98 boxter fuel pump issues

[mjones0216]

I'm trying to help my father in law fix his boxter. I was driving it one day and it just quit out of nowhere coming up to a red light. Its a stock 2.5 with tiptronic. It would turn over til the cows came home but wouldn't fire. He owns a shop, so his techs have looked at it, even put a new fuel pump relay into it. The pump works if you manually put power to it, but doesn't run normally like it should. I spoke with the tech thats been working on it and he said theres 3 wire to the relay, and they all seem grounded, none are getting power.

Is this a problem with the crank sensor, cam sensor, or possibly the anti-theft? It seems weird that it would die out of nowhere during normal driving.

[JFP in PA]

Check out the crank sensor; when it dies, it turns off the fuel pump...........

[Meir]

listen to JFP, and let me share an advice he gave me a year ago.
get yourself the Duranetric diagnostic tool. if you are working on the car, and your father in law intend to keep it, it will pay for it self in the long run, and will save you a lot of time as well.
if the crank sensor is in fault, the Durametric will find it. don't start throwing parts into the car for no reason.

[mjones0216]

Thanks for the help, I'll run the durametric idea past him. He owns a body shop so he may get some use out of it but he rarely gets porsches in there. I think he's ready to give up on the car since he inherited it and he's already got a bit of money into it from the body work it needed. I'll see if they checked the sensor today, hopefully that works since I love this car and will probably get more use out of it than him!

[SolidWorks Mike]

Originally Posted by Meir

listen to JFP, and let me share an advice he gave me a year ago.
get yourself the Duranetric diagnostic tool. if you are working on the car, and your father in law intend to keep it, it will pay for it self in the long run, and will save you a lot of time as well.
if the crank sensor is in fault, the Durametric will find it. don't start throwing parts into the car for no reason.

How will Durametric find an intermittent faulty crank sensor?

[shadrach74]

Originally Posted by SolidWorks Mike

How will Durametric find an intermittent faulty crank sensor?

If the car won't start, why do you think it's intermittent?

[SolidWorks Mike]

Originally Posted by shadrach74

If the car won't start, why do you think it's intermittent?

I'm guessing you don't have an answer to my original question then?

[mjones0216]

Its not intermittent, the car wont start at all. I checked in today and evidently noone there knows how to work on a porsche. I'm no mechanic either but I'm sure I could figure it out without a problem with less than 5 mins searching online.

[shadrach74]

Originally Posted by mjones0216

Its not intermittent, the car wont start at all. I checked in today and evidently noone there knows how to work on a porsche. I'm no mechanic either but I'm sure I could figure it out without a problem with less than 5 mins searching online.

This was my point when I asked the last question. If the car won't start, then clearly the problem is not an intermittent.

Originally Posted by SolidWorks Mike

I'm guessing you don't have an answer to my original question then?

As for durametric helping with an intermittent issue, it will help as much as any portable diagnostic tool. If you've had an intermittent failure, you carry your laptop with you and then plug in at the time of failure.

I've had two crank sensors fail in 2 different non-Pcars. In my experience a failing CPS tends to manifest symptoms after the car is warmed up to operating temperature, it almost never happens when its cold. The engine dies while driving, or what's more likely you stop...for gas or a quick bite to eat and then come back to a car that won't start. You end up waiting it out, trying repeatedly until it finally starts, or you have it towed to a shop and low and behold it starts right up when the mechanic tries it.

[mjones0216]

Ok so after replacing the crank sensor, it still won't run. Not too sure what to do. He's buying a durametric I believe. If he gets one, will it show what's wrong without the car having a CEL?

[Spinnaker]

Take off the gas cap and listen at the gas filler tube while someone else turns on the ignition. Do not start the car. If the fuel pump is working, you should hear a whirring noise at the fuel filler neck.
Since the pump works with manual power to it, and you have changed the pump relay, my next guess would be the ignition switch.