Car Sputtered on start, sputter, idle, engine light?
 

I have a 2000 Porsche Boxster with about 62K miles.

Ive had the car on jack stands for about the last two weeks (I had the wheels powder coated and painted the calipers).

While the car was on stands I did two other things, I removed the factory head unit and amp and installed an aftermarket unit. And I replaced the gauge pod with one from a 2000 boxster S as mine had gotten discolored.

Upon starting the car for the first time after getting her back on the ground she sputtered and I though she was going to die... i tapped the gas slightly and she seemed to come to life but there seemed to be a delay from when i hit the gas and the RPM increase. I let her sit and run for a while and she seemed to level out, I thought it was maybe the computers resetting after sitting for so long with no battery. I took the car around the block to test a suspension fix I had just completed and the car seemed OK.

I pulled in the driveway and let her idle for a bit but the idle wasnt right, she seemed to be go up to about 1K then come back down. I let her sit and idle like this for a few minutes and she seemed to be OK. It seemed like she was sucking in a LOT of air from the passenger side air duct though.

I let her run for a few minutes and when I got back in the "engine" light was on?! That scared the hell out of me so I immediately shut down. I let her sit for about a minute then started her back up to pull into the garage. The check engine light was no longer on and she seemed to run OK for the 13 feet into the garage?!

I haven't run her since.


**What could have caused this??

***Id be surprised it was the after market radio unless the amp is pulling to much power from the battery?

***Also would the Boxster S gauge pod that I installed have this effect on the car? Ive read the car needs to re-"learn" some of the electronics when their replaced, is this true with the pod?

Sounds like something completely unrelated to any of the work you did. Disconnecting the battery will reset the computer and it must relearn settings again, so it is possible this caused a little confusion for the computer.

It could be an MAF or Oxygen sensor, or else it could be one of the spark plugs or coil packs. If the light has gone off, personally I would ignore it and adopt the wait and see approach. If you are really concerned then take it to a garage that can read the codes for you. Ultimately, these things rarely go away by themselves and it will be back sooner or later.

So the CEL light is back on now...

OK..
Checked the CEL code and got this...

P0650 Check Engine Malfunction Indicator Light (MIL) – Open Circuit
Fault area
– Break in wiring
– Short to ground
– Short to B+ (+12 volts)

I'm not quite sure how the CEL light works. Does it activate when there is a problem then turn off when the problem is remedied, or does it stay on once activated and stay on until reset by a service shop?

I think it has to be one of two things, either the new gauge pod is somehow setting it off, or maybe there is a wiring mix-up with the new head unit I installed.
In regards to the gauge pod, the light behind the digital MPH readout had burned out, I simplly replaced it with one from the original pod. I cant imagine that would set off a CEL??
In regards to the head unit, I ordered a wire harness from Crutchfield. I read on their website that the orange and red wire needed to be switched for the Boxster, I also confirmed this with a Crutchfield representative on the telephone. The instructions that came with the wire harness had a list of vehicles that required this red/orange switch however the Boxster was not one of them...??? Could this cause this P0650 error?

Respectfully,
Ben