DelaneyBuffet

My Boxster started to make this noise recently. It seems loudest coming out of the side vent on passenger side of the car. I bought the car this spring and have driven a fair amount with no issues. It has 112,000 miles on it. Oil level reads slightly below full on instrument panel and with dipstick. I am 50 miles from dealer to get it looked at - I sent this audio to them and they advised towing it in - I am scared - advise? From other post I have read on the net looks like Boxsters can have pricey and not so pricey noise issues!

dr914

you may want to remove the firewall cover and see if you can spot the noise coming from maybe the front pulleys or water pump, will make you rest easier

Macster

Doesn't sound good. I don't mean to add to your anxiety but I have heard a bit of noises from various Porsche Boxsters, my own over 16 years, 317K miles, and a fair number at the local dealer. That noise doesn't sound healthy. And it doesn't even sound like a water pump though I will offer a bit of hope that it could be the water pump just the water pump's condition is more advanced than the one that went bad in my Boxster.

My advice is do that the dealer said to do. If the engine needs to be run any it should only be run in the presence of a Porsche tech and under his supervision.

The engine may (probably) is salvageable, that is source of the noise does not mean the engine is toast. But the noise will not get any better with more engine run time and there's nothing you can really do on your driveway to address the noise.

To isolate the noise that is to first identify if it is from inside the engine or from the accessory drive what I did was to remove the in cabin panel to expose the front of the engine and its accessory drive system. I noted the belt's direction of rotation and its routing. I removed the belt and started the engine. Prior the noise had appeared just moments after starting the cold engine and as the engine idled the noise got louder. With the belt removed the noise was not present.

I felt around and the water pump pulley had a bit of play. Not lots but it had play where the other drive pulleys had none. The belt's inside edge was sharp too which was a sign the belt was not tracking true and rubbing on one of the pulleys. I buttoned everything back up and flat bedded the car to the nearest dealer, around 25 miles away.

Up to you if you want to go to the trouble. But if you do and say the noise is from the accessory drive are you capable of prepared to repair the car on your driveway?

If the noise is still present with the belt removed the noise is from the engine it is the rare DIYer that can address an internal engine noise on his driveway.

Really the sound doesn't sound healthy at all. As I touched upon above it could be a bad water pump that has advanced from the low rumble I heard from mine to what I heard in the clip.

With my Boxster over the years when faced with a sick car -- 3 AOSs, water pump, and what proved to be a bad VarioCam solenoid/actuator -- I erred on the side of caution and had the car flat bedded to the dealer for diagnosis and repair.

My advice is you do the same.

DelaneyBuffet

Awesome notes thanks! I don't intend to try to DYI but I want to have some knowledge before I get it to the dealer. My first question was does it sound bad enough to pay $450 to get it towed - sounds like! THANKS!

Macster

Given the noise I heard I'd not drive the car 50 miles. I not drive it 5 miles. Really as I mentioned in my previous post if the engine gets run again at all before being fixed it should be under the direct supervision of a tech. I have been in the local Porsche dealer service department when techs are listening to a sick engine and they are dashing around like mad, but in a professional highly skilled fashion, to listen to the noise from various locations, probe with a stethoscope, in order to pin point/categorize the noise but in as little time as possible. They do not dawdle in this task. And I stayed out of their way. From my vantage point I could hear the noise and it was not a pleasant noise.

Early on -- well at around 75K miles or thereabouts what proved to be one of the 1st of 3 AOSs started acting up. Long story short I called the dealer service and explained the symptoms and the SA said "AOS" and cautioned me to not drive the car any more but get it in on a flat bed tow truck. He said another owner with a car just like mine -- same color in fact -- had developed the same symptoms and he had made the same diagnosis over the phone and made the recommendation to avoid driving the car but the owner said he bought the car to drive and he was going to drive it and did so and the AOS deteriorated to the point it let the engine suck enough oil out of the crankcase to hydraulically lock the engine. As it turned out before calling the dealer service department I had done some attempt at diagnosing the problem to the point the engine was starting to ingest copious amount of oil as the engine was smoking like crazy.

Even though I was out of work at the time I paid to have the car flat bedded the approx. 45 miles to the dealer to get the AOS fixed. Then years later when I was at hotel about 90 miles away from the dealer having driven 2K miles to get the hotel when upon first start of the morning the car exhaust billowed smoke I just shut off the engine and called a tow truck. The tow was around 90 miles. The 3rd time I was just 10 miles from the dealer and the big cloud of smoke in the mirror told me all I needed to know, but after a few moments as I was trying to get the car off the road the smoking stopped. I thought I might be able to get the car to the dealer sans a tow but not even a mile into the drive to the dealer the engine resumed smoking heavily and running rough so I shut the engine down and had the car towed the car to the dealer. While none of the tows individually cost $450 added together they cost that much. (You don't want to know what it cost to have my 996 Turbo towed from Ely NV to Livermore CA, a 600 mile tow...)

hbrewer

I would rent a u-haul for 50.00, and pull it to shop, not take a chance on destroying the motor.

Macster

With a trailer the engine has to be started and the car driven onto to trailer. With a flat bed tow truck the car could be pushed into position so the car could be pulled onto the flat bed with an electric winch and cable.

However, in the case of my car and its first AOS failure the engine was already running very poorly and the tow truck operator for some reason didn't want to back up to the car on the drive but insisted I bring it out to the street where he had parallel parked his tow truck. It just so happened there was a good amount of snow on the ground/drive way which was bad enough -- car on summer tires of course -- but the town plow had left a nice snow plow pile of snow across my driveway. I had to drive over/through this and of course the car car stuck a bit. I got it free but by the time I did the engine was pretty sick sounding.

AnthonyGS

You can use a winch to put a car on a trailer. Another way is to chock the wheels on the trailer and pull it on using a long tow rope or multiple tow straps. You can also put the trailer at the bottom of a hill or inclined driveway and us gravity to get it loaded. You can solve any problem if you think about it. The key is to have good inflated tires so it rolls easily. Worst load up I ever had was a heavy car with two flats on gravel. The car didn’t run, but we loaded it onto a trailer.

DelaneyBuffet

Thanks - have a tow coming in morning to take car in. I had the AOS replaced when I purchased the car this spring and have put on about 1200 miles. Thanks so much for your comments!

Starter986

Good luck with everything. Hope it isn't anything extraordinary.

Keep us posted.

DelaneyBuffet

GREAT NEWS! The dealer just called - It was the water pump bearing should have it back by the weekend. I still wouldn't rest until I get it back but at least I am breathing again! -- Thanks to all that shared info with me - getting past my first Boxster crisis!

Starter986

That's great news! Better than hearing, "You've got XXX cluncking around in your XXX. That'll be $4,000."

You'll have it back on the road in no time!