p2187
 

Hello. 2005 Boxster "S". I replaced the A.O.S and Air Mass s. Replaced spark plugs. The check engine light is still on so I picked up a harbor freight tester that claims to be able to clear the error message. I Hooked up the tester and it claims 2 issues. It states a P2187 $11 generic. that refers to "system to lean at idle bank 1". The plugs I pulled did look pretty lean on cylinders 1,2,3...I read the tester manual and it states that if I clear the codes I will lose the current fault data stored. For this reason I opted not to clear. I worry that If I clear and all the codes do not clear .....Some one that i take the car to will have difficulty reproducing the data....the computer cycle thing...... The question is.....how to I address the p2187 posting.... Thanks bob

You have a vacuum leak, recheck the AOS install...............

I will check the 1mm vacuum lines to the air distributors. Will have to wait till the car is back on the ground.... thanks

Unless you disconnected them while doing the AOS, you are probably wasting your time............

Yep....chased all the oil from air filter to the phlegm. mopped it all.so removed throttle body and the boots to air distributor. did you have a particular point in the OAS that would be suspect....... thanks

All of the connections should be looked at, especially the bellows section. I would also look at both dipstick (on cars so equipped) and oil fill tubes as people often disturb them when doing the AOS. As you also removed the throttle body and intake distributor section, check them as well. It is leaking vacuum somewhere and is going to require some work to find where unless you have access to a smoke machine. Look at every connection you disturbed.

Back to the heart of the original query.... IF I "fix" the problem I wont know until I "clear" the error messages and that will remove all the other data as well. Is this going to make the car harder to "fix" for the knowledgeable tech. Obviously Im a newbie and dont know the ramifications. I do know that when I bought the car the p.o. installed a new battery and It took many days to get the car cycled thou all of its loops to pass smog. .... thanks

If you only have the one code, clearing it should not be a concern. The car will have to go through several drive cycles (50-100 miles of multiple cold starts, full warm up, highway speeds, full cool down cycles) before the car will pass an I/M Readiness test (EPA mandated emissions test). If you are concerned about losing the code data, record it all before clearing.

In this instance ... The check engine light came on before the smoke clouds appeared at subsequent start ups. So.... The P2187 stored at that time, the beginning of the AOS failure. That was the "lean at idle" event. Its possible that the plugs I removed being "lean looking" was the motor trying to compensate for the extra oil in the system..... I cleared the code and drove the car. It felt perfect. Plugged in the test tool this morning and have a green light and no codes posted.
Thanks .......bob