Unless the owner torched it himself if nervous about the IMS going out of warranty *NM*

Let me preface this by saying that I do not, nor have I ever owned a Porsche. It's been purely morbid curiosity that has brought me to this board after a fair bit of googling on the Boxster.

Anywho, the story goes like this:

I was driving down US395 with a friend, after 7hrs of chains-req'd driving through the eastern Sierra Nevada, somewhere past Bishop but before Ridgecrest we see this car smoking. We pull over, and watch it fully engulf in flames. Tires start popping, glass cracking. It burned a good 5 minutes before the fire engine got there, at which time the gas tank blew and sent a mushroom cloud and flaming pieces of the car exploding outward. These poor people didn't even have a chance to get their belongings out of the car, and barely themselves. They said that they had heard a "pop" and the engine light had come on. They pulled over, and KABOOM.

We ended up giving them a ride to the nearest town (200mi) and during the ride, I learned this was the second engine on his Boxster. Porsche had done a full replacement because he had been on the fwy and lost all power due to complete engine failure. Not really knowing a whole lot about cars, I thought I'd turn this one out for discussion. Anybody ever heard of this happening? Please be careful in your cars

-Nicole

Here are some pics of the car. It literally went from smoking in the rear engine compartment when we were behind them, to beyond-recognition-blaze by the time we got around them, parked and I grabbed my camera from the backseat.

fire engine finally got there:

boom


more pics in my flickr stream: [www.flickr.com]

It would appear as though I've struck a nerve and trust me, that was not my intent. Truth is, I know very little about cars, and sought out a forum in which to address my questions because I don't even know where to begin in a google search. I don't have a vested interest in promoting or degrading the porsche name; just an honest curiousity about how and why this happened.

Now, that said, as funny as it would be, I'm certain thesefolks didn't torch it on purpose. It was 35 degrees, pouring down rain and neither of them had anything warmer than a light sweater on. They were shivering in the rain and in utter shock. Everything they had from their trip including their clothes, jewelry and other goodies were still in the car.

I get that thought though, as it's been expressed on my facebook pg as well. Pedro here has offered an idea on what really happened and it was enough to satisfy my curiousity. Thanks for reading and enjoy your fun cars!

Nicole

They are fun cars! And, that's an interesting and sad experience you posted about. To be honest, I don't believe I've ever heard of a Boxster burning in that way, but these things do happen on occasion to all cars.

As with any Internet site, there's a lot of good information and some of dubious origin. It helps to have a pessimistic view of the posters intent until more facts are known. You've probably found the friendliest open Porsche site on the Internet here and a great overall source on information on the cars. Stick around and enjoy it. In case you're wondering what "BRBS" is, many of the participants here also get together each year in North Carolina. More info can be found at [www.brbs.org]

Who knows, maybe you'll buy one and join the fun. Really, it's not just the cars, it's the people.

Dave - 06 987 S coupe SG/NL; gone (but still my first love): 03 986 AS/GG/BK;

Quote
Dave In MD
They are fun cars! And, that's an interesting and sad experience you posted about. To be honest, I don't believe I've ever heard of a Boxster burning in that way, but these things do happen on occasion to all cars.

As with any Internet site, there's a lot of good information and some of dubious origin. It helps to have a pessimistic view of the posters intent until more facts are known. You've probably found the friendliest open Porsche site on the Internet here and a great overall source on information on the cars. Stick around and enjoy it. In case you're wondering what "BRBS" is, many of the participants here also get together each year in North Carolina. More info can be found at [www.brbs.org]

Who knows, maybe you'll buy one and join the fun. Really, it's not just the cars, it's the people.

completely understood! Dear Pedro emailed me straight away and said the same thing. I get it, I really do. For me, it just really isn't something you'd expect from a higher end car, you know? Kia burning on the side of the road? sure. Porsche? Whoa!

... I can see that this was an old car.
Nicneu, I sense your curiosity and thank you for your being frank with us.
Here's what I see.
It's a base Boxster (2.5 liter) from 1997 to 1999.
So, the car is likely 12 years old or more.
Most of it's systems (hydraulic, fuel, cooling, etc.) are probably fatigued by age and mileage.
A simple failure can quickly escalate into what you witnessed.
This is not common in any brand of vehicle, but can certainly happen to any brand regardless of cost or prestige.
Machines break down. It happens.
Having said that I think I'll go for a drive on my teen-aged Boxster.
Happy Boxstering,
Pedro

Pedro Bonilla
1998 Boxster 986 - 311,000+ miles: [www.PedrosGarage.com]
PCA National Club Racing Scrutineer - PCA National HPDE Instructor - PCA Technical Committee (Boxster/Cayman)

---

Racecar spelled backwards is Racecar

"Racing is life. Anything before or after is just waiting" ... Steve McQueen as Michael Delaney in "LeMans"

"If you wait, all that happens is that you get older"... Mario Andretti

"Being second is to be the first of the ones who lose" ... Ayrton Senna

a lot of spirited driving, not to mention all the irresponsible speeding getting to and returning from BRBS.

Coolant overflows, failed ignition switches, flat tires, and meeting police officers is quite another story, however.

Pretty small sample during a very small time frame!

I believe bumper plug guy had a failure on the way one year, but he was in a Carrera.

My 2 failures I assure you were not reported in a self serving way.

About 9,000 very hard driving days, well over 100,000 hard driving miles, over a 12 year period is anything but a small sample in my book, even as it proves nothing. Same with your two problems, Dennis. Now, that's a small and suspect sample

You are most sharing and anything but self-serving.

Well, sort of not true.

A couple years back, my son and I were on the way Saturday to BRBS on 321 north of Gastonia when the perfectly flawless C4S Cab gave up the ghost. 16k miles, 4 yrs old, absolutely perfect, never abused, always serviced to schedule, etc....just died by the side of the road. Had to unload all the goodies (we had hats, shirts, shifter kits, ipod kits, plugs, etc)....and got hauled back to Charlotte on a flatbed.

Couple days later was the gruesome report - metal in the oil filter, likely catastrophic - then my great team at Hendrick in Charlotte went to bat for me with PCNA and I had a new engine a few days later. All courtesy of Porsche. Eventually sold the car just under two years later.

So technically I was not yet at BRBS...but was on the way....and not in a Boxster. So the comment stands, I guess. But yes, there have been failures. Did it stop me from enjoying the next 20 months in that car? Nope. Did not stop me from buying a new one either.

These are very rare in all cars and particularly so in modern Porsches.

Just a heads up that anytime one smells gasoline around his Boxster it is best to get the source of the gasoline smell identified and and fixed and pronto. Modern cars should smell of gasoline.

Sincerely,

MarcW.

I see some posts on Rennlist and 986forum. I know there have been some DIYs for adding wire mesh to older model air intakes.

I have found quite a bit of junk in my air box, so it doesn't sound too far fetched that a carelessly discarded butt could wind up there, but I'd put my money on a fuel leak of some kind.

This was more than rumor, it did happen and was caused by cigarettes being ingested and then igniting the air filter. That is why on model 2000 and later, there is a little lip added to the leading edge of the air intake molding. The theory is that items heavier than air can not make the turn-in and fly by the intake.

Go check out your air intake.

Even though I don't smoke, I did do the Lefteris intake mesh screen hack many years back just in case.

I've never found any cigarette butts in the/on the engine air filter. I have found some trash though, leaves mainly.

My belief is that in all cases (with one possible exception I cover below) I think the Boxsters that caught fire from a cigarette butt the cigarette butt came from the driver tossing it out of the car or oftentimes what I see now is letting the butt casually slide out of the grasp of his fingers while the car's either at a stop or moving slowly to or away from a stop. Under this case the cigarette butt is released very close and just ahead of the engine's air intake.

But I do recall once along time ago shortly after I bought my Boxster I was sitting at a light on IIRC 39th Street in Independence MO and seeing in the mirror someone in a car next to mine tossing a lit cigarette butt at the side of my car, the right or passenger side, which has the engine compartment air intake. But had this been the other side and had the $#@! had better aim...

Sincerely,

MarcW.

Cigarette butts? No.

It could be that a fuel line wasn't properly fastened when the new engine was put in, eventually working loose. What ignited the spilled gas is up for more conjecture.
Concerning the "lit cigarette in the intake" proposition: I recall Porsche sending out a TSB or some other written notice cautioning against such occurrences, supporting its grounding in fact.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/22/2011 05:35PM by Burg Boxster. (view changes)

Engine failures do happen. And yes, all cars catch on fire at one point or another (the first generation Audi R8 had a problem with this, and lots of French cars).

This being said, I have never heard of a Porsche catching fire - and I think this is because most Porsche owners are maintenance fanatics.

As Pedro noted, an older car will have lots of older parts - and just because your car has low miles doesn't mean those parts shouldn't be replaced. Most fires like that start because of some type of fuel issue - there may have been something wrong with the throttle body or the injection system.

I think if there is a moral here, there is no such thing as too much maintenance!

1998 986 Turbo-Look Cab
172,000 Miles
Dilithium Crystal Supercharger



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/22/2011 06:37PM by Red_Lightnin!. (view changes)

Moral #2: Fire extinguishers are your friend. Not to say is could have saved this poor Boxster, but still a good idea.

Let me preface this by saying I do own a Porsche, at times two simultaneously. In my daily work commute traveling on the Garden State Parkway I have seen at least 3 car fires in the past 8 months none of which were Porsche's. I have never ever had the urge to make a post like this which includes pictures on a message board and my Facebook page related to that car. I really find the original posters intent of " Please be careful in your cars" somewhat odd. I personally in 33 years of driving have never seen a Porsche on a public road engulfed in flames, old VW beetles yeah, Porsche no. Just my observations.

Joe

The battery was located near the injectors and battery acid would deteriorate the fuel injector lines and gas would spray all over the motor and exhaust system causing fires.
I lost several fuel injectors this way but was lucky the fuel did not ignite and cause a fire in the motor compartment.

My first Porshe (Dad's, actually) was a burned out 914. I didn't follow it at the time, and didn't know it was a common problem. Fun car for a high-schooler, though!

I think it's a nice picture.