Too many Boxsters?

[78F350]

Thanks Bran -and of course I love how yours has turned out along with the bike.

Sunday was a day off and I planned on working on the Frog. Saturday evening I got a call from my 'pretty much son in law'. The Prius had broken down on the turnpike about 90 miles from home. He was going to have my daughter pick up my code scanner/diagnostic tool to see if he could fix it and drive home. Instead I had him send me his location and I went to get him with my trailer. A thunderstorm was approaching when I arrived on scene at about 10 pm. We loaded the car on the trailer without delay and headed home as the rain started. I got home around midnight and just left the Prius on the trailer.

Sunday... The Prius had the 'Red Triangle of Death' indication. It would start for a moment, but not run for long. I managed to drive it off the trailer and did a diagnostic. P3193 “Decrease in engine performance (out of gas)”.

The hybrid car had died on the turnpike because it had run out of combustion fluid. It also had a code for a hybrid battery fault, but it turned out that it was just low and it reset after I fueled the car and went for a 20 minute drive. I informed my 'pretty much son in law', who is a dealership mechanic, that it was fixed and ready for him to pick up. It's not uncommon for Prius owners to run out of gas and think there is a serious problem when they see the Triangle of Death. I've heard of a few people who bought them, not running, for almost nothing and 'repaired' them with a couple gallons of gas.

Working on the Frog... The engine is in position in the car with the cradle, but not bolted in yet. I'm working on the plumbing for cooling and power steering. I had some good tubing and hoses on hand that would have connected most of it together, but I used them on the Xbox last month. Sorting through what remains, I could not make good connections. Now I've ordered a flexible 48” stainless hose with some clamps along with a couple fittings that should fill the gap. After I have it in hand and work with it, I may order more and replace other hoses currently in the car.


The car currently has an electric water pump. It cooled well with the 2.7L engine, but it makes a noise that sounds like a failing bearing. I plan to delete that pump and see how well the stock pump on the 4.2L engine does. If it needs more cooling I'll play around with a BMW electric coolant pump wired to a standalone PWM speed controller. That could be manually adjusted or set to other input signals to adjust flow.

For power steering I have the cut off hoses from the Audi that I think I can connect to the Boxster hoses with some barbed fittings and clamps. The other part I need to add is a fluid reservoir. I have a few on hand from various cars, but still need to decide where to put it. I don't think I really need power steering, but since it's all there except hose connections I might as well get it done.

In the end, not a lot done on the Frog on Sunday other than making a few engine compartment adjustments for fitment and tracking down a few wires. I probably won't put more time into it until Friday evening after the coolant tubing arrives.