craigslist "bargain"
 

Yes that title is somewhat tongue in cheek, but I do have a question that I'm hoping some of you all will have an answer/educated guess for me. There is a '99 boxster with 150K miles, asking price is $3200, and there is an issue with the car, shocker I know. Seller claims that there is a misfire code on one bank of the engine and has included a picture of the code...they are as follows
P0446 - Evaporative Emission Control System Vent Control circuit malfunction
P0300 - Random/Multiple Cylinder Misfire Detected
P0301 - Cylinder 1 Misfire detected
P0302 - Cylinder 2 Misfire detected
P0303 - Cylinder 3 Misfire detected
and lastly pictured
P0341 - Camshaft Position Sensor A (bank 1) - Circuit Ranges Performance

walk away, or run? or is this something that is common or that there is a relatively simple fix for?

The general rule is that if your are buying a Boxster for less than $10k, you will have spent $10k by the time it is up and running. There is probably a reason it is a "bargain," get a PPI and review service records. Those codes are not common, and suggest a serious issue. It could be a simple fix, but you will need a good Porsche mechanic to determine the cause and repair, if possible.

In general, $3k is about what people pay for a "roller," a Boxster with a blow engine.

With those codes the only assumption you can make is the engine is junk and you're buying a roller. So if the rest of the car is in otherwise good shape and you feel like buying a replacement engine, the alternative is to expect to part out. Take what the seller says as only marginally accurate.

Below is interesting reading and is a similar if not exact problem that is still ongoing.

http://986forum.com/forums/general-discussions/63007-aos-question.html

Is it this one being re-sold?
http://986forum.com/forums/general-discussions/64341-soul-searching.html
http://986forum.com/forums/general-discussions/65088-parting-out-my-car.html

It was on CL for quite a while, but I haven't seen it for a couple months now. I'd probably offer quite a bit less and plan to put another engine in.

Regardless of if it's that car, I'd expect that the seller is presenting the most positive info he can get away with. Still it is possible it could be a broken/disconnected wire or a bad sensor. How would you feel to get it home and find out the engine is only good for scrap? At the right price, I could be fine with that.

Run -- Run very fast -- Run very far........

m

I followed this on CL for a while too and no the car I was looking at was in the DFW area.

These are likely better deals.... (no affiliation) (All Boxster S's)

https://waco.craigslist.org/cto/6051249425.html

https://sanantonio.craigslist.org/cto/6057881651.html

https://austin.craigslist.org/cto/6053093926.html <<-- <60K S for < $10K????

Mike

Those codes are very interesting. The 300 codes are related and "might" be caused by the last one. If the car is clean otherwise, suspension, electrical bits, tires, brakes, etc.,etc. It could be a deal. If this is the case, it might be worth a PPI. Realize that all of these things can add up to thousands of dollars in repairs, even if, like me, you wrench your own! :eek:

That could be an easy fixer too. the 446 code does not relate to the others so you have 2 problems, but unless the car has been driven a lot with those problems there may/may not be a big issue. If the car seems to run well but has those issues it could simply be that the cam sensor has gone bad, or that the little timing pad has broken off of the tensioner. So if you fix that issue, it may be a good car.
Really just need to remove the valve cover on that side and do a quick visual inspection, or you may be able to get a Durametric and compare values of the cam sensors etc.
Either way it is a gamble, I would definitely have a professional do a PPI on it before you lay out $3k for it un unknown condition, it will be the best $150 you spend on the car.

Bargain will depend on how much of the work you can do. $3200 is cheep and there might be no way to lose money on it at that price as it can be parted to recover the $$. We bought one at $3K and it had similar codes. Bad coils were the majority of the issues and cleared once replaced. They had visible cracks, which is common. CPS change cleared up all other we had. We then went on a "reliability" rebuild to make her a daily driver for my daughter. It's now bullet proof and a JOY to have and drive in the fleet.