After checking fuses and radio car wont start. Need help Stat! - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners

eurotic spaniard · 10-12-2009, 05:51 PM

i'm a newbie here and newbie owner of '02 Boxter S. I bought this used 3 weeks. only had 54k miles (i know...that's why i did my own carfax. 1 owner car w/54kmiles).

Anyhow everything was great until today. The only problem is the radio and dash backlight never worked from my day 1. I been going thru a number of your great threads here to try to fix the problem.

I went through and checked the fuses to make sure all were good. And they were. In between i must of started and turned off the car 4-5 times just to test.

Problem: the last time i tried starting the car it turned a couple of times then died. Next time i tried starting-nothing! No turns or clicks. Yet I still have power to lights, convertible top, windows, etc. Can it still be the battery? What to do??? Help!

mptoledo · 10-12-2009, 07:20 PM

First off , Welcome and congrats. Don't let this minor setback get you down as once you catch up on some minor maintenace you rarely see problems.

I would guess it's the dreaded ignition switch. Especially if you have any trouble taking your key out or if it doesn't automatically turn back to the run position. Good news is, its an easy fix and only cost around $35. You can easily, ok moderately do it yourself. Go to the DIY thread on here and look for the ignition switch replace thread. I did it and found some sort cuts. Takes about 15 minutes and it really takes no technical expertise.
http://www.987forum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=21844
I have a 2001 "S" and I know the 2002 are identical. If it hasn't been replaced, it will need to. If that doesn't fix it then no harm done as it is a must on all older Boxsters.

Oh you can order the part from advanced auto parts for sure and probably auto zone. Check out pedros site and you will see most everthing short of engine rebuild can easily be done in your garage with a jack and some stands.

Lil bastard · 10-12-2009, 07:36 PM

ignition switch is a good guess, but I'm betting the car has it's original battery and now'd be a good time to replace it. That may cure all your ills, if not, a new battery never hurt any car.

mptoledo · 10-12-2009, 07:44 PM

Yeah good point Mr. lil bastard. You might as well get a check list of things to get done(most DIY) unless you have all records from previous owners. First thing after you get this done, change your oil every 5k miles or once a year. $60 ish doing it yourself. I use Castro syntech 10W40 Always use xxW"40" and never xxW"30"(probably 5w40 in S. cal). I would do your 60k miles maint early as it will never hurt. Most of it can be found on DIY forum on here.

My list of things done and needed to do. I bought mine with about 58k miles also.

Projects completed:
1.) Serpentine belt...........$25 Gatorback w/ac
2.) Sparkplugs..................$42 Ngk-Ix-Iridium
3.) Radio replaced............$225 JVC HD50 (BB install)
4.) Tires............................$700 Sumitomo III Local shop
5.) Oil Change/air filter.....$94 catro syntec 10W40,napa gold,K&N air
6.) Speakers....................$143 Infinity Kappa F=4", R=3 1/2
7.) Throttle body clean.....$5 Throttle body cleaner
8.) De-snorkel..................$.10 A few paper towels
9.) Ignition switch............$35

Projects to do:
fuel filter
Battery (spring).

eurotic spaniard · 10-12-2009, 08:00 PM

Thanks for the warm welcome MPTOLEDO as well as ur wealth or 986 knowledge. U made me feel better and will now be able to sleep. Whats ur battery of choice?

mptoledo · 10-12-2009, 08:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by eurotic spaniard

Thanks for the warm welcome MPTOLEDO as well as ur wealth or 986 knowledge. U made me feel better and will now be able to sleep. Whats ur battery of choice?

I am probably going with the optima as it doesn't need to be vented(google autozone). It isn't cheap and you can always do a search and get cheaper opinions on here. I don't mind spending more on the battery as its once every 4 to 6 years.

eurotic spaniard · 10-15-2009, 12:01 PM

MP TOLEDO:

Thanks to yours & Pedro's Garage great instructions and after many scrapes, scratches, and wrist & elbow socket re-alignments I successfully removed and replaced the ignition switch on my 2002 Boxster S.

Ignition Switch Placement:
Per Pedro...
1) the two guides of the switch need to fit into the the notches of the switch housing
2)The center (the 1/2 moon section) notch at bottom of switch needs to be aligned and seat into the housing notch

Placement Problem:
1) The new switch didn't fit out of the box. When i slid the switch's two guides into the two housing slots the 1/2 moon notch of the switch didn't align and seat with the housing notch. If i turned switch to see if the guides fit on the opposite housing notches the bottom switch 1/2 moon notch still didn't align with the bottom notch of housing
2) In order for it to fit it was necessary for me to turn (engage) the 1/2 moon notch of the switch. When i did it click over about 1/4". The two switch guides then then seated correctly into the notch guides of the housing and center notch of the housing.

QUESTIONS:

1) Are the new switches supposed to come aligned right of the box by aligning & fitting into the center notch of the housing and the two guides sliding into slots of housing?
2) Was it ok i engaged the bottom notch of the switch so that it "clicked" over 1/4" so that it seated and aligned in center notch of housing?

I don't want to reconnect the battery or try starting it until i know it's cool. Thanks.

mptoledo · 10-15-2009, 06:31 PM

I Had to take mine off and put it back on twice before I got it to fit "securely". You will know when it fits it will slide all the way up. I didn't unhook my battery when I did mine.

Your questions:
1.) I'm not sure about how they come out of the box. I took a small flash light and eyeballed it. and manually turned it until it seated perfectly.
2.) Sorry but I am not sure what your are saying in your second question. Not sure what you mean by "I engaged the bottom notch of the switch " If you me you turned it so it fit, then yes thats what I did and it has worked flawlessly for the last 3 months or so.

My take on it when I did it was:.. If it fits snuggly and it starts, you did it correctly. Another guy on here told of how he didn't do it and the car wouldn't start at all.

Quote:

Originally Posted by eurotic spaniard

MP TOLEDO:

QUESTIONS:

1) Are the new switches supposed to come aligned right of the box by aligning & fitting into the center notch of the housing and the two guides sliding into slots of housing?
2) Was it ok i engaged the bottom notch of the switch so that it "clicked" over 1/4" so that it seated and aligned in center notch of housing?

I don't want to reconnect the battery or try starting it until i know it's cool. Thanks.

jhandy · 10-16-2009, 06:27 AM

This sounds stupid but did you check the 10 amp fuse on the back of the radio?
I screwed around with my car for a whole weekend and almost droped $$ on a new radio, when i pulled mine out and looked and sure enough the 10 amp blade fuse ON the back of the radio was blown. Replaced it and works great. Never knew why it popped.

eurotic spaniard · 10-16-2009, 06:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jhandy

This sounds stupid but did you check the 10 amp fuse on the back of the radio?
I screwed around with my car for a whole weekend and almost droped $$ on a new radio, when i pulled mine out and looked and sure enough the 10 amp blade fuse ON the back of the radio was blown. Replaced it and works great. Never knew why it popped.

Yeah pulling the radio out is what i plan to do. Thanks for all the advice!

eurotic spaniard · 10-16-2009, 06:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mptoledo

I Had to take mine off and put it back on twice before I got it to fit "securely". You will know when it fits it will slide all the way up. I didn't unhook my battery when I did mine.

Your questions:
1.) I'm not sure about how they come out of the box. I took a small flash light and eyeballed it. and manually turned it until it seated perfectly.
2.) Sorry but I am not sure what your are saying in your second question. Not sure what you mean by "I engaged the bottom notch of the switch " If you me you turned it so it fit, then yes thats what I did and it has worked flawlessly for the last 3 months or so.

My take on it when I did it was:.. If it fits snuggly and it starts, you did it correctly. Another guy on here told of how he didn't do it and the car wouldn't start at all.

Thanks MPTOLEDO
Yeah I went ahead and got it to seat. Ignition fired up fast and clean. Thanks for urs and everyone's help!

rsiferd · 11-01-2009, 05:34 AM

If you have a manual transmission, make sure that the floor mat is not keeping the clutch from tripping the start kick down switch.

jmatta · 11-01-2009, 07:26 AM

Glad to hear the ignition switch was the cause of your troubles. I haven't experienced this yet, though it seems to be inevitable. BTW, don't ever hang a heavy load of keys off any ignition. I get a kick out of seeing folks drop their car keys down on the table and it looks like a janitor's key ring.