I really need help!

[soucorp]

If you smell coolant, its most likely a leak, therefore causing your engine to over heat. The leak could be from an old hose line or cracked coolant reservoir or radiator. Have it checked out and do not drive the car if you see engine lights flashing and temperature gauges going redline.

Live and learn kid, alot of common sense goes along way, take the proper time to read about how your car works -you know the owners manual !

Best

[SC-986]

Hey Donner,
If you live in the upstate of SC, Protech Motorsports in Greenville or Stuttgart Motor Werks in Hendersonville, NC are both good independent shops.

[Perfectlap]

Donner, go to Google Books and download a copy of 101 Projects for your Porsche Boxster by Wayne Dempsey to your phone, tablet, laptop or PC. I would recommend you read the areas involving cooling and oil maintenance first. Neglecting these will destroy your car quickly.

[jb92563]

Wow guys, this Porsche newbie has a lot to learn about these cars but we all were this dumb about them at some time.

My advice to Donner is to take the constructive suggestions and go get the car towed to a shop that knows about Porsches and can diagnose whats going on.

Donner, just know that you can not treat a Porsche like a typical car, it needs special treatment and expertise so as not to mess it up.

For example, you can not just put regular antifreeze mix in a Porsche via the collant fill cap if you have lost too much coolant. (Emptied the coolant tank in the trunk)

You need the right kind of antifreeze and then you have to follow the special proceedure to "burp" all the air pockets out of the coolant system.

So in any case since your not very knowledgeable about the Boxster its best you take it to a shop that is.

Continuing on with things gone wrong in a Porsche will end up costing you many times what the car is worth so your better off getting things looked at as soon as they happen.

Generally, if ANY of the RED lights come on it need Immediate attention and the amber/yellow lights can usually wait till you get home except for the "Check Engine Light"

As you can see us Porsche enthusiasts are quite passionate and it hurts our souls when we see a car in trouble and getting less than the full care it deserves

[986_inquiry]

Originally Posted by Donner

I drive a 1999 Porsche Boxster (engine is located in the back of the car), it has 68,000 miles on it. And its a manual transmission.

Before this all happened, I saw a red light blinking by the temperature gauge, I asked my dad what that meant and he told me to just ignore it. Also, when I crank up my car, there is a red indicator pointing to my trunk, but after I start driving that indicator disappears.

I drove to work, and everything was fine (I go to work at 7:00 AM and leave around 4:00 PM). Came back to my car, got stuck in a huge line of traffic so I held the clutch halfway down and the brake all the way down and slowly crept up the line (Can't completely stop because the traffic is moving slowly). While at a complete stop for about 6 minutes, I smell a horrid odor. I look over to the right and see white smoke coming from the right ventilation of my car.

I got scared so I left the car there, and got a ride home from someone else. I came back, added water to the water dispenser and drove it home, and everything seemed fine. The red light blinking by the temperature gauge disappeared. But the red indicator with an image of my car pointing to my trunk still remained.

What's wrong with my car? Thanks ahead of time!

stop driving, have it towed to a Porsche dealership

I have a Boxster sitting in my driveway because of a bad mechanic who told me to ignore the flashing temp light after he had done repairs to the coolant system the day before. Don't trust anyone but a Porsche dealership.

[Timco]

Originally Posted by jb92563

Wow guys, this Porsche newbie has a lot to learn about these cars but we all were this dumb about them at some time.

My advice to Donner is to take the constructive suggestions and go get the car towed to a shop that knows about Porsches and can diagnose whats going on.

Donner, just know that you can not treat a Porsche like a typical car, it needs special treatment and expertise so as not to mess it up.

For example, you can not just put regular antifreeze mix in a Porsche via the collant fill cap if you have lost too much coolant. (Emptied the coolant tank in the trunk)

You need the right kind of antifreeze and then you have to follow the special proceedure to "burp" all the air pockets out of the coolant system.

So in any case since your not very knowledgeable about the Boxster its best you take it to a shop that is.

Continuing on with things gone wrong in a Porsche will end up costing you many times what the car is worth so your better off getting things looked at as soon as they happen.

Generally, if ANY of the RED lights come on it need Immediate attention and the amber/yellow lights can usually wait till you get home except for the "Check Engine Light"

As you can see us Porsche enthusiasts are quite passionate and it hurts our souls when we see a car in trouble and getting less than the full care it deserves

If he was asking about the AO sep or the temp sensor in the grill it would be a newbie thing. But ignoring critical flashing lights, even if your dad said ignore them, even in a Hyundai is a lack of something basic. It's not about being a Porsche enthusiast, it's about using common sense and google. How do we suppose we all found this site? In dire trouble or to learn about prevent maint and learn the car?

My biggest issue is resale. If he told me those things I would pass. And this shows how ineffective the certified preowned Porsche thing is. If he gets all his oil changes how would they know this guy is driving like this under these conditions? Perfect excuse to eliminate / reduce how many IMS claims?

Tim

[clickman]

Originally Posted by 986_inquiry

stop driving, have it towed to a Porsche dealership
Don't trust anyone but a Porsche dealership.

Bad advice. There are bad Porsche dealerships just like there are bad indies. Finding a mechanic you can trust can be a difficult chore (do the research), but well worth it. And they're definitely not all at Porsche dealerships...

[Verhag]

If near Columbia, SC try Doc's Garage, I believe he's in Lexington

[Porsche Chick]

Oh, my.

Life rule #1; never ignore a warning, no matter what kind it is. Warning light, warning bark, police warning, etc., they all mean something.

Life rule #2; ask your mom next time.

[tonycarreon]

Originally Posted by Porsche Chick

Life rule #2; ask your mom next time.

hah! in some cases very true. my mother taught me to drive a manual, since my dad could not and still can not...

[Crono0001]

I'm sorry. You can play the "we were all there once" card all you want. It doesn't change the fact that I feel bad for the car. I learned this kind of basic car care at the age of 16.

It's your Porsche. You bought it. You can do whatever you want with it. There was a guy that used his 911 as target practice. But it doesn't change the fact that you should be in an automatic truck. It may be disrespectful, but this is the internet. I don't represent the community when I say this, but you and your dad are both idiots.

[PorscheBound]

Originally Posted by Crono0001

I don't represent the community when I say this, but you and your dad are both idiots.

Nice input.....

[soucorp]

Originally Posted by Crono0001

I'm sorry. You can play the "we were all there once" card all you want. It doesn't change the fact that I feel bad for the car. I learned this kind of basic car care at the age of 16.

It's your Porsche. You bought it. You can do whatever you want with it. There was a guy that used his 911 as target practice. But it doesn't change the fact that you should be in an automatic truck. It may be disrespectful, but this is the internet. I don't represent the community when I say this, but you and your dad are both idiots.

I think you said that out loud, LoL.
Now the kid will never come back to ask anything! I know its the internet and all but lets have some ethics and be dignified gentlemen!

Best to the kid, I'm sure he'll figure it out.

[RandallNeighbour]

We will see a LOT more of this in the future, my fellow middle-aged Boxster owners.

Our cars are getting dirt cheap to own. I doubt I could get $9000 for my car as it sits

This means a lot of young guys will buy them and not realize the high mileage, 15 year old Porsche they just bought is not a German Toyota MR2 Spyder...

[trimer]

Everyone's real tough when sitting behind a computer aren't they? Calling him and his dad names? Seriously? Grow up people...he F'd up. Some constructive help would be nice. Way to treat one of our own...

[RandallNeighbour]

This forum is better than most, but as is the case on the internet, we eat our young.

[particlewave]

If the op isn't a troll...

Always read owners manuals of any machinery that you intend to operate. You should at least know the basics. Have your car checked out...you can start by looking for oil in the coolant reservoir.

[ChrisZang]

Originally Posted by trimer

Everyone's real tough when sitting behind a computer aren't they? Calling him and his dad names? Seriously? Grow up people...he F'd up. Some constructive help would be nice. Way to treat one of our own...

+1 on that

[BruceH]

We were/are all clueless at one time or another. There are lots of things that I don't know. Somthing that may be common knowledge to me is not to others. I have always believed there are no stupid questions. As Randall stated, we are going to see more of this in the future as younger guys are able to afford a Porsche. I think it's great that they are able to get one of these cars rather than some econo box. There is a learning curve to everything.

[coreseller]

I still say it's Madmod's kid.

Randall is correct on one front, as these cars fall in value and the threshold to Porsche ownership entry is continually lowered, get used to to these kind of posts. I had this conversation with a popular forum member a couple of weeks ago (outside of this forum), I referenced another car based forum that actually had a sticky labelled "FP=FQNM"; Falling Prices Equal Falling Quality of New Members. Forum veterans would post up transgressions from what they deemed violators, it got brutal at times.

Regarding the banter and admonishments back and forth from regulars over the original question by Donner (whichever side you are on, you gotta admit it was ripe with "dumbass") and replies it generated, I chuckled out loud when I went to his profile page and saw he hasn't logged back on since his second and last post.

Carry on.