Boxster Charging Issue

Had a friend bring in his Boxster yesterday because he was having a starting issue.  After some basic tests, I felt the first step of action was to replace the battery.  We did that, but it didn’t solve the problem….but…..it triggered a few more symptoms which pointed to a bad alternator.  Before we did the battery, the battery light was not coming on which usually triggered when the alternator goes south.  After we did the battery, the battery light came on.  I hooked up the computer, and sure enough, it was only putting out about 11 volts, which was enough to keep the car running, but not enough to charge the battery.    The day before it was putting out 13 volts, so it sounded like the voltage regulator was sticking.  So time for a new alternator.  At 90k miles, I didn’t feel it was a smart decision to just replace the regulator.

Front opened up and the belt off.  Belt had 40k miles on it and was just starting to show some cracking of the inner ribs, so time for a new belt as well.

Mounting bolts out.

Connections at the rear.

Make sure to clean the connections before reassembly.

Shiny new alternator in place.

When I had the computer hooked up, there was a maf sensor code as well.  This car runs a high flow air intake system which seems to allow a lot of dust through, so it is pretty regular maintenance to clean the maf sensor.

alternatorBattery LightBoxsterMAF sensorPorsche