Sunday Emergency Service

Got a call Sunday afternoon about a Boxster that had overheated and needed to get back on the road.  We had the car towed in and I started tearing into it.  This was a car with about 80k miles on it, which had not had it’s major services done……ever from what I can tell.   Unfortunately, a $40 drive belt caused about $1,100 in damage.  Basically what happened, is the drive belt broke, and the owner kept driving the car even with about 8 warning lights illuminated on the dash.  Eventually the car overheated (belt drives the waterpump), it continued to be driven, and eventually he was flagged down by another motorist as he was dumping coolant everywhere.

First thing to do was replace the drive belt.  I checked all the pulleys to make sure one of them didn’t cause the broken belt, but I was pretty sure it was just age and miles on the belt that caused the failure.

What was left of the belt.

New belt installed.

Next was to replace the original spark plugs.  After getting under the car, there was oil EVERYWHERE.  One of the culprits was leaking spark plug tube seals.  I pulled the tubes and replaced the tubes, inner, and outer o rings.

New tube and seals.

Here you can see oil pooled around the spark plug in the center tube.

After replacing the plugs, filters, and seals, I went to fill the coolant up that had spilled out when it overheated.  I was a little surprised when I opened the trunk and saw this.  Note, the coolant reservoir is not suppose to resemble a bowling ball, lol.  Everything warped from the heat.  This car got VERY hot.  I have never seen this before.

The light area of the white tank was so thin from heat that you could almost push your finger through the plastic.

Tank out.

New tank in, filling with coolant.

Next was to change the oil.  Whomever replaced the oil last, did not use a drain plug seal, OR tighten the filter canister.  Again, puking oil everywhere.

Hopefully we got on top of the maintenance and cured some of the major issues.  Once things dry up and the car is driven, we can monitor any additional oil leaks it may have.

Moral the of the story:

1.  When your dash lights up with warning lights, pull over and shut the car off and figure out what is wrong.  Don’t continue to drive it.

2.  Porsche dictates services every 15k miles with major services every 30k miles for a reason.  Please stick to them so you don’t potentially ruin a very expensive motor.

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