First boxster - P1124 codes
 

Hey guys,

I traded my BMW z3 for a 99 boxster this past Friday. The guy I traded with is actually active on this forum (Nola911 - great guy). So far it's been a ton of fun, I'm 19, and this is my first manual ... so there has been some stalling at stop lights (aside from leaning how to start out in 1st gear smoothly, I've learned 4th gear at 5 mph isn't good). Anyways, it has 91k on the chasis, and approx 15-20k on the motor. It had the IMS failure, and when the engine was replaced it had the IMS upgrade, and a new RMS.

There are a couple issues I've encountered so far - the temp gauge usually sits at around the right side/edge of the "0" in 180. Is this normal? I need to clean out the front radiators, looking through the bumper with a flashlight I can see some leaves and such in there, so i imagine it's a mess in there.

And the most recent issue is the CEL came on, I had it read at advance auto parts, and it came up at P1124

P1124 Oxygen Sensing Adaptation Area 1 (Cylinders 1 - 3) - Rich Threshold

There wasn't an rough idle, it was usually pretty steady. I've read up on some possible causes, air leak, AOS, MAF, etc. Today I disconnected the battery and cleaned the MAF with some CRC MAF cleaner - there wasn't any oil in the intake pipe as far as I could see, and the MAF seemed relatively clean. While I had it in the service position, I wanted to get some pictures of the AOS and get everyones opinion on it. I've read that when it begins to go bad, you can see some oil accumulating on the hoses it connects to. As well as when it fails, a rainshower of oil over the engine (luckly didn't have that).

Anyways, I turned the car back on, it had an irratic idle due to the battery being off - I don't expect that to improve for maybe 50 miles. The CEL Didn't come back on after the battery disconnect.

Here are the pictures, let me know what you guys think (also, about the general condition of the motor from what you can see)

To throttle body I believe
http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t...n/IMAG0922.jpg

http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t...n/IMAG0924.jpg

http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t...n/IMAG0919.jpg
Is there supposed to be some slack in this???

http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t...n/IMAG0921.jpg

And here it is driving home after I got it ...

http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t...n/IMAG0914.jpg

Thanks!

As far as the OAS goes, you can test it by removing the oil cap while the motor is running. Put your hand over the oil filler to seal it and you should feel just the slightest amount of vacuum. If its hard to get the cap off or if you can really feel a vacuum, then the AOS is bad.

I had some codes and totally fixed it with a new MAF but I don't know if that's going to fix your problem. You could get a smoke test done where they inject smoke under a slight pressure into the intake system and thereby find elusive vacuum leaks. An independent garage did this for me and only cost $75. They found a couple small leaks but it was really the MAF sensor on my car.

Another thing you can do is buy the Durametric diagnostic unit and look at the actual values coming from the sensors. It was only after I bought the unit and posted a thread on another forum that I learned the values were goofed up and thus pointing to a bad MAF. You're going to want the Durametric anyway if you intend on keeping the car. The Durametric doesn't tell you what the numbers mean but sometimes you can get help online on the Pcar forums interpreting the results.

What DME do you have??? For 1999 model year it's probably DME 5.2.2 and if that's the case the P1124 is a "Fuel pump relay output stage" trouble code.

Honestly Jager, I don't even know what DME is! haha, how do I find out? After a google search of "P1124 Fuel pump relay output stage", I'd MUCH rather have a relay issue than a possible air leak somewhere which I may never find.

Can you take a look at the picture where it has the cable over the cam to the right of the throttle body ... does the cable have too much slack? I have no idea what it's purpose is, but it just seems too loose...

Digital Motor Electronics (DME) from model years 1997 thru 1999 are version M 5.2.2 and from model years 2000 thru 2002 they are version M 7.2 and from 2003 thru 2004 are version M 7.8. This is very important information to know when troubleshooting.

Looks like throttle cable with a little slack… What does it do after you start the car?

Okay, so what your saying is I have 5.2.2, and the p1124 code is actually referring to my fuel pump relay?

Hmm, I'm not sure what it does after I start the car - should it tighten up when the motor is running?

If nothing changes, does it need to be tightened?