Dirty Engine Question ...

Hey Folks. Is this amount of dirt/dust normal for 25K miles? Dean.

I can sympathize, as my engine appears similar; 2008 with 47k miles. I’ve always kept the engines clean and tidy in previous cars I’ve owned, but that is mostly because those engines are easily and readily accessible. Not so with our Boxsters, since just exposing the engine is not a quick nor simple task. Whenever I wash either of my other vehicles, I usually pop the hood open and give a quick detailing to the visible engine parts. I wish I could do the same to the Boxster but unfortunately the logistics prevent that from happening often enough. But those feelings go away quickly when I feel the torque and hear the exhaust . Makes it easier to tolerate.

Thanks Chuck. This is a car I intend to buy. Previously I'd only seen pictures of beautifully detailed engines under clear covers and didn't know what "normal" looked like. Dean.

If the car was driven only on paved surfaces, it would NOT be that dirty. I've owned my 2008 Cayman for 15 years and 64,000 miles and cleaned my engine about 3 times in that time span. And even then it wasn't near that dirty. It appears as though a previous owner was driving on unpaved roads and kicking up lots of dust.

Yes, there is no simple "yes or no" answer that anyone can give to the OPs question without knowing where the previous owners were driving it. My 10 year old 981 wasnt anywhere near that dusty, but it never went down any dirt roads, or was ever owned by anyone in Nevada either I would be asking the them to remove both the air filters to see how well they have ben keeping up with the basic maintenance on it if that is the environment the car has been run in. If something so basic as the filters look just as bad, then you know it hasn't been taken of at all

I am the third owner, previous owners stored in the garage. As far I they said it was just street driven. When I first opened the top to see the engine it was not as dirty but was very dusty. That was 30k. I recently opened at 40k and there was more dust. I have garage stored it and just driven on pavement. So I think dust is normal.

Thanks. The filters all look good and the car seems well maintained. The PPI came back with streaky wipers as the only fault. Its a one-owner car from Montana. I suspect the home had a dirt drive, which is not at all uncommon out there. Dean.

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I live on a dirt road. When you drive with the A/C on the fans suck dirt from the bottom of the car into the engine compartment and create dust onto the body. I have to remember to keep A/C off till I reach asphalt after I wash it. Nothing more frustrating than washing the car and having it dirty before you get out of your driveway. Bernie

I clean my engine each year and it gets pretty dirty even though I only drive about 2500 miles annually. In my case, it gets dirty from doing the wet skid pad at the track. I imagine that driving in the rain could lead to a fairly dirty engine compartment as well. The good news is that cleaning the compartment is easy. Get some plastic sheeting from hardware store. Use the engine cover as a pattern to cut out a hole in the sheeting and tape the sheeting to the border of the opening. Use some Gunk engine cleaner (safe on paint and plastic) as well as a water hose set on mist. Some small brushes to agitate in places where necessary. I also put sheeting underneath since I do it in my garage.

After using the Gunk, I like to spray everything with a 50% solution of Simply Green to get rid of the oily residue (and smell...) left by Gunk, the key here is using a "Low Pressure Water" to avoid getting moisture on the harness connectors. You will like the results

@Gilles Yes, I left out that key part. Rinse off the Gunk residue. I just do it with a mist of water, but I suppose the Simple Green mixture does a great job. Also, drive the car for at least 20 minutes afterwards. The heat will dry the engine.

Greg, I basically rinse it twice, once for the Gunk and then for the Simply Green, as it smells way better than the Gunk.. lol .

Since my wife can't stand the smell of Simply Green, I have to rinse again But that's easier and cheaper than the other "solution" (if you get my drift);>

Well, you'll never know, perhaps she likes the smell of Gunk better

My engine looked like that when I bought it. I was not remotely concerned. I didn't really clean it either. Just vacuumed it when I did the valves. RE wipers: The right side wiper on the 987 is a bit of a special curved one, try not to replace it with a generic one. Either get the Porsche one or you can get some really really cheap blade inserts that work like a charm.

It is relatively easy to remove the air filters - they will give you the best answer to the real issue of whether the obviously dusty environment of the previous user could have had an impact on the internal engine condition. I bought a used 981 GTS and found the air filters to be incredibly clean, which was a big relief. I understand your concern, but regular maintenance is far more important than some dust on the outside of the engine... its the inside that counts!

Man...that's clean compared to when I got my car delivered from Wisconsin with 27k miles on it. Top pic is how I got it, bottom pic is after many hours sitting in the engine bay with rags, qtips, brushes, and some hot soapy water in a spray bottle. I think the previous owner must have lived at the end of a long gravel driveway or something.

A clean machine!!

Thanks for all the tips and comments. The seller did a good job of cleaning up the engine for me and if everything goes according to schedule the car will be delivered on Thursday. Very excited. This has been a long time coming ! Question for PorscheGreg: Where did you get the Porsche "shield" for your engine. It looks great !

@reelsmith The engine setup is the following: 1) The red caps and centerpiece were made by @OneTimeCS on this forum. He does fantastic work and is very responsive via DM and email. I've had mine for well over a year and track my car. No problems. 2) I use a clear engine cover made by HIP so the engine is visible. A side benefit of this clear engine cover is that you can remove it in about a minute by undoing 2 thumbscrews. Much easier than the 20 min removal of the normal engine cover and related trim/carpet. 3) The Porsche badge in the middle of the engine centerpiece is from Suncoast Porsche. It's basically a hood badge. If you get the centerpiece and intake caps from @OneTimeCS he will give you a link for this purchase. I really like the setup and the quality of both the clear cover and caps/centerpiece. I've had about 15 track days with this setup and no problems at all. The clear engine cover does not allow any engine heat into the cabin at all. I've been on the track in 95F ambient temps with my coolant at 250F and no problems (although I've now installed a center radiator to avoid this high of a coolant temp). There are two considerations. First, the caps and centerpiece won't work if you have the IPD plenum and GT3 throttle body. Second, you can hear the mechanical and intake engine sounds more clearly. It adds a few more decibels to the cabin, but not a tremendous amount. Probably the best way to describe it is how it sounds with the carpet/sound insulation removed but the metal engine cover still in place. In my opinion this sound is a huge plus. You can hear the intake and mechanical aspects of the engine as you apply and remove throttle. You feel more connected. I'm not into loud cars. I run stock exhaust. But this is a fantastic way to be connected to a mid engine car.

Whenever I have the top engine cover/firewall removed for DIY maintenance, I clean up the engine. staying on top of it takes little effort. On that note a cpl years ago I removed the cover to do a air filter change and engine inspection. I was shocked to see it lightly covered in tan colored dust/particles. What caused this was the sound proofing foam rubber backing on removed engine cover absolutely was disintegrating and snowing all over top of engine. It was like poof!!! It happened like hitting a switch. Kinda synonymous to the headliner...one day its fine and then poof ..its AFU! 07CS 6spd with 50K miles.

Thanks for that, I appreciate it. The list of mods I'd like to do is getting longer !

I'm a bit late to the discussion, but here's another data point: That's my 981 Cayman S, after around 45k miles on paved roads. I drive through paved farm roads often, and there's always some fine dust floating around. It's nothing to worry about, just have to keep up with maintenance of the air filters. Almost all of the dirt simply rinsed off with a gentle trickle of water, no cleaning products or scrubbing/wiping needed. If you ever clean the engine bay with water, make sure that the engine is absolutely cold! Even letting it idle for 30 seconds can make the headers too hot. The last thing you want to do is crack your exhaust from the thermal shock of a lot of cold water. If I need to run the engine at all, I let the car sit for an hour before hosing the engine down.

Exactly what mine looked like. Now that I have the glass cover I should do a Timelapse and see how quickly is gets dirty.

Thanks for all the replies, I appreciate it. When the seller got the car back from the inspection he cleaned up the engine for me. It's not detailed, but its clean. The car got here last Friday. Its a 2010 base, MT, one owner, 21K miles. I am thrilled with it ! Picture below was taken a few hours before the snow storm on Sunday. The roads are a slushy, salty mess, but the Cayman is clean as a whistle and tucked into the garage, awaiting better weather.

Congrats! now all you need is a space heater for the garage so you can sit there staring at your Cayman until the weather gets better! Are there any immediate maintenance items or things to fix?

Just open the garage back the tail pipe out, warm up the car and rev it a bit. Then pull back in and close the garage door. The heat from the headers will heat up the garage.

Thank you. Its just had an oil change and the air filters replaced. The PPI came back with just one potential concern ....streaky wipers. The previous owner was pretty meticulous. I'll bring it to my mechanic in the spring and have him give it the once over.

Exactly. I'll be doing that a lot this winter.

My CT has 27k miles on it and I just installed a clear engine cover so cleaned it up, Here's some pics. Amazing how easy it is to clean up with a mist of water, spray Simple Green, brushing with a detail brush, rinsing, blowing it all off with the compressor and then taking a +10 mile run to be sure everything was well dried. It will be easy to keep clean with the clear cover on.

…and another before and after example:

The smell of Simple Green has reliably given me a raging headache for decades. It’s the only cleaner that does that to me and I have no idea why. I can relate to your wife.