My first REAL SCARE with the Boxster! need some advice..
 

On my Sunday morning spirited drive i was coming out of a tunnel at full throttle and it suddenly started to shake at 80 mph. as i pulled over the oil pressure light came on.
My first thought is.. well.. the engine finally gave up. 2000 2.7 130k, IMS direct oil feed done a year ago with double row bearing as the one it came with. first thing i do is go look under the car waiting to see oil and chunks of engine guts everywhere but not one drop of anything. i breathe again..

i let it sit for a couple of minutes, check the oil level and its good. i figured i would drive it slow on the shoulder to get off the very busy highway but while i did that the light came on and off intermittently for a few hundred feet then went away completely so i drove it home 6-7 miles. it drove normally, was making power, temp gauge didnt budge so i got home safe.

what am i looking at here? oil pump? oil sender?
when this happened i had been driving it flat out for about an hour and a half (i dont get up at 6 to drive for nothing :D)

other things to mention is i have been having two small oil leaks which seem to be coming from the spark plug tubes on both sides on the cylinders towards the front of the engine. i was about to look further into those next weekend. when i say small i mean there is never a drop of oil on the garage floor so the leak is prob only when the engine is running. the oil level never dropped at all in 3000 miles.

what a scare! it's the engine vibrating that made my heart skip a beat. is that normal with sudden oil pressure loss?


any advice would be appreciated guys! i'm going up north on a 3000 mile drive in two weeks and i need to have this sorted.

thanks,

Cristian

When the shaking started, did you lose all power as well? I'm curious to know how much power, if any, you had.

If the oil pressure came on at idle maybe your oil was really hot and thinned out? What was your water temp gauge reading?

Misfires could cause shaking and a flashing CEL, did you see any aos type smoke bombs? Maybe because of the tunnel you didn't see it?

Do you have a durametric or a way to see if you have any stored codes?

You can change the oil filter and cut off the ends of the old one and spread it out to look for any debris?

Scan the car with a Porsche specific scan tool, looking for any stored pending codes.

i didnt lose all power but not sure how much either because i backed off the gas and let it coast.

that could be it. i did 3000 miles on this oil change and i tend to drive it hard. the car has actually been sitting for one month while i was out of the country and this was the first hard drive. when i pulled the dipstick to check the oil level there was a bit of smoke/vapor coming out so maybe the oil was hot and thinned.

i am due for an oil change anyway. my walmart Mobile just got here so i think i'll run and do it now and see how it goes.

thanks! i'll stop by a place tomorrow and have it hooked up.
ill do the oil change in the meantime.

Hello,

i agree with JFP in PA. First do an electronic diagnosis with a Porsche specific diagnosis tool. I think there will be some hints.

If you get no results (not alternatively to an electronic diagnosis first):
Pull the sparks and look what they look like.
Check the oil filter for plastic debris. Especially plastic parts from chain rails.
Do an oil pressure test with an adapter and a oil pressure gauge like described in the workshop manual.

Questions:
Is your car an MT or an AT?
Do you use a low temp 71 degree water thermostat?

Regards, Markus

Now, does anyone care to hazard a guess as to what area of the engine he will find codes for?

OH CRAP!!!

it looks like my engine is toast! :(

oil filter housing had a lot of metal particles and the filter is full of green plastic bits..


http://i1314.photobucket.com/albums/...psxxzdw76v.jpg


http://i1314.photobucket.com/albums/...ps3ll4wqyh.jpg


http://i1314.photobucket.com/albums/...psr3yhsiud.jpg


on the way to the shop (6 miles away) i got a bit of vibration and the oil pressure light came on for a second.

fresh oil and a new filter and driving home the light came on for half a second.
engine doesnt clunk or anything but its probably eating itself up inside.


DAMN! should i still try and take it to get it checked or assume it's gone?

i am having a bad Sunday to say the least. if it is dead at least it went out like a sports car, pushing hard at 7200 RPM in a tunnel screaming like a murder victim. a worthy death. :ah:

Cam deviation bank 1-3?

is the green plastic chain tensioner ramp which prob went bad and screwed up the timing which made the engine chew itself up?

i thought that would throw a code or something when it went out of norm.

Sorry, I feel your pain. Try and remain optimistic, don't assume the worst until you KNOW.

Optimism won't fix the problem, but it won't ruin your day. Do the diagnosis, and even if things still point south, do a tear down to confirm.

I speak from experience... Just because you assume somthhing is toast, it's no reason to liven up the mood by going at it with a sledgehammer; sure, it's fun, but when you find it's just a bad gasket, that's when you find out how bad a day you really can have. :)

Hello JFP in PA,

i would have said camshaft devation problem as an error code.

Hello CrisZenithBlue,

1.) please clean the plastc debris from the oil and tell us which color it has. I would suspect a light brownish color. I wouldn't suspect a green color.

2.) please check if the metal flakes are magnetic or not.

3.) don't drive the car.

4.) stay cool. ;)

Thanks, & regards, Markus

Interesting call, now tells us why?

Failure of the hydraulic cam adjuster. The green material is from the seals inside the unit.

Bingo!..... Now why did the seals fail on that particular unit?

Took it to vertex auto here in Miami and just showing them the filter filled with crap and the amount of metal shaving plus the oil pressure issue and they confirmed its toast.

I stopped driving it of course to prevent it from grenading itself.

I am thinking rebuilding it is the way to go. I have a mechanic that does this on a regular basis and he would rebuild it for 3500-4000$ with parts included. At least that way I know everything will be looked over and I know what's in the engine as opposed to taking a risk on a used one.

What do you guys think?

I love the car too much to give it up and I've tailored it to my liking. Don't have the time or patience to start over on something new..
I'll throw in a new sport suspension while he's at it, at 130k it's toast and front left shock spilled it's guts all over the control arm.

I get mad thinking "these cars don't last!!!" Then I remember it's a 16 year old car that I drive the crap out every single day and even with this investment I'll still be under 20 grand which for me is good value.

Gotta keep on rolling! :D

Can't put a price on a car that you love. If you know the car and wouldn't want a different one, then do it. Essentially you'll either be paying more for another Boxster that could have some hidden demons, or you could spend $4000 on yours and have it back to the way it was - but better.

I'd say rebuild.

Not entirely sure but I have made a lot of popcorn guessing that the IMS DOF may have something to do with this if it is bearing related.