hardtailer

It wouldn't necessarily fail a compression test but I'd expect lower numbers compared to cilinders with valves that shut properly.

However, a leakdown test will let you pinpoint where the leak is (intake valves, piston rings, exhaust valves or a combo of these).

That's what I was thinking.

Thanks for the confirmation, Loren.

Digging this one up to ask if the same data is available for the 3.6l M96 in the 996?

Or are the values identical despite the longer stroke?

I identified my rear screen as the source for the creaking I get as soon as I drive away. I presume its the body flexing as a consequence of a screen that hasn't bonded properly to the aperture and the relative movement between the two. I used two microphones attached to the screen and listened to the amplified sound and it was indeed that what I hear without them. Prior to the screen I had them attached to the rear strut tops but they made a different noise.

As such I'm interested to read what above mentioned TSB says about the issue but haven't found it here.

Congrats on solving the problem without major expenditure (on top).

Please do tell me, as I don't see it mentioned explicitly in your posts. Did you have to undo that sliding connection whereby the plastic sleeve fell out in order to remove the gas tank?

The pin is there too, see zoomed-in pic below.

Tbh I'd suspecting the refurbishment of the rack.

I read the whole thread and have not come across this tidbit of info so decided to put it in a reply.

The steering rack itself has a straight ahead /middle position.

You set it by lining up the pin in the black plastic cap with the hole in the alloy tab (by turning the spindle).

I understand you found one of the universal joints to be the cause but the above info becomes relevant when you put it all back together to complete the repair.

Good luck!

Perhaps the valves did get bent when the pistons hit them ever so slightly the very moment the drive to the camshaft failed when the sprocket slipped on the IMS?

You may want to consider the following:

Bolts of grade 8.8 (=the lowest grade used in and around the powertrain) that are tightened to the listed below torque values (or less) can be cleaned and reused with blue/medium strength thread locking compound.

With these torque values grade 8.8 fasteners are within their elastic stretch, thus keep their original properties and can be re-used.

M6 10Nm 7.4 ft-lbs

M8 25Nm 18.4 ft-lbs

M10 49Nm 36 ft-lbs

M12 86Nm 63  ft-lbs 

Other criteria to decide whether to replace or not are:

-can you be sure that the fastener was never over-torqued?

-is its head still in good shape to be removed easily in the future?

-is the galvanic (zinc) anti-corrosion plating still in good (enough) shape to be re-used?

-are you willing to put the time (=money) into cleaning off the old micro-encapsulation and put thread-locking compound on the fastener when fitting it?

Keep in mind that all the specified torque values by the manufacturer are only proven for new fasteners of his spec.

Re-using a fastener and applying  liquid thread locking compound to it might yield friction between the threads different from that of the micro-encapsulation on the OEM bolts there by changing the resulting clamping force.

In reality the differences are small enough that the resulting connection  is fit for purpose.

A factory WSM will answer these questions with 'no'/'not worth taking the risk' and will dictate 'replace fasteners' (and make some money in the process all those times the customer foots the bill).

A word of advice regarding the 2 (vertical) bolts that hold the cross brace between the left and right support ( shown above n left of the 8 in your picture).

I sheared the bolt heads off when I removed that brace in order to drop the engine.

I'm still trying to get them out and have had no luck with a LH threaded drill bit, nor easy outs nor LH thread tap & M8 bolt...

Soak them in PB blaster to avoid that drama by spraying from above since they're through-holes not blind holes.

Height is governed by the springs not the shock absorbers so you'll be fine in that respect.

The damper tune of the M030 will most certainly be different from either B4 and B8 even if their all made by Bilstein.

Can't say how much different but personally as long as the originals don't leak oil I'd not replace them with B8's and certainly not with B4's (as the latter are an OE replacement for standard shock absorbers not for shock absorbers in sport/lowered suspension set-ups like the M030 option. B8 is an OE replacement for those).

If the gas pressure is greatly reduced in your M030 shock absorbers or when they leak I would have them rebuild by a shop that has the ability to do so.

It sounds more like the fuel pressure regulator to me than fuel pump or relais.

Apart from controlling the pressure it also keeps the fuel rail under pressure to avoid fuel vapour forming in the rail when the car is parked up with a warm/hot engine.

In your scenario the pressure in the rail is not maintained but instead bleeds away through the FPR into the return line back to the tank.

Next time before a cold start run the fuel pump by bridging/shorting terminal 30 and 87 of the fuel pump relais. As soon as the sound of the running pump remains the same, start the car.

If it starts normally then it's the FPR.

Another test for this would be to clamp the fuel return hose shut next time you park the car for the period of time that would lead to difficult starting. After that time has passed, remove the clamp and start the car. If it starts normally then it's the FPR.

Another reason could be leaking injectors that bleed off the fuel into the cilinder

They fit but the 996 (halogen) headlights are indeed slightly different.

The 996 cam with electric headlight adjustment, when the 986 did not. The adjuster motor is easily transfered.

The other difference is a corrugated alloy sheet that changes the way the interior of the headlight looks at the bottom of the headlight in front of the lense (and underneath the plastic) on a 996. With this there's a diamond checkered look to it. The 986 does without and has a straight longitudinal pattern.

I have two symptoms similar to yours:
1. My battery is drained after 2-3 weeks of  sitting locked. I tend to think the drain by the alarm system in the first 5 days of sitting (after that it switches to a less power consuming mode) causes this.

2. I have one beep when I lock the car and as stated above it means one zone is found open. Apart from the already mentioned ones there are two more (as I learned over at rennlist.com).
One is the switch behind the OEM radio that breaks the circuit as soon as the radio is pulled out or its connector pulled off.
Apparently isolating the/a brown ground wire and leave it disconnected solves that when fitting an aftermarket radio.

The other 'zone' is the actuator that locks the manual levers to open trunk and engine lid when locking the car using the remote.
I found in my 99 Carrera 2 that the locking actuator was not fitted and it looks it never has been as the actuating rod and associated plastic clips n guides are absent too.

Looking at 2nd hand parts online I am not sure every 996 up to 00 came with this actuator even though the parts catalogue states so.

See pictures below for the associated parts.
A way to check whether that is the open zone is to open the trunk, push its lock to the closed position using a screw driver, get access to the battery poles, lock the car via the remote. (You should get a single beep if you successfully locked the trunk lock else two beeps)
Disconnect the positive battery wire, open the car with the key and pull the trunk lever. If the trunk lock snaps open then you either have no actuator locking the levers or it is broken (in the open position) and the single beep stems from it being broken.

Cover removed from sill (on LHD car) yellow lines mark locked and open position

The actuator fits on the right side of the alloy bracket.

Being a UK car it has to fulfill Thatcham anti-theft requirements which probably had porsche fit the siren and tilt sensor shown above that is different from RoW vehicles. 

Probably addressed to Estii but I'll answer nonetheless.

Yes I have an aftermarket radio. What is the interaction between stock radio and alarm that no longer works with an aftermarket system?

Thanks for clearing this up.

Michelin are good tyres I don't suspect them to be the cause of your observations. Also after a couple of hundred miles they are run in and perform.

Apart from tyre pressure (what cold pressures did you measure yourself?)

it could be alignment or a tyre bead seating problem.

The latter can sometimes happen when the tyre is being fitted to the wheel and the bead doesn't slide over the hump on the wheel rim all the way into the seat area.

Typo or not? Referred to my 2nd post quoting you

" ...and all bushings , balljoints or tie rods where deemed worn ." -->

Replace all that was deemed worn then.  No use fitting new coil-overs etc. and keeping the worn stuff.

Should that have been a typo (i.e. all NOT worn )

So was "all worn" a typo that should have read "all not worn"?

I am asking as I am surprised why you would not replace the worn parts but instead would replace springs; ARBs and shock absorbers that were not deemed worn and don't wear in 40k miles.

Typo or not?

What tyres?

Assume tyre pressure is off and check yourself.

What tyres did you get?

" ...and all bushings , balljoints or tie rods where deemed worn ." -->

Replace all that was deemed worn then.  No use fitting new coil-overs etc. and keeping the worn stuff.

Should that have been a typo (i.e. all NOT worn) have the alignment checked, although I admit that is not something you notice when going ~100mph but already at 50mph or so. Same/similar goes for worn engine mounts.

What's the mileage btw?

Öhlins, intrax, KW, Bilstein and H&R all will have coil over kits for all MYs of the 996.

Eibach for anti-roll bars (and lowering springs).

However, your problem most probably is not caused by worn out springs, ARB or dampers but by wrong tyre pressures, worn tyres and/or bad front/rear wheel alignment.

As long as rubber suspension bushes (in the lower control arms) are not torn they are not the root cause. Which is not to say that you'd notice an improvement in steering precision after fitting new ones.

Play in the ball joint in the rear lateral control arm could be, however as could be play in the ARB drop link joints.

But you should notice (and hear it!) that at speeds way lower than 100mph.

At 100mph aerodynamics play an important role. Are all the plastic underbody parts, especially in front of the front axle fitted?

Are you running aero kit parts at the rear without the according pieces at the front or the other way around?

Estii asked about the fuel door not me. I asked (21 june) about the engine cover/hood release solenoid.

I'm looking for a definitive answer on the following question:

Did all MY99 996 and 986 use the actuator 996624115.01?

I have the pig tail with connector in my MY99 996 but the actuator is not fitted. I'm unsure it was ever fitted as the bracket fitted does not have the actuating rod that moves the locking plate.

Looking for 2nd hand parts I see many MY99 parts from 986 and 996 that don't show the rod either and asking the seller breaking the 986/996 yields the answer 'don't have the locking actuator' with above mentioned part number...

That makes we wonder as the part catalogues list the part for both 986 and 996 as used up to (and including) MY00.

Some pictures below to show (1st pic) bracket without rod, 2nd pic with the actuating rod in the bracket and the actuator itself in the 3rd picture.

Can anyone shed some light on this?

Check out if the rhd part number for the release cable has been used on other porsche models too. I bet it has and only in the other use cases the grommets are used.

David is correct. The haze of exterior color you see in the wheel wells or frunk and such are overspray from the robotized paint booths in the plant. Underneath is light grey primer.

It is like that on all cars.

Slight thread hi-jack but on-topic...

Is the electric frunk and engine lid latch locking actuator on up to MY00 cable operated lids also monitored by the alarm ECU?