Sluggish ... little exaust output

[Hugh D]

Ok, here's my story:

Last Tuesday I took my car in to a reputable independent shop here in Houston. They were to fix a sensor in the cooling system (which did get rid of my blinking light), flush and replace coolant, oil change, AND fix a cam housing seal leak (replaced both gaskets... etc).

THey also gave it a good inspection and came back with some minor things.

Anyway, today I go pick it up and he mentions something new... "car loses power on hard acceleration... possible catalytics". I had never heard this before... he said my "cats were probably getting clogged". I thought "okay... we'll lets just see how it rides... I never noticed a prob before". I get in the car... drives fine for half a mile then I get a check engine light! NEVER seen that in the 400 miles I owned it. THEN I TRY ... TRY to get on the free way... the car, engine sounds fine, but the exaust you can tell something is going on. It just had a hard time getting to 50 much less 70. So, I take it back and he goes "yeah it's the cats" and resets my code. I of course let him know something is not right about this... but I leave calmly and plan on picking up the discussion tomorrow. Well, he calls me about 20 miles later (no check engine light... car still sluggish).... and says "hey... let me take a look at it tomorrow... I may be able to talk Porsche into getting you some new cats since youre just out of emissions warranty by a year" or whatever. So I'm like okay... at least he wants to work wtih me.

ANYWAY...

What do you think guys? What steps should I take from here? Any truth to this cats thing? Do they clog/"fall apart" after only 53k miles? I had NO problems with this before. How should I approach the shop?

How do I hold them accountable for whatever the hell happened to my car? Am I overreacting... it just seems to me when I pick up my car after $1,700 in repairs it shoudl run fine... not have new problems.

I put the repair on my American Express. I hope it doesn't get that nasty.

I will not name the shop here but I assure you it is a well-known independent.

Thanks, guys!

[Hugh D]

I should add that he currently has the car back at the shop. I went back and got my daily driver. Thank God this Porsche isn't my daily cause I'd a been screwed for a week already!

[xclusivecar]

I just had my two main cats replaced under warranty...both were clogged up apparently and causing all kinds of problems with check engine lights blaming the O2 sensors. Check your cars in service date to determine if you truly are out of emissions warranty. I thought I was but found out otherwise...saved me a ton of money.

If its the secondary set of cats on the car then I wiould just bypass them. They are not needed as far as i am concerned.

[edevlin]

The shop where I have work done has said that he has replaced factory cats in two boxsters, one with 50k, the other with 60K for what thats worth.

I wonder what happens to our cars when they are taken to reputable shops. I left my car at probably the best place in town with a good reputation for doing work work for the Porsche dealership. I left it there to have the plastic rear window replaced.

They did a great job on the window, but it sure seems like there is more play in my new clutch that I have been babying since I got the car back. I did not think to check the milage before I dropped it off, and I am not sure, but I suspect someone gave my car a hard test drive or two while they had it.


Ed

[RandallNeighbour]

Hugh, why didn't you get Hans to do all this? It would have been much less and he would have never let your car out of there with that diagnosis.

Cats don't go bad overnight like that. Sounds like you may just need a MAF or you have a fouled O2 sensor... a bad mass air fuel sensor can make the car run like crap. Ask them to put it on a PST tool and diagnosis it eletronically... which should be no problem for a good shop.

Now I had the same problem when one of the hoses coming from the fuel pump going into the sending unit. It just wasn't fully seated and starved the engine. Once it was back on it ran just fine.

You might have a failing fuel pump or one of those hoses. If the electronic diagnostics come out fine (ie, your cats are functioning well), have them check the fuel supply before they start selling you new cats (Porsche ain't gonna give you new ones in my opinion).

Instead of giving this shop a bunch MORE cash, call Hans and tell him what's going on and he may have some good advice for you.

[Hugh D]

Hey Randall,

When all this arose Hans had not returned my call in a couple days so I went ahead and bit the bullet... took it to a place I had previously talked to before I knew about Hans.

Hans called me back after I had already taken the car in. I definetely intend on using him in the future, but I felt I was doing alright going to an actual business for my first look over of the car.

I hope I don't have to go to Hans for this issue and that the shop is able to make everything alright tomorrow at no expense to me, but I know that could be wishful thinking. If they call me and say "ok... here's what it'll cost" I'll just tell them I am coming to pick up my car and they are never touching it again.

I understand Hans is out of town through the weekend or something? I'll try calling him tomorrow.

I definetely think something is just not put back on the car properly... like the hose you mentioned. I just don't see how anything on the car could turn like that, that fast... especially "build-up" on the cats!

[RandallNeighbour]

if only you knew your boxster's guts the way you know computer hardware and software!

[chaudanova]

I believe you should be covered under: "Federal Emissions Coverage - Listed Components: 8 years/80,000 miles"

[Hugh D]

Mileage wise, yeah I'm ok... but my car is 9 years 1 month old.

[Hugh D]

It was the mass air fuel sensor ... so, $300 later I now have a car that runs perfect with no dash lights ... at least for the last 20 miles. We'll see how long it lasts :-)

[CJ_Boxster]

nice, i had a MAF go out awhile back... different results than you encountered, I had stalls and no starts after 40 minutes drives.

[xclusivecar]

Originally Posted by chaudanova

I believe you should be covered under: "Federal Emissions Coverage - Listed Components: 8 years/80,000 miles"

Just an FYI: The years/mileage you have listed is for a NEW car. The emissions warranty when my 2000 was born was 7/70K.