Boxster S burning stories

[zft325]

HI to everyone, as i browse the common defects of boxster s on the net, i saw some horror stories of their car burning after seing the check engine light on and seing smoke on the air vent (right portion) . my qustion is are these stories true? are they based on reports? any reason why these may happen? hope someone can explain why and what can cause them and also to prevent them from happening. inputs pls. appreciate it

[ppbon]

Many years ago there were a few of the early ('97) cars that caught on fire.

Porsche determined that the most likely cause were lit cigarette butts that made their way into the air intake system (filter).

Some changes were made, including adding a mesh and the stories went away.

I know of at least 4 of these cars that burned. OOne in Germany, one in Italy and 2 in the US.

Happy Boxstering,

Pedro

[therock88]

HI to everyone, as i browse the common defects of boxster s on the net, i saw some horror stories of their car burning after seing the check engine light on and seing smoke on the air vent (right portion) . my qustion is are these stories true? are they based on reports? any reason why these may happen? hope someone can explain why and what can cause them and also to prevent them from happening. inputs pls. appreciate it

Agree with Pedro...Very early days a few idiots would flick their burning cigarettes out of the window and would get sucked into the air vents and thus a fire. Not a concern, and I have heard of nothing like that since 97 days. Of course I am sure some folks somewhere may have had other fires, but probably due to something goofy that they did rather than issues with the cars.

Good luck!

DC

[mikefocke]

Years of reading Boxster forums and I can't recall a single burning story. Doesn't mean they haven't happened but surely not common.

[Loren]

I've seen two and both were as Pedro pointed out cigarettes in the intake -- back before 2001.

[xavi.ordonez]

Yes, I remeber getting that letter from Porsche. I think I still have it!!! jajajajaja

[Topless]

Another way to burn down a perfectly good Boxster is to bolt on a set of Chinese headers and forget that they get red hot under use. Failure to tie back power steering lines or other combustibles that might come in contact with aftermarket headers has killed half a dozen cars that I know of in the last 5 years.

[ppbon]

There's another way to burn one.

After you've done a good track session, just pull over to where the dry, high, brown grass is and leave the car there.

Get out of the car ASAP.

The cats are so hot that they'll ignite the grass and you have a BBQ'd car.

Saw one about 10 years ago at Moroso.

Happy Boxstering,

Pedro

[Dr.Strangepork]

Another way to burn down a perfectly good Boxster is to bolt on a set of Chinese headers and forget that they get red hot under use. Failure to tie back power steering lines or other combustibles that might come in contact with aftermarket headers has killed half a dozen cars that I know of in the last 5 years.

LOL I just installed a set and noticed that the power steering/AC/whatever it is line pushes up right against them...time for some zip ties!

[zft325]

thanks guys!, just wana make sure this wont happen. hehe.

[FLAT6 jiri]

Hi everybody, as I am not original English speaking, could you please explain me, what does it mean "header"? (Another way to burn down a perfectly good Boxster is to bolt on a set of Chinese headers..). I am surprised how many burned Boxsters (and Panameras and Cayennes too, btw.) you can find on the German market

Thanks

[mikefocke]

A header collects the burned gases from the combustion process from the engine and routes it into the exhaust system. Since the Boxster engine has cylinders in each side, there are two of these headers.

Again, I'll say I brouse probably 6 Boxster online forums daily and have for 6+ years and can't recall a single "fire burned up my Boxster" story.

As for the cats get hot and ignite tall grass, sure that can happen with any car.

[FLAT6 jiri]

for example here is one car

http://suchen.mobile.de/auto-inserat/porsche-boxster-2-7i-waardenburg/143853808.html?lang=de&pageNumber=2&__lp=2&scopeId=C&sortOption.sortBy=price.consumerGrossEuro&makeModelVariant1.makeId=20100&makeModelVariant1.modelId=16&makeModelVariant1.searchInFreetext=false&makeModelVariant2.searchInFreetext=false&makeModelVariant3.searchInFreetext=false&minFirstRegistrationDate=1997-01-01&maxFirstRegistrationDate=2002-12-31&negativeFeatures=EXPORT&damageUnrepaired=ONLY_DAMAGE_UNREPAIRED

and I saw especially Boxsters at least 3 since January.

And Cayenne:

http://suchen.mobile.de/auto-inserat/porsche-cayenne-tiptronic-s-bochum/151576302.html?lang=de&pageNumber=1&__lp=3&scopeId=C&sortOption.sortBy=price.consumerGrossEuro&makeModelVariant1.makeId=20100&makeModelVariant1.modelId=18&makeModelVariant1.searchInFreetext=false&makeModelVariant2.searchInFreetext=false&makeModelVariant3.searchInFreetext=false&minFirstRegistrationDate=1997-01-01&negativeFeatures=EXPORT&damageUnrepaired=ONLY_DAMAGE_UNREPAIRED

http://suchen.mobile.de/auto-inserat/porsche-cayenne-s-tiptronic-s-bernay/146800489.html?〈=de&pageNumber=1&__lp=3&scopeId=C&sortOption.sortBy=price.consumerGrossEuro&makeModelVariant1.makeId=20100&makeModelVariant1.modelId=18&makeModelVariant1.searchInFreetext=false&makeModelVariant2.searchInFreetext=false&makeModelVariant3.searchInFreetext=false&minFirstRegistrationDate=1997-01-01&negativeFeatures=EXPORT&damageUnrepaired=ONLY_DAMAGE_UNREPAIRED&ticket=ST-722191-ATeGZIM2AwZfUrfTRGTm-mycas46-2_c01_4201

http://suchen.mobile.de/auto-inserat/porsche-cayenne-s-tiptronic-s-langenhagen/162618043.html?〈=de&pageNumber=1&__lp=3&scopeId=C&sortOption.sortBy=price.consumerGrossEuro&makeModelVariant1.makeId=20100&makeModelVariant1.modelId=18&makeModelVariant1.searchInFreetext=false&makeModelVariant2.searchInFreetext=false&makeModelVariant3.searchInFreetext=false&minFirstRegistrationDate=1997-01-01&negativeFeatures=EXPORT&damageUnrepaired=ONLY_DAMAGE_UNREPAIRED&ticket=ST-722248-PHmSYm2mvZS62yo0EoJA-mycas46-2_c01_4201

http://suchen.mobile.de/auto-inserat/porsche-cayenne-s-tiptronic-s-voll-deutsches-fz-burgau/163042035.html?〈=de&pageNumber=1&__lp=3&scopeId=C&sortOption.sortBy=price.consumerGrossEuro&makeModelVariant1.makeId=20100&makeModelVariant1.modelId=18&makeModelVariant1.searchInFreetext=false&makeModelVariant2.searchInFreetext=false&makeModelVariant3.searchInFreetext=false&minFirstRegistrationDate=1997-01-01&negativeFeatures=EXPORT&damageUnrepaired=ONLY_DAMAGE_UNREPAIRED&ticket=ST-722270-LagVzdfua0JaFqZeIvIU-mycas46-2_c01_4201

http://suchen.mobile.de/auto-inserat/porsche-cayenne-turbo-leinfelden-echterdingen/154529713.html?lang=de&pageNumber=2&__lp=3&scopeId=C&sortOption.sortBy=price.consumerGrossEuro&makeModelVariant1.makeId=20100&makeModelVariant1.modelId=18&makeModelVariant1.searchInFreetext=false&makeModelVariant2.searchInFreetext=false&makeModelVariant3.searchInFreetext=false&minFirstRegistrationDate=1997-01-01&negativeFeatures=EXPORT&damageUnrepaired=ONLY_DAMAGE_UNREPAIRED

I am from car business, but doing before only Subaru, and to be honest since I started (1997) I didn´t see any single one burned. That is why am I so curious about this amount of Porsches.. or is it kind of insurance "business", perhaps

[mikefocke]

Agin I have read every message for the last 6 years on at least 4 and up to 6 online Boxster forums. If there were any defects causing this, the owners would be commenting/screaming. I can only assume there is some class hatred against people supposed to be rich or some collect from insurance scheme going if you are seeing a bunch of burned cars. Or people parking in inappropriate places where combustables come in contact with the catalic converters.

[fingal]

The red boxster has burnt in the front, near the battery tray. A long way from the engine. Probably a stereo wiring job.

[mikefocke]

Or a battery that wasn't maintained. Back in the late '60s, I had an Alfa which had its battery under the right rear fender. One year I didn't even look at it. Mostly driving around town in the cold winter on short trips. But come spring I took a 50 mile trip and the battery cooked because it didn't have any water to cool the plates and the battery overheated and burned the paint off the fender. I was young and broke and didn't have any money and was at a boatyard so I threw the battery away, got a jump to start the car and drove the 50 miles of so back home without a battery in the car maintaining about 2,500RPM all through the trip including at stop lights because below that the engine would start to die.