Check Engine Light?

[edevlin]

So I went to Advanced Auto Parts and 150.00 later, I became the owner of a OBD II Autoscanner, ouch. I figured with the messing around I seem to be doing to this 2.7L 2000 boxster, I am going to need to know what the fault codes mean.

It looks like you guys were right on the money on predicting my problem. I only got one code and that was P0102 which according to the Boxster service manual is "a mass air flow sensor - short to ground/below lower limit/lean mixture threshold".

So, for the short term, I need to be able to clean the maf, if possible. For the long term, I need to decide if I should dump the cold-air intake that seems to have caused the fault code.

Even thought it appears to have given me this fault code, I am still inclined to try to keep the cold air intake. The reason being that the Autoauthority Pitstop chip I got for the car is dialed in for this cold air intake, and the performance of the car is great, much better than before the chip and intake.

Also, I was planning on getting the crew at Autoauthority Pitstop to install german headers and high flow cats, as they have worked for quite some time to dial in a chip for the 2.7L boxster with their intake and exhaust rig. I am loving the performance of the car, especially after chipping.

As a little background, this car is my first Porsche (but have lusted for one since my 1958 Karman Ghia I had in the late 1960's). I have had it for about 2 months, and 2,000 miles (trip to Florida to see mom), so I am quite new to the game. When I got the car I had some modest funds set aside to do some mods if it seemed they were warranted. So any advice and/or comments to my situiation are welcome.


Ed

2000 2.7L Boxster
45,000 miles
Silver/Black
Fabspeed Secondary Cat Bypass pipes
AP custom chip
AP cold air intake (AKA: MAF eater)
17" wheels
Pioneer CD/JL Audio amps and speakers
Power Seats

[PorscheDoc]

Just clean the maf, and the filter (don't oil it), and you should be fine. The cold air intakes move so much more air through the system than the stock filter, that it will literally suck out any excess oil out of a filter (or microscopic dirt particles) out of the filter immediately on start up, and there goes your MAF sensor.

I will do a write up before the end of the week. Crazy crazy week, track event today, and a couple cars that need to leave town by friday, so it is a little crazy, though I will get it done

What you will need:
Can of CRC maf sensor cleaner (any auto parts store) or CRC QD electronics cleaner
Torx security bit (though with the cold air intake system, this probably has been removed and replaced with a small 2.5 or 3mm allen)

[edevlin]

The last time I did any work on cars was back in the points-plugs-distributor-adjust carb days. So learning about this Boxster has been both frustrating and kinda fun so far. I have been trying to trouble-shoot the check engine light, I got my code reader, read code, identified MAF sensor as probably the problem. On advice of forum members, got no-residue contact cleaner, disconnected the battery, poped the MAF sensor out, found the mylar film and resistor contacts, sprayed to clean, poped unit back in.

Started car 3X to give the error code a chance to come up if it was going to rear its ugly head again, and beauties of beauties, no check engine light. Who would have thought that a black span at the bottom of the dash with no fault lights could look so good. So there I was, top down, driving down the road, the sun was shining, the day way young. Ed Devlin, master mechanic, trouble-shooter extraordinary, a simple piece of german machinary is no match for my wits......

Steped on the gas, took it up towards redline and thought to myself, man this car is running great. Then it happened, my house of cards came crashing down with the appearance of a little orange light on the dash that said "check engine"...... The car is still running great, seems to be as good as ever, but that little light has got to go.....


Ed

2000 2.7L Boxster, 45K
5-speed manual
TTP cold air intake, BMC filter
Fabspeed Secondary Cat Bypass Pipes
Custom AP ECU Chip

[MNBoxster]

Originally Posted by edevlin

The last time I did any work on cars was back in the points-plugs-distributor-adjust carb days. So learning about this Boxster has been both frustrating and kinda fun so far. I have been trying to trouble-shoot the check engine light, I got my code reader, read code, identified MAF sensor as probably the problem. On advice of forum members, got no-residue contact cleaner, disconnected the battery, poped the MAF sensor out, found the mylar film and resistor contacts, sprayed to clean, poped unit back in.

Started car 3X to give the error code a chance to come up if it was going to rear its ugly head again, and beauties of beauties, no check engine light. Who would have thought that a black span at the bottom of the dash with no fault lights could look so good. So there I was, top down, driving down the road, the sun was shining, the day way young. Ed Devlin, master mechanic, trouble-shooter extraordinary, a simple piece of german machinary is no match for my wits......

Steped on the gas, took it up towards redline and thought to myself, man this car is running great. Then it happened, my house of cards came crashing down with the appearance of a little orange light on the dash that said "check engine"...... The car is still running great, seems to be as good as ever, but that little light has got to go.....


Ed

2000 2.7L Boxster, 45K
5-speed manual
TTP cold air intake, BMC filter
Fabspeed Secondary Cat Bypass Pipes
Custom AP ECU Chip

Hi,

Disconnect the Battery (Radio Code in Hand), wait 5 min. and reconnect, this will clear the code. Then drive one Drive Cycle to re-educate the DME (idle will be rough until you do). This will probably clear the code or you may have a bad MAF, they cannot always be cleaned satisfactorily - they do fail eventually and require replacement. Hope this helps...

Happy Motoring!... Jim'99

[edevlin]

I have been reading some threads about needing to reprogram ECU for new MAF sensors. I was going to get one and replace it, but I am now concerned that I may have to have the ECU reprogramed so that it recognizes the new mass air flow sensor. Anyone know if reprogramming is necessary when replacing MAF sensor in a 2000 2.7L boxster?

Ed

2000 Boxster 2.7L
45K
BMC cold air intake
AP Chip
Fabspeed bypass pipes