All posts tagged engine

Drive Belts & Pulleys Replacement on the Infiniti G35 Coupe

Since the day I purchased the Infiniti G35 Coupe, there was a belt squeal on cold starts that would go away after a minute of the engine getting warm and would not appear until the next cold start. After some research, I found that it was due to the main drive belt not being tight enough.

The previous owner had replaced the alternator before my purchase, but had used his uncalibrated thumb to test for the belt tension. I wanted to make sure that the belts were new and proactively decided to replace the idler pulleys as well. This post talks about how to do that. If you just want to check and adjust the belt tension, you can skip to the last section.

This job is actually relatively easy, and can be done within an hour or two if you have the parts available. However, my car has some rust and the adjustment bolts needed replacement, which delayed the process for me.

Fix CEL codes P1128 and P1130 Boxster by cleaning MAF Sensor

The Porsche Boxster S started showing a check engine light (CEL) in May. I used an OBD2 code reader and saw that the codes were P1128 and P1130.

Luckily for me, there was an article in the May-June Porsche Club of America magazine (Figure 1) that mentioned this exact issue in their tech Q&A section.

Turns out it is related to the intake, and the easiest test is to clean and/or replace the mass air flow (MAF) sensor. Since a new MAF sensor is about $150-$270, I decided to clean it first to see if that fixed the issue.

However, based on other research it could also be an evap leak but this post is about the MAF sensor cleaning.

Coolant Pump (Water Pump) Replacement on Porsche Boxster 986

In an earlier post I demonstrated how to go about testing for coolant leaks. I initially detected a cracked hose but even after temporarily sealing it with JB Weld and conducting the pressure test again, the system still leaked at the same spot. After discussing with 986forum members, I decided to try changing the water pump, thermostat, replacing the main hoses near the engine and change the serpentine belt anyway. This would remove all the issues and would make the system as good as new. This post describes the water pump and thermostat replacement process.

Perform Coolant Leak Test on the Boxster

Since buying the Porsche Boxster S, I had not done a coolant flush. After driving it for about 1200 miles in the last 2 years, one day I saw the engine overheating light blink on the dash. Turns out there was a major coolant leak and it was causing the engine to overheat. The Boxster has 142,000 miles on it and the leak meant several possible things &emdash; damaged hoses, failing water pump or cracked coolant tank.

To determine the correct cause of the coolant leak, I needed to conduct a coolant pressure test. This post demonstrates how easy this test is and how to go about doing it.

Replacing Air and Cabin Filter on the Boxster

Since buying the Porsche Boxster S, I had driven it for at least a 1000 miles in the last 2 years. However, I had never changed the air filter or the cabin filter. The Boxster was sitting for a few weeks in a dusty area in Texas before I got it, so I decided to do this change and reduce the smelliness in the cabin as well.

This is one of the easier changes to do in the Boxster and requires no tools. I recommend purchasing the Hengst Air Filter E458L (Figure 14) and Hengst Cabin Filter E951LC (Figure 17) for this task. These are the OEM filters that Porsche uses on the 986 model cars and it is best to stick to OEM versions for a perfect fit.