How many catalytic converters are on a 2001 Boxster S? - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners

Jeremy Cronin · 08-30-2018, 07:11 AM

Hi,
I am in the process of buying a 2001 Boxster S from a private seller in Florida (I am in Ohio). Looking forward to making my first post in the New Member Introductions!
I drove a 1984 944 for many years and currently drive a 2015 Subaru BRZ.

The car has a Borla exhaust installed. I am concerned that I may have problems with the emissions test in my county (Cuyahoga). The county where the seller has the car does not do emissions tests.
To my question if the catalytic converters are still on the car, the seller replied that the front cats are still installed. (he's not an expert on Boxsters)

My questions:
1. Does a 2001 Boxster S normally also have rear cats?
2. If there normally are rear cats, and "my" car doesn't have them, will it still pass the emissions test?
3. On the Borla website I only see one offering for a Boxster and that is a cat-back system. Was there anything else on offer in 2014 that may have replaced any cats?

I'm adding photos of the rear underside of the car in case that might help anyone give an answer.

Thanks in advance,
Jeremy

Cunningr · 08-30-2018, 08:26 AM

US cars come from the factory with 4 cats, 2 on the exhaust manifold then 2 rear near the muffler intake. From the phito it looks like the car has the rear cats replaced with the cat delete pipes.

steved0x · 08-30-2018, 08:32 AM

Does your county/state do a "sniff" test where they sample the exhaust coming out of the back, or do they do an OBDII readiness check? If they do an OBDII readiness check, you should be fine, since it is the first set of cats that are monitored. If they do a "sniff" test - I would say, how many miles does the car have? If the O2 sensors and the OBDII internal sensors do not show a Check Engine Light, you might be OK, but I don't have any experience, maybe someone on here has front cats only in a state that does a sniff test.

BYprodriver · 08-30-2018, 08:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by steved0x

Does your county/state do a "sniff" test where they sample the exhaust coming out of the back, or do they do an OBDII readiness check? If they do an OBDII readiness check, you should be fine, since it is the first set of cats that are monitored. If they do a "sniff" test - I would say, how many miles does the car have? If the O2 sensors and the OBDII internal sensors do not show a Check Engine Light, you might be OK, but I don't have any experience, maybe someone on here has front cats only in a state that does a sniff test.

All this is true, but with the obviously aftermarket rear muffler & secondary pipes don't think it will pass any visual inspection.

911monty · 08-30-2018, 08:52 AM

Attached below is the emissions testing requirements for the State of Ohio. Yours is one of the 7 most stringent Counties (Cayahoga) and appears to require a Dyno test. You can read and research what is required to import a car from out of State. While this car may pass an OBDII test, it will fail a visual test since the rear cats have been removed and replaced by test pipes, then you would be required to repair the car to pass smog. Could be a headache depending on how aggressive or not your chosen smog test station is.

https://www.dmv.com/oh/ohio/emissions-testing

maytag · 08-30-2018, 09:33 AM

My state & county do i.m., sniff with a visual inspection as well.
My car ('03 S) has the cat delete pipes (deletes rear cats, leaves front in place). My car passed just fine, only because it may very well be the only porsche this station has ever tested. They're accustomed to me bringing in oddball stuff, and they admit to frequent having no clue what rotations equipment is SUPPOSED to be installed.... so the visual is perfunctory.... "cats? Check. Smog pump? Check. Ok, pass it".

Ymmv. But i'd find a shop that won't know it's missing the rear cats. You'll probably be fine.

Sent from my SM-G930T using Tapatalk

Jeremy Cronin · 08-30-2018, 12:00 PM

Thank you all for the feedback.

Meanwhile the seller has confirmed that the Borla catalog number is that of the cat-back kit, but that still doesn't specify anything about the rear cats (that apparently do exist).

If I understand correctly, the rear cats are normally in place of those last couple of feet of pipe that lead to just before the "U" turn in the pipes that go in to the silencers?

Looking at the Ohio emissions testing website, it appears there are self service kiosks where an OBDII connection is all that's needed.
I can't find anything on the emissions websites stating that a newly imported car can't be checked there, so I'll try that first.
I have to do the test before the car is registered in state. They provide temp plates until the emissions test is done.

I have imported a Florida car before - a 2000 Mercury Cougar manual for my daughter.
At the emissions test they wouldn't allow me to stay in the shop when the test was done, so I don't know exactly what they did there.

At this point I think I will go ahead with the purchase.
It's a clean car with just under 80k miles, IMS bearing/RMS seal/Clutch were replaced in 2014.

Happy to read any more opinions or advice on this!

Thanks,
Jeremy

Cunningr · 08-30-2018, 12:32 PM

All else you could try a set of the 200 cell sport cats off ebay to replace those bypass tubes.

mikefocke · 08-30-2018, 01:50 PM

So what is the probable case. You have to buy a stock exhaust system and two O2 sensors, hook them all up, do the adaptation drives to reset the values in the ECU and get a smog test.

The maybe worst case is you discover that the ECU has had an ROW flash and you have to flash back to stock after stocking the exhaust hardware. Plus adaptation runs and ECU.

There have to be dozens of stock exhaust systems sitting around because someone upgraded to what you have. Should be reasonable. Get a price from woody aka itsnotanova via a private message on the 986forum.com so you know the hardware cost.

Brian in Tucson · 08-30-2018, 07:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mikefocke

So what is the probable case. You have to buy a stock exhaust system and two O2 sensors, hook them all up, do the adaptation drives to reset the values in the ECU and get a smog test.

The maybe worst case is you discover that the ECU has had an ROW flash and you have to flash back to stock after stocking the exhaust hardware. Plus adaptation runs and ECU.

There have to be dozens of stock exhaust systems sitting around because someone upgraded to what you have. Should be reasonable. Get a price from woody aka itsnotanova via a private message on the 986forum.com so you know the hardware cost.

I agree with Mike. I think I'd find a local indie Porsche shop in Cleveland and run the situation by them.

I live in an emissions controlled county in AZ, pre-96 cars require a dyno with a sniff test. OBD2 cars only have to be plugged in and if there's no CEL, you pass.

I have one of the inexpensive cat back kits that Amazon sells. It keeps all 4 cats and O2 sensors and doesn't set any codes. If the car doesn't have any codes, you may be okay with the smog station.

By all means check with Woody. And search on Ebay and/or the local Craigslist parts catagory.

Geof3 · 08-30-2018, 10:16 PM

So glad I don’t have to deal with any of that BS here...

Good luck with your test. Hopefully the OBD2is all you will need. Otherwise, it might be an expensive fix to have to potentially replace all that work.

Jeremy Cronin · 08-31-2018, 05:22 AM

Thanks again for the feedback.
Yes, a couple of calls to local Porsche specialists is definitely worth the effort - I'll do that.

To Mike - the O2 sensors are connected - you can see them in one of the pics.
And yes, I guess there must be stock exhausts just lying around, or maybe even find someone in a non-emissions controlled county and do a straight swap.

nickg · 09-03-2018, 06:07 PM

the real question would be are the rear cats monitored? a lot of cars only monitor the front cats for performance? the rear cats are NOT always monitored...so they could go and not create a CEL. To know the answer, just look at the position of the second O2 sensors in relation to the rear cats...if they are before...no issue to remove them, if they are after the second cat? you get CEL if they are deleted

Ciao · 09-03-2018, 06:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nickg

the real question would be are the rear cats monitored? a lot of cars only monitor the front cats for performance? the rear cats are NOT always monitored...so they could go and not create a CEL. To know the answer, just look at the position of the second O2 sensors in relation to the rear cats...if they are before...no issue to remove them, if they are after the second cat? you get CEL if they are deleted

Jeremy Cronin · 09-04-2018, 06:19 AM

Thanks!
I did see this image yesterday in one of the other forums, so this does give me more of a feelgood on this.
This was corroborated by a couple of Porsche specialists I spoke to, although of course none would guarantee that the car will pass...
Car is getting PPI locally to the seller, and after that I hope things will move fast.