mburnley01

I purchased the car in the hopes of bringing it back to life. I hate seeing cars die. When I picked it up, It cranked and stuttered like it was missing but I was able to load it onto the trailer under its own power. When I got it home, I was able to drive it off the trailer, and into my garage. I ordered and replaced all of the coils and plugs, I changed the oil since it was reading low and probably hadn't been changed in a few years. After I completed that task, the car cranked up fine had a little bit of a miss. I got out my reader and was reading the faults when I noticed some fuses were missing, I removed the tool, I checked the fuse chart and added new fuses, after which the car wouldn't turn over, I replaced the battery, I then replaced the clutch switches thinking that may have been the issue after i plugged the battery back in. And still nothing. I checked every fuse and they are all in the correct places. The only place I haven't looked is the terminal block under the passenger dash. Not really sure if that has any relevance as to why the car doesn't turn over. I am thinking the car isn't communicating with the starter passed the immobilizer. I pulled that too just thinking maybe water got to it. It was bone dry and no corrosion was present. I am truly at a loss
Here are the codes I was able to pull from the diagnostics on my reader. I wasn't able to connect to the OBD side only the diagnostics.

4444
5281
4440
80e1
801c
8704
8022
8021
8033
8035
8036

Snakebit

What diagnostic tool are you using?
Don't give up! It's a worthy cause.

Snakebit

And forgot to ask how the oil/filter looked that you drained?

mburnley01

I scoured through a ton of threads and found one that had a fuse diagram and pic of a 987 with empty slots where I had fuses. I followed that diagram exactly, said a little prayer and boom! It cranked right up! I plugged in the obd reader and it connected. I have an icarsoft euro. I figured I’d get that one since I have a few euro cars.


Now all I need to do is fix the mechanicals. New water pump. And change rotors and brakes. We just might have another boxster brought back from the dead.

hueyhoolihan

re-reading your initial post it looks like the car 1) was running poorly and was somewhat fixed by changing sparkplugs, coils and changing oil/filter, then 2) you hooked up an ODBII reader (assuming no changes were made with the reader) and added some fuses that were missing and then 3) the starter will not even turn over.

do the instrument panel warning lights light up when the key is turned?

i wouldn't be concerned about "missing" fuses. they are unlikely to have anything to do with the poor running of the engine. of course if the car is a manual and the clutch safety switch doesn't work, the car won't even try to start. it's easy enough to force that switch closed with your hand or some convenient object.

mburnley01

Yeah so the lights came on the Psm fault came on along with the abs warning. The reader wouldn’t connect. It really all came down to one fuse being moved or rather removed. Now that I have it back up, i guess it’s a plus that I have new switches installed.

RGS

Congrats on figuring out the no start issue! I like those simple solutions, but all the way up to that point, you are racking your brain!

mburnley01

Now that this has issue has been solved, I guess I will move on to the next ones.

Booth9999

How about a pic of this saved beast!

mburnley01

She's got scratches and bumps a couple of bruises from sitting under a tree for over a year. The previous owner used it as a partial parts car. Took the electric top transmissions and the driver's door handle. He also grenaded the parking brake lever. The interior was a sticky plasti-dip mess too. I'm not the type to document restos, I should have because the interior was trashed. I gave myself 90 days to get this one back on the road. I'm 60 days in. I am just wondering now, what I should do with her. Death racer or keep shoveling money into her to get her back all the way.

Snakebit

What's the mileage?
And at this point, what is the biggest obstacles you think you are faced with? (to get it back "all the way)

mburnley01

It’s got 121k miles…Things to get it back, I would need the mechanicals for the top (left and right transmissions), water pump, find leaks and replace seals, trunk carpet, windshield (crack), new door handle re-keyed, fix the dent in the driver’s door, replace or restore some weathered plastics. And go through the engine and make sure good compression, the injectors are good, scope the cylinders. Maybe replace the rear main seal. Maybe $3k then re-paint.

So if I were to build the race car, make sure the engine is tip top and start taking the car apart and sell off what’s not needed. Break the welder and the pipe bender out and go nuts. Maybe $1500

any ideas?

Snakebit

Hmmmmmm
I don't know what you have in it so far, but if you mentioned welder and tube bender?

​​​​​​I want to do THIS with a Boxster because it's the wickedest Boxster save I've ever seen. And weighs about as much as a Miata:

mburnley01

Dude! That's sweet! I might have to give that a shot.

Snakebit

It's been haunting me for a while. I swear I want to find a donor wreck and go after it.

"It's ALL Porsche"! Except with a power/weight ratio that changes the game.

Seriously, if you can weld and bend pipe...... Take 100 screen shots during that video and you pretty much can plagiarize his fantastic approach. And honestly, it's still will handle and sound and feeeeel like exactly what it really is. Only perhaps BETTER?

Edit: I want to give credit due to whoever the inmate here is that first posted that link. It wasn't me. But I kinda wanna punch him in the nose for some of my wasted hours of dreaming about it