check engine- drive to workshop - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners

wanna986 · 01-06-2007, 04:36 PM

First off, my drive to the workshop got me nothing but sawdust. I don't want to to to the garage, though, as I'm sure the message is suggesting.

This popped up out of nowhere. The car is a 2002 S with 61K. The next time I started the engine- no message- I have the on-board computer.

Any suggestions? Was it possibly just a glitch that's reset itself? Any way of pulling codes?

Thanks in advance!

djomlas · 01-06-2007, 04:46 PM

i had a check engine light on yesterday all day, today no sign of it at all.
so i dunno whats up, i was going to get it checked but its not on now so thats weird

David N. · 01-07-2007, 11:15 AM

Perhaps it's something like an exhaust thing, the O2 sensors are tripping it due to a bad mixture. The engine's just running a little weird for awhile and then burns it off. Just a guess..

-David

UroTrash · 01-07-2007, 11:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wanna986

First off, my drive to the workshop got me nothing but sawdust. I don't want to to to the garage, though, as I'm sure the message is suggesting.

This popped up out of nowhere. The car is a 2002 S with 61K. The next time I started the engine- no message- I have the on-board computer.

Any suggestions? Was it possibly just a glitch that's reset itself? Any way of pulling codes?

Thanks in advance!

Your post is confusing.

" I don't want to to to the garage, though, as I'm sure the message is suggesting." Huh?

"First off, my drive to the workshop got me nothing but sawdust." Huh?

Boxster02 · 01-07-2007, 12:21 PM

2 times I have had my CEL come on, then turn off by itself. Believe it or not both times it came on, I was in the drive thru at Taco Bell!!!!! Both times it was the same O2 sensor.

Esoril 540iT · 01-07-2007, 03:36 PM

it must be the wrong oil (not mobil 1) !

RandallNeighbour · 01-07-2007, 05:26 PM

Intermittent CE lights can be caused by dozens of things. A good porsche mechanic who knows how to read a PST tool hooked up to your car running at idle and up to temp can diagnose a lot. My mechanic does this with me a lot. He "watches" the engine run on the computer and then points out the levels of each sensor, etc. and tells me what's going on. It could just be a tank of bad gas.

If it comes on again, you should get it checked out!

wanna986 · 01-07-2007, 05:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by UroTrash

Your post is confusing.

" I don't want to to to the garage, though, as I'm sure the message is suggesting." Huh?

"First off, my drive to the workshop got me nothing but sawdust." Huh?

With the exception of changing "to to to the garage" to "to go to the garage, my attempt at humor stands

tre_oh · 01-10-2007, 06:39 PM

About two weeks back the car hesitated when I stepped on the gas and the "check engine light, go to workshop" lite came for about 5 seconds. it went out just as mysteriously as it came on. on sunday i had the same thing happen. as the car is only a month old (`07) with 1.8K miles, i called the dealer today to have them take a look at it. the service manager said "we have to hook it up to the computer and see what faults have been saved". i'm waiting for a loaner car so i can get it looked at and i'll post the outcome.

jacked in the box

wanna986 · 01-10-2007, 07:54 PM

Please do post the results.
Although the chances of the problems being related is slim, it's none-the-less good info. for future reference.

cfos · 03-12-2007, 10:24 AM

Just to throw my 2 cents in...

Had the check engine light go on in my 987 (06) at about 12450 miles. Spoke to the service department at dealer and he stated that sometimes, gas caps not being on tight enough, etc. may to blame. He recommended that I drive through 3-4 cycles (start car drive at least 10 miles; turn off, repeat). A week or so later, the light went off. I never did bring it in nor did I get one of those readers. Just my experience.

ruf · 03-13-2007, 05:19 AM

The same thing happened to me to yesterday when I took it out of hibernation. Actually a couple of days now that the weather is warming up. I wonder if the gas that's sitting in the tank for the winter month is going stale. I did use the 'stabil' gas treatment. I'm trying to drive it as much as I can to burn off the old gas and fill it up with fresh fuel. I took it out again today and the 'service engine' light stays lit. Should I be concern and take it in? It's an '02 and only has 17,000 kilometres, barely driven.

MNBoxster · 03-13-2007, 05:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ruf

The same thing happened to me to yesterday when I took it out of hibernation. Actually a couple of days now that the weather is warming up. I wonder if the gas that's sitting in the tank for the winter month is going stale. I did use the 'stabil' gas treatment. I'm trying to drive it as much as I can to burn off the old gas and fill it up with fresh fuel. I took it out again today and the 'service engine' light stays lit. Should I be concern and take it in? It's an '02 and only has 17,000 kilometres, barely driven.

Hi,

Mordern Highly refined gasoline (Petrol to our Northern Brethren), is usually stable for 60 days. Add Stabil and you're good for up to 9 mos. Still, depending upon where you bought it, this could be a possible cause.

Don't try to burn it all and replace it. Several short Splash & Go's will dilute the poor fuel faster and improve the situation.

Try disconnecting the Battery for 5 min. and reconnect to reset the DME. Hope this helps...

Happy Motoring!... Jim'99

ruf · 03-15-2007, 04:21 AM

Thanks as always for your wealth of knowledge MNBoxster! I'll give it a try. Waiting for the snow to melt, it snowed last night. Crazy weather and I thought when it hit 17 degrees the other day that I won't see snow again till December.

7th gear · 03-15-2007, 04:36 PM

my cel was on / off. local wrench kept the 986 for 3 days and couldn't get it to come on again. he said it will try to 'fault clear' itself. drove it for another 3-4 weeks and it came back & stayed that way. took to porsche dealer and got a free, warranty supported cat converter.

you really never know what a cel could be. i've been told to take your box in to an autozone which will give a free cpu scan. scribe the code and go over to rennlist.com to decode the code. from there you can maybe call your wrench/dealer and save some time.

hope it all works out ok....

Boxtaboy · 03-15-2007, 04:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Boxster02

2 times I have had my CEL come on, then turn off by itself. Believe it or not both times it came on, I was in the drive thru at Taco Bell!!!!! Both times it was the same O2 sensor.

02 sensor must've sniffed some funky gases at the Taco joint.