Hey All - I have a 2005
Boxster S
, and have owned it for many years. Bought it
Porsche
Certified, and near the end of the warranty period, the starting issue began. Basically after the engine starts, sometimes the starter motor doesn’t disengage from the engine quickly enough and it gives off a terrible “whizzing” noise as the engine spins the starter motor (much faster than it is mean to turn). The dealer said they couldn’t do anything, except replace the starter motor failed. It only happens maybe 3 or 4 times out of 10 when starting the car. Doesn’t seem to make a difference if the engine is hot or cold, or no matter how gently you turn the key into the ignition position (and no, I’m not holding the key to the right for too long... haha). It’s been going on for some time and seemingly without negative impact as the car doesn’t have an issue cranking, but it’s embarrassing to hear that noise and it’s also wearing out the starter motor.
Has anyone else had this issue? Is it the ignition cylinder? The starter motor? Both? Any help in diagnosing this gremlin would be amazing. I’ve searched a few forums but not turned anything up yet.
Search around there are some tips here to deal with this since it isn't too uncommon. IIRC you can take it out and clean all the clutch dust for some relief or replace. It doesn't seem like and awful job but I luckily haven't needed to.
Had this exact issue on my 2006 Boxster S. I pulled the starter myself and took it to a guy that does starter
rebuilds but he could not rebuild it as Porsche does not sell individual parts for the starter.Only sold as a complete unit. He did bench test and said everything seemed to be working fine. Sowhen I got it back I cleaned the gear end really well and lubed it with Teflon Liquid spray and bench tested it. Tested it on my workbench with 12 volts and it worked perfectly. So I reinstalled it. Worked good for a day or so then reverted back to
the same problem u are experiencing. It would not release after starting car and squeal bad pretty much every time.
Pretty embarrassing really at the gas stations ect. I new it was the starter so I picked up a used Porsche starter
from a Porsche parts place locally and installed it.That was 3-4 years ago( around 30k ago) and no problems since.
Rockauto somtimes has rebuilt ones from Bosche (original supplier) but had none when I needed it. I still have the original in case I need to send in a Core if I have problems again, no down time can still drive the car . I dont think this can be good for the Flywheel when the starter dosent disengage rite away but mine looked ok, no visible damage to the gears or teeth that I could see. Changing it was fun, pretty much have to climb into the engine bay with my feet dangling out over the fender but really not that bad if u decide to tackle yourself.
Had this exact problem myself a couple of years ago. Believe me, it does not get better as time goes by! Just replace the starter. It's not very expensive (buy from
Pelican
or other parts houses) and the installation is pretty straightforward. You need to access both the rear top hatch and the front behind-the-seats hatch. The hardest part for me was removing the intake runners to get down to the starter. You bolt in the starter using looong extensions from the front.
This happens when the bearing on the "nose" of the starter wears. Nothing short of a new bearing, or a new starter will fix it. I'm surprised the starter guy didn't have a bearing. It's
Bosch
- so it's pretty common.
Thanks all for confirming this. Glad I didn’t bother replacing the ignition barrel. I don’t know why
Porsche
wouldn’t replace it... it started happening within the two-year
Porsche
Certified warranty period. Oh well, at least it’s predictable and manageable. Definitely embarrassing if you street park it on a Sunday afternoon though or at a gas station...
Hello All! Sorry to bump an old post but last week I finally managed to carve out some time to get under the hood and replace the starter. Job went fairly smoothly, except for the fact that the bolts holding it to the tranny were E-torx (E14) which I didn’t have.
Amazon
was a quick fix and I got it out the
next
day. Problem-free starting! By far the trickiest part was getting the plenum tubing back into place. I have an
IPD plenum
and throttle-body and it’s a very tight fit. Positive - I didn’t know my car had the IPD kit (bought it from
Porsche
but previous owner made a few mods). That explains why it’s so fast.. Thanks all for the support! Cheers.
I'm glad that your car is repaired and back on the road. I've also installed an
IPD plenum
/
GT3 throttle body
, so I know
exactly
what you mean about its tight fitment. It takes a fair amount of fiddling and patience, but somehow it all
just
fits in there nice and snug once everything is aligned properly.
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