I just started my 997C2S for the first time in about 3 or 4 weeks. I'll admit she's a garage queen that sees about 1500 miles a year. Anyway, the engine fired very quickly but there was a VERY brief period of engine flutter/rough idle for about 3-4 seconds. The exhaust was also pretty bad smelling comparatively but no smoke of any sort at all... Once past this point she leveled out and went back to business as usual with a CEL alert. I drove her around for a bit and she worked beautifully. I came home and cleared the CEL by disconnecting the battery. Reconnected and the CEL was clear with the typical PASM and Sport mode alerts until I took her out again for a very short distance and all is back to normal. Anyone else ever experience this?

 

Nothing usual for a CEL to me. I've owned 3 Porsches and have never had a CEL for anything. They're not "usual".

 

Never experienced this, but I am subscribing to see what others may think.

 

Gasoline getting "stale?" If you only drive every several weeks, how long has that tank been holding the same gas? It does degrade with time... that's why products like Stabil are out there to extend the life of the gasoline.

Just a thought.

 

That's an interesting take on the matter. Fuel is probably > = 2 months old.

 

Drive your car, it depreciates sitting or driving.

As for start up, sounds OK

 

Don't know what's causing your issues, but you're killing the car by only driving it 1500 miles per year.

The car is a machine.. it needs to be worked frequently to function properly.

 

I'd probably go and drive around until the gas tank is empty (step on the gas a lot, and you'll empty a full tank in 200 miles!) and then fill with fresh gas to only about 1/2 tank (if you continue to drive it infrequently). That way, you'll refill with fresh gas more often. I'd personally not want to put stabil into my Pcar. OK for my pressure washer, not so much my 911...!

If it indeed is stale gas, I could see how it would throw a CEL if combustion was poor...

 

Just got my C2S out of storage. Fuel in it is 4 months old & I don't use stabil. Already burned thru 1/2 of that tank of fuel & the car is running ok.

 

Did I just see a greater than or equal to "sign"

 

Ha! Yes you did!

I plan on driving her to work today and that should nip the majority of the remaining fuel in the bud. I do typically keep her only 1/2 full due to the lack of activity. I'll certainly get her out there much more henceforth.

I was raised in a car coveting household where we basically just waxed, changed fluids and hermetically sealed them away as if they were museum pieces. Hard to change those stripes...

 

If you had a CEL, what was the code. Clearing it won't tell you what the problem was.

 

I'm well aware of that. Due to the circumstances and my familiarity with cars, I felt comfortable clearing the code without formal research and seeing if some driving would re-yield it. I've now driven the car in a "spirited" fashion for about 40 miles and she's riding like a dream without any issues.

My hunch actually isn't fuel related. I believe the throttle body controls at start-up didn't properly actualize for proper fuel/air mixture. This yielded 3 seconds of rough idle and probably an intake code from the mass air flow sensor. I just wanted to see if anyone else had ever experienced anything like it...

 

So what was the code?

 

Define "killing your car". My 09 only has 6500 miles on it. I drive it 3x a week but mostly not more then 10 miles. Also, for those that store their cars over winter, are they "killing" their cars as well? I know all cars are made to be driven, but I have a hard time thinking Porsche would put out a 997.2 engine that was as weak to go boom with lighter use. Perhaps I'm wrong though.