demosan

Nice write up!. But I have a stooper anyone know how to get a floor jack under a car with a 3" clearance? I've using the factory to first raise the body to get one under there. Is there an easier way?

ViolaGT3,

As was mentio ned previously in this string of posts, use two pieces of a 2x12 as a mini ramp under each rear wheel to get more clearance for your jack. WOrks like a charm for me. The lengh of the first 2x12 is about 18" with the top piece being about a foot long screwed to the 18' piece. Sorry no pics, but I'm sure you get the idea.

Demosan

Mid 40's delivered price. Lo teens mileage. Hi options. Aero kit. Leather. Nav. 18's. One owner. Metallic Blue. Said to be perfect. I am new to Porsche. This seems like an extra nice car fully priced. I have not driven a Porsche 911 but I hear it is fun. Car is out of state. Dealer is highly recommended to me found it and is prepared to bring it in for me to look at. Does this seem like a car worth buying? Would you go for a newer car at a higher price? Higher miles at a lower price? A Cayman S for a few more dollars? Or what?

Thanks for the help.

SOunds to me like the price is bit high and without a CPO warranty from the dealer a bit risky as the 99's were prone to some engine problems that seemed t occur around 20K miles. I purchased my 02 C4S with 23K and a nice complement of options for $54K late last summer for comparative purposes and included an extended warranty till 09. It sounds as if the car may be a well maintained and low milage car, but as others have suggested, check to see if the engine is original and what the service reords were for the car. I think you could do better and get a newer car with the 3.6 motor and more HP for not a lot more money. The Caymen is a great car, but I still prefer the carrera coupes for room and styling. Not sure what you intend to do with the car, i.e. daily driver, track car, combo or whatever, so those variables would also help get your choices narrowed down. I suggest you read some of the threads on this forum to familiarize yourself with some of the "issues" with the early 99's mentioned by others if you have not done so already.

Good luck and be patient as I sense there are a lot of 02+ carrera's on the market right now and there are great deals to be had.

Demosan

weydeki,

Your car looks great!! :thumbup: DO you have standard suspension as those 19's look great and was curious as to fitment with standard suspension.

Demosan

Sorry - know this has been asked many times before but I just cant find it! Has anyone got a stereo wiring diagram for a 1999 C4 please - just need to figure out the loom that previously went into the stereo so I can hook up the new one

Very grateful for help

Alex

Alex,

I just put a traffic pro in my 02 C4S NA version and used the manual that came with the car radio as it has a complete wiring diagram of the radio. Not sure of UK version cars, however if you go to the Harmon Kardon site they have wiring diagrams in reference material tha tshould work for you. I assume HK, i.e. Becker was the radio mfg. in the 99Model year.

Demosan

hi, demosan sorry to be of not much help they wouldnt tell me the problem because the guy who done it was on his lunch break, just paid £40 and drove off, chris...

pOrka,

Sounds like it couldn't be much of a problem to solve if it was only 40 quid. Likely a good cleaning of the contacts with contact cleaner. The full contact replace process ( referenced on TSB on this site) implied a few hours of labor to replace parts etc. GLad to hear your problem is apprently solved, and I hope it doesn't reoccur as others have experienced.

Demosan :thumbup:

hi, demosan went down the seat belt route, but no joy, had the code read this,morning problem now solved and yes it was a, trip to dealer thanks for the reply ..chris

hi, can any,1 tell me how to disable airbag, light on a, 2.5 uk, boxter, the car was involved in an accident about 5, years ago, its been on ever since, thanks.. chris.

I have also just got an "airbag" light set and have tried to clear with OBD II and apparently it requires a PWIS or Durametric tool to read and clear FYI. Looks like a trip to the dealer as a last resort and a search for a Indie with the right tools. I am sure you have read to the links dealing with the likely root cause as "corroded" contacts in your seat belt retainer. Contacts are in the seat belt clasp as I understand it and electrical contact cleaner spray can clear up the problem. I have not tried this cleaning method yet but will in the next few days, tim e permitting. I understand in reading the my search of links dealing with this issuem there was a TB on the problem with the older P cars ( pre-2000) that required the dealer to replace seat-belt retainer or retro-fit gold contacts for originals from the factory. Perhaps your car may be eligible for the retro-fit if it has not been performed as the factory was supposed to have changed to a more reliable contact sometime in the MY 2001 vintage. Good luck with the resolution!!

Demosan

pOrka,

Glad to hear the problem was solved by the dealer and code cleared. What was the dealer solution?? As I mentioned to you in my original response, I have a similar problem and perhaps I can learn from your experience?? TIA

Demosan

hi, can any,1 tell me how to disable airbag, light on a, 2.5 uk, boxter, the car was involved in an accident about 5, years ago, its been on ever since, thanks.. chris.

I have also just got an "airbag" light set and have tried to clear with OBD II and apparently it requires a PWIS or Durametric tool to read and clear FYI. Looks like a trip to the dealer as a last resort and a search for a Indie with the right tools. I am sure you have read to the links dealing with the likely root cause as "corroded" contacts in your seat belt retainer. Contacts are in the seat belt clasp as I understand it and electrical contact cleaner spray can clear up the problem. I have not tried this cleaning method yet but will in the next few days, tim e permitting. I understand in reading the my search of links dealing with this issuem there was a TB on the problem with the older P cars ( pre-2000) that required the dealer to replace seat-belt retainer or retro-fit gold contacts for originals from the factory. Perhaps your car may be eligible for the retro-fit if it has not been performed as the factory was supposed to have changed to a more reliable contact sometime in the MY 2001 vintage. Good luck with the resolution!!

Demosan

Last week I noticed a rattle from the rear of my "02 C4S. Definitely sounded mechanical and exhaust related. After much poking and tapping around under the car I think I've identified the source. It seems to be from the LH catalytic convertor. I'm guessing that something has broken loose inside the cat, as it rattlrs when I tap on it with a rubber mallet, and I ensured that it was not touching or rubbing against any other component.

So, as I see it I have the following options:

Do nothing. The harmonics of the rattle are such that it only rattles at idle, and it's difficult to hear in the cockpit. It doesn't seem to affect performance and I'm guessing the car will still pass smog check.

Replace it with a genuine Porsche part. Any idea of cost?

Install an aftermarket exhaust system, but I'm not sure if these systems include cats.

Comments and suggestions welcome. Is this common, anyone else have a simialr experience?

PTEC is correct in tha ta MY o2 should still be in warranty coverage especially here in CA. My daughter had an ACURA and the dealer replaced defective CAT with 99K miles and 9 yr old car. If I am not mistaken, CA warranty period is 10 yrs for components in the emission chain.

demosan

I've notice that the inside rim of the exhaust tips are faily sooty; is this normal or is any soot on the exhaust a sign that the engine is 'running too rich?' The soot is very black and dry and is primarily located on the fold between the inside of the tip and the outside chrome finish meet.

My 02 C4S looks the same, especially when I haven't been a long ride at highway speeds. SHort trip are not a "good thing" for the P-car as others have referenced on this forum. Take it for a good run and "clear the cob-webs"!! :drive:

demosan

Ok, i found the Antenna.

but now i have to know if it is an 5V or an 3V antenna.

http://www.trimble.com/gpsbc_oem_ant.shtml

Thanks for your post´s.

Maybe Loren knows about that Antenna?

I just installed a trafficPro in my 02 C4S and bought the unit from Becker. Kit comes with WISI GPS antenna (model AG 13)that is made in Germany and in reading the spec for the antenna it will operate between 3.5 and 5.5Volts. Not sure the same supplier was used for GPS antenna in PCM 1 systems or not, however if you can see the model info on your existing antenna being WISI and same model it should work in either a 3 or 5 volt installation.

Goodluck with the installation!!

demsoan

I installed the ROW M030 and had my car aligned at Porsche approx one year ago, and noticed that the inside portion of my rear tires (285's) is wearing much faster than normal.

I was wondering if Porsche sells a different piece for ROW cars that is more adjustable that the ones on our US cars?

It is significant enough that I am thinking of going back to stock 265's as well to see if that helps... What I don't want to do is pay for an alignment and new set of tires every year...

Suggestions?

Paul

Paul, I too have the same wear pattern you describe in your note on the rears of my 02 C4S ( 295's). I am close to getting new tires and plan to set the negative camber in the rears to the minimum of the Porsche spec as I do not trackl the car where the negative camber helps with lateral traction and handling. my car has 26K miles and the fronts are original and the rears have already been replaced once ( soon to be third). have run Pirelli Rosso asymtrico and will not use them for this next replacement as many have referenced on this site the Pirelli's are a less favored and noisy.

demosan

Today I hooked up the lemon battery to my volt meter again to see if it had any juice left. Yesterday the meter said .429 volts. Today it is .925 volts, almost the 1 volt I had expected yesterday. Weird. Do you think I have a lemon lemon battery?

With that kind of voltage increase I thought I should design a lightweight version for racing applications. So - I cut the lemon in half....

Just think of the power if the penny were of copper content of the past instead of the current steel alloy!!

I have a 99 996 Cab with the standard radio with a 6 disk cd changer. It's worked great until the other day. Coincidentally, I just changed my battery although I would not expect that to have any impact. The issue (recognized after the battery change) is that when I change to CD mode, the display just says "Loading". No CD appears to ever load and definitely does not play.

Does anyone have suggestions or things that I should check / try to verify if there is a problem?

I would appreciate any pointers or things that I can check and return with more info.

Thanks

When you replaced your battery, did you have to load the code into the radio when you turned it back on after the battery replace or did you keep a power source to all the car electronics during the battery replacement process?? If you had "low voltage error codes" set and cleared them, you might want to disconnect the battery again ( with key in the ignition in the numer 1 position to avoid alarm issues) and then wait a few minutes and reconnect. Make sure you have radio code as in this procedure the radio will ask for the code as soon as you power on.

Good luck!!

The cover for the GPS antenna is clipped in place. It just pulls off, or worst case stick a plastic putty knife under it and pop it off . The issue is that the plate that the GPS antenna mounts on is held in with 2 torx screws that are difficult to get at without pulling the defroster vents up and out of the way. The vents are just held in with spring clips, so just pop them out of the way (putty knife again)to get to the screws. You don't have to take the entire defroster vent out, just pop the clips closest to the center antenna cover.

You need to pull the antenna mounting plate out of the way to get the GPS antenna lead down to where the radio will be. I taped the end of the antenna lead to a coat hanger wire to push it down from the top.

Be sure to cover the area around the defroster vents, etc. with masking take to protect against scratches.

OE, ra

Thanks for the response and I have (since sending my note) essentially stumbled into following the same steps you have suggested. As a result, I have removed the alarm/sunsensor plate after removing the 2 torx screws, but am still having a tough time routing the GPS antenna cable to the dash TP location. I have also "popped" the defrost vent on the drivers side close to the GPS antenna mounting location as you suggested hoping that would make the GPS cable routing easier but still have not been sucessful with getting the cable routed to radio location. I am using a soft wire for trying to find a routing path as you suggested with no luck. Now that you have confirmed I am on the right path I will continue with this approach.

It appears my 02 C4S coupe is a bit more difficult than the the cab installation as all the service bulletins I have read only reference boxer installations. Oh well, no one said this would be easy!!

Thanks again for your help!!

coat hanger wire is pretty stiff, and you need to be able to jam it down behind the defroster ducts. I would assume that you have the radio and the A/C controls out so you have a big hole to work with. Just push the coat hanger guide wire down through the hole under the sunsensor plate and look for it below. It will tend to want to go behind the defroster duct work, which is ok because you can get at it from a little lower down.

Once you see it below, tape the GPS antenna cable to the topside wire, and pull it through. It is a tight fit, but you can pull it through.

OE,

Thanks for your advise and I had the ATC control out as well as everything else but the fresh air dash vents ( above the ATC controls). WHen I removed that, the routing is really easy as you can see the opening by the GPS mounting plate. Installation complete and the functionality of the Traffic Pro is really slick for a single DIN GPS and the clean lines of my dash are maintained.

Thanks for your help as well as BigSquid and first DYI project completed for me!! :thumbup:

Hi,

Are front pressures more important than rears to get right? My thinking is its more important for the rears, but I may be wrong!

Jason

For the street, I would suggest the rears are more sensitive to tire pressure as the weight distribution in the rear and much wider tire will lead to uneven wear ( ignoring the negative camber issue).

My 2 cts.

The cover for the GPS antenna is clipped in place. It just pulls off, or worst case stick a plastic putty knife under it and pop it off . The issue is that the plate that the GPS antenna mounts on is held in with 2 torx screws that are difficult to get at without pulling the defroster vents up and out of the way. The vents are just held in with spring clips, so just pop them out of the way (putty knife again)to get to the screws. You don't have to take the entire defroster vent out, just pop the clips closest to the center antenna cover.

You need to pull the antenna mounting plate out of the way to get the GPS antenna lead down to where the radio will be. I taped the end of the antenna lead to a coat hanger wire to push it down from the top.

Be sure to cover the area around the defroster vents, etc. with masking take to protect against scratches.

OE, ra

Thanks for the response and I have (since sending my note) essentially stumbled into following the same steps you have suggested. As a result, I have removed the alarm/sunsensor plate after removing the 2 torx screws, but am still having a tough time routing the GPS antenna cable to the dash TP location. I have also "popped" the defrost vent on the drivers side close to the GPS antenna mounting location as you suggested hoping that would make the GPS cable routing easier but still have not been sucessful with getting the cable routed to radio location. I am using a soft wire for trying to find a routing path as you suggested with no luck. Now that you have confirmed I am on the right path I will continue with this approach.

It appears my 02 C4S coupe is a bit more difficult than the the cab installation as all the service bulletins I have read only reference boxer installations. Oh well, no one said this would be easy!!

Thanks again for your help!!

I would like to know what mileage everyone has on the 996. Also, if there has been problems with the car, please list it.

Thanks!

My 02 C4S has 25K and no major problems of any consequence. I agree with others it would be interesting to capture a data base of reliability info for reference of all users. At the same time, given the diverse conditions and 'duty cycles" the membership drives their cars it might be a bit tricky correlating the info into a meaningful summary.

my 2 cts.

demosan

Loren/all,

I am in the middle of installing a trafficpro nav (model 4763 from Becker NA) in my 02 C4S. I have searched all the posts I can find on the topic and can't seem to find the instructions on defrost panel removal so I can remove the alarm LED/sunsensor assembly for GPS cable routing. Any help is appreciated!! This is my first DIY mod and it is turning into a more complicated project than I anticipated !!

TIA

demosan

driving along this evening in heavy rain and my abs light came on. i have swithced the car off and back on again several times, and it still comes on but not instanly. the pump does work when the light doesn't come on when i have applied the brakes hard enough to try out the abs.

any common faults?

chec kbrake fluid first. May be low as you may be approaching the need for a brake job as well. When was last brake service??

demosan

Demosan, you have a PM. If for some reason it doesn't go thru, PM me about the Becker stuff.

-Mike

mike,

sent you a couple of PM's

Demosan

From my failing memory. US version of Traffic Pro was discontinued about 2 years ago. I remember because a bunch of us Boxster owners bought them for about $400 from Crutchfield or ebay. It was 4773. 4763 is the same but says Porsche. For a while even Becker was selling both versions at a substantial discount.

From reading all the posts here I realize that HK or Becker has discontinued the TrafficPro for Porsche. My strategy for finding one is to keep looking on Ebay and calling Becker NA to see if I can purchase a refurb unit and of course using this forum in the classified section as have others.

Thanks for info and if you know of any of your boxster friends who may be ready to upgrade to a 2Din type of unit relacing their TP send me a PM and I will contact them.

Demosan

Yeah, I tried that again and it finally worked. Pushed in that tab and wiggled the tool out. Thanks everyone.

-Mike

Mike,

I noticed your post for finding a trafficpro for a retrofit of your CD 220. I a m looking to do the same in my 2002 C4S. Do you have any leads as to where I could find either a 4763, 4773, or 7881 model ?? I have searched a multiple of sites, ebay etc. and can't seem to find one anywhere. It is puzzeling to me as to why HK doesn't have a retofit option for navigation in a 1DIN configuration as they do in Europe and ROW P-cars??

TIA Demosan

Well, the car goes to the dealer today for the engine replacement. Thanks to all for their comments.

After all, its only money......

Sorry to hear of your engine problems. Curious as to how long it will take the dealer to get the remanufactured motor from PCNA and get it installed?? Which dealer are you using as I am in Sd as well and curious as to who you use as I have had my P-car only a few months and will be needing service soon.

Good luck with the replacement process!!

Demosan

For the first few seconds of startup I have a timing chain slap. Is this a known problem? The engine has 106.000 miles.

What parts would have to be replaced? The engine is very good sounding after this VERY short (2-5 sec) noise at cold startup.

Or should I not worry about it. On the other hand, could it be trade in time?

Thanks

Could be the early signs of a tensioner going bad!! I have only had my P-car 4 months and have never had the engine apart for any internal problem so I will defer to the 'experts" like Loren or Toolpants for a more comprehensive response. Left tensioner runs about $40 and right is about a $100. Labor for replacement if not a DYI is ?? If you replaced the tensioners, it would probably worth the cost to replace the timing chain as well.

demosan

Hi, newby here. My 02 996 coupe front hood and fuel filler door no longer lock/unlock with the key remote. Any ideas?

Dead battery in the remote?

Doors lock/unlock fine with the remote, so I assume it must be electrical in the car, not the remote?

sounds to me as if the actuator (solenoid essentially) that locks the gas cap may be failing or the actuator isn't getting power. Not sure what the fuse location would be for the gas cap actuator. As Loren says, getting the OBD II codes is probably the next step.

Demosan