Porsche Boxster Running Issues and Maintenance Rennsport Kansas City

Had this Boxster literally limp into the shop the other day for some badly overdue maintenance. With 70k miles on the clock, it had never had spark plugs done, or a fuel filter, or any part of the 60k service from what I can tell. As badly as it was running, it was not throwing a CEL, but there were a couple of odd MAF codes in the system that we don’t see very often. The car was backfiring through the intake as well, which likely meant a intake leak somewhere.

Up on the lift. First things first. Catch up on the neglected items and see if that helps the running at all. Spark plugs and fuel filter.

The downsides of living on a gravel road.

Plugs were WAY past due. I haven’t seen plugs this bad in awhile.

And then tackling the passenger side.

When the car came by last week for a few minutes, I commented to the owner that I smelled coolant. He said he hadn’t seen anything on the ground and that it wasn’t his car. I pretty much knew what I would find later.

After the plugs, I installed a new fuel filter, also a 60k service item.

Then I tackled the LCD screen that was failing and causing the moon issue in the screen.

Disassembling the climate control unit to replace the LCD.

And the new LCD screen installed.

As you can see, the screen icons are very slightly different than that of an OEM screen, but everything functions the same. $150 repair versus a $400 OE replacement.

Then it was time to tackle that coolant leak. We have seen this time and time again on the blog, the Boxster coolant expansion tank cracks on the bottom, floods the trunk with coolant (under the carpet and styrofoam so you don’t see it and the carpet doesn’t get wet), then eventually finds a hole to drip out of and onto the ground.

Stuff was everywhere.

Sucking out the coolant.

And a shot of where the crack is that is causing the leak. They all crack in exactly the same spot.

After a lot of work, the old tank is out.

And the new tank goes back in.

At this point I fired it up, but the car still wasn’t running good. Next logical thing was to look for an intake leak. As I popped the cover to the engine bay, I noticed the MAF sensor connector didn’t look like it was sitting right in the sensor. I pulled it out, only to find that the incorrect knockoff cheap sensor had been installed and the plug was just kind of jammed into place.

While looking somewhat the same, these sensors are very sensitive and specific.

As you can see, the connector is totally different, no place for the connector to lock on anywhere.

As I was messing with that, I found the intake leak. After the MAF sensor, the intake tube hose clamp was not tight and the intake tube, while appearing to be on the tube, was not make a seal at all. It was sucking in completely unfiltered and un-metered air!

Hard to see how bad it was with a picture, but the throttle body was caked in dust/mud/oil that had been sucked in. These throttle bodies are also very sensitive to oil, dirt, and carbon buildup. A good cleaning of that, tightening the hose clamp, and installing the correct MAF sensor and we were in business! A great running Boxster once again.