986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners - View Single Post - So....what happens to a Boxster when you almost run out of gas?

teacher · 11-12-2005, 05:35 PM

I was told by a service technician to never let your gas tank go past 1/4 tank, always fill up because the gas pump has to do double duty when the tank is low and therefore will die sooner than it should. Also, make sure you get a Porsche Key seperator, which will easily let you just put the key in the ignition (as opposed to having all your keys dangling out of the ignition slot). Doing so will cause your ignition module to fail eventually. Since I bought my car used, 2001 runs great, I think the previous owner didn't know of this potential problem and now I have to replace the module (eventually). I found a good strategy around this for the time being, which is to quickly pull the key out when you are parking. I know a lot of people will tell me that this is only a temporary solution, which is true, but I'm willing to wait to shell out the $600 replacement cost as quoted by Porsche. Although, what do you think about dealer work when the car is not under warranty? I'm thinking to buy the ignition module and have it replaced by another Porsche service, which costs less than the $120 per hour labor rate charged by Porsche. The only upside to Porsche service is the 2 year warranty, so any ideas about that?

11-12-2005, 05:35 PM	#7
teacher Registered User Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Cali Posts: 107	try not to run out of gas I was told by a service technician to never let your gas tank go past 1/4 tank, always fill up because the gas pump has to do double duty when the tank is low and therefore will die sooner than it should. Also, make sure you get a Porsche Key seperator, which will easily let you just put the key in the ignition (as opposed to having all your keys dangling out of the ignition slot). Doing so will cause your ignition module to fail eventually. Since I bought my car used, 2001 runs great, I think the previous owner didn't know of this potential problem and now I have to replace the module (eventually). I found a good strategy around this for the time being, which is to quickly pull the key out when you are parking. I know a lot of people will tell me that this is only a temporary solution, which is true, but I'm willing to wait to shell out the $600 replacement cost as quoted by Porsche. Although, what do you think about dealer work when the car is not under warranty? I'm thinking to buy the ignition module and have it replaced by another Porsche service, which costs less than the $120 per hour labor rate charged by Porsche. The only upside to Porsche service is the 2 year warranty, so any ideas about that?