Need Help '98 Boxster running rough

[nissanzx1]

Hi all, I have a '98 Boxster (72K) that has been running great (I have had it for 2 months). Just today I changed one of the door lock mechanisms because it was bad. Everything worked fine with the locks when I was done with that.

Then, I went to drive it and it runs very rough. Pulled it out of the driveway, it died in the street. Started it back up and got it into the garage again. The exhaust smells horrible too, hard to explain but it will make your eyes tear up instantly if you get near the muffler.

The whole car shakes violently when its running. Any ideas? Not going to drive it for now. What could have gone wrong?

Thanks,

-Grant

[Loren]

:welcome:

Did you disconnect the battery?

If so, you will need to let the car "learn" idle and throttle response again. This usually occurs within a few miles.

If not, then I suggest you get a fault code reader and scan the car for faults. Without the fault codes everything is a guess.

[nissanzx1]

Thanks for the response. Yes, I did disconnect the battery before working on the door locks. I wanted to do this due to my close proximity with the door airbag while working on swapping the door latch. The battery was disconnected for about 1.5 hours.

I am about to have a nervous breakdown thinking this car is experiencing the dreaded IMS failure. My oil level is fine and I am thinking of dropping the oil filter housing to inspect it for metal shavings. Have I lost my mind? Do I need to take a Xanax and chill, or what?

What would you do? Keep in mind the car actually died in the street. I was able to get it to restart instantly.

Thanks for any responses... And, Thank You for welcoming me! What a fantastic forum!

PS- The car has no ck engine light on now, but I do own an ODBII scanner...

-GH

Edited August 30, 2009 by nissanzx1

[nissanzx1]

Problem appears to have corrected itself. I pulled the oil filter housing off and there was no metal present. So, I went ahead and restarted the car and let it idle for awhile. The idle would race some at times. Then, I drove the car. After about 2 miles it was running pretty much normally. Thank God, I was pretty worried...

-Grant