Hey guys,

Well, looks like I've had my first maintenance issue with my baby, after putting about 2,500 kms on it since I brought it up from socal.

As a bit of background my car runs GMG's Stage 2 with upgraded turbos, GT2 intercooler, sport intake, tubi exhaust and GIAC tuning. That's the way I bought it, and haven't touched it since...

Anyway - I went to change lanes so I boosted the engine a bit, and it felt like the turbo just sort of "gave out".

Immediately I could tell there was a slight difference in the exhaust note, and the engine sounded rough at anything over 3K rpms.

Seconds later the CEL comes on - flashing - and I get the warning message (drive to nearest dealer).



I start freaking out since I'm about 30 minutes away from home, the shop, etc. and stuck in crawling traffic. (Doesn't help that my wife's in the car, either, because she doesn't like my car to begin with...)

Needless to say I simply start limping it home, keeping the revs nice and low and avoiding even the slightest boost.

I could still hear the usual turbo whine (I think that's what it is, anyway) in the background of normal, non-boost driving - and so long as I kept the revs low, the engine behaved like its normal self, although it did seem slightly different in sound.

I am really hoping that this is a vacuum issue (a loose hose or fitting) vs. a seized turbo.

I've searched the forum here and it sounds like this may be:

1) Plugs
2) Cracked/bad coil or coils
3) Bad hose/connection
4) Combination of all three, or
5) Something really bad

I am hoping for 1, 2 or 3.

Anyone else have a similar experience?

Any ideas as to what else may be the issue?

Sorry about the venting... all my friends have crappy cars, and there's very few people who have sympathy for the "woes" of Porsche ownership :-)

Gotta vent somewhere

Cheers,

-Chris

 

Get the codes read so you can see exactly what is going on. Flashing CEL usually means a misfire and if you read the codes it will tell you which cylinders, so you know how to approach it.

When were the plugs last changed?

 

Thanks Chad

The soonest I can get it into my favorite shop is Monday.

But I even called the stealership today though to see if they'd be open on Saturday (they're not) just so I could, as you say, determine the error code before then.

Plugs are likely on the older side, although they tested as very good in the PPI which was only 2500 km's ago.

The only note on the PPI was that some of the coil packs were showing slight cracking... so my suspicions are mostly aimed at those at the moment.

Man, I really hope this isn't my turbos...

Thanks!

-Chris

 

The last time I got the CEL blinking light of death, it was a vacuum leak. You may have popped a hose of somewhere, take a quick look around and underneath, might be obvious. Check turob hoses, DV's and all vacuum hoses you can see. I popped one off right to the left of the throttle body. Had to take intake and throttle body off the put it back on and ziptie it.

 

Good call, will do that ASAP.

That would be a great problem to have in comparison to the other potentials...

I'll post back in a few hours if that is the issue

Thanks

-Chris

 

It's not the ABS+PSM light? I've had similar but it was ABS+PSM +drive to dealer. It was a blown MAF Sensor, similar symptoms.

I've also had the CEL light come on after hard acceleration but no aftermath symptoms. That was a misfire, but the car ran fine after.

Oh, BTW you can try to unplug the MAF on the intake and see if the symptoms go away. If they do then your MAF could have blown like many others here on the board. Easy to replace, but can be pricey for what looks to be just a resistor in a piece of plastic

GL

 

You should also buy a generic scan tool ($100) that can give you a read out of codes...

 

No, definitely the CEL.

It was flashing the whole way home...

Thanks

-Chris

 

As mentioned above flashing CEL frequently means misfires in one or more cylinders. Most common cause is plugs or coils. Also can be MAF. I had this problem with additional misfire codes in cyl 4,5, and 6. Turned out variocam needed reseting. I did that with Durametric and have had no more trouble. Its most likely coils in your case. I would not worry to much about it at this point...

 

Thanks M,

That makes sense. Misfire codes would most logically just be something to do with ignition...

I'll do my best not to think about it :-)

Cheers

-Chris

 

Had a hose pop off the Y-Pipe which produced similar symptoms.
Good luck.

Mike

 

Most likely a simple and not very expensive maintenance item. So don't lose any sleep!

 

step one take a deep breath,
step two get a durametric or other nice scan tool for porsches
step 3 let us know the codes
step 4 we can determine after 1-3

 

If your coilpacks are cracked, I'm betting that's what your problem is. Change the plugs at the same time as you replace the CP's. Suncoast has 6 CP's for about $280.

 

You can actually get a cheap scanner at Autozone for around $40. There are way to many variables to start naming off solutions. Early on I had a flashing light and it turned out it was the broken bracket for the variocam something or the other.... who would have guessed that?!

Good luck!