rsfeller

Paging toolpants!

When the system is properly armed the lights should flash twice -- no horn. A horn chirp means one or zones is open (and not armed). Common causes of an open zone are the armrest cover and the front trunk microswitch. Two flashes to arm is normal and one to disarm (at least my car has always done that and I have no alarm fault codes). Thanks. What do you think about that 9v present all the time to the horn?

I knew of at least two from reading posts! Found the third now thanks. Put 12v on the connector with the horn removed. Interestingly there is always 9v present to the connection, sound right? When I trigger the alarm is does spike to 12+v in unison with the lights so we are getting correct voltage to the horn. Therefor I pulled the horn and hooked it up to a 12v Motorcycle battery and no sound. so there is my problem. Why 9v all the time to the horn? Is this the same horn as below with the other two that are so prone to fail? Wonder why the failure other then low quality, lack of use? Let me add this questions: Should the horn "chirp" when arming or disarming the car or just the lights flash? Is two for on and one for off, correct? Manual states two flashes signals an error and I do have a "internal sensor" error that Loren has stated is a very common error that often doesn't affect the alarm from working.

just replaced horn bushing airbag frame. horn works as should when pressed. arm alarm system get two flashes and no sound disarm alarm system get one flashe and no sound reach in and unlock from the inside when armed and lights go crazy as expected but no alarm. is there a 2nd horn for the alarm needs that may be dead? or is something turned off?

Don't remove the gray one. The yellow clip connected to the steering wheel airbag is the one that comes off. Put a flathead screwdriver behind it and pry up a little to pop it off. Make sure the screwdriver is close to the center of the cap so you don't damage the plastic cap. :cheers: got it! For some reason that one looked fragile...but he poped right off!

what is the trick as i'm beating this poor grey connector up bad. Great info on the horn bushing problem but nobody mentions taking the airbag off in detail! obviously they are not having the issue I am. The yellow connection on the back of the air looks like it shouldn't be removed and the grey one going into the column will not come out with pliers when the clip is pushed up. Is this supposed to come out, as i'm afraid I am going to break it!

That is the way I understood it from our last discussion but was just surprised under post replacment inspection that I didn't see it very easily. Obviously it's there.

Great! I hope more chime into to tell the same story and put my concern to rest. As I said you really don't feel a "lock" in the wheel at all. The wife called me again from lunch to say she couldn't get it to turn (the key) but a good crank on the wheel (which she was afraid to do with my OK) allowed her to turn the tumbler.

I still don't understand how the sensors work. If they are caused by a break in continuity then how come they keep coming on and off and on again? I just did my brakes last nigth and they were 100% intact (the sensors) yet the light came on several times. I estimated about 20% pad life left. Now I have red box mintec and zimmer cross drilled/sloted and zinced. man can they stop, dust not bad yet but they do smell if you get on them hard. This may be to much brake for road use but the price was great. Sensors, pads and front rotors for $289 on ebay with cadium coating.

I was not getting any of the intermittant electrical issues associated with a no start of the ignition. When the wife got stranded last week we replaced it anyways due to the common failure trend. It worked after the replacment but I've noticed now that the solution was really moving the steering wheel left/right if the key wouldn't turn. I've also noticed that the ignition is getting more stillf but again turning the wheel left or right prior or during the key turn solves the issue. Is this common to the many Porsches? or Does it sound like the "tumbler" assembly is failing? The steering wheel on our 986 really doesn't "lock" like most cars I'm used to. You don't feel that click after shutting off when the wheel is turned to lock it. Comments please!

I"m quite sure the Porsche Workshop Manual has everything more then Bentley, so that is a given! Kind of reminds me of the answer I got on another board that was very useful..."take it to a dealer". Duh! I didn't see much good info in the PET (but then again I've had trouble finding things there before) that I could use and I wouldn't know where to begin to find the Porsche Workshop Manual. Do you have access available to share on this topic, you name says so! There seems to be little knowledge on the workings of the AAC and Ventalation system from board members which is a good sign. That tells me there is little in the way of failure trends...but then again I have an issue! Until I can get this on a PST2 any specific recommendations would be helpful!

Replace them! The heads have snapped off removing and installing, one each. The that snapped while installing was long before it got to the end to even apply the torque wrench! At that low of torque and quality of this bolt there was no ablity to even feel lack of turning before it snapped. If it would have felt stiff I would have soaked the head in oil before trying again.

you may remember by post from last week about lack of heat. Haven't put the AAC on the PST2 yet but am considering some others easy/local things. Looking at Bentley it appears from the diagram on the AAC flow that foam that came lose from under the cabin filter could be lodged in the AC evap, heater core or a flap door. Also looking at Bentley it appears easy to pull the heater core, just drop the coolant fluid, pull the lines and pull the core? Is it as easy at it looks? I could then check the core for foam or inspect the area. Is there any major hassle to bleeding the 2.5L engine, as I know in my Vanagon water cooled they could be a pain! Thanks.

I did the front brakes tonight, very easy job. the 10mm bolt that holds the brake hose bracket to the strut tower snapped rediculously easy on the left side and snapped on the install on the right with little to no torque. so those brackets are just floating. didn't hear any noises on the test driver when seating the new pads/rotors. Anyone else have this same issue, concerns or fixes?

hahahah! You have been saving that photos for year awaiting my question, haven't you! Shawn

Noted a rattle on the rebound up front. it is stiffled as quick as it comes from the vehicle returning to weight on the suspension. It's most noted traveling across uneven country roads where the left/right get out of sink. don't know much about front struts and how they fail. everything else up front feels tight and tracks correctly with new tires. I haven't put the tire up on the rack yet to check components. What should I consider? Shawn

It is hard to tell what is is. If it's paint it is serving the same purpose as it really don't appear to be on the treads just in the hole to prevent it from turning as the screws are not torqued very hard.

wondering if it would fit my 1997 986.

The red paint was still there but it turned way to easy, so I got luck. The Porsche place is a Vw dealer to and he had no problem giving us that switch. He did try to upsell but when we told him the symptoms he didn't press with the entire tumbler housing that Porsche now pushes. The techs did and they acted like the tumbler fails more then the ignition switch which seems to be opposite everything I have read. Was ready for the parts department to tell me they didn't have it any more and I told him they may need to cross reference it with an audi/vw switch. He said it doubt they were interchangable...What is it with these dealers? Do they really not have that much experience connecting the dots on failure trends or are they just playing hardball and "know-it-all"?

Here is a long post and story, I wouldn't mind feed back if I really fixed my issue. my new to me 986 has had many common failure trends that are easy fixes (for DIYers) including the horn bushings, seat belt buckles causing SRS lights and now the ignition switch. i felt there was a little stiffness in the igniition switch and have a inexpensive ignition switch from ebay on the way. regardless I felt it was safe enough for the wife to drive 1 hour to work on friday. not the case. she called me a lunch to tell me the tumbler would not turn at all from the "0" position so the car would not move. since she was and hour away and I had I things to do at work I told her to run to the Porsche dealer and get the part while I printed the instructions I had seen posted here on this simple swap. The Porsche dealer is a two minute ride from her office in Columbus Ohio...I'll leave the dealer name out of this. while in transit she called to tell me the porsche dealer suggested the entire $200 assembly would be the better swap (no surprise as I read about this recommended swap) and it was about 4+ hours in labor. She was told the ignition switch was most likly NOT the fix and to keep in mind the parts are not refundable. I told her that I just wanted the $44 ignition switch and even asked her to talk the staff into making a house call two minutes down the street to swap it out. since it's a 10 minute job they could charge us for an hour. Since my wife is incredibly cute and has a way of making men do things against there better judgement I thought it was a good chance to save me two hours in the car on Friday during rush hour. The service manager said where did she get the idea this was a 10 minute job, of course. She called me to say that the Porsche service manager would offer me a job if I could do such a task in under 15 minutes as he knows for a fact it is a two hour job to get to the ignition switch. Needless to say armed only with a flash light and computer screw driver I had the switches swapped in less then 5 minutes. The hardest part was trying to get the left side of the AC duct to fit back together! I fought for that for over 15 minutes later at home that night. In defense of the Porsche dealer the job could have been more difficult of rmy little screwdriver had the paint been harder to remove. Posibly this job was done before! Of note after pulling the wiring harness of the back of the ignition switch and wiggling things the ignition key/tumbler did turn and I did get the car started. I proceed to swap the ignition switch anyways. She acutally made an appointment that same day to have them run error codes on our AAC that is not producing much heat. I figured even at the outragous $140+ per hour rate I could at least find out what codes my Durametric software is not showing and find an answer to which sensor or such in the AAC is faulty. Laren has suggested the PST2 could show voltage and ohm readings of servos, flaps and sensors to pin point the problem. Here are my questions: Does Porsche in fact show several hours to fix the ignition switch minus the tumbler and silver housing? If so do they have some long route to removing the dash for those techs not small enough to crawl around under the vehicle...or is just a scam of sort? (dealer = stealer) I replaced the 4A0 905 849B which the parts guy had no issues giving to my wife while the service department said it was most likly the tumbler closest to the key (maybe part 996 347 917 00 ?). Does this tumbler in fact fail often? I also read that failure of the ignition switch is often accompanied by electrical system oddities which I had not experienced (fans, lights or stereo working intermitantly). So does the ignition key tend to turn when it fails but not allow ignition or does it fact fail to turn from a faulty ingnition switch as in our case? I'm wondering if the lock tumbler is yet to fail, it still feels a bit stiff but I'm sure I'm just parinoid. Should I keep away from the dealer for something as simple as pulling codes and determining (not fixing) my AAC concern based on their claim of two hours to swap thw switch? I have NOT found and idie shop in Columbus yet for tasks I cannot handle. My wife said the though he said $140+ per hour for service, does this seem correct for your market? My saab indie shop still charges $70 an hour so I must be living in black hole!

I did use rain-x which didn't seem to do much, is this plastic polish simular or a differnt animal? we did try the talcum powder and it seems to be helping but again I'm sure my first rain will ruin that idea!

I did see that post but the silicon thing looked like a PIA or temp idea so I just bought that one on ebay. Thanks for finding that, as I was looking last night and didn't come across that. Someone did mention they have seen them for about $10 cheaper but it was to easy to buy that! I'll try the baby powder tonight (as it makes sense) but I think it will be temporary at best (once it rains) as there is a lot of felt MIA. Have you done this fix yourself with sucess?

ah that was much easier! Don't know why I had so much trouble before getting around that website!

We'll I just got several emails back from the Durametric "peeps" and I figured this information would be of use to you as the guru. They claim that the section in the Durametric Software called Air Condition tests all sensors in the AAC system. They claim if there was a voltage or ohm reading out of spec within the servos, flaps and fans of the AAC their software would pick it up the same as the PST2. I only inquired as they called their section Air Conditioning and I was curious if it only read codes from the compressor and cooling system or the entire AAC, which they claim it does. I had/have no error codes in the Durametric Air Condition section. I will still take this to a independant shop to figure this out and have them PST2 it. I will then follow up on this topic if they find error codes on the PST2 which the Duremtric didn't pick up. Obviously the values and additional info the PST2 has (which you shared) is of great use and there may not be error codes but still have a value out of spec that may point to a jammed flap or funky sensor

I know I can request part numbers on the forums below (and I have!) but I'm curious how to do it on my own? I know there is a very complicated way to look via porsche's website but is there not some form of EPC sofware that shares this information? I've seen so called factory Porsche parts CD avaible from Germany on ebay, any comments?