Hey Guys/Ladies

I have a 97 Boxster that I picked up last Spring. It's been in my garage for the winter, but I start it every 3 weeks or so. I started it last night and there is an obvious ping in the engine that did not get better as it warmed up. I let it idle for about 3 - 4 minutes or so, but I shut it down when the ping didn't clear up. It's got 46,xxx miles on it and I just had the oil changed at 45,000. Anybody else experience this? Any idea what it could be? Do I have reason to be concerned?

 

Any time you get an engine ping like that its not good, but as a former Subaru owner... Boxer engines like the porsche and subaru tend to have a little pit of slop to them. When the car gets cold metal parts shrink and makes a pinging noise. Depending on how bad it sounds I would take it for a drive for 15 mins or so let it reach opperating temp and just see if it doesn't go away. Otherwise the nice techs at Porsche always love to see the glowing face of a boxster owner. But from a little research I found the 2.5 in the 97-99 Boxsters tend to just kinda blow up... Not saying thats your problem but if the pinging doesn't go away or is too horrible just take it to Porsche.

 

Suck. Anyone want to buy a low milage 97 boxster with 50w oil in it? jk... but I'm not looking forward to the potential cost of repairs... it ran flawless last fall.. why would this happen while it's just sitting...?

 

Are you running Premium fuel?

 

Of Coarse! It has stabil additive in it for the winter, does that lower the octane? it doesn't really sound like pre-ignition... I've been reading around, and apparently I'm the only guy that puts his boxster away for the winter... A friend of mine said that it might have something to do with the hydraulic lifters that were in compression while it was sitting may be sticking. I won't be back home to next week to check it out.

 

I haveheard fromtop mechanicsyou shouldn't start your car once it's in storage. Full tank, gas stabilizer, trickle charger and leave it alone. It might run fine in Spring when you can get it back out on the road.
Good Luck!

 

Kloo--I can't imagine the fuel stabilizer affecting the engine. Since I start and run my car every couple of weeks, I don't do anything special to it. I don't think you're the only one that puts his porsche away for the winter. Since I live in Colorado, I only drive about 500 miles between Nov and April.

 

Do you really run 50 weight oil in it? Is that what it calls for in that engine? I think my 911 calls for 0W-30 Mobil 1.

Good luck,

Kevin

 

No no... it was a joke, 50w, aka snake oil, tends to make engine noises less noticable temporarily. it's a shady way of dumping offa car that's about to blow up...

 

Kloo--i've seen that stuff in the part's stores...engine medic, guaranteed to fix your problems or you get your $1.99 back.