986 boxster problem
 

Today I was driving and my car slid a little on some snow.
Ever since then when I accelerate or push on the gas the car will shake and the rpms will flicker up and down between the 2000 and 3000 or the 3000 and the 4000.
Then when i was on the highway accelerating into the lane the car went into 5th gear around 60mph and then all the dashboard lights went on and the car went to 0 on the analog speedometer and the car would not accelerate at all. Anybody have any idea of the problem this never happend before today please help.

Hi, I think you may need to provide a little more info about your car and situation for the members on here who may know something that can help.

It sounds like your Boxster is an automatic. Is this correct? Does it have traction control? Also tell us what model year it is, and I'm sure someone on here will be able to give you some insight.

My main question for you is if you have the owners manual, and if you do, have you checked it for any guidance?

My other is, when this sliding happened, was it while accelerating, braking, cruising?

I am sorry yes it is an automatic, its a 2003 im not sure if it has traction control there is no button to turn it off. I have the owners manual but I am not sure what I would be looking for.

Questions
 

You slid but was in fore and aft or sideways? Did you hit anything?

Model? Model Year? Mileage?

Do you have access to a code reader?

My immediate reaction is to try and get it into neutral, push to somewhere safe, get it flat-bedded to a Porsche specialist and then brace yourself for the $$$$ estimate. Do not try to start it.

Wild guess, probably totally outta left field, but...alternator? Don't really understand the connection between the snow slippage and onset of the problem, but your last symptoms (dash board lights coming on, speedo acting up, zero acceleration) pretty much describes what my car did. And it was the alternator. Have you been having any battery-related issues?

Personally, sounds like you got a bunch snow up around the engine it has caused a short. You need to check your coil packs, lose wiring, etc. :confused:

pixlanish, definitely provide that info that mikefocke was asking for, it'll help him and other people to understand what your situation is. And take his advice, he wouldn't tell you to bring it to the dealer or a specialist if you didn't really have to.

As for thumbing through the owners manual, look under things like traction control and speedometer, and see if there are any notes about the type of symptoms you've seen such as the speedometer going to 0 while in motion. I clearly don't have mine in front of me otherwise I would have been looking myself, but I seem to remember there being something along the lines of the speedometer faulting and showing a 0 and a recommendation to bring it to the dealer so they can diagnose, so that's why I'm thinking you should check those areas of the manual.

Sorry to throw more questions your way, but did you notice any dash lights flickering, dimming, or anything like that when you were experiencing the car shaking, before everything lit up on the dash? What about after?

it has about 82000 miles

and in response to battery problems the power to my cigarette lighter went out a week or 2 ago im not sure if thats related?

I did not hit anything just a little slide to the right like no traction. I turned the car back on so that i could get home and the problem all went away.

Starting to sound like a snow choked Alternator??

another update to this
this morning i drove and was going about 80 the car was going fine
came home and there was a dark blackish bownish liquid leaking alot from the car
and there was smoke coming from the back of the car white smoke from around the engine.

This has now developed into a big problem you are experiencing.
If you have intermixing of the coolant and oil (which it sounds like you have) its time for you to take it to an EXPERIENCED Porsche shop for diagnosis. Do not run the engine or drive the car - have it flat- bedded.
The problem could be as simple as a faulty heat exchanger or as serious as a major engine failure - only a good Porsche tech will be able to advise you on your next step.
But be warned, non of the remedies will be cheap to fix.....

I have to say, this just sounds like bad timing. The original problem doesn't seem to be related to what happened now. I could be wrong, of course, but it just seems to me that the car experienced two things going wrong in succession.

Hope you can find out what happened.

My 01 slipped its timimg while trying to start it. 89,000 miles.