Oh no, she's broken!

[cobnut]

The missus & I set off for a nice drive into the Cotswolds this morning and got about 3 miles from home when there was a screech, and what sounded like a box of spanners being kicked down the road, I pulled over immediately and, once stopped, noticed the engine had stalled. We got out and had a quick look round but couldn't see any obvious leaks or bits hanging off. We were in a pretty dangerous position on a bend of a fast bypass, I knew there was a layby just 200m farther down the road so tried to start her. She started fine, engine sounded OK, so I pulled away and drove - slowly - to the layby. When I came to pull in the steering felt a little heavy but other than that everything had seemed OK, gears, brakes, etc. We got out again, had a more thorough look round, still no obvious problems. Last time we called breakdown they took 4 hours to arrive and we were only 3 miles from home so I decided to risk getting her back via a route that was quieter, with plenty of places to pull over safely.

About 100m after pulling away a warning flashed up saying the "Battery alternator" had failed and it was also obvious the steering was fully "manual", I've had my arms workout for the day. We got about a mile towards home and the temperature started climbing. She's normally spot on the middle, even in hot weather, but it was rising rapidly so I pulled over again. To cut what is already a long story short, we got home in four 1/2 mile stages, stopping each time the temp climbed more than 10C above normal and waiting until she'd cooled below normal before taking the next stage.

So, any ideas what this could be? It sounded horrible, and the loss of the power steering and the high temp sounds expensive, but I'm wondering if it could be something as simple as a lost belt to the alternator, if the alternator is what powers the steering pump and the cooling fans. Oddly, the alternator warning didn't appear again in any of the other stages.

Jon
2005 987.2

 

[Chappelle]

My guess would be a belt.

 

[Motorhead]

Sorry to hear about your woes Jon, but I agree with Richard’s diagnosis. It’s most probably just the poly-belt which has broken meaning you have no alternator, coolant pump or power steering.

Hopefully a reasonably quick and relatively inexpensive fix. The access cover behind the seats needs to be removed first and then it’s just a matter of threading the belt around all the pulleys.

Jeff

 

[cobnut]

Hi Richard, Jeff, thanks. That makes sense (stupidly, it hadn't occurred to me that one belt might serve three different systems). So, is it realistically doable for someone with moderate to good mechanical skills but zero experience working on the 987 engine? Last time I did any serious work on an engine it was on a 1972 MGB and it was a lot less complex and a lot easier to get at!

Jon

 

[Motorhead]

Plenty of articles and videos online if you check Jon. Here’s a typical example for a 986/987 which will give you an idea of what’s involved:

https://www.pelicanparts.com/techarticles/Boxster_Tech/05-BASICS-Belt/05-BASICS-Belt.htm

The belt can also be sourced either online or from your local Porsche dealer.

Jeff

 

[malarcy]

Would echo the "belt” but there’s a few things that can throw the belt or stop spinning and cause it to snap

so. She check the pulleys, jockey wheels and tensioner as well as the water pump and the alternator, make shore they all spin smoothly and the tensioner isn’t seized.


nothing beyond reasonable spanner level there but annoying if you have to wait for parts or do it again in a few weeks.