john in lb

Hi. My spoiler sounds like it's struggling when it closes (bad squeaking). Is there a DIY for lubing it?

Just apply some greaseless lubricant on the plastic shafts and the little pin hinges and manually activate the spoiler up/down a few times - then wipe clean.

works well for about 6 to 12 months....

Any of you who are electrical hobbyists - can I wire up a capacitor inline to my RF modulator that will be sufficient to power it for those few seconds? Any tips on cap size, as well as wiring (inline or parallel, etc.) would be great.

And if it's a stupid idea, knowing now would be better than knowing later. ;)

Thanks in advance!

I don't think putting a capacitor is a good idea. It would be bulky and have negative effects on the start up side as well as who knows what in terms of impacting other circuits. I would go with the powering the RF transmitter from the same source as the CD/radio unit that you installed.

Well, thats about where mine sit so I guess all is fine. I thought they might tuck in a little lower since they have been hit by flying debris.

The issue remains: why does your wiper hit the vertical edge? My wipers don't - and I am also very impressed with how well they wipe the glass. Perhaps: did someone buy you larger or aftermarket wipers? Just a thought....

I am the original owner of a 2003 996 and I have never made any adjustments or changes to my wiper blades. Here is a photo of the blade sitting in its correct position.

I am showing you this to help you figure out if perhaps your blade has been changed out or has been somehow damaged (bent).

Good luck...

Dose anybody knows how to setup Automatic door locking? Doors lock automatically after speed reaches 5 mph.

Yes, you have to use the computer diagnostic tool (like the dealer has). You can set the doors to 4 different options - see the owner's manual for a description of these.

Once the option is set, you cannot change it on the fly - must use tool again.

01 Tiptronic C2 Cab- 62K

Kuhmo Ecsta SPT XL tires 6k miles

Newbee here to both Porsche and this site. When either accelerating rapidly to say 90 or so and even when staying around that speed for some time, my 01 996 Cab seems very light in the front end. The steering gets very loose and somewhat scary. :o The car just doesn't feel "planted" or stable My other car is a big heavy LS430 and it is very solid to 100+. The cab is entirely stock US. Is this to be expected in a 911, does it require a "dealer" visit, or what is the best inexpensive fix (besides slowing down) that might correct this "problem, if it is indeed a problem? The car is otherwise fine.

There is definitely something wrong with your car. The car gets into the "groove" starting at 80 and keeps getting better as you go past 100... It should definitely feel better than the Lexus (not even a close comparison).

Good luck.

Crazy question but does anyone have an idea why A/C on the driver side is cooler than on the passenger side?

I have a guess for you: The duct that is attached to the passenger side vent has some sort of leak... for example, it is partially disconnected from the grill and a little bit of warm air is mixing in with it...

Just a gues...

The radio, A/C, and headlights were on at the light. Temps have been around mid-50s here in the morning. So not real cold, beautiful weather to drive with the windows down.

Everything sounds right. While cranking the engine, battery voltage does drop to approximately 10V.

thanks Loren for the explanation.

Sorry if this sounds like a dumb question.

I assume OBC = On Board Computer. This computer displays several values in the display under my tach.

I have a 2003 Cab... and what do you mean "To turn on the OBC" ?

Would appreciate explanation of what you guys are trying to do.

Thanks.

Problem solved.

I checked the the AC diagnostics to see if the temp sensors and flap commands and positions looked right.

It all looked normal so I figured it had to be the control unit.

I decided to try to move the flaps open and disable them so the AC would work till a control unit came along on ebay.

I crammed my head into the footwell and started poking around when I noticed something that didn't belong there.

A little plastic bag that my newspaper comes in was sucked up against the intake vent. When I pulled it out cold air came blasting out of all the vents.

I spent at least 8 hours searching and reading. Drove around for 2 weeks in 95+ degree heat with no AC. Nearly spent $350 on a control unit. And all I had to do was reach under the dash and pull out a little plastic bag. :wacko:

I hope you recycled that plastic bag.... :D

In my opinion (and there is no absolutely correct answer here):

For casual driving, I usually keep it around 2500 rpm. As I accelerate, I rev up to 3500 and then shift to the next higher gear.

As you noted, it all depends on load. Load can happen by you applying more fuel to the engine or by you going up/down a hill. So the above guidelines are for casual driving on a flat road. If you are going up a hill, you need to rev up to a higher RPM (say 4000) before shifting up.

From here, you should experiment, listen and feel the engine, it will tell you if it is lugging or too loaded up for any given RPM. I can tell you that as you fine tune your driving style, that there is actually a slighty different optimal shift point for each gear - and not a constant set of rules for all 6 gears.

I have had my car for 5 years and still enjoy driving it every day... :)

Tried to put the top up on 02 996 C4 cab--rear panel went up about 8 inches then stopped. I noticed that the small flap on the drivers side was all the way up but the flap on the passenger side was only partially up. I held the pass side flap up while pushing the top button and the top went all the way up. What controls these flaps? A linear actuator motor? Is this a possible doit yourself fix or am I doomed to visit the stealer?

Did you check the pump reservoir liquid level? this is the hydraulic pump that raises / lowers the entire top system. It is a common issue where after a few years the liquid level gets too low. There are very detailed instructions to do this.

My 03 started acting up... and level was low... adding about 8 oz... fixed it perfectly

When I start my car I get a continuous high pitched whine from the engine compartment. It does not vary with the speed of the engine. I am not able to place where in the compartment but it has a sort of whine one might expect from a rapidly turning electric motor (eg a fuel pump).

Might anyone have any suggestions on how to track it down??

Thanks

Dennis

Consider a bad idler pulley bearing... I had that once, and it had a high pitched sound - almost pleasant to listen to from inside the cabin while driving....

My Porsche mechanic out of Bakersfield predicted this issue when I first purchased the car.

He told me it relates to the car "settling" when new... and also the aggressive way that Porsche sets the car up - to maximize handling.

When the first set was replaced, he realigned the car - staying within spec, but making the rear tires more square.

He was right on. The second set wore out completely even across.. and lasted about 21,000 miles. This current set looks pretty good too. By the way, all 3 sets have been the original model Michelins.

Was the mechanic at Family Porsche in Bakersfield? That's where I got towed to and they told me almost exactly what you said. I was looking to get some independent confirmation of this from my RennTech post. It's a plausible explanation, but it is puzzling that a factory set up car would wear so unevenly in the first 10-12,000 miles. If so, all new Porsche owners should get the same warning you got!

Tom

Yes it is Family Porsche. The mechanic you probably talked to is Dennis (He is their only Porsche certified mechanic). He is excellent and 100% trustworthy... He has worked on my car for the past 5 years and, when he does work, I am usually standing next to him in the service bay. Even though I have moved to the Los Angeles area - I still go back up to his shop if I need anything done.

I agree with you about Porsche telling you or even paying the cost of the first alignment... and I had asked Dennis about it... but, unfortunately, they just don't. By the way, through Dennis I have had superb warranty work done - and I was amazed at how much Porsche did cover... so, in the overall scheme of things, I thought the Porsche warranty experience was very good (even better than Mercedes).

Light sensor for instrument cluster

REALLY!? you mean a sensor to automatically dim the instrument cluster lighting based on the ambient light in the cabin?

Wow... I did not know that.... thanks

I've owned a number of sports cars over many years, but nothing as great to drive as my 2007 997 Cab (manual, PASM), which I picked up last May and now has 11,700 miles on it. Based on experience with soft high performance tires on an S2000 (which were gone at 10,000 miles), I have been watching the tire wear carefully. But it never dawned on me that a factory aligned car would wear the the rears very unevenly. And I never checked the inside edges of the tires, which requires getting down on the floor and shining a flashlight on them.

So ... over 100 miles each from four (!) Porsche dealers on a beautiful Porsche back road north of Paso Robles, out of cell phone range, I heard a bang and stopped before the tire flat warning turned on. Turned out that the inside edges of both rears had worn down to the steel belt, though the outsides were well above the tire wear indicator and looked like they had a few more thousand miles easily. Could the factory set alignment have gotten badly out of spec?

No. Four days later, with the new tires on, alignment showed the rears to be within range, but with camber close to the negative max. The camber was at -1°42' left and -1°41' right, with the spec range for these cars with PASM -1°45' to -1°15' .

The fronts did have the toe angle out of range (identically -10' and -11' for a spec range of 0' to +5'), but there was no sign of uneven front tire wear. A single tire hitting a pot hole would not have done this or pushed both the rears the same amount from where they had been set. So either it was some kind of common bump I hit (don't remember any), or the weight of the car changed the factory setup, or this is the way the factory set it.

I would be interested in expert opinion on what happened here. I had all the tires at within 0-1 lb of specified pressure for half load when I was driving alone with little cargo, and full load spec when driving cross country with my wife and luggage. I would guess about 7500 mile was on cross country straight roads or interstates at 80 MPH or more, and the rest on winding Northern California coastal mountain roads.

Does the factory routinely set up cars at maximum camber? Should one expect a new car to wear so unevenly in this kind of mix of driving? Was some of the cause of this keeping the tires at the half load pressure? Does alignment settle in significantly in the first 10,000 miles? Should I fuss at Porsche, even though the warranty explicitly excludes alignment issues? Should Porsche call this possibility out more clearly (along with the gazillion other warnings about tires in their manuals)? Any other suggestions or comments welcome (except snide remarks that I should have checked the inside wear).

I have a 2003... and with 42,000 miles. I am now on my 3rd set of rear Michelins.

I had the exact same issue that you described... although my first set lasted 15,000 miles. My Porsche mechanic out of Bakersfield predicted this issue when I first purchased the car.

He told me it relates to the car "settling" when new... and also the aggressive way that Porsche sets the car up - to maximize handling.

When the first set was replaced, he realigned the car - staying within spec, but making the rear tires more square.

He was right on. The second set wore out completely even across.. and lasted about 21,000 miles. This current set looks pretty good too. By the way, all 3 sets have been the original model Michelins.

I still have my original fronts and they are wearing fairly even. I expect to be replacing them when this set of rears need to be changed out (say 55K). I did rotate them once left to right at around 20,000 miles.

My expectation at this point is to not need another alignment going forward - unless the car / chassis are hit.

Ok, you have lost me.

Your car is a MY03 996 so it's cluster should look like this.

Item 4 is the light that lights up when the cruise in ready mode.

Where is this other light again?

Very unrelated... but can you tell me what light 10 does?

thanks.

Have anyone installed the Sylvania Silverstar clear turn signal bulbs in their Cayenne? My concern is the higher wattage (27W vs stock 21W). I just want to be sure the additional heat doesn't damage anything.

Should be fine... 6 Watts won't make any difference in terms of temperature... To give you an idea, a little nightlight is typically 7 watts... and it barely gets warm.

You may not like the extra light however - might make your turn signal lights overly bright... check it out at night.

Yeah, just reading this older thread... I like the idea of Helium...funny!

So, I can't imagine that the Nitrogen fill is crap, since it's what my dealer put in my tires when I bought the car. And yes, I am pretty sure they did fill from a Nitrogen cannister, came with tag that had a serial number, and valve caps that look nice and say nitrogen on them.

I suppose I could just ask the dealer, but I'm curious from others if they have this and if they've had to top it off or anything. After 3000 miles so far I my tires still have the same firm ride.

The dealer I bought from was Fletcher Jones in Fremont, CA.

Sorry.... but nitrogen fill is pretty much C**P, the only valid issue is the water content mentioned above. By the way, driving around Fremont and using your A** to judge how firm the ride is, pretty much does not count as solid proof that Nitrogen must work... :P

I suggest you check your tire pressure... you will find that it has probably dropped a couple of pounds... not because of how much has or has not leaked out, but because the air temperature has dropped significantly since September / October.

Please don't be offended - I am just having a little fun. However, seriously, you should maintain your tire pressure over the four seasons.

Have a 2k C4 Cab that recently has been acting up. When you set the climate contol to auto and set the temp at..say70 F it seems to heat the cabin well past this temp. I have never had a problem with this in the past and have thought it was one of the best climate control units out there.

Any suggestions?

Thanks

As discussed above, the sensor is on the right side of the dash. It is a thermocouple with a small fan to blow over it. It could be the thermocouple or the fan (or anything which prevents cabin air from blowing over the thermocouple.) Unfortunately, a thermocouple is something that does not fail very often... so, if that's not the problem, then you have to consider the control unit or the thermocouple located in the front of the car (the one that reports the outside temperature on your dashboard).

This brings me to the second point... the thermocouple located in the bumper is part of the climate control system, to the extent that it helps decide how much extra heat or cooling to add (based on the difference between the incoming fresh air and the desired temperature). So the service rep was kind of right - but not being clear. The end result is the climate control uses both sensors to maintain cabin temperature.

Loren might be able to shed more light as to how to diagnose the problem further.

Don't forget to rotate your tires...

Just because they are directional, doesn't mean they can't be rotated. You just have to have them flip the tires on the rims and then mount them on opposite sides.

Can nearly double the life of the tires.

Why bother - I just use the classic X pattern rotation... Steering is a little odd, but its great on tire life... :soapbox: :clapping: :D

If the battery reads less than twelve volts it's bad, specifically one cell has shorted out . Each cell adds 2 volts to the battery. You will be able to jump start the car and drive but you are risking damage to your charging system. Replace your battery.

David

I fully agree. 3 year old battery, went dead... these are all the signs - By the way, the dealer might actually cover it under the original warranty. (they replaced mine a couple when it was about 14 months old... said it was a courtesy change out given the low voltage reading).

I run the higher pressure in my tires, and due to the hard ride I use 100% Nitrogen in my tires. The molecule is larger, not only is the ride a little softer, it's also not as noisy.

Not trying to start anything, but you must be sniffing the Nitrogen if you think it gives you a quieter/softer ride. The only advantage you will get is, perhaps, the lack of moisture compared with standard air filled.

Oh, Oh! Now you have done it.... you've started a Nitrogen versus Air post.... we won't be able to stop it.... it will overwhelm the servers...

:thumbup: