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Eureka! I suppose during the time you guys were typing, I was arriving at the same conclusion. I pulled the latch mechanism out and examined it up-close. The tension spring was out of a pocket on the latch and not providing any push when the latch was released. Hence, the hood could be pulled up out of 'battery' but would not pop up on its own. I disassembled the mechanism, lubed it, and re-inserted the spring into the latch. Put it back together and now all is well. Very simple to do. This is how I did it and you may find it useful. Do so at your own risk, yada yada yada. 1st, open the hood and peel back the carpet cover just inside of the latch. Next, using a flat-head screwdriver, remove the four plastic 'screws' holding the trim plate between the bumper and the hood flange. They merely turn 90 degrees (so that they are perpendicular to the car's direction of travel) and pop out. Then remove the trim piece and place to the side. Next, using a ten millimeter socket, remove the two bolts securing the latch to the car. They are located just inside the trunk under the carpet you just peeled back. Once they are removed, the latch is now only held in place by two metal cables and the alarm pin switch wires. Carefully unplug the alarm wires. Push in on a small 'latch' on the lower half of the plug and pull out the lower half. Then carefully rotate the upper half about 45 degrees (it should be fairly easy to move, don't force it) and the plug will pop out of the metal holder. Then use a small screwdriver to gently push a release clip on the plastic mounting point. This will allow the small plastic mount to separate from the wiring plug. Now you need to gently remove the cables from their sockets. Take the tension off of the upper cable and gently pull the cable up out of its socket. Then remove the lower cable in the same way. The only thing holding the latch in the car now is the alarm wiring harness. Push the rubber grommet through the body toward the bumper. You can then pull the wiring through and the entire latch will come out of the car. Be sure to set the stainless steel shroud to the side. It was not attached on my car but may be on yours. Now that you have the latch out of the car, you can see the large diameter steel spring that is wound around the large post to the passenger side of the latch. That is the culprit. The small plastic shroud over it pulled straight out and off of my latch. This is the microswitch that tells the alarm that the trunk is open or closed. Set it to the side. You should now see the latch mechanism and the hole that the spring needs to be in to function properly. I used two screwdrivers to push the other end of the spring (the end on the release / catch mechanism ) over the catch. This allowed me to push the end into the latch more easily. I then popped the spring back over the catch. Now there should be tension on both the latch and the catch. Lubricate with white lithium grease, or some other semi-solid lubricant and work the mechanism to ensure that it is functioning properly. Once you have confirmed proper function, reassemble in reverse order (i.e. put the alarm switch back on - it should snap right back in place ), pop the cable back on, thread the wiring through and secure the grommet in place, place the stainless shroud on, insert the bolts and loosely tighten things. Once the bolts are in, line up the hood and the latch mechanism and tighten down the latch. Replace the plastic bumper/body trim piece but don't insert the 'screws' until you've tested the hood a couple times. Once it is clear that the hood is functioning properly, secure the trim, replace the carpet and smile at a job well done, for free. If I can figure out how to transfer my pictures out of my camera phone I'll add some illustration to this. Hope this helps. I was frustrated as *)*^*( until y'all help me realize what the problem was. Pictures ...

Ok here is the deal with removing these things..... 1. First you must remove Both AC Vents, and the Upper Center Console... The strips are held in from screws behind the dash, but reaching them is a waist of time! 2. The 2 small strips will pop out with some force, just take a flat head screwdriver and tap it in behind the strip. The screws will pop out from the back of the dash... The dash is a hard plastic material and the screw heads are small so they will come right through the dash.. 3. The long piece across the passanger side was fun... Tape the dash will several pieces of tape to protect the dash in case you slip. These pieces have 2 layers to them.. take a flat head screwdriver and open the top part of the stip.. It will look like this once you peel off the top layer..you can see the top of the scew holes after you peel off the top layer Now my stereo installer had the next idea.. he took a small soldering gun like this... and heated up the head of the screw that is seen from the top side.. this made the area around the screw soft, and then I took the screwdriver behind the remaining strip and pried it right off.. it broke off to every screw head.. we just did this right along and 10 minutes later it was all out.. Be sure to not get the solder gun to close the the leather.. just keep it on for about 30 seconds.. it really is helpful if one guy holds the solder gun while the other removes the strip. The top piece is the stripped piece.. the bottom is the whole piece that was pulled out from the middle. Installing the new pieces was simple, a little silicone behind them helped the stay in place but its not needed..

Note: Part numbers sometimes change without notice. Always double check with your supplier that you have the latest part numbers. (Special thanks to Chuck Jones for being the guinea pig and for taking the photos.) Parts you will need: 997.624.113.00 Actuator Tools you will need: Very short Torx T20 driver and right angle ratchet or tool to use the short T20 in a very confined space Regular screwdriver, phillips screw driver, and 10 mm wrench to remove th wheel well liner 1. Jack the car so that right front wheel is off the ground and secure it with a jack stand. Remove the right front wheel. 2. Remove the wheel well liner by removing the the plastics rivets (pry them out with a regular screwdriver). As well remove the 10 mm nuts on each side of the axle. Now remove the phillips screws that fasten the wheel well liner under the front bumper and remove the wheel well liner (and set aside). 3. Locate the EVAP canister and remove the electrical connection at the top of the canister. Now remove the 10 mm nut that holds the canister in place. Remove gas the vapor lines - one at the top and one at the bottom (again by squeezing the connectors). Remove the EVAP canister by pulling gently back and forth until it releases from the rubber gromments 4. Look back up under the fender (now that the canister is out of the way) and locate the broken actuator. Now using the stubby Torx T-20 loose (but do not remove) the two T-20 screws. The actuator itself is a bit tough to get to and you will need a really short T-20 Torx head to loosen the two screws. I say loosen because that is all you need to do to remove the part - it sits in two "U" shaped slots. Remove the electrical connector (by squeezing the tab). Here is a pic of the new part - as you see the Torx screws are already in place so that is all you have to do to replace it. 5. Put the new part in place making sure you feed the emergency pull line through the fender to its location in the door jam. There is room to slide it through the side so you don't need to try and thread it through the hole. Fasten the two Torx screws and reconnect the electrical connector. Chuck's car had the guide rose guide piece missing (so he needed to order one) Here is a pic of his car (without guide rose) and my car (with guide rose). Ref. P/N 997.624.505.00 We also noticed that on his car the plastic catch for the lock was missing (so he needed to order that too). Here is a pic of his car (without cap) and my car (with cap). Ref. P/N 996.201.243.00 6. Reinstall the EVAP canister by pushing it into place on the rubber gromments. Then reattach the vapor lines (they should snap back into place) and the electrical connection. Finally put the 10 mm nut back in place and tighten down. 7. Reinstall the wheel well liner (reverse of removal). 8. Mount the tire, lower the car and re-torque the wheel bolts. Done.

The Tiptronic transmission has a special tool for fluid. First you have to purchase the tool (expensive) or make one (inexpensive). The tool is the V.A.G.1924, runs about $300. You need the following tools and parts to start: 1. ATF fill tool 2. 7 (US) Quarts of Pennzoil Multi-Vehicle ATF 3. Torque wrench for 60 ft lbs 4. Torque wrench for 7.5 ft lbs (90 in lbs) 5. 17 mm allen bit 6. 8 mm allen bit 7. Torx 27 bit 8. Temperature meter with probe. I used an Oregon Scientific with a probe that has a 10 ft cord. 9. Porsche part 986 397 016 00 Paper gasket (Call Sunset Porsche, great guys) 10. Porsche part 986 307 403 00 ATF filter 11. Porsche part 986 397 016 00 rubber ring for fill plug 12. Kitty liter, you will spill 13. Socket set 14. Plenty of rags 15. Oil catch pan 16. Safety goggles First we assemble the filling tool out of parts you can find in Lowes or Home Depot type of homestores: 1. Hudson 1 gallon tank ($9.95) 2. Barbed fittings and 8 ft of tygon 3/8 clear hose. 3. 1/4 inch shut off valve - brass 4. 12 inch of flexible copper tube, 1/4" 5. Assemble as shown below and bend the tube per the picture. The steps are easy to follow: 1. Lift car off the ground and on jack stands. I need 16 inches on the stands to be comfortable. 2. Slide oil catch pan under fluid pan and remove drain plug with 8 mm allen bit 3. Remove the cross arm that traverses the fluid pan. Loosen only one bolt, remove the other. It will be easier for the next step and you can prop the arm to help catch the pan when the bolts are removed. 4. When the fluid has drained, secure drain plug back in and torque to 30 ft lbs. 5. Using the Torx 27 bit, remove all the screws crosswise. Move the cross arm out of the way as needed, but put back in a place where the pan will not fall. THE PAN STILL HAS FLUID in it, be careful 6. Remove pan carefully. The green gasket should still be attached to it. 7. Remove the two screws that hold the filter in place. Make sure the oil catch pan is underneath, the filter will have fluid as well. Remove filter. 8. Thinly coat some petroleum jelly on the suction collar of the ATF filter and install filter 9. Install new filter and screw the two screws to a torque of 4.5 ft lbs. 10. Empty the filter pan into the oil catch pan with all the waste oil. Place the filter pan on a flat surface and remove the gasket. 11. Set the plastic guard cap so the two windows are facing sideways. The holes will be used later for the fill tube and for the temperature probe. Notice how large they are. 12. Use the rags to clean the pan and the magnets in the pan. Set the magnets back to their original location. Here is a nice clean pan and magnets. 13. Place the new gasket on the pan. I used petroleum jelly thin coat on a few places to hold it in place. 14. Fit ATF pan back into transmission, tighten the screws crosswise to 7.5 ft lbs. It may be convenient to use the cross arm as a resting place while you re-attach the pan. 15. Remove the fill plug with the 17 mm allen key. Replace the ring gasket with the new one. 16. Fill the pressure tank with ATF fluid, make sure the valve is closed. Pump the tank to provide the pressure to move the fluid. The clear hose will show the red fluid filling it, and also you will see it running later. 17. Insert the "hook" end of the copper tube into the fill hole, and hook it into one of the holes mentioned before. Insert the temperature probe into the other hole, make sure it is secured. 18. Open the valve and let the ATF fluid begin to flow. You will have to add more fluid to the tank and keep it pumped. When the fluid begins to escape through the hole. It will drip, so close the valve. 19. Start the car. Open the valve to let more fluid into the ATF pan. Keep it pumped. Look at the temperature display on your probe. The temperature should not exceed 45 C. It begins at room temperature, so you got a few minutes. 20. Move the selector to position "P" and let idle for a a few seconds. When the fluid begins to emerge again from the filler tube, close the filling valve. 21. The engine should still be idling, keep an eye on the temp probe. With the brake pedal on, change the transmission through each position, holding the position for 10 seconds. 22. Open fill valve again until ATF fluid escapes from the hole. Make sure the temperature is higher than 30 C, and should be around 40C by now. Remove temperature probe and filler tube. 23. Replace the filler plug and torque to 59 ft lbs. 24. Turn engine off, and take car out for a test. :drive: 25. You are done, check for leaks, clean the spills (cat litter), and enjoy some smooth shifting.

Note: Part numbers sometimes change without notice. Always double check with your supplier that you have the latest part numbers. Parts you will need: 1 ea 0PB-115-466 Oil Filter (updated) 1 ea 946 107 322 75 Oil Filter Housing O-Ring 1 ea 900 123 152 30 Drain Plug Seal 9 ea Mobil 1 0W-40 or equal Tools you will need: Tire ramps or jack/jack stands T20 Torx driver Trim, panel tool 8 mm Allen wrench or Allen hex socket Oil filter wrench with 36 mm cap socket Socket wrench 9-quart oil catch pan Torque wrench Note: If your car has Air Suspension and Level Control - then before jacking the car switch it OFF. 1. Raise the front of the car (both sides) using a jack and supporting with jack stands. 2. Remove the engine cover. 3. Remove the oil cap and inspect the sealing rubber ring on the cap (replace if torn or damaged). 4. Remove the underbody engine cover. 15 - T20 Torx screws (items 1 and 2) and remove the 2 - expansion rivets (items 3) (using a trim tool is the easiest for these). 5. Remove the drain plug and drain the oil. 6. Remove the oil filter canister using the 36mm cap socket. Then remove the old oil filter. 7. Clean the filter housing with shop towels, as well clean the drain plug put the new crush washer in place. Clean the filter canister and install the new o-ring (use a small amount of new oil to lube the new o-ring). 8. Re-install the oil filter canister with the new oil filter inside (some pressure may be needed to push the new filter over the engine mount). Tighten the canister to 19 ft-lb. Re-install the drain plug with the new sealing washer and tighten to 33 ft-lb. 9. Add 8.45 quarts of new oil. Refit the oil filler cap. Re-install the engine cover. 10. Start the engine and let it idle for a few minutes while checking for leaks. If no leaks then shut off the engine and re-install the underbody cover (yes, all 17 fasteners again). Lower the car and remove the jack stands. 11. Use a PIWIS 2 (or PIWIS 3) to reset the oil change reminder. A few other Porsche specialty scan tools may be able to do this now (or in the future). Note: If your car has Air Suspension and Level Control - then switch it back ON. That's it you are done.

Cayenne route wire thru firewall2.pdf

DIY tutorial to remove center console and replace stock shifter with a Numeric shifter. I completed this modification on my 2010 C4S. Center Console Removal and Shifter Replacement.pdf

This DIY tutorial covers how to remove the intake manifold on the 3.6L V6 Cayenne. Removing the intake manifold gives you access to several parts of the engine that you may need to service. Disclaimer: Perform at your own risk. This is for reference only, I am not responsible for any damage/injuries that may occur from this procedure. Please do not attempt if you are not comfortable with doing work on your car or working around the fuel system. Work in a well ventilated area as you will be releasing a small amount of gas and fumes. Difficulty: 5/10 Estimated Time: ~2 hours If you’re getting a Durametric error code P0674, you likely have a bad PCV valve that needs to be replaced. An easy way to test a bad PCV valve is to unscrew the oil fill cap on the engine while it is idling. If you feel suction on the cap and/or the idle fluctuates once the cap is removed then your PCV valve is bad. The PCV valve is built into the valve cover so your options are to buy a whole new valve cover assembly (95510513500- ~$347) or buy just the PCV membrane (aftermarket $20-25) and replace it in your existing valve cover. To get access to the valve cover, you will need to follow this DIY article to remove the intake manifold first. Other reasons to remove the intake manifold are to service your fuel injectors or to make it much easier to replace the thermostat. The thermostat can be changed without removing the intake manifold (I did it twice), however you basically need to be a contortionist to reach the bolts to remove housing and you will scrape some knuckles along the way. Tools Needed: -Flathead screwdriver -Assortment of torx bits (T20, T25, T30, 6” long T30) -Pliers -Torque Wrench -3/8” ratchet set with various extensions and a universal joint -1 1/16” Deep socket -10mm Triple Square Spline Bit -Crescent Wrench -9/16” Open End Wrench -Dental pick Parts Needed: -Brake Booster Vacuum Hose- 95535557941 (your existing hose is probably brittle and will likely crack from removing it, I recommend getting a new one) -Lower Fuel Injector Seal Kit (3X) - 95511091000 (existing seals may be brittle and once you have removed the intake manifold, they may not seal properly upon reinstallation, I recommend getting new ones, need 3 sets) Procedure: First start by removing the plastic covers surrounding the engine. Using a flathead screwdriver, remove the quarter turn plastic trim fasteners. Rotate them in either direction by 90 degrees and pop them out. Be ready to catch them as sometimes they like to jump out. Next you will need to remove the 2 torx screws on either side of the engine cover with a T25 bit and the screw under the windshield washer reservoir cap with a T20 bit. Remove the oil fill cap and front engine cover by pulling straight up. They are held on by friction rings around a stud so pulling straight up will release it. Now that you have the covers removed, it’s time to remove the intake filter box and intake piping. Using your T25 torx bit, rotate the 2 screws until the dot on the screwhead lines up with the lower indication on the filter cover. Now gently use your pliers to pull them straight out. With your flathead screwdriver, pop up the two clips to release the filter housing. Pivot the filter house towards the passenger side of the car and remove it. Remove the engine air filter as well. Next, remove the wiring harness from the MAF sensor located in the middle of the intake piping. Loosen the clamp around the intake piping on the throttle body and gently work the intake piping back and forth until it releases from the throttle body. Remove the top bolt on the engine lift bracket and loosen the lower bolt with your M10 triple square bit. Then pivot the bracket towards the front of the car. Remove the bolt next to the throttle body with your M10 triple square bit. Then unplug the wire harness from the throttle body. Remove the top bolt from the bracket on the passenger side of the engine with your M10 triple square bit. Remove the vacuum lines from the intake manifold on the passenger side of the engine. One hose requires pliers to open the hose clamp, the other can be removed by hand if you squeeze the lock ring around the hose to release it. Next, from the passenger side, reach your hand around to the back side of the engine. There is a vacuum line that goes from the bottom surface of the intake manifold to the brake booster. You will need to pull the vacuum line fitting straight down to pop it out of the intake manifold. I don't have a good picture of it so here is a diagram of it. Pull down on the elbow fitting, not the hose. Also on the back side of the engine just behind the vacuum line you removed there is a bolt that needs to be removed using your M10 triple square bit. You are working blindly so locate the bolt first by feel and guide your bit to the bolt. Remove the 3 screws holding the actuator with a T25 torx bit. Slowly pull it straight out towards the front of the car. There is an actuator arm that attaches to a shaft on the passenger side of the part. Once you have enough clearance to reach your finger in there, you need to slide the arm off the shaft as you pull the entire actuator off. Then disconnect the vacuum hose from the actuator. Now pull the coolant hoses out of their holder in the intake manifold and push it towards the driver side of the car. There is a T25 torx screw that attaches this water hose bracket near the back of the intake manifold. The screw is facing up, so you need to use your T25 torx bit and get creative with removing that screw. I used a crescent wrench to turn the torx bit while holding the torx bit in place with my other hand. With the water hose bracket free, slide the water hose bracket towards the front of the car to release it from the intake manifold. This bracket has a keyhole slot that will release once it's slid forward. Remove the oil dipstick tube bracket with a T25 torx bit. Just push it out of the way once you remove the screw. With your long T30 torx bit, remove the bolt on the intake manifold that was under the actuator. Next, there are 3 blind holes on the driver side of the intake manifold. You need to use your long T30 torx bit to loosen the screws inside those holes. Those 3 screws are captive screws so they will not come out. There are 3 bolts below the intake runners. They need to be removed with your M10 triple square bit. This is where your universal joint will come in handy. The bolt near the rear of the engine required me to use my u-joint with various entensions to acess. At this point, you will hear gas leaking out. Since you have released the pressure from the lower fuel rail to the lower fuel injectors, the pressurized gas in the rail will leak out. Make sure you are working in a well ventilated area. From the driver side of the car, reach behind the engine to remove the wire harness from the fuel pressure sensor. Using your 1 1/16” deep socket, unscrew and remove the fuel pressure sensor. Using your 9/16” open wrench, unscrew the nut that connects the metal fuel line running from the lower fuel rail. The slimmer your wrench the better. My crescent wrench did not fit here. Now that the intake manifold is completely unbolted, you can start to wiggle it free. You will need to lift the manifold up from the passenger side and pivot it up towards the driver side. You will need to wiggle the lower fuel rail loose to release the metal fuel line you just unscrewed the nut from. It is a flare fitting that pushes into the upper fuel rail assembly. Be gentle here as you don’t want to bend the fuel rail. Once the metal fuel line is free from the upper assembly, you can remove the intake manifold as described above by lifting up from the passenger side first to pivot it off. At this point, you have access to the fuel injectors if you need to service them, the thermostat housing and the valve cover. Unbolting the valve cover is straight forward from here if you need to replace the PCV valve, etc. The fuel injector seal kit comes with a rubber o-ring, Teflon o-ring, Teflon sleeve and metal clip. At the bare minimum you should replace the rubber o-ring and Teflon o-ring. Use a dental pick to remove the old o-rings. These 2 parts are the wear surface when you remove/reinstall the intake manifold and are prone to fail if you re-use them. Trust me, I learned the hard way. To install the intake manifold, reverse the steps above. Take care in sliding the lower fuel rail back onto the lower fuel injectors and lining up the metal fuel line back into the flare fitting. I found it was easier to pull the lower fuel line out of the manifold to line the flare fitting up first, then pushing it into place in the intake manifold. You want to apply even pressure on the surface as you tighten all 7 of the bolts down on the driver side. Torque the 3 triple square bolts evenly to 6 ft lbs, torque angle 90 degrees, then a final torque of 22 ft lbs. The bolts holding the engine lift bracket are 17 ft lbs, the other triple square bolts holding the manifold on the head are 15 ft lbs. Once you get it all back together, turn the key to the ON then START position without your foot on the brake. This will run the fuel pumps to build pressure back up in the fuel rail. I removed the key and repeated 2-3 times to get the fuel pressure up. The first time you restart, it may take a couple seconds to fire up due to the fuel pressure needing to build back up. If you replaced your PCV valve, it may idle rough as the ECU needs to remap since it adapted to a leaking PCV valve over time. If you did not replace the fuel injector seals and smell gas/hear it leaking after shutting off the engine, then your seals failed and you need to repeat the procedure and replace those seals.

I've had 8 months going around in circles trying resolve a leak in the passenger footwell (left hand side - UK). Tried all sorts, thinking it was air-con, windshield, drains, thinking it's solved and then more water. Absolutely sopping wet at times and at worse also a film of water over speaker grill and carpet under door soaked. I fixed broken cables yesterday that solved "ignition lock faulty", footwell was dry then, soaked today, only difference was it rained heavily in between which made me look at the sunroof drainage. Pushed a speaker cable down it, got stuck after about a metre. Poured water in the sunroof channel, a few drips came out at most. I know the the air compressor method is frowned upon for being too harsh and potentially blowing a joint but came up with this tool to do it more gently....and didn't care by that point, I would have tried anything! Got my son's ballon pump, wrapped some tape around the end so a caulk tube's nozzle could screw on. Then a few wraps of amalgamating tape around nozzle tip to make a rubber seal to make it air-tight with sun roof drain. Pumped away a number of times, heard a squelch of something shifting and it got a lot easier. Poured a jug of water in sunroof channel and it poured free out the bottom of wheel arch drain. I'll keep my fingers crossed that's the end of a smelly wet car.

One of the problems that I see with many 996/986/997/987 owners complaining about is a lumpy or erratic idle and sometimes sluggish acceleration. I have a quick cure for this problem. In fact, this cure will work for any car that has a throttle body. The issue is that over time a sludgy gunk will build up in the throttle body where the throttle butterfly opens and closes. This gunk will eventually change the airflow characteristics of the gap between the butterfly and the throttlebody which will cause the erratic idle. In addition, this gunk can cause the butterfly the stick as it opens which will effect acceleration. The car's DME will compensate for this buildup over time, but if it gets too thick, then the "Throttle Adaption" will reach its limit, and will throw a code. Many times people think that it is the MAF that is bad, when it is just a dirty throttle body. Notice that the butterfly valve is slightly cracked open. This is for the idle airflow, and that crack can get clogged because of the gunk buildup. The solution is to remove the air cleaner box for access to the throttle body, and simply clean the throttle body with spray carburetor cleaner. Open the butterfly valve with your hand, and wipe out all of the gunk on the backside of the valve, and the inside of the throttle body. You will see a dark brown ring inside the throttle body. This is the buildup you want to remove. Take a rag, wet it with carburetor cleaner, and wipe out the gunk. Be sure to get the edge and the back side of the butterfly valve as well. You will know when you are done because the surfaces that you are cleaning are polished, and easy to see if there is stuff left on them. Here is a picture of what your throttle body should look like after it is cleaned. Notice how shinny the inside is. Don't worry if you spray too much in the engine, when you fire the engine up, all of that stuff will burn off in the combustion chamber. Where does the gunk come from? It is residue from the crankcase vent opening that is right there behind the butterfly. The reason it is there is because there is high vacuum there that will suck the crankcase oil vapors back into the combustion process of the car. Over time oil solids will accumulate there and will form a sticky lip around the opening. This cleaning should be part of your 30,000 mile maintenance as a minimum. However if you have never had your throttle body cleaned, try doing this weekend. You will be amazed at how much better your car runs.

In our modern litigious world, manufacturers have learned that they must advise the users of their product of everything that might hurt them by using the product no matter how stupid it is, so when the users do hurt themselves, blame the manufacturer, and demand compensation, the manufacturer can say they warned them. Thus everything these days from cars to coffee cups have warning stickers of some sort on them. So it is with airbags, and every car owner in the US is blessed with stickers on the sunvisor telling them to be careful. If you are like me, I got the message a while ago, and don't need to be reminded every time I pull down the sunvisor. So I decided to take the stickers off, and wanted to share my method of how I did it. The method I am describing will work with any sticker that is applied to a plastic or vinyl surface with the heat laminated decal process. This is what is used for the Porsche airbag warning label stickers. What you will need: 91% Isopropyl Alcohol – Common rubbing alcohol available from your local drug store. 3M General Purpose Adhesive Remover Some paper towels Vinyl Protectant such as Meguiars NXT Cockpit Shine Sunvisors Time to remove the 2 stickers from a sunvisor: less than 30 minutes. Process: 1. While this process can be done with the sunvisors in the car, it is best to remove them and do the removal on a flat surface. To remove a sunvisor, no tools are required. Simply twist and pull the sunvisor off of its pivot arm. It will slide right off. 2. It is best to remove the vanity mirror and light assembly from the visor. This is because the alcohol can run down inside the sunvisor, and if it is left there, it can discolor the plastic. I also put a piece of paper towel inside the assembly to catch excess alcohol. 3. Take a piece of paper towel and fold it to the size the sticker that you are removing. Wet the paper towel with the alcohol and place it on top of the sticker and let it sit for at least 10-15 minutes. Keep the paper towel wet, but not too wet that the alcohol runs off of the paper towel. WARNING: Don’t use any solvent stronger than Isopropyl Alcohol. Stronger solvents will discolor the vinyl and plastic that the sunvisor is made of! 4. After 10-15minutes the sticker decal will have softened, and is ready for removal. Using your fingernail, gently loosen the sticker on one end, and start pulling it off. Patience is the key here. Take your time, and gently pull off the sticker in one piece. If it starts to tear, and is still sticking to the sunvisor, back off, put the wet paper towel back on, and let it soak some more. You are doing it correctly when you can pull off the sticker in one piece. 5. After you have the sticker off, there will be a gummy residue left on the visor. Use the 3M General Purpose Adhesive Remover to get rid of that residue. When you can rub your hand or a rag over the sunvisor and it does not stick to it, you are done with that side. Because the decal is applied with heat, there is some distortion of the embossed grain on the vinyl side of the sunvisor. This will leave a faint outline of where the sticker was. Polishing the vinyl can minimize this outline. 6. Next do the other side, same process. 7. After you have removed the decals, and have cleaned the surface of residue, polish the visor with the Vinyl Protectant. 8. Put the vanity mirror back in the visor, and slide the sunvisor back onto its pivot rod. Step back and admire your work

I recently replaced the coolant pipes in my car. I needed to do the job myself because there was simply no way I was going to shell out anywhere from $1500 to $3500 in labor to have it done by the dealership or an independent shop. Plus, having read about the job, I knew they would be tearing through a ton of stuff and I really feared the "oh, it also needs this" scam. I did a LOT of research on the various forums before undertaking this job. Reading and printing out anything I thought was useful information. I would highly encourage anyone reading this to do the same. Fortunately, I was not in the position that the pipes simply failed and dumped all of the coolant. I just had a semi-slow leak… dropping about a gallon of coolant every two to three weeks. So, I had time to order the parts and prepare. Prior to doing this the most complicated thing I had done myself was change the oil, replacing the brake pads and swapping out some plastic bits in the car. I had absolutely no prior mechanic experience whatsoever. However, I do work in IT, and am by nature a very technical person (I'm sure every mechanic reading this just rolled their eyes). My job is troubleshooting very complex problems on very large networks, and I think that experience probably lent itself to a successful outcome here. I'm also patient, and that is critical to getting this job done. I will say that I now have a much greater appreciation for mechanics and their skill set. This was hard. I want to caution anyone reading this that this is a BIG job and it will take a long time. My goal in writing this is so that my fellow Cayenne owners can be spared a lot of the mistakes I made and be better prepared than I was. I will say I am relieved to have this done. I feel a ton better about my car now that I don't need to worry as much about some catastrophic failure hitting me unexpectedly. One rule that I really appreciated was to only place metal on metal when working (until you actually get to removing the pipes). This prevents you from breaking plastic or tearing rubber with something metal. Trust me, pay attention to that rule. I am breaking this down into tasks, because I think it's easier to follow that way. This is how I did it. I am sure there are other ways that may even be easier, but this worked for me and my schedule. I ended up working 4-6 hours at a stretch in the garage with breaks every couple of hours. Step 1: Contribute to this forum I have absolutely no affiliation with this forum whatsoever other than I am a contributing member. The advice on this forum has personally saved me thousands of dollars, and being in IT I know the time and money it takes to run a site like this. So, contribute to the cause. However, there is a second reason to contribute, and that's to get the Porsche TSBs. The TSB for this job contains some diagrams that give you a better idea how all the replacement parts go in to place, and I thought that was handy to have. As an aside, I searched some other issues in the TSBs and found answers to some things the dealership didn't even know… such as there being a $33 replacement latch for my armrest. They wanted to sell me a whole new armrest for $750. Step 2: Obtain the Parts I looked around on the Internet and called some local sources and found a dealership that provided the parts for $550, and that included two gallons of coolant shipped to my door. To me, that was a fair price, and when I received the parts I really thought it was a fair price... there's a lot of quality stuff in there. I'm sure there may be cheaper 3rd party sources. I would just be sure they include all gaskets and such that don't necessarily need to be replaced, but should be replaced if you're tearing everything apart. Once you get the parts, pull them out of the box and examine them. Look at the pics in the forum and look at the TSBs. Get a feel for what you are replacing. Step 3: Verify you have the tools I found the following tools very handy to have, and frankly, necessary. I suggest going to your local auto parts store for most of them and get mechanic grade tools. Socket Wrench 3" Socket Extension 6" Socket Extension Metric Socket Set Torx Socket Set (think of this as a "male" Torx Socket set, you will need #27 & #40) E-Torx Socket Set (think of this a "female" Torx Socket set) Screwdriver that accepts interchangeable bits (there are times this is easier than a socket wrench) Torx Bit Set (Specifically you need a #27 and #40, I just bought a set) Locking Long Nose Pliers (6" is fine, no need for anything bigger) Regular set of pliers Wrench Set (somewhat optional) Real flat head screwdrivers Very long flat head screwdriver (this came in handy a lot) Needle Nose Pliers Small Chisel Set Hammer Tin snips Safety Glasses Mechanics Gloves One of those extension things with a magnet on the end One of those extension things with a mirror on the end WD-40 Some all-purpose grease, like White Lightning Baggies to store the screws in Masking tape/Painters Tape to cover up any exposed openings Old Bath Towels (used to protect the car) Good flashlight Lint free rags Shop Vac Two gallons of distilled water Drain pan (needs to hold 4 gallons) Shop lights A small block of wood, about 2" x 4" x ¾" A radio playing energetic music of your choice Advil and Tylenol Hope and a prayer (optional but doesn't hurt) Step 4: Book the Time I know some people say you can have this job done in less than 8 hours, but being a beginner this took me much longer. If I took out all the time running back and forth to the store for tools and such, and had a guide like the one I am writing, I still think it would have taken 10-12 hours. I ended up removing all of the engine covers on one weekend night, and then doing the actual job the following weekend. I then drove the car for a week with the new pipes and finally put all the engine covers back on over the weekend (I cleaned the covers and the engine thoroughly with a damp rag at the same time to pretty it up a bit). You don't really need to do it that way, but that split the work up a bit. I work in an office in front of a PC all day; I'm not used to working in a hot garage for 8-10 hours at a time... I'm a skinny computer geek : ) When I did the work, I draped some old bath towels over the sides and front of the car to protect it. The last thing I wanted to do was mess up the paint on a zipper or with a dropped tool/screw. Step 5: Remove the Engine Covers There are really two parts to this. You have the decorative covers over the actual engine, and then you have the covers that border the engine. You'll want to remove all of the covers around the border first. There are five of them in total. They all have these little black plastic plugs that you just turn 90 degrees. They should just pop up at that point, but you might have to give them a little lift with a screw driver. While you're removing those covers you might want to pay attention to how they go together and where they slide in to place. You'll also want to remove the windshield washing fluid cap (use the masking tape to cover up the exposed hole) before you remove the cover that surrounds it. Those little things are $4.25 each from the dealership, so try not to lose them. Now you have the three silver looking decorative covers; one on each side of the engine and one towards the front middle with the engine type on it. First, you need to unbolt the two secondary air injection units. Those are the round things with the plastic covers near the back of the engine compartment. You do not need to disconnect them from anything, just unbolt them (three screws each) and then move them off to the side. It might be a good idea to get some labeled baggies to store the screws in. Once those are removed you can get to the side engine covers a little easier. The engine cover in the front middle you just lift off, just work it back and forth a little and it should pop off. Take note that there are four little plugs that fit into holes on the cover itself, you'll need to find them again when replacing it. Now remove the one on the driver's side. It's pretty easy to remove. There are four screws towards the bottom that need to be removed, and then the cover will just come off. The one on the passenger side is a bit different. You have the engine mount right in the middle of things. Assuming you have the tools, you can unscrew the engine mount and get it out of the way. That will let you get to each of the four screws easily on the cover and remove it. I wasn't so lucky here (didn't have the right tools at the time), so I just got the four screws out of the cover and ended up wedging it out. While doing that, the piece of the cover under the engine mount snapped off. I wasn't too concerned about this, because where it snapped is hidden by the engine mount. When I put everything back together I just slid it back and screwed it in. You can't tell at all that it was ever snapped in half. Step 5a: Remove Fuel Pump Fuses You'll want to check your manual (you can also download the manual from this site), but you need to remove a couple of fuses for the fuel pump. Right in front of the driver under the hood there is a small compartment. Remove the cover, and then remove a second cover to expose the fuses. Mine were fuse 14 & 15 for the fuel pump. Store them somewhere safe. Once those are removed, start your car. It will run for a few seconds and die. Congrats, you just removed most of the fuel from the fuel line. I know some people don't disconnect the fuel rail or anything, but to me that's a bad idea. I had a lot of time to try it that way and honestly I'm glad I got it out of the way. Step 6: Disconnect the fuel line The fuel line is near the back center, it's just one tube running to the fuel rail. You'll disconnect it by using a wrench and a pair of pliers. You're unscrewing the part on the left (the thin part) from the part on the right (the wide part) which shouldn't turn as it is part of that tube. Once unscrewed, the fuel rail is only connected to the manifold. A little residual fuel might leak out, so you might want to have a rag handy to wipe it up with. Use masking tape to cover up any exposed holes. It wouldn't be a bad idea to disconnect the batteries now either. I didn't, but that was probably stupid. Step 7: Remove the Y-Pipe that goes to the Throttle Body This plastic Y-Pipe is right up front so it's very easy to get to. There are two flexible pipes on either side you need to remove first; just use a screwdriver to loosen the two clamps on each of them and you should be able to compress them enough to remove them. The Y-Pipe itself is attached to the throttle body via two long, plastic bolts. They have a screw head on them but they are not screws, they're more of a key. You just turn them a bit to line the key at the bottom (use a flashlight and you'll see it move as you turn it with the screwdriver) with the slot. When it's lined up, use a pair of needle nose pillars to lift it straight out. It's plastic and may be brittle, so be a little careful. You will need to remove an electric connection to the throttle body in order to get to one of them. There is a tube connected to the bottom of this y-pipe, so you can't just lift it out. It has some give to it, but not a lot… just enough to get your hand under there once you pull the y-pipe off the throttle body. You have to press the buttons on each side of the tube in order to get it off the y-pipe. Step 8: Remove Emission Tubes & Electrical Connections from Throttle Body There are two emission tubes crossing the throttle body, Porsche refers to them as "vent tubes." I know this because one snapped in half when I removed it, and the dang thing was $130 to replace. To remove them, you just need to press the clips at either side of the end of the tube together and then pull it straight out. I don't think mine had ever been removed, and in retrospect a bit of WD-40 used sparingly here might have been a good idea. I think I used too much force and that's why the small one snapped. I have read that some people have replaced this broken tube with a more generic tube from a hardware store. I just spent the $130 and did it right. There is a third tube connected to the throttle body, you just need to remove that one end of it. You will also have two electrical connections to remove. One you had to remove to get the y-pipe off in the previous step. Just remove the second one and then you're done. Step 9: Remove the Throttle Body The throttle body is connected to the manifold via four bolts. Remove those four bolts and it will come off. You sort of have to wiggle it out because of that thin metal bracket that's holding it there, but it will come out easy enough. Some people take this opportunity to clean it. You'll probably see some gunk on the back side of it on the inside. Step 9: Remove the Electrical Connections to the Fuel Injectors There are eight fuel injectors connected between the fuel rail and intake manifold. Mine were blue plastic, and there is an electrical connection running to each of them. There is a metal clip at the bottom that you just need to press up. I placed a flat head screwdriver between this clip and my index finger, and pushed up and pulled at the same time to disconnect it. Once you remove one you'll get the trick and the rest will come right off. Step 10: Remove the Intake Manifold with Fuel Rail Attached I know a lot of people have different ideas here, some people want to remove the fuel rail independently, and that was the first way I tried it. In retrospect, it's much easier to just leave it attached. There are four screws that hold the fuel rail to the intake manifold. I would recommend leaving these alone, especially since the one at the back on the passenger side is nearly impossible to get to. These screws are $6+ each… I know because I lost one. :P There are 10 bolts that need to be undone to remove the manifold. They don't come all the way out, they'll stay attached to the manifold. Once you loosen them enough they sort of come free and wiggle around. The one at the back on the passenger side was a bear to get to. I ended up placing the Torx Socket bit on top of it using the magnetic extension thing. I then put the 3" extension on top of it, and finally attached my socket wrench to it. I kind of built it all up I guess. I then went really, really slowly and loosened it up. Once loose, make sure to vacuum up any debris on the engine. When you pull the intake manifold off you will have eight gaping holes right down to your cylinders, you don't want anything falling in there. You can now scoot it forward a bit to get to the tubes you will need to disconnect. There are two tubes at the back of the manifold… a firm one and a flexible one. The firm one is just like the one under the y-pipe, and is easy enough to remove IF you can get enough pressure on the connector. The flexible one was just kind of stuck on mine and I left it on. You kind of have to scoot the manifold forward and angle it out, but it will come out with the fuel rail attached. You may have to remove some tubes and such from their guides or brackets. That flexible tube was long enough that I just put the whole thing on the driver's side of my engine and left it there. It didn't seem to be sitting on anything that couldn't support it. I'm sure it can be removed, but at this point in the job I was tired, hot, and just wanted to keep going. Once off, IMMEDIATELY cover up the exposed intake holes with long strips of tape. Cover them completely, and make sure they STAY COVERED. Shine a flashlight in each hole first to make sure nothing fell down there. If so, get it out as delicately as possible. Vacuum up any other debris you see. You can now see the infamous coolant pipes. Step 11: Assessment At this point, you can see the coolant pipes and should be ready for the meat of this repair. The starter is right there too… right under the leaking pipes. Brilliant, isn't it? This may not be true for you, but I had an AMAZING amount of debris in here… honestly looked like a bird had built a nest. I have no idea how it all got in there, but some where at some point tons of debris got in here, and now it was all soaked in coolant. I think my coolant leaking may have been mitigated because the wet debris probably acted as a mud and sealed everything up a bit. I vacuumed it up with a shop vac prepped for a wet cleanup. Now you need to decide if you will see this repair through or not. Once the next step is taken, there is no going back, and honestly the toughest part of this job by far is getting the old pipes out. Step 12: Drain the Remaining Coolant Your first goal is removing as much coolant from the car as you can. On the V8's, there is a drain plug at the bottom of the car, but on the turbo's you won't have one. That drain plug required an allen bit that was larger than I had on hand or could even find at a hardware store. Honestly, in retrospect I wouldn't have even bothered locating it. I'm sure there's a pipe down there you could remove, but I didn't waste time looking for. I took a tip I found on a forum, and drilled a hole right in the middle of the center coolant pipe (of three) and used a siphon with a hand pump to drain out every bit I could. I repeated this process on the larger lower pipe. DO NOT SIPHON BY USING YOUR MOUTH. Coolant is dangerous, nasty stuff. Make sure there are no animals or kids around while you are doing this. WEAR SAFETY GLASSES AT ALL TIMES! Doing it this way you're going to spill a lot of coolant, but it is what it is… they've been leaking all over everything anyway. I used my shop vac to vacuum up anything I could that escaped the siphon. I've also read of people renting professional vacuum pumps to suck it all out, but again, that's more complicated than it needs to be. I did some research, and coolant is not currently controlled by the EPA for disposal, and it can't be recycled. The unofficial advice I got was to dump it in the woods and douse the area with a hose for a bit. Do not dump it down the drain or dump it where animals could readily drink it. Don't dump it in a stream. Presumably it breaks down fast enough on the ground that there isn't a long lasting effect. Step 13: Remove the Three Upper Coolant Pipes The first pipe you need to remove is the long skinny pipe with three connectors. This one is easy enough to remove, and you should have a replacement as part of the kit. One of the connectors broke off in the hole, and I had to very carefully remove the pieces. Relatively speaking this was easy compared to the rest. There is a compression ring that needs to be removed for the connection at the back of the engine, use the locking pliers to do that. Cover up the exposed holes with masking tape. You now have to remove the three upper coolant pipes. There is a bracket at the back of the engine holding the three pipes. There are also two clips attached (you'll be looking at the back side of them) to that bracket that just support a hose at the back (just has electrical connections in it, and it's probably already split so you don't have to be super careful). Pinch the connectors with a pair of needle nose pliers and they'll come off. You now have to remove three bolts from it to remove the upper half of that bracket. I removed two of them but couldn't get to the third without snapping the thing in half. Porsche was kind enough to provide a new one in the kit so I wasn't worried about it. You will now see three rubber hoses attached to the plastic pipes. They are held on to them with compression rings. Use the locking pliers on the rings to loosen them (they need to be squeezed together to loosen) and slip them back over the pipes. I did one at a time, completely removing the ring and setting it off to the side for safety. The locking pliers really excelled here. When using them, attempt to come at the ring from the top instead of the side, the grooves on the pliers will then secure the ring quite nicely. You might have to adjust the pliers a couple of time to get the right amount of the compression for the ring to move freely. With those ends free, I used the shop vac to suck out a lot more coolant. Once done, cover up the exposed holes with masking tape. Once those three ends are free, you'll need to free up the other ends. Here's the deal, they are probably going to break when you try to remove them, and probably going to snap off at the spot where they connect to the coolant reservoir. I twisted and pulled and sure enough, they snapped off. You can remove the lid of the coolant reservoir by removing several screws, a small aluminum pipe on top, and the rubber pipes towards the front of the car. The small aluminum pipe has a single screw that needs to be removed. There is probably a lot of corrosion here so you may need to use a flat head screwdriver to pry it out. Be careful, it's flexible enough to come out and get out of the way but just barely. There is a compression ring on each of the rubber pipes that is easy enough to get to, just loosen and slide it down the pipe. Suck out any coolant and cover the exposed pipes with masking tape. Once you have that lid out, you'll see the remaining plastic bits in the holes. It's difficult to move, but those plastic bits are just in there with pressure, they aren't glued or anything. I used a small chisel and the hammer to break them out. As I got to the o-rings I pulled on those with needle nose pliers and in one instance the whole chunk came out. I also used a lot of WD-40 to work everything out. What you don't want to do is take any risk of chiseling into the metal of the lid, so be careful. This is all about removing the plastic material. Each bit you remove gets you one step closer to freeing up enough pressure to get the remaining bit out. Once it's all clean, leave it off to the side while removing the big pipe. Step 14: Removing The Big Pipe This one is tough. Make sure you're rested, well fed, and cooled down a bit. If you're aggravated already, walk away and relax a bit. You will need to break this pipe into two pieces. I used a boring bit to drill a big hole in the top, and then used tin snips to cut chunks out until I got it in two parts. Again, I used a shop vac to suck out any remaining coolant as I went along. Really, anything will work… you could even use a chisel to break it out. It's coming out one way or the other, no need to be pretty about it. Once it's in two pieces, you can probably rotate the two halves apart. Use WD-40 generously on the ends first though, and give it a bit to work in there. Regardless, when I went to pull out the two ends, they ended up snapping off… leaving their end pieces in the hole. If you read through the three forums, different people use different techniques to try and avoid this with mixed results. This is the worst case scenario though, so lucky for you I fought through it and have plenty of advice. Assuming your pipe broke off as mine did, you will see a metal ring in each end, with black plastic between it and your car. That metal ring was an inner support ring for the original pipe and needs to be removed. This is a violent procedure. IMPORTANT: I cut up some lint free cloths and stuffed one into each end as far as I could so that any material from the following procedure wouldn't go any further. Once done with the procedure below, I vacuumed up anything I could and then removed those cloths. Again, use WD40 a LOT. I sprayed and sprayed as a worked, and I think it helped. READ THIS CAREFULLY: Removing the plastic and metal ring from each end is all about removing material. You are trying to get as much plastic out as possible. If you get the ring out first, great, but it's not 100% necessary. The plastic is what needs to come out, and you need to get it out from all around it. In addition to the plastic, there are two o-rings in there, so they are just adding more friction preventing this from moving. You'll get bits of that out as you work, and that's good. Eventually, you get enough bits out that the rest will just fall out. Use a hammer and chisel to collapse the metal ring on the top and sides as much as possible. I used to the chisel to cut in to it a bit too. Once I got it that far, I switched to the long screwdriver, hammering the end of it into the plastic over, and over, and over again. I pried as much as I could and worked out bits of material. This took a long time, but sometimes you'll get a big chunk out and that will give you renewed hope. Again, this is all about material removal. Keep telling yourself that. Every bit you get out makes this easier. Once you get enough plastic out, you'll see the metal ring move a bit as you work. This is a great sign and you are almost done. Ultimately, you should be able to pry it out with the screwdriver. NOTE: When working you want to work as much towards the metal ring as possible. You want to avoid scraping the inside of the hole where your new pipes will go. I did scrape up mine a bit, it's unavoidable, but regardless my new pipes don't leak. When you go to remove the bits closest to you, you're working somewhat blind and it is hard. This part almost broke me, but I used a mirror to check and recheck my work as I went along. Bright lights help here too. Honestly, I really can't say enough how hard this part was and how long it took in comparison to everything else. It was the part that had me the most worried, but I got through it. Once it's all out, remove the cloths from inside the pipe and vacuum a lot. Now is the time to clean stuff up too, as you're about to put the new pipes in. As a best practice, you should clean up the inside of those holes. I used some steel wool; I know some people used scotch bright or even buffing pads. I didn't go overboard with this; I just want to get any grime out of there. Step 15: Install the New Big Pipe At this point you should be elated. You're through the worst. Installing these pipes are a bit difficult, but not bad. If they are not already on there, put the O-Rings on the small pipe. Use the White Lightning grease or whatever you bought and coat the inside of the hole on the engine and the outside of the pipe. Use it liberally. A bit of WD40 wouldn't hurt either. Press it into the hole at the back of the engine and do your best to get it all the way in. This is where a small block of wood and a hammer come in handy; you can use those to tap it in the rest of the way. Do not put the rubber sleeve on it. For the big pipe, install the o-rings and lube everything up good with the grease, both the hole it goes in and the pipe itself. You will also need to grease up the end the rubber part goes on and the other end of the short pipe that the rubber sleeve will slip over. Place the tightening rings over the rubber sleeve as well. Slide the rubber sleeve as far as it will go over the pipe. Push the pipe into the hole, I found a twisting action worked well. I also used my metal screwdriver against the bottom of the engine bay as a lever to slide it in the rest of the way (it required a lot of pressure). You then need to rotate it to line it up with the short end of the pipe. You'll slide the rubber sleeve over it and then tighten up the two rings. NOTE: Be sure to rotate the rings as far down as possible so that the screw does not interfere with the three pipes you're about to place on top of it. The new big pipe should be in place, and you're now done with the hardest part of this job. Step 16: Install the Three Pipes You'll want to put the lid back on the coolant reservoir (replacing the seals Porsche included with the kit), reattach the pipes and tighten up the screws. DO NOT OVERTIGHTEN THE SCREWS. I snapped one clean off. Make sure they're tight, but don't put all your muscle into it. Once on, you are ready to slide those pipes in. You do not need to put the lower bracket at the back on first; I did it after installing the pipes. Again, make sure everything is lubed up well so that any points of friction are well covered. Slide the pipes in. I used by long screwdriver again as a lever to apply the necessary pressure. On both these pipes and the big pipe it looked like I could have gone another 16th of an inch, but nothing leaks so I guess it was far enough. Put the bracket on at the back before you attach the hoses. You'll use your locking pliers again to attach the compression rings. With the bracket in place it is obvious how far up the hoses go. You'll put the upper bracket on, using the spacers for the screws and screwing it down tight. Don't forget to attach the two brackets that hold that electrical cable in place. Not a big deal if you do forget. Step 17: Install Final Pipe Now install that skinny pipe. This one is easy. Don't forget about the small compression ring that goes at the far end. Everything else just clips in. Step 18: Assess Your Work Look over everything and make sure it all looks right. At this point you should have a sealed coolant system. Check all your connections and make sure everything is solid. At this point you're home free, and you should be feeling pretty darn good. Step 19: Fill Up Coolant I use a 50/50 water to coolant ratio… so I mixed everything up with what I had and filled up the coolant tank. Once it was full, I left it overnight and checked in the morning for any fresh coolant. I was totally beat from a long day of working on it and thought putting everything back together fresh in the morning was a good idea. Step 20: Put Everything Back Together You tore it apart, now put it back together. I cleaned everything as I went, so now my engine looks great and I think that's a good idea. You don't need to go overboard, just use some lightly damp, lint free rags and wipe everything down. Porsche should have also provided new seals that go on the bottom of the intake manifold. I replaced mine dutifully, and I am glad I did. The old ones just looked worn out, no way they weren't leaking. Putting everything together is pretty straightforward once you've taken it apart. Just be careful and make sure you get all electrical connections and hoses in back on securely and in the right places (hard to mess that up). Also make sure you remove every bit of masking tape as you go. Final Thoughts I am very, very glad I did this project for two reasons. One, it saved me a ton of money and two, I now know tons more about the engine. Doing this project means I could replace my fuel injectors, spark plugs, injection coils and a host of other things when and if I have to. I know where the throttle body is, and if it's sticking I know where to go to clean it. If I need to replace the starter, I know where it is and how to get to it. I can now take my car on trips without fear of a massive coolant leak. This was the last "major" Cayenne defect for me that needed to be fixed. The water pump & drive shaft were already replaced. With 116,000 miles, I have quite a bit of faith in my car not having a catastrophic failure (knock on wood). At the end of the day, I'm pretty proud of myself for getting this all accomplished, and I hope I've saved some other poor soul a ton of time by writing all of this down. If it does help you out, please reply to this post and let me know.

About 3 weeks back I started getting a CEL with a Code 0335 Crankshaft Position Sensor "A" Circuit. Upper Limit Exceeded. After clearing the code it kept coming back within a day or two and the car stalled on two occasions. Based on research on the forums, this seemed very much in line with sensor failures on 955's and a DIY existed for these model years, but not the 957. My 957 now has around 120k miles, and the engine runs incredibly well, aside from this one recent anomaly. I ordered a replacement sensor, from Pelican Parts which arrived the next day (very impressive service) :lowdown: thanks Pelican Crankshaft Sensor Brand: Bosch Note: Engine Type: 4.8L 4806cc V8 (3.78x3.27; 96.0x83.0) (2008 Porsche Cayenne S Sport Utility) Part #: 0-261-210-292-INT As there was no info available on this DIY for a 957 so I'm hoping the following will help others get this done easily when needed, and in particular so you can save the 2 hours extra it took me to figure out where and how everything was located, as well as how to get to it. Which I did while I was waiting for the new part to arrive However once that research was done, the actual job of replacing the sensor took about 45 minutes. The main challenge is that the connector is difficult to access as it is behind and below the fuel pump on the right hand side as you face the front of the car. Even with an inspection scope it was difficult to locate. It was only once I looked from under the car that I could see where it was located. Also the connector plug is attached to a rectangular section of plastic tubing/conduit on the wiring harness, by a clip which is very rigid. After multiple attempts to release this clip it broke off. I think give the location it gets very hot and over the years becomes brittle. You should remove the engine compartment trim at the rear of the engine for better access. I also borrowed a few pics of an engine on the web to mark the location: I also found that removing the harness from the engine made it easier to get my hands around the connector to get the two ends separated. Once you have the old sensor disconnected, attach the new one and and tape the end of the new sensor tip with some painters tape just for protection and slowly lower it down into the engine compartment. It will end up either side of the primary cat where it is easily accessible from below. Also let the old sensor cable drop into the engine bay as you will then extract it from below. Now move to underneath the vehicle. I only needed to jack up the front left of the vehicle (jack stand + jack for extra safety). No wheels need to be removed. Do not jack up the car before dealing with the connector at the top of the engine bay as it will make it difficult to reach. Between the connector and the sensor, the cable is secured at 3 locations. See pictures below. The cable is pretty easy to remove and secure from below the vehicle and it can be seen and accessed without removing any of the under trays (depending on your level of flexibility). The lowest retaining clip is a push in type retaining clip where you simply press the cable into the tensioned clip. The two upper retaining clips are circular in shape and hinge open and closed. With a built of gentle persuasion you can pull them open and the cable comes out easily. I could not get the uppermost one in the pics but it is similar to the 2nd one shown in the pics. The sensor is held in place with a single torx T5 screw. Once you have the old sensor off you can pull it out and put it aside and attach the new one. I suggest attaching the sensor first and the attaching the cable to the retaining clips. Very rewarding and inexpensive fix, and everything is back to normal. No more codes and the car runs beautifully!

The following is a do it yourself procedure for replacing the thermostat on a 09 Cayenne S. The change out is straight forward and took me around 4-5 hours. One word of advice, the thermostat housing does not have to be removed to remove the thermostat. I thought it did and wasted a bunch of time removing other components to remove the housing before I realized it wasn’t necessary. The thermostat is removed easily after the water pump is removed. The parts were purchased from Sunset Porsche who were fantastic in getting the parts to me overnight. As always thanks to Loren for his advice. Tools Pliers to remove hose clips Torx sizes T-30, T-40 Strap wrench for holding pulley when removing screws E-10 Torx socket Large adjustable wrench for serpentine belt tensioner Normal other tools, pliers, screw drivers, ratchet, extensions etc. 5 Gal Bucket Parts List 948-106-125-01 (1) Thermostat 948-106-533-00 (1) Seal for Water Pump 948-106-707-00 (2) O rings for Intake Transfer Pipe (Note, the O rings are shaped different than the original O rings. Originals were square with grooves and these are true round O rings. Torque Setting Water Pump to casing 7.5 ft-lbs Water Pump Pulley 17 ft-lb Intake Manifold and Side Covers- Cross-tighten all manifold bolts to 7.5 ft-lb; then final torque to 12 ft-lb. I could not find the 09 torque spec but found the 07 specs which were reasonable. Procedure 1) I always disconnect the battery before doing any major work and recommend it. 2) Drain Coolant System A. Allow engine to cool B. Remove Coolant Reservoir Cap C. Remove the front two splash pans under the engine and radiator D. From underside of vehicle disconnect the hose (Figure 1) and drain cooling system into a container (clean 5 gal bucket works) 3) Remove plastic around engine compartment (2 screws and 9 plastic snap screws) (Figure 2) 4) Remove intake manifold and piping A. Remove decorative 4.8 V8 cover by lifting off B. Remove intake piping by removing hose clamps and removing pins (Figure 3). The pins rotate about a quarter turn and pull upward and out. Be gentle they break easily!!!! 5) Remove Intake Manifold Side Covers (similar for both sides) A. Removing two T-30 Torx screws (Figure 4) B. Remove vacuum hose connective both side covers (Figure 4) C. Remove vacuum hose on right side breather (Figure 4) D. Lift the Manifold Side Covers from the center of the engine up and outward and they will lift off. Right side has a vacuum hose attached under the cover which needs to be detached. 6) Remove Intake Manifold A) Remove (5) T-30- or T-40 (forgot size)Torx Screws on each side of intake manifold (Figure 5) B. Move the Intake Manifold forward and remove vacuum line and electrical connection on the back of the intake manifold. The vacuum line and electrical connection wire are very short. I disconnected the vacuum line Tee shown in Figure 6 to make it easier to disconnect and reconnect the vacuum line. 7) Remove the serpentine belt A. Relieve tension on the serpentine belt by rotating the tensioner (Figure 7) B. Remove the serpentine belt from the water pump 8) Remove Water Pump A. Remove 3 Torx Screw on water pump pulley (Figure 8) using a strap wrench to hold the pulley from turning. B. Remove (5) M6 X 25 Bolts on Water Pump using and E-10 Torx socket (Note Reinstallation tightening sequence is clockwise starting with the top middle bolt. C. If the pump is stuck gently tap it with a plastic hammer or a block of wood and it should come off. 9) Remove Thermostat A. Locate the spring on the Thermostat and tie a wire around the spring. (Figure 9 &10) B. Using a screw driver or pry bar inserted in the wire loop as shown in Figure 10 and pry out the Thermostat and the Transfer Pipe. Figure 11 shows the Transfer Pipe (3) and Thermostat (4). 10) Installation is in the reverse order of the above with the following advice/precautions. A. When reinstalling the Thermostat make sure the new thermostat is all the way into the housing before inserting the Transfer Pipe. The Transfer Pipe has two seals that should be changed when reinserting the Transfer Pipe. Use a water soluble lubricant when inserting the seals. I tried pushing in the transfer pipe in by hand but it kept popping back out because of the new O rings. I used a flat pry bar to gently press the Transfer Pipe back in (Figure 12). The Transfer Pipe should be flush with the housing and should not stick out. B. Check all vacuum hoses for cracks. They get brittle over time and crack. When finished, I got a 5504 Fault Code using Durametric Software. I contacted Durametric because I could not find any information on that code. It turns out that the software is transposing the code so it should have been a 0455 code which is a vacuum leak. I found a vacuum hose cracked from moving it around to get the Intake Manifold off. C. The vacuum and electrical connection wire are very short on the back of the Intake Manifold. I disconnected the vacuum line Tee shown in Figure 6 to make it easier to disconnect and reconnect the vacuum line. Make sure they are firmly plugged in before setting the Intake Manifold in final position. D. Make sure the Intake Manifold is seated properly and no wires are under the back corner of the manifold preventing it from seating properly. E. Porsche recommends a vacuum fill of the cooling system. Since I didn’t have the equipment, I filled the cooling system through the Coolant Reservoir. I used the fluid I removed from the system so I knew how much needed to be put back in the system. I ran the vehicle for a little while, let it cool, and then continued to top off the system over the next few days. F. If you disconnected the Battery you will get a PSM fault which will go away after driving for a little while. The system has to recalibrate itself after Battery Removal. I hope this helps the helps. I wrote it about a week after I did the repair so I hope I haven't forgot anything.

Finally got around to this and took some pics for future reference. The procedure is a bit different for the 92A than the 9PA, at least the 2013 model year. I suspect it is the same for the 2011 and 2012 model years as well. First, their is only one screw to remove, using a T2 Torex wrench. It in the front, middle of the panel. You need a panel pry tool or strong fingers to release the front catches that are still holding it in place. Slip the tool between the panel and the glove box at one end to get the snaps to release. The end at the firewall is held in place with two rubber fingers that slip into brackets near the firewall. Rotating the front of the panel down will get these to slip out. Once you have the panel off, you are confronted with an air duct that has to be removed in order to get to the filter box. There is a retaining catch near the passenger door that needs to be released first. Locate it with your fingers and pry one side open. It will slip off the post at that point. The other end is a slip fit, so wiggling will get to release. The cover for the cabin filter does not have a screw holding it in place. Instead there is a hollow square plastic retainer at the firewall side that slips over a post at that end. The passenger side has a U shaped retaining clip. You have to release this one first. Its very tight quarters at that end. I could not get my fingers in there to release the clip. I fashioned a tool out of an old hose clamp by bending one end into a tight U. I slipped this end into the gap shown, hooked it over the retaining clip, gave a tug and this end of the filter cover released. Simply slip the other end off of the post. The filter itself takes some squeezing and wiggling to remove. The filter is bigger than the opening, so you will need to get you fingers in there to compress it to get it started out of the opening. Installation is the reverse of removal. Again, you have to compress the filter somewhat to get it into the box. Once it is in there, it wont fall out. Don't forget to put the gray foam gasket back on the filter cover before you snap it in place. Slip the firewall end over the post and snap the other end over the retainer post. The air duct is next, wiggling the large end back in place and snapping the retaining clip back onto the mating post. The two fingers on the back of the bottom panel slip into the appropriate brackets and the snap the front in place. Replace the one screw and you are done. With practice and the appropriate tool to get the cover retaining clip to release, probably a 15-20 minute job max.

I like pictures when I read a DIY, so I made these up to demonstrate what you are in for when you want to change your plugs. Use these pictures in conjunction with the writeup by ebaker...

Note: Part numbers sometimes change without notice. Always double check with your supplier that you have the latest part numbers. Images are for LHD cars - RHD cars will be on the opposite side. Parts you will need: 1 ea 996 571 219 03 Pollen Filter (Charcoal activated filter) Tools you will need: T25 Torx drive Remove T25 Torx screw that holds the panel cover in place (passenger side front trunk). Remove the panel cover. Remove the particle filter upwards and out of the housing guide. Insert a new particle filter into the housing guide. Check that the filter is correctly fitted and in the correct installation position. Replace the panel cover. Tighten T25 Torx screw that holds the panel cover in place.

This is a project I intended to do a few years back with my old Boxster, when the armrests started peeling, but I never got around to it. Lately, a couple of posts on PPBB got me thinking, and this time, doing. A few hours later and I am absolutely thrilled with this hack! I've taken those hard plastic covers which are pathetic as armrests, and turned them into something actually comfortable, 100% OEM-looking and matching the interior, and add a touch of class. I highly encourage you to try this hack! Time required: 2 hours Cost: About $20 Materials: Piece of leather to match your interior (I got one off eBay for $10 shipped) 2mm (about 1/8”) thick closed-cell foam sheet (They have at Michaels’ craft stores) Spray Adhesive (Mine is 3M “Super 77”, also from Michaels—we’ll see if it can handle the summer heat) Masking tape Tools: Brand new razor blades Scissors 120 Sandpaper Needle-nosed pliers Narrow brad or something to push a pin through a hole Step 1: Remove armrests Swing an armrest open and note the two hinges. Remove the pins, starting the front one, by using a brad or other object to press through. If it gets stuck halfway, simply use pliers to pull the pin through. Be careful after you pull the second pin—there is a spring still holding on to the armrest. To remove it, simply keep the armrest in the “up” position and locate the spring. You’ll see how to slide the armrest out. You should have a set of 6 hardware pieces for each armrest: 2 pins, and 4 bushings. Don’t lose them! Step 2: Prep armrests with foam Clean the armrests thoroughly to promote good adhesion. Take the foam and cut a reasonably loose shape around an armrest. Spray the armrest moderately with adhesive. I found that a little bit of adhesive to the foam helped as well. Not too much as you really don’t want the complete “contact cement” experience! The adhesive I used gave me an instant but slightly reworkable bond. Aim for having no actual tension in the foam by starting in the most concave section and working outward. Don’t worry about the wrapping the foam around the edges; that is not desired. Trim the edges with a bevel using a razor blade. Remember, we are only adding foam to the top part and we don’t want it to roll over the edges at all. Here is a tip I got out of “Custom Auto Interiors” by Don Taylor and Ron Magus—sand the foam! Sand it using 120 grit sandpaper, and don’t be shy! Sand nice transitions around the edges, and sand the “skin” off all the foam to promote better adhesion. (Ignore those little slits you see in the picture; they were not necessary) Clean the armrest thoroughly. Step 3. Cover armrests with leather Basically, repeat what you did with the foam. But leave a GENEROUS amount of leather around the edges. Spray the adhesive and apply the leather with some gentle stretching. Don’t worry about the wrapping yet, worry more about not having air trapped between the leather and the foam (bad when it gets hot). With the basic adhesion done, trim the leather a little closer and make a series of cuts to create tabs which will allow the curves to come together on the back side. Some of the cuts should actually be v-shaped to prevent too much layering. Also, make precise cuts near the pads and hinge areas so these can be cleared. Do a second round of adhesive spraying on the back. But start with loosely masking the back side to avoid having too much goop on your finished product. Press all the leather “tabs” firmly in place, and trim as needed with a razor blade. Step 4. Reinstall armrests First re-insert the bushings. Make sure they are inserted completely. Begin the reinstall by inserting the spring at the rear. The best (perhaps the only) way to do this is by holding the armrest as if it was in the “up” position and guiding the spring into the small hole at the edge. I used pliers to help with this. It will take a few tries! Next, reinsert the pins. Start with the easier front one; that way the one at back, where you will be fighting the spring tension, will be more stable. Make sure you have the pins in all the way. That’s it! On mine, the armrest doesn’t quite swing ALL the way up, or at least not with a clean motion, but that doesn’t’ bother me. It is probably due to some clearance issues with the leather.

There have a been a few occurances of the cabrio top not fully completing the cycle, or simply refusing to open or close. If the hand brake light is on, very likely it is a low hydraulic fluid condition. The work below shows step by step how to add the fluid to the system. Tools needed: 5 mm allen wrench Flat screwdriver Children medicine syringe with small hose 1 Bottle of hydraulic fluid. Porsche is the recommended, I have used John Deere below with no problems after 4 weeks of filling: The steps for the process: 1. Open the top partially to the position shown 2. Pull the cables that the keep the rearmost part of the top secured to the car. One cable per side, the separate the cable from the connection in the car. 3. Let top move towards the close postion and move it out of the way. 4. Use a flat screw driver to remove the 4 plugs that keep the rear carpet in place. Remove the carpet, starting at the top as shown 5. Not a bad time to vacuum this piece while it is out. If you have kids, remove the lollipop sticks :P The work area will look like this: 6. This is the system pump you are looking for. Notice the screw where the Allen wrench will go to. Remove the screw, and keep a magnet pick up tool nearby if it fall down. 7. Use a flashlight on the oppsite side and shine direcly to the reservior. You will be able to clearly see the level and the gap to full. The fullmark is in the front below the screw removed. 8. To fill the top, use the syringe filled with fluid and insert the hose into the hole below. WARNING, the brass washer may fall off if you are not carefull, you can remove it or leave it and chance it. It probably won't move 9. Replace the screw, using fingers first to get it started. Take your time, will not be easy the first round. Finalize withe Allen wrench 10. Replace the carpet (did you clean it?) and the secure it with the plugs. Move the top back in place and secure the cables to the car. Open and close the top a few times. Enjoy the open air And remember, nothing races like a Porsche, but nothing runs like a deer

Here are the pictures and instructions. This TSB is easy to do, and the range in my key remote went from 4 ft to 30 ft. 1999 996 Cabrio. Here are the tools you will need. The following steps: 1. Remove the sun visor. It simply pulls out 2. Use the small flat screw driver to pry of plastic cover on visor base. When removed, you will see the Hex bolt heads 3. Use the 4 mm Hex wrench key to remove both bolts. Hold on to the part, it has washers on the other side and can get fall off if not careful. 4. Now pull off the A-pillar cover to reveal the cables underneath. 5 Pull out the cables that are held in place on the foam sleeve. There is double sided tape holding it in place, pull carefully but firmly. From the top down 6. After pulling it, undo the foam by pulling apart the seam. The white wire is the antenna we are looking for. 7. Keep peeling off the foam until you get to the black sleeve on the antenna. 8. Measure off 130 mm from the end of the black sleeve upwards into the white antenna, and cut the the rest off. You need to keep 130 mm (25 mm is about an inch) of antenna above the black sleeve. 9. Pull the antenna wire off the foam sleeve, and enclose the rest of the wires with the foam sleeve. 10. The picture shows the wire after being secured with electrical tape to the OUTSIDE of the sleeve, and towards the inside of the cabin when the foam is taped back to the A-pillar. 11. The two sided tape on the foam is sticky enough to simply push the foam back into its original position. 12. TEST the remote now before assembling the trim. Walk away from the car, lock and unlock it, and grin. 13. Replace the trim, it just pushes back in, do it from the bottom up and ensure it is on the inside of the rubber gasket. 14. Secure the sun visor base with the two Hex bolts. Careful you don't loose the washers. Then push back in the sun visor and you are done. I changed from the TSB the location of the antenna wire to the outside of the foam sleeve, and added the bit of electrical tape to hold it in place and avoid any issues when reassembling the trim. It worked for me and I have tested and enjoyed up to 30 ft of range with the remote in open lots, and covered garages. Enjoy..