PLEASE HELP WON"T START need to be in NYC ini 2 hrs!!!
 

I am just about to get in the car to go to a b day party in NYC, get in the car, will not start. It cranks, full battery, just wont fire the engine. This has never happened, it always starts up right away. My girlfriend drove it to work yesterday and said there were no problems whatsoever. It did completely downpour on her way home yesterday, have no idea if that could be a factor. Anyways I need to get on the road soon and have no idea what to do about this. Please let me know if you have any thoughts on this !!!!!!!

Any chance it is flooded?

Try to push and HOLD the accelerator pedal down while cranking the starter. Give it a chance maybe three or four times.

DO not PUMP the accelerator.

Good luck

I knew something was strange as soon as I first tried to start it, it usually fires right up. I did hold the accelerator down and it didnt do anything. The absolute only thing I can think of is that some thing got wet that should not have because of the extreme downpouring yesterday while being driven on the highway. What other things could be wrong with it if the engine wont fire?

The simple answer is that with a well maintained modern car, rain should not cause any problem. That said, you obviously do have a problem, so...

The two traditional paths to follow in this situation are spark and fuel.

Spark - are the sparkplugs firing? Best checked with a capacitive tool you clip around a plug wire but it sounds like you might not have something like this. You could also pull a plug wire and hold it off the plug a little with a dry rag (to avoid a nasty shock) and see if it sparks while someone else cranks the car. However, the design of the boxster engine is going to make this difficult to do as the plugs are way down between the cams, see this diagram.
If the other end of the wire can be pulled at the distribution end, you may be able to check there.

Absent any of the above, you could simply check for loose wires and trapped water.

Fuel - you did check to be sure you have gas, yes? You may want to try a small amount of starting fluid (available at AutoZone, etc.) sprayed into the air cleaner inlet to see if that gets the engine to fire. If so, you problem is fuel related.

No matter what, I expect you will be late to NYC or have already left in someone else's ride. Hope it turns out to be a minor issue with your car.

Hi,

Porsche acknowledges that the Boxster can experience problems with rain entering the Engine through the Air Intake. They released a TSB - 7a/97 2425 on it as well as a modification to the Air Box. In it they state:

• "Concern: Water entering the left-hand air guide and air cleaner housing.
  
  Situation: Engine misfires during driving, rough running, poor starting.
  
  Information: Water can enter the air cleaner housing via the air guide when
  the vehicle is driven in unfavorable weather conditions, e.g. during rainstorms. This can cause engine misfires and rough running. These problems do not necessarily occur during these weather conditions; they could show up later on. Please ask the customer if the vehicle was driven in these weather conditions.
  
  Modification:
  
  1. A gasket between the outer left air guide and the body seals out water.
  
  2. A deflector is fitted on the air cleaner intake opening, and a water separator bowl is fitted on the air cleaner housing.
  
  3. The formerly used water shield support in the flow
  duct has been omitted."

I suspect this is what has happened to your Car. My wife (Mrs. MNBoxster) is in New York this week for the Barclay's Golf Tournament and when I spoke with her last night she said the rain came down in torrents.

It should dry out and function normally. If a huge amount of water was injested, there could be more serious issues, so I would have the Car checked and I would look into having the modification performed. Hope this helps...

Happy Motoring!... Jim'99

Thanks for all your help, yes I did make it to NYC last night but it was in a Saab. Tried to start it again this afternoon with my fingers crossed and...................nothing. There have been some absolute nasty downpours in the Northeast, but I guess something else mysteriously happened to it while sitting in her garage overnight. I'm going to have it towed to a local shop i use and see what the problem is. Again, thanks for the insight and help guys...

It could be the Floor mat getting stuck under the clutch. That happened to me and the dealer send me a new floor mats. haha

Dont think it is the doormat, the engine cranks just doesnt fire up

Had the car towed on a flat bed today down the street to a new mechanic I am trying out, Braintree Foreign Auto. Decided to drive by it after hrs tonight to see if it is in a good spot and what do i see as i am approcahing the place????? ABOUT 2 fire trucks, 5 copcars and ambulances right in front of the repair shop. We were told to do a U turn by a cop and head back the other way, because the road had been closed. As i looked forward toward the place i see a car that had exploded and landed on top of another car in the mechanics parking lot. I didnt see any black underneath the mangled car but I am absolutely FREAKING out. I am going back there in a little bit to see my car was anywhere near this explosion (maybe even underneath it), armed with my digital camera. I pray to god that they put it in the garage, for it is not a very big parking lot infront of that place...............WISH ME LUCK, and there will be some heads rolling if the worst case scenerio has come true

When it rains......it pours...

Heres hoping its WELL out of danger.... ;)

Update
 

Update: my car was NOT involved in the big accident that took place, they parked it out back. Unfortunately the passenger of the car did lose their life. It was a new Lincoln Town Car, hit a fire hydrant, absolutely shredded through the whole car. The engine was pushed into the back seat with a gapping hole in the floor. Passenger was halfway under the car and halfway in the car. I guess there were three cars damaged that were parked out front waiting for thier service to be done.

The mechanic told me today that there was a spark, so we are thinking it has something to do with the fuel system, possibly a fuel pump? Anyone have any idea how much these are to replace, and if there is anything I should suggest to the mechanic as a possible culprit besides the fuel pump? Thanks for any help

Same problem happened to me. Worked fine one day, wouldn't start the next. It turned out to be a bad fuel pump relay ($20) that caused the fuel pump to burn out ($375) and both had to be replaced (total bill $750).

Thumper, is there any way that relay is the only thing that needs to be replaced? Or if that goes so does the fuel pump? I brought it to a new mechanic, haven't really felt him out yet, but I like to have some ammo if he says that it is one thing, when realistically I have a good idea of what it probably is.

did the Check Engine Light come on when she was driving it? If so run out and buy an OBD II scanner from Pep Boys and plug it into the diagnostic port under the dash nearest the driver door (should have purple plastic around the port) to find out the error code.
The scanner will link up with the Boxster's computer and spit out a numeric code.
Log onto Renntech.org and look up the error code. I just went through this whole process that concluded with a new throttle body.

These scanners are good piece of mind so that you aren't wondering whether your non-Porsche tech is bull****************ing you.

I also always check my electrical fuses for the vain hope that the repair is a 50 cent fuse.

Relay's are cheap (less than $20), so I would give that a try first. Be sure to get a genuine Porsche one, as I got one that wasn't and that caused my new pump to go bad. If that doesn't do the trick, then it's probably the fuel pump, but you can check that before replacing, but in order to do it right, you'd need to pull the pump. The ring that screws down to hold the sending unit in place is not much fun to get off if you don't have the right tool to twist it off. Plus, you need to make a mental note on the orientation of the pump in the tank (the round side goes towards the front of the car). The pump unlocks from the tank with a counterclockwise quarter twist. If your tank is even half full of fuel, it makes for a fun job putting your arm down in the tank to twist the pump out.

I replaced the pump myself the first time and had the guys at RUF replace it the second time. It's not a hard job, but it's pretty close quarters and a bit awkward. After I had replaced the pump and the relay and it failed again within two days, I decided that it was time for the pros to take a look at it. The guys at RUF will also run my codes for free (they did today after my CEL light came on due to some bad gas causing a misfire).

Perfectlap- the check engine light had been on before this problem occured, it's been on for a while because of an O2 sensor.

Thumper- I did speak with him again this afternoon and he said that the fuel pump is "stuck" and he can't get it to open or something of that sort. I told him that it could just be the relay(electrical?) and he agreed. He also said that worst case it probably is the fuel pump.

I have been driving my girlfriend to work and haven't had time in the mornings to get over to this place since it had been towed there. I am making my way in there tommorow morning and talk to him face to face, don't like talking about car stuff over the phone. If I get a vibe that he doesn't really know what he is doing, I'll probably get it towed to the regular place I get it serviced, Randolph Racing (Stoughton, MA). The only reason why I had it towed here in the first place is because it was A)close, B)thought it was an easy diagnosis/fix, and C) after speaking with him a couple weeks ago, thought he knew what he was doing

As always thanks for all the helpful insight

Yep, its the fuel pump, not just the relay (of course it's not). I love it when you put her to bed in the garage at night after a fantastic day of driving and next day..............wont start and fuel pump is gone. Seems strange to me but I am not a car nor a mechanic. When I called to check in on the car he says "ya its definately the fuel pump I already ordered one." I say, "how much is this fuel pump you ordered, I can get one overnighted to me for $250?" He says, "um i think around $320." I say, "I really appreciated the call before you made this diagnosis and went ahead and ordered the part."

What are you gonna do i guess, but what is the average time it should take a mechanic to replace a fuel pump??? i can swallow paying a little extra on a part because or mark up, but not labor.........especially if he takes more time because of lack of experience with Porshe's.

The guys at RUF replaced mine in an afternoon, and that included an hour and a half of diagnosis. I replaced the original one in an evening myself. If it hadn't been for the crap relay, it would still be working and I'd still have a fat wallet. You should be able to get your car back by tomorrow evening.

:dance:

Got it back earlier today, cost $550 total, pretty reasonable, $200 for labor and $350 for the pump. Thanks for everyone that helped with this issue, feels good to be in the cockpit again.