First day with my Boxster and a check engine light =(
 

Well only 5 hours after picking up my 02 boxster (only 18k miles) the check engine light came on.. power still seemed normal.. however every time i turn the car off and get out, i can smell what smells like oil burning.. the dipstick looked fine, so does the oil guage on the dash (all bars are there).. no oil is dripping on the garage floor after an entire night.. and the check engine light went off by itself after driving it another 10 miles or so..

I know that when I used to add oil to my M3, i would occasionally spill a little and it would burn off on the exhaust manifold and smell for a day or so.. but the method of adding oil (through the trunk) seems to contest this theory.. i do know that this car sat in a warehouse for at least 5-6 weeks before i bought it.

any ideas? I'm going to take it to the dealer on Monday, thank god for the warranty.. This is my first porsche, and after 5 hours I already got a check engine light.. not too comforting!!

-Brett

This light can come on for a bunch of reasons. Mine came on with an intermittent problem with an O2 sensor. Even a bad tank of gas can set it off.

Take it to the dealer or an auto zone and they can hook it up to a computer and tell you exactly what the code was that tripped it if it's bugging you.

I'd just forget about it until it comes back on and stays on.

Now if it blinks, you need to shut it down and have it towed in... that's not good.

PS - How does the boxster's acceleration and performance feel compared to your M3? I have a buddy in Hawaii with a new M3 and he's telling me that it's far, far faster than a boxster or even an S.

Thanks for the quick reply... what about the oil burning smell?

What type of Mobil 1 should I be using (I live in So Cal) ?

I had a 95 M3 and a 2001 M3 (new style).. both M3's were faster than the Boxster.. the 2001 M3 was much faster, however, I feel that the Boxster handles better than either one of my M3s. I like the feel of the steering in the boxster as well, its not so light like the M3 was. I haven't driven a Boxster S and I don't want to, because then I'll know what I'm missing =)

-Brett

Check your oil cap and gas cap for tightness. Matter of fact since you just bought it make sure all your caps are tight.

A loose cap trigger a CEL.

It is amazing the impact leaving the oil cap loose will have. I did an oil change yesterday and started the car with the cap still off, before taking the final level reading and topping off - it idled roughly and was hunting to find an idle speed. It really sounded unnerving! Once the cap was replaced, it was all back to normal.

Hey Randall, what does it mean if the check engine light blinks for about ten sec and then disappears? That happend about 1k miles ago and I haven't heard a peep out of the engine since. Apparently the problem fixed itself?

If you have PSM - it might be the PSM light blinking after it saved you from spinning :D I've never seen my CEL, but I've seen my PSM do the 10 second blink more than once.

All I know, Adam is that when the check engine light blinks, you should kill the engine, pull over, get out of your car, and stick your head between your legs and kiss your ass goodbye.

The engine's all screwed up.

Hopefully, the blinking light you saw was a false read or it was as Ad Sach said, the PSM light. I don't have PSM so I don't ever see it light up.

turns out there were 3 small oil leaks.. one at the rear main seal, one at the oil pump and one at the camshaft cover.. the car only as 18k miles, but it sat for about a year without running more than a few times.. could this cause these seals/gaskets to go bad over a year?

thank god for the warranty =)

-Brett

That's a good question Brett. I heard it was good to take the car out at least every month or two to get the juices flowing through the car and engine. About the blinking light....I don't have PSM so that rules it out. I'm almost positve it was a yellow blinking light that looked like a small engine. Is that the CEL? Could it's blinking have anything to do with a range 2 over-rev I had a few mo back when I did a 3 to 2 shift at redline(oops). I'll tell you what, the car sounds like nothing else at 9,000 rpm{:)] It runs stronger than it ever has now though.

On the oil question, Porsche would say, 0-40 Black Cap Mobil One
I think that is acceptable but in SOCAL, I go with 15-50 Red Cap M1. The base oil in the 0-40 is a bit light for hot situations to my way of thinking.

You may know that 15-50 used to be the oil of choice for Porsche up until maybe two years ago.