Intermittent shut down

Sitekcorp · 08-24-2010, 08:04 AM

Hello everyone.

I am at a loss here. I have a 2002 boxster. it has been always good to me but lately it is starting to hiccup. First the wing stopped extending and retracting automatically. Second, the alarm goes of by itself sporadically. and third but definitely not least..... I willl be going down the road and it will just shut off!!!! No spitting or sputtering, just off. I then try to crank it and it doesn't fire. I willl wait for about half an hour and it willl crank. i returned home and felt the relay and it was really hot. removed it and cooled it off. Installed it and it ran good for about half an hour then shut off again. I replaced the fuel pump relay and it worked a whole day. I thought i had it licked. The following morning, I didn't even make it out to the main road. Relay was hot again, removed and installed the old relay and was able to get back to the house.

PLEASE HELP

Wayne 962 · Wayne 962's Garage

Odd. Which relay are you referring to here?

Did the car get left out in the rain recently? The alarm computer is under the driver's seat, and if it gets wet, it will cause all sorts of problems like these...

-Wayne

Sitekcorp · 08-25-2010, 03:32 AM

I switched out the fuel pump relay. It was the one that was really hot. Also, I thought about the water aspect but the car has not been left out in the rain and I checked for any leaks from the top or anywhere for that matter. could it be that the fuel pump is drawing too much and thats why the relay gets so hot?

RNajarian · RNajarian's Garage

I had an issue with the car shutting off by itself. It turned out to be the ignition switch.

Good luck in your troubleshooting

Wayne 962 · Wayne 962's Garage

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sitekcorp

I switched out the fuel pump relay. It was the one that was really hot. Also, I thought about the water aspect but the car has not been left out in the rain and I checked for any leaks from the top or anywhere for that matter. could it be that the fuel pump is drawing too much and thats why the relay gets so hot?

Hmm, I suppose if something was drawing a lot of current, it theoretically *could* make the through-contacts of the relay hot. However, the entire circuit is fuse-protected, so the fuse *should* blow before anything starts to get really hot. When the relay is energized, I suppose there should be some small amount of heat coming out of it, but not anything that would be described as "hot". When you replaced the relay, did the heat issue go away or stay the same?

-Wayne