Dead in the water, any ideas?

[deliriousga]

About a week ago my wife was out shopping and called saying "the car won't go". I had it towed home and have not been able to look into it yet so I wanted to pass it by the forum before I dive in this weekend.

It will start and idles rough. When you hit the gas, there is zero acceleration. It sits at the 1000rpm idle, but runs more smoothly with the pedal down. There are no codes popping up so I really don't have much to go on.

Would a bad MAF cause something like this? That was the first thing I was going to check into but I'm open to any ideas you guys may have.

TIA!

[FrayAdjacent]

I'd definitely be thinking either the MAF, or maybe an 02 sensor... the mixture is not getting there correctly.

You should be able to just disconnect the electrical connection to the MAF, which will put the engine in a default/safe fuel/air map. If it runs better with the MAF disconnected, it's likely a bad MAF. If it doesn't change... might want to have a shop check the computer to see if any of the 02 sensors are giving bad readings or something.

otherwise, it could be a fuel system problem... or maybe an ignition problem?

[Travis]

Did she fill it up with gas while she was out?

My "Wife" filled the car up an topped off (before I knew ... errr I mean she knew better) and had a similar experience.

[ohioboxster]

I wonder if the fuel filter could be cloged up? Fuel system is my first thought it would make sense that it didnt throw a code too I imagine.

John, sorry to hear you and your Boxster are still out of commission. You have been having a long streak of bad luck.

[MNBoxster]

Hi,

All good suggestions so far, but the list of possibilities is much longer. Start with the basics, Fuel, Air, Spark (you have durametric right?) get a real-time data stream and see where it leads you. Good Luck... !

Happy Motoring!... Jim'99