Kharz

Hey -

My engine light popped on my 996 C4S tonight and it started to run very rough. Enough so that I pulled over and parked it, and walked home.

Of course, the f*cking PPO ran out ..... 30 days ago. How do I know if the check engine light is a dead engine versus something else? The car was serviced a few months ago at a Porsche dealer.

I am now panicked that I have a dead engine; what do I do ?

thanks in advance

Ahsai

You need to get an obdii reader to read the error code(s) first and go from there. The simplest case is a cracked coil, in which case you will have a buch of misfire error codes.

thstone

Most check engine lights (CEL's) are for problems that are readily repaired.

Dennis C

Sounds like a bad coil pack. Was the CEL flashing? I'm guessing not. Was it raining by any chance?

Barn996

Some auto parts places will read the code for free, or get your own code reader. As others have mentioned, could be 1 or more bad coil packs that would cause rough running. Don't despair, all is not lost.

geetee

If you have a smart phone...buy a obd2 bluetooth(12 bucks) and DL torque app(5 bucks).
You can check/clear codes and have the app running all the time while driving. You can monitor live temps(coolant, intake, etc etc), o2 sensor values etc etc

Macster

Given the engine was running rough enough that you parked the car and walked I would advise you to not run the engine any more.

My advice would be to get the car flat bedded to a qualified shop (dealer service or indy) and have the cause of the CEL id'd.

The code or codes associated with the CEL will go a ways to helping diagnose the problem.

Or if you want buy an OBD2 code reader and read the codes yourself. You can do this without starting the engine. Do not erase them just yet.

Post the codes here and someone will fill in the blanks.

But my first choice would be you get the car to a qualified shop.

Knowing the codes is not going to cure the problem. Someone's going to have to get his hands dirty to fix the problem, even if the cause is something relatively benign as one or more bad coils.

Added: Oh I do not think the engine is fried. If it is any consolation fried engines usually go out with more drama.

But the engine may be close to being fried. I do not mean to scare you but to impress upon you the importance of not running the engine again but instead to have it looked at by an expert.

Zanzibar Red 996

Yes

CarlosCA

Good luck -- similar thing happened on our 525i wagon last year. Running so rough I thought it had to be timing belt or something major. Luckily, just a faulty ignition coil -- $150 later back on the road. Cross fingers...!

Hyper911

must be spring, mine went off today as well. Car runs fine though, most likely something minor, run the codes and take it from there I would not panic until you have something to panic about.

Marc Gelefsky

Geez, calm down. Get it scanned.
Wife's Audi had the same symptom, was just a coil pack.

AckyE

Got a CEL on the day I pulled it out from winter storage. P1531. Possible actuator failure. Had it reset just to see what would happen and it came back the next day. Code had come up before I stored it but after the 60k service it disappeared. Car runs fine. Will need to do some further investigating. Problem is that emissions is due in a month so need to get on it quick.
Best of luck.

dallison28

I would guess coil pack.

pszikla

Gosh, are we getting so paranoid thsat a check engine light is making us think our engines are fried!?

dotframe

+996