rear plastic leak onto ECU?

[gbp808]

Hello, new member here, from Hawaii. About to begin a life's dream of owning (done) and hopefully driving a 2001 boxster s. Long story but neglected outside for 6yrs, other than oil change and safety each year. Paid only 2k, BUT rear plastic leak has allegedly "fried the ECU". At some point the ecu kept locking and unlocking the driver door, burnt the motor. Now there seems to be a lockout with no electronics.
I know this could be a nightmare scenario, but in for the gamble. Prior owner believes the ecu can be removed and sent for diagnostic and ? repair as 1st step.
I suspect huge topic, what would be great is if any of you Pro's could speculate on first the possible extent of electrical gremlins i am about to unleash, and secondly are there any tips on the logical sequence to approach this?
She has not been towed to me yet, so other than exterior viewing, that's all I got, for now.
Many thanks, in advance
garry

[78F350]

Just a quick bit of info for you, more later. The ECU (Called the DME by Porsche) in the rear trunk does not normally get damaged by a leaky rear window. The thing that gets wet and corrodes is the Central Locking Module under the driver's seat. It's often referred to as the immobilizer box. If it is lightly corroded it can sometimes function again after being dried and carefully cleaned. If the car has sat for years in Hawaii, chances are that it will have to be replaced.

Try this link to a search of the forum: https://duckduckgo.com/?q=site%3A986forum.com+immobilizer+wet+repair&t=ffab&atb=v405-1&ia=web

[78F350]

More...
If it is a case of a bad 'immobilizer box' there are a variety of solutions.

• ECUDoctors.com has been repairing these for years. There are also some vendors on eBay that offer repair service.
• Buy a good immobilizer box and have the chip with the car's data transferred from the corroded board.
• Buy a complete matching set of immobilizer box + key transponder + DME from a similar year and model car and swap it all in.
• Spend more than you paid for the car for a dealership to repair it.
• * I'm pretty sure that 'Qmulus' who has been mentioned in many related threads is fully retired now and no longer repairs these.

If battery power was applied for a long time with the immobilizer box corroded, it may have damaged some of the wires that connect to it. Inspect them and clean all the connectors.

Along with a bad rear window, the problem is often clogged drains beside the engine compartment.
Clean your drains regularly so it doesn't happen again.

https://986forum.com/forums/boxster-general-discussions/73399-blocked-convertible-drain.html
https://986forum.com/forums/diy-project-guides/64615-water-battery-area-1999-boxster.html

[gbp808]

Thank you, 78F350, for heading me in a sensible direction! Going to check the links now.

[Gilles]

Originally Posted by gbp808

Thank you, 78F350, for heading me in a sensible direction! Going to check the links now.

78F350 is a Gentleman!

[rfuerst911sc]

ECU Doctors also sells a waterproof box to put the immobilizer into . If/when you get this sorted out and running that box could save you $$$ in the future .