My 2001 Boxster won't start. When I turn the key, I get a steady, high whine, not the normal "chunk-chunk-chunk". Until this happened, I had zero problems starting the car. Is the starter motor not engaging the engine?

 

Suggest you post a video and meanwhile check the battery is fully charged and the cables/connections are good.

 

Sounds like the starter gear isn't engaging on the flywheel. When that happens the starter motor spins at high revs making that noise.

 

A good guess but given how the starter is supposed to work I have my doubts.

Briefly, when the DME decides the engine should be allowed to start -- among other things the key RFID has been recognizded -- the starter solenoid is activated. This slides the pinion gear on the starter shaft out to engage the teeth of the flywheel ring gear. Only when the gears are fully engaged does the solenoid then activate power to the starter.

For what you guess is happening would require the solenoid to *not* slide the pinion gear out yet somehow still make electrical contact with the switch that then powers the starter motor.

I have not seen a starter in years and I have never seen the Boxster starter so I not know how the thing is designed. It might be possible the linkage that moves the pinion gear on the shaft has failed yet the hardware that moves out and closes the switch that activates the starter is working.

*If* the noise you hear is the starter -- you might need to expose the front of the engine and confirm that it is the starter motor that is making that noise (keep your hands away from the *belt* in case the starter engages and starts the engine!) -- then the failure mode I described above could have occurred. The starter would need to come out then and be examined.