Unexpected motor shut off.

I purchased my Cayman just about a month ago. As I was driving down an entry ramp about two weeks ago I lfted off the gas to slow down and the engine immediately shut off. All the warning lights came on and I turned off the ignition and then restarted the motor and things were fine. Just yesterday, I was pulling out of a parking lot into traffic, again lifted off the gas and the motor shut down just like it had in the previous week. Again it restarted right away but not until I had to drift back into the parking lot and restart. Has anyone experienced this and, if so, is there a fix? Thanks.

this is the first instance of this that I've heard on the board in almost two years (the cars were in the hands of folks in Europe before it was in the US), and the fix in my mind would be a trip to the dealer - pronto. This could be dangerous (as if I have to tell you) and you should have it looked at very soon, I think. brad

I don't know exactly how the 987 is set up, but when this started happening in my GTI it was due to the throttle linkage coming loose. Maybe there's an idler in the picture? In any case beez has it exactly right, get thee to a dealer stat.

A couple of questions; your car is not in the registry so tell us about it (and add it to the registry). Is it manual or tip, CS or 2.7? Was the car in gear and what gear when this happened? Did you have the clutch (if manual) engaged? I would think that you should be able, no matter what is causing this, to immediately turn the ignition all the way off and restart the car without having to drift to a stop.

JeffD, Agree with Beez. Does the check engine light come on and flash yellow? Red? If so, you should take your car in if you can get there at all. Same thing happened to me about three weeks ago at midnight on a Saturday night. Let off the throttle and kills. Check engine light comes on. Engine runs rough. Limped home using handbrake for stops and lights. Called Roadside Assistance and shipped off to New Orleans. Diagnosis: Camshaft actuating element/adjuster leaking internally. Was told by Porsche of New Orleans that my CS was the only Cayman seen with this problem but that they had a Turbo in for the same difficulty. Go figure. Took 3 weeks to resolve and return to me. Runs great again but disconcerting when it happens. I have 4000 miles on my car. Hope this helps.

Wow, I had exactly same problem yesterday night. I called Roadside Assistance and the car towed to Downtown L.A. Motors. I went to the dealer this morning, and they gave me a Corolla without power windows .

No throttle linkage on the Cayman - or any Porsche anymore.. it's all e-gas - basically a potentiometer, or electronic volume control, if you will... the computer reads the position - sends the gas... brad

Loss of ignition Had a similar experience with a BMW and it turned out to be the ignition switch. Same experience where the engine would shut off unexpectedly, and I also was on an offramp with little place to hide. Good luck.

Interesting. Just happened to me yesterday. I took my bike to a bicycle ride in which a lot of cyclists participated. I stopped (after a 60 mile drive to the ride start) to wait my turn to be told where to park my car. The engine simply cut off making a really strange sound. Never happened before. I tried to start it and it took several attempts. Sounded initially as if it was not going to start. I then parked the car and did the ride. When I got back in the car several hours later, it was fine. Someone did tell me that a rear light does not work at all. I will call the dealer tomorrrow about both issues. DoobyDarby

I have exactly the same problem, got my CS 3 weeks ago. It has happened 3 times already. I've released throttle coming out of 1st gear stepped on the clutch and to neutral, moments later (while clutching) the engine shuts off. I'll take it to the dealer this week. My worry is that its a problem not easy to reproduce, it has happened in randomly. Dealers usually dont pay attention when THEY dont see the problem

I had a similar problem just today. After almost trouble free driving for over a year a strange thing happened. Had been for a 30min drive, parked the car for about 5mins. Tried to start her up and no go. Tried about 6 times and nothing. Sort of a cough splutter wirr and that was it. Then waited for about 2 mins and had another go. It worked Werid. I suspect it was lack of fuel feeding, even though the tank was almost full. So that makes it about 4 random faults so far and all cleared by themselves. 1. ABS and PSM failure. Self fixed 20mins later. 2. Clutch enage position late and random hard grabs. OK 2 days later. 3. No engine start. Ok 2 mins later 4. Sound system died - locked up. Fixed by pulling power fuse. Hmmmm

The engine can also shut off if you brake whilst pressing the accelerator pedal. I've heard this from more than one person but not experienced it myself so i'm just passing on what i've heard. Apparently, the engine management system will not allow you to brake and accelerate at the same time.

I've experienced the same thing only once at about km 5000 (now km 23,000). I was slowing down to make a right turn, engaged the clutch to down shift then the car went dead. Restarted and drove away. Just before the incident I saw a group of people staring at my car, so I thought maybe it was just a bad eye effect!

4x4, I had similar problems on my car. I posted a thread which I discussed the problem and others also chimed in. http://www.planet-9.com/cayman-complaints/14319-unusual-engine-starting-sequence.html

Some of the G35 coupe people used to have this problem and it was caused by a particular aftermarket intake. If you were traveling at speed (usally +70mph) and lifted of the gas the engine would go dead. The intake company redesigned the intake into the throttle body so the air would spin and not just go straight in and that took care of it. Just throwing some past experiences out there.

ttsakai, I think my problem is different because it always turned over but the cylinders did not fire. Maybe there was some air in the fuel line?

What The...? Folks, I could use some advice here... I picked up my Cayman S just last Tuesday -- brand new. I drove around the city for a couple of days. Once I was pulling into a parking spot sort of awkwardly and the car died. I thought, ok, I stalled it, no big deal it happens, and thought nothing more of it. But this weekend I took the car for a 600+ mile highway trip. Great break in time, went through all the gears up to around 4500RPM (with a *very* short lived blip or two above that, around 5000). Anyway, 4 or five times the engine shut off when I tried to accelerate after being stopped at a light. I don't like "peeling out" (especially during break in), but it seemed like if I didn't give it more gas than I wanted in first gear, if I let my foot off the clutch ever so slightly, it would die. Note that the check engine light never came on, and I was able to instantly restart each time with no apparent residual effects (until the next time it happened). Now I'm not new at driving a stick. I've been driving pretty much only standard transmission cars for about 14 years. Although I'm sure I'm not above stalling a car every once in a while, I can't be this much of an idiot (luckily no wives/girlfriends/mother on this board to contradict me). Called the dealer and I'm taking her in for service tomorrow morning. Of course, they want to replicate the problem, but I'm not sure I can. Anyone dealt with this? Most of the unexpected shutoff problems discussed in this thread are different circumstances, so I'd really appreciate any thoughts tonight if you've got them, so I can go in to the dealer with some idea of what it could be. Many thanks in advance, J.

Once i was treveling about 65ish and went from 65-0, around 10-15 mph the engine died (i have a tiptronic btw). I asked the dealer about it, he asked me how much gas i had in the car, i said probably about a quarter tank. He seemed to think that the abrupt stop shifted the fuel in the car and since there wasn't alot of it the engine died from lack of fuel... this only happened once. Think he is telling the truth ?

JHS: Same Problem JHS, I've had the same problem as you during the first couple of weeks I had my Cayman. Mine is also brand new, with only 780 miles on it now. Anyway, I found myself stalling out when starting off in first gear. My brother-in-law, a former car mechanic, was with me once and said, "Driver Error," explaining that I was babying it on giving it gas when starting off. Now at a light, or stopped, I step on the clutch, give it some gas, then more gas as I let up on the clutch and the car moves off just fine. Having said this, I'm troubled by all the cars in this Thread that have just suddenly stopped while in motion. That's a very troubling sign to me, and a problem that seems pretty systematic given all the times I've read it's happening.

Well, in case anyone's curious, I took the car in today. Went for a ride with the dealer service manager, we both drove and everything was fine (and I proved that I actually do drive a stick very very well, whew...) They also hooked the car up to their little diagnostic tablet-PC thingy and went through to see if there were any fault codes (none). The tech explained that some other modern cars are programmed to open the throttle a slight bit more than the driver's pressure on the gas pedal would suggest, if the driver is not applying enough, in order to avoid stalls. Porsche doesn't do this (except on the Carrera GT, apparently). So in a nutshell, i just need to give it more gas. It happened once more on the way home, which was disconcerting, so I'm just going to watch it and see if it keeps happening. Thanks for the advice to those who responded. J.

Maybe another Cayman owner can check to see if its normal or not?

Not a bad idea. Any Cayman / Cayman S owners in the Philadelphia, PA area want to meet for a cup of coffee one of these weekends and swap cars for a couple quick stop/starts?

I really think you are stalling it. When ever you take your foot of the clutch ALWAYS give it a bit of gas just prior or at the same time doing so. ie About 1000 to 1200RPM. When the clutch is fully out it will load the engine so give it a little bit more. If you never did this technique before it may be the reason for your problem specially if you have been driving cars with good low end tourqe. Its how you drive a Jap 4 cylinder. Now Im comparing to a Jap job

For the guys above, how did you get the shutoff issue resolved?