What would cause a boxstwr to just cut off when driving?
 

Driving down to Sebring, my boxster just cut off while driving down the highway. No warning lights, no spills, good oil and coolant, and it turns over good when cranking, it just won't start. Any culprits come to mind? Fuel filter is new as of Christmas.

I do hear some clicking when trying to start. Fuel pump?

According to the gas I have just under a quarter tank. Maybe it is off?

My gas gauge is off and when I had this happen leaving a parking lot 5 gallons of gas did the trick.

A fairly common problem is the fuel level float sticks, causing the gas level gauge be off a little.

I got a little gas, and it cranked right up. Went to a gas station and it only took 11.something gallons to fill. Less than 2 miles later it cut off again... Sigh...

Maybe the fuel pump or relay heating up, and whn I sat for a little it cooled and let it start maybe?

One of the problems with these car is the fuel pump does not always stay lock down on the bottom of the tank after a pump replacement. Either that, the locking tabs broke, or it was not installed correctly to begin with. So because of this the pump and pick up floats a bit, and becomes uncovered at about 1/4 tank level. Thus the running out of fuel even with gas in the tank.

but I did not read all your posts. :(

Sounds to me with the new info your pump is dead. brushes in pump worn out and only making contact sometimes....

That is... if its a fuel issue

I am only 20 mikes from Sebring... In Avon park... Uggg

Try a jumper on the relay. I've never had a bad relay on my boxster, but have had Mercs, Volvos and Saabs do just what you describe because of bad fuel pump relays...most often when the OAT is warm.

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Yeah it is like 90. Was able to crank it again after sitting and get 2-3 mikes down the road before it cut out again ..

I checked what I think was the fuel relay and it was the same temperature as the rest. Of course it has had time to cool down. I called triple AAA and I am not impressed with their response time...

Crank position sensor is taking a crap.

Tow truck man brought us to the hotel and pick us up at 2 unless we get it fixed somehow :) maybe someone will have a hot tip for us :)

Go get an OBDII reader and see what's going on ;)

I've got my durametric and a laptop, just need to get it hooked up... And figure out what parameters to check...

Suspects:
Fuel relay
Fuel pump
Crank position sensor

I just had the sump dropped and put in an ebs baffle. Since that was the recent work are any of three related to that?

I will have it back home tonight and can dig into it next week... Fun :)

how does it die? sputter/hesitate then die or just off like you turn the key?

Take off one of the hoses going to the throttle body and spray some WD 40 into the throttle body while an assistant cranks the motor. If it sputters, then its definitely the fuel system.

Dies just like I cut off the key... I am getting a tow to Gainesville, fl, does anybody know of a good shop there? I think I am going to get this one checked out by the pros.

It dies just like if I had turned off the key...

I am getting towed to Gainesville, fl, does anyone have a recommendation there?

Whew made it back home, I will update everybody once I figure it out :)

Sorry to hear this, Steve,- good luck with it. Hopefully it's something relatively simple.

Looks like it is the crank sensor. The shop wants to give it a good once over to see what else it needs but they haven't finished that yet today. If I would have had that sensor and my jack and tools I could have changed it out in around an hour or less. Maybe I should buy 1 of every part and carry it with me... I wonder how much that would cost... And a trailer for all my tools and the car... hmmm... ;)

Hopefully the money I saved on the tow (took it to Continental Imports in Gainesville which saved me around 40 miles of towing) will cover the labor part of the work...

The shop has a quote for me. $500 to replace the sensor, $250 for the part (and they said it was not the Porsche branded part but the Bosch part) and $250 for labor. I indicated that the Bosch part is around $125 for pretty much everywhere else and should take an hour max. They are "checking" and going to get back with me in the morning.

Is it just me? I understand they need to make a little upcharge on the part but not 100%, and $250 seems like a lot of labor. They didn't even have to do much diagnostic work, the CEL that popped at the end was the CEL for the crank sensor.

Since I have posted a couple of other threads where I was kind of whining about cost, maybe it is just me? [Edit: or maybe it is why I, and many of us, like to do our own work whenever possible...]

At least I will have the car back soon and it wasn't anything major :)

Ouch on the cost. :eek: I know it's a Porsche, but damn.

Glad it was something simple, though.

Typical Boxster owner vs. the typical Porsche owner who bought their car new.


We (not all) for the most part are tight wads. Especially since the many of those on the board now bought their boxster second hand at a fraction of the original retail price.

Shops will typically charge retail or a little more for parts. they will also typically charge one hour to diagnostic in addition to the time required to replace the part. Price of convenience these days.

looks like it is time to pass by harbor freight and pick up a cheap code reader...

Convenience, that is the key word. And I fall into the tightwad camp most definitely :)

I have the durametric, I just wasn't able to use it because I didn't have the software loaded on the new laptop yet that I brought with me... doh!