your life whenever it rains there are calls from Boxster and 996 owners with engine misfires, or it won’t start or car’s behaving unusually. Majority of the Boxster and 996 models with a sun roof or a Targa roof will have blocked roof drains or poor seals causing water to run un-noticed under and behind the carpets that then fill the floor pans with water where the alarm control unit is mounted. Thus causing a host of problems as listed here.