Engine died, what could be wrong?

Driving to work this morning, I pull up at a stop light in traffic, and when I go to start again, I get distracted and I stall the car. This is actually only the second time since I've owned it that I've stalled out Bad part is, when I turn the key off, then on again to restart it, it won't start. Can hear the starter turning it over, but doesn't start up. Then I notice that on the instrument cluster, its doing an oil-check and counting down from 5:00. So I wait for that to finish. Says oil is full. I let it count down to 0, then try again to start the car. Still doesn't start and automatically tries to check the oil again, counting down from 5:00 After my second try, I try one more time to start it - this time I wait about 3 minutes then give it a go. This time, it only counts down from 0:06 seconds doing the oil check. It says full oil. I haven't put any oil in in the last 500km I've driven or anything like that. Whats going on, any ideas? I had it towed to the stealership by 1-800-PORSCHE but they can't look at it for a few days. I'm scared that it will be something big

Make sure you turn the key all the way to the left first, it resets the computer. After the key is held there a second or two (all the way to the left), turn it to the right as usual and the car should start. Edit - Re-read and saw you had it towed. I hope it is nothing major ... I think the dealership would have told you about the re-start process after a stall.

I asked the service tech on the phone, he was totally brainless. I didn't know about the key thing, I could have tried that for sure. Oh well, tow was courtesy of Porsche and the dealership is going to fix my illuminated door sill problem while the car is there, plus give me an oil change. I hope its just a computer issue like you say! I get nightmares about engine parts.

Kor it simply sounds like you didn't turn the key all the way off before trying to restart. Oh and the owners manual has a couple of good tips on starting that you might have overlooked as well. pg 76 of the '06 manual.

I had the key out totally and back in - not far left enough?

Hmmmmmm, if you had it all the way out, and back in again, then that is far left enough... it will be interesting to see what they say. brad

I had the same experience. I did not know about turning the key to the left though. I did figure out very quickly that the electronics have to reset, about 2 1/2 - 2 minutes.

That gauge with 2/2 and 1/2 and an E on it, and a light below that, it means you are out of gas... :cheers:

I promise it wasn't out of gas! It was actually a bit low but not to the point where the warning comes on and not to the point where it lights up the lowest 1/8th of the tank on the gauge. But... it was almost that low. Right before the point where the needle would get that low. Possible the fuel gauge was showing i had more than I did?

I'll see, I know the clutch was depressed, key was turned, starter was turning over. There was definitely something weird going on with the cluster/computer in terms of cycling the long 5 minute oil check. Dealership should know by Tuesday.

I will venture you may have a clogged fuel filter? That's all I can think of. Let us know what it turns out to be. Markus

Is that red mark a light? I didn't know that....How low do you have to get before it comes on? And then how much gas before you start walking? I filled up once and took 15.85 Gal....thought the tank was only 16....so 0.15 isn't much margin...

If you monitor the distance remaining function from the stick you will see the light goes on when it calculates you have so many miles to go. I dont take much notice but it something like 58kms. If you keep running on the fuel below this limit eventually at about half this distance the dist remains displays "--"kms remaining. Thats when you are really low. Try it some day.

I had a fuel indicator computer go bad. It is possible that you ran out of gas without being aware of it. Sounds like the starter was engaging, so I doubt it was a key or clutch pedal issue. Mine comes on with about 50 miles remaining. I routinely test my light.... Kor, this is a strange problem. Please let us know what they discover.

This might be a total stab in the dark, but is it possible this could be a result of a bad battery? I remember you telling us that you drained your battery not too long ago, perhaps that played a part in this. Just a thought. I doubt this is it, but I thought I'd throw that out there.

Engine was turning over...

Think the battery is Ok, I have been checking it and its good.

Not a total long shot. A weak battery can cause weird things to happen in today's computer driven cars. Even when there is still enough power to crank the engine, a weak battery can cause voltage fluctuations that could cause the DME to go haywire. I sort of doubt this is the issue, but it is theoretically possible.

This was sort of my thinking behind why I even mentioned the battery. I too doubt this is the reason for the problem, but since Kor posted that he had a dead battery in the past, it is possible that the battery could be the cause.

Kor- Hopefully everything works out painlessly, my friend. On a side note, this is where the value of this site starts going through the roof for folks like me. As our cars age, they will inevitably exhibit "issues". Rarely are they isolated cases. Patterns develop. The next guy who has the same symptoms will know right where to look first.

As I reported elsewhere, in a current thread, my dealer removed the cables and cleaned the battery posts as part of a two-year service. I don't believe that to be a normal service item on any car of any age unless there is visible corrosion. While it doesn't seem this could relate to Kor's problem---his starter cranks---it seems posible they have learned that the cars are very sensitive to minor voltage drop at these points.

Hi Kor, is your car back yet? If so, what was the problem?

There is a TSB called "breakdown due to loose ground strap," and some people reported similar symptoms... the car will not start because the ground strap that connects the battery to the car is loose. But surely the car is back now so Kor just needs to fill us in on what it was...

Whenever I take my Jeep into the Chrysler dealership that is the first thing they do while it is the service entrance even if it is just for an oil change.

Your symptoms sound like a problem with the Fuel cut-off switch.... I know that in Boxters, the switch is under the passenger seat - floor mounted, and that it can stop the car from starting. Have a read of the foll topic - Damsel in distress - my boxster won't start!

Had the same thing happen to me a few months back. It finally started up after about 10 cranks. I took it to the dealer and explained the problem and they said if it doesn't repeat here they can't do anything about it. Worked fine at the dealer, so nothing was done. Hope they find what's wrong. The problem does exisist!

After a short run early in the morning, my car didn't want to start again either. After about 4 tries I was able to get it going again. Hasn't happened since, and that was about a month ago.

How come Kor hasn't responded with what his issue was? He's been on the site since announcing this, is it resolved or not? If so, what was the problem and the resolution? Kor are you holding out on us?

I believe the exact scenario Kor described (minus the oil level stuff) happened to me too, on my second day of ownership. With my spouse in the car. I felt dumb as hell, but after withdrawing the key twice and reinserting it, and following what I thought was a normal startup sequence, it just started normally as if nothing had ever happened. In nearly 600 miles it hasn't happened since. I attributed it to porsche-newbie operator error. Hmmm...

Kor, If it makes you feel better the SAME EXACT thing happened to me when I had only 800 miles on my car. I mean exactly. I DID know about the key to the left restart issue and all. I had to have the car towed as well. They kept the car til the next day. The next day Porsche calls to say they are finished and the computer did register the "problem" but they could find nothing wrong with it. I have 9k on the car now with not even a peep of another problem. Something to note: Just before the issue came up, I had parked my car on an incline (nose lower than the tail) and I started the car.....within about 1/2 mile I stopped at an steep inclined intersection (tail lower than the nose). It was there that I stalled the car. I looked at the fuel gauge and it said about 1/8th tank. The reserve orange warning light was NOT on... I have to this day chalked it up to "not enough gas for the situation"....meaning one steep incline....to another...with low fuel...maybe the engine was starved of fuel no matter what the actual volume of fuel was on the needle? By the way......someone above mentioned 2 - 2 1/2" minutes for electronics to re-set after stalling? I have stalled my car more than I care to admit and I have never had to wait that long. I turn the key all the way to the left...then fire her up again immediately. I cannot imagine sitting in the middle of an intersection stalled waiting 2 1/2 mins for the car to reset....talk about liability waiting to happen! Good luck on your car. I bet its nothing!

LOL He learned from the best.....cough, you, cough!

Sorry everyone I lost track of this thread!! Very busy at work this week. The dealership said they replaced a fuse under warranty, and that was the only problem! It was easy, the car has been great since.

Defective fuse or blown fuse.....thats the question I would need answered before I went upon my merry way. Fuses blow for a reason, better check those after market mod circuits (if applicable) and hope its not related. Just my 2.1 cents :cheers:

Which fuse would that be? Sounds strange to me.