Unwell Boxster S
Discussion
Hi all,
first off, sorry if this becomes a long post, but I'm going to try to include as much relevant info as possible, as that might help with diagnoses.
I have an MY2001 Boxster (986) S. 50,000 miles, full OPC service up to 36k miles, then annual oil changes and checks after that, as the last owner did less than 1k miles per annum.
I recently had the car given a full service by an independant garage. The garage is not a Porsche specialist, but they are well established, get good reviews, plus the owner is a family friend, and he and some of his mechanics have run amateur race teams in the past, so I would trust their work.
After picking up the car, I found it to be hesitant the first time I gave it some beans - it felt like it was struggling for fuel. I was going to turn straigt around and head back, but the problem seemed to sort itself out in a few miles, so I put it down to new plugs 'bedding in'.
This was a month ago. I don't drive that often, and initially I was pleased with how much better the car seemed after its service.
However, in the past week, it seems to be a bit unwell.
Symptoms include
• A general feeling that it is down on power.
• A 'sticky' feeling in the rev range around the 3k - 4k rpm mark.
• Some vibration at 3.2k rpm (more noticeable as you decrease reves). I have noted that some owners say this is just resonance and nothing to worry about.
• The car feels less willing in higher gears - in first, it will zip through the rev range, from idling to the red line with no issues. In second, there's the slight 'stick' above 3K, then it clears, but seems less willing above 5.5k rpm. This seems a bit worse in third gear. Can't really comment on 4th/5th/6th, as we'd be talking license-losing speeds.
• It seems to be worse when the engine is warm, but I can't be sure, as I obviously don't want to redline it when cold
• Finally, I had the 'check engine' light come on. This cleared after a day, and I know that it can be casued by quite mundane things like air in the fuel intake etc, and as the car was vey low on fuel at the time, this might be a red herring.
Now, my prime candidate for causing these issues would be the MAF. I have also read about the possibility of breather pipes coming undone, and that may be the casue. My plan is to take it back to the servicing garage, but if anyone has any ideas to speed up the diagnostic process, then I'd welcome the input
Many thanks
first off, sorry if this becomes a long post, but I'm going to try to include as much relevant info as possible, as that might help with diagnoses.
I have an MY2001 Boxster (986) S. 50,000 miles, full OPC service up to 36k miles, then annual oil changes and checks after that, as the last owner did less than 1k miles per annum.
I recently had the car given a full service by an independant garage. The garage is not a Porsche specialist, but they are well established, get good reviews, plus the owner is a family friend, and he and some of his mechanics have run amateur race teams in the past, so I would trust their work.
After picking up the car, I found it to be hesitant the first time I gave it some beans - it felt like it was struggling for fuel. I was going to turn straigt around and head back, but the problem seemed to sort itself out in a few miles, so I put it down to new plugs 'bedding in'.
This was a month ago. I don't drive that often, and initially I was pleased with how much better the car seemed after its service.
However, in the past week, it seems to be a bit unwell.
Symptoms include
• A general feeling that it is down on power.
• A 'sticky' feeling in the rev range around the 3k - 4k rpm mark.
• Some vibration at 3.2k rpm (more noticeable as you decrease reves). I have noted that some owners say this is just resonance and nothing to worry about.
• The car feels less willing in higher gears - in first, it will zip through the rev range, from idling to the red line with no issues. In second, there's the slight 'stick' above 3K, then it clears, but seems less willing above 5.5k rpm. This seems a bit worse in third gear. Can't really comment on 4th/5th/6th, as we'd be talking license-losing speeds.
• It seems to be worse when the engine is warm, but I can't be sure, as I obviously don't want to redline it when cold
• Finally, I had the 'check engine' light come on. This cleared after a day, and I know that it can be casued by quite mundane things like air in the fuel intake etc, and as the car was vey low on fuel at the time, this might be a red herring.
Now, my prime candidate for causing these issues would be the MAF. I have also read about the possibility of breather pipes coming undone, and that may be the casue. My plan is to take it back to the servicing garage, but if anyone has any ideas to speed up the diagnostic process, then I'd welcome the input
Many thanks
Might be worth having a chat to James or Ken at Nine Excellence (Gatwick). They were sorting a similar issue on a 996 GT3 when I was last there, so it might be worth getting it recovered to them!
Personally I would only take it to a specialist when it comes to this sort of problems.
MM.
Personally I would only take it to a specialist when it comes to this sort of problems.
MM.
Edited by MadMark911 on Tuesday 3rd April 12:29
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