flyingpenguin

This seems to make sense: http://www.mototuneusa.com/break_in_secrets.htm Loren; if I am correct the engine's DME only records revs above 7,200, right? How could a warranty claim be denied because you ran it hard (without over-revving), while no record of "hard driving" exists? Joost

Not to rain on your party, but the squealing is a result of the grease in the rear bearing cap drying out. If you remove a couple of screws, you can regrease, replace and all is well again. Here's a picture of the starter. . The rear cap is where the number 27 is pointing. Joost

You might want to compare the data sheets in the attached zip file from Mobil's website (downloaded May 2008). You will see that a number of key parameters (total base number, phosphorous (as ZDPP I believe), viscosities) are very similar. I can't say for sure, but someone mentioned that the diesel formulation has significantly more detergents, which could be problematic if your engine is dirty, dislodging all kinds of stuff after the initial switch. Just out of curiosity. Why are you considering an oil that is not specifically formulated for gasoline engine use? I presume that availability of suitable oils should not be a problem and pricing will not be very far apart either. Joost Mobil.zip

You might want to contact these guys for some pointers on properly diagnosing your issues: http://www.flat6innovations.com/site/index...t&Itemid=14 This article also provides good insight (although it is long and maybe a little too detailed for my taste): http://www.autofarm.co.uk/pdf/911PW_Apr06.pdf Good luck and keep me posted. I am on Memorial & Sheppard. Joost

Sorry to hear about your woes. Who is working on your car now? I am in the Woodlands and may be able to help. In any case we are putting the engine back in my 2000 996 C2 this Sat., so if you want to come and take a look, you're more than welcome. PM me for details if you like. Depending on the condition of your engine I might be interested to buy it, as I am planning to do a rebuild myself. Joost

Ran it with the belt off to eliminate the possibility of bad belt/pulleys. Turns out it was the throwout bearing. Got a new clutch and bearing installed. Sounds great now! Glad you got to the root cause of this. Before reading your last post my first reaction was, that your starter might have gone bad. The original design in my 2000 C2 has a simple end cap with some grease in it instead of real bearing. If the grease dries out, you get a horrible squeal that lasts for about 5-10 secs upon cold start, and cold start only. Replaced the starter with a reman one for less than 200 bucks and all is fine now. Although this reply obviously does not apply to you, I hope that someone will benefit from this in the future. Joost

A quick update. I received the stage 2 clutch kit from SPEC, via LMPerformance.com, but as I did not specify that I needed a sprung disc for my LWFW, I received an unsprung one. LMPerformance has been VERY helpfull in getting it exchanged, and I expect it to arive tomorrow. The engine drop GTG was a success; motor is out, nobody hurt and learned a lot. This weekend everything is going back in, so will report on the results soon. Anybody in the Houston area is welcome to attend. We start at 9 am. PM me if you need directions. Joost

Not withstanding the advice above, I want to remove the engine. I have the shop manual for the 996 with good instructions, but am not sure how high I need to jack up the car to have enough clearance for the engine tranny combo to be safely removed. My estimate is that I need at least 1 m / 3 ft. I have a set of four heavy duty (12 ton) jackstands, but they will only go up about 2 ft. Any suggestions? Rgds, Joost

Thanks Paul. I ordered the stage 2 kit that seems a good value, especially compared to the price for the Sachs sprung disc on Pelican. This one has an upgraded pressure plate included for basically the same price. Will report back once it's all installed. I am planning an engine drop GTG during the X-mas holiday at my house in the Woodlands, TX. Anyone interested, drop me a PM. Joost

Thanks for the feedback. In that case I might opt for this SACHS unit that Pelican offers. http://www.pelicanparts.com/euro/cgi-bin/s...n=881861856-M38 Any ideas as to whether this could work? Joost

I do not know if it will fit in your car, but the primary reason to use a sprung disc with a solid flywheel should not be to reduce noise, but to save your shafts and bearings from destroying themselves. That is an even better reason to look at this soon! I think I will just order the GT3 clutch disc and give it a shot. If it doesn't fit, I'll just return it. I might even use the opportunity to do a complete engine drop. Will keep you posted. Joost

I am currently running a standard unsprung OEM clutch disc (997-116-013-10-M38) with standard hardware (pressure plate and throw-out bearing) on my 2000 996 with an AASCO LWFW. This is a pretty harsh / noisy set-up and I would like to replace the clutch disc with a sprung one. Has anyone tried the sprung clutch disc that is prescribed for the 996 GT3 that also comes with a single mass LWFW? I believe the partnumber for the sprung GT3 disc is 996-116-015-32-M38. Joost

How did the rebuild go? Joost

+1. I think I had about 3 smaller extensions to get to them. I used multiple short extensions, it was definitely a pain in the rear to change out the plugs (must have relatively small hands). +1 on the PITA. I ended up removing the rear bumber and mufflers to get good access to the most difficult plug holes. JP

Maybe you can buy mine lol! I'll give you the "pancake batter" in the crankcase and cooling system for no extra charge.... Seriously, thanks for the great info. Phillipj I wish you wisdom in making an informed decision. In any case, I am open to discuss buying your fried engine. I believe a core charge of around 500 bucks is the going rate these days, depending on the issues it has. Joost

There's a guy here in the US that rebuilt his M96 Boxster S engine. I believe he had a cracked head, not a D-chunk failure (that seems to be your problem). He documented his quest on . Not sure if you are the kind of handyman that it takes to do a project like this, but it certainly sounds attractive: Less than $3K for parts, special tools and some outsourced work vs. $12-15K for a rebuilt factory engine. I am actually looking for a 3.4L M96 engine to do the project myself... Just in case my 2006 rebuilt blows up. Joost

Your goal is to keep the engine from getting to that temperature in the frst place. You can do my fan mod which allows you to turn the fans on full speed with a flip of a switch and you will be able to control engine temps in stop and go driving. Radiator Fan and Engine Compartment Fan Switch Mod The 3.4 996 runs extremely hot when driving around town in temperatures higher than 75 degrees. This mod is a way to reduce coolant temps back to a safer level, helping to reduce oil temps and improving performance. The mod consists of installing a switch that will allow you to turn on the high speed radiator fans at any time, while maintaining the automatic operation of the fans. We do the same for the engine compartment fan. Radiator Fans Connect a wire to the ground (Pin #85) of the 2 high speed fan relays located on the relay carrier located in the driver’s side foot well. The relays are #20 and #22. Feed this wire to where your switch will be located. Connect the wire to one side of the switch. Connect another wire from the other contact on the switch and then connect the other end of this wire to a chassis ground point. With key on, this switch will now immediately turn on both radiator fans providing maximum cooling. When you turn the key off, the fans will continue to run for about 5 seconds until the relay shuts down. Your fan operation remains normal when the switch is off. Engine Compartment Fan Connect a wire to the ground of the relay located in the relay carrier behind the passenger seat, driver’s side. Relay #8. . Feed this wire to where your switch will be located. I simply fed the wire along the driver’s side of the car and under the door sill. Connect the wire to one side of the switch. Connect another wire from the other contact on the switch and connect the other end of this wire to a chassis ground point. With key on, this switch will now immediately turn on the fan drawing air into the engine compartment. When you turn the key off, the fan will continue to run for about 5 seconds until the relay shuts down. Your fan operation remains normal when the switch is off. This mod helps keep the engine compartment much cooler when driving around town and is particularly beneficial to any engine that draws its intake air from inside the engine compartment. It will also help keep engine temps down. If you are adventurous, you can automate the operation of these switches so they will switch off at a specific speed, or operate when vacuum is present only, etc. You can choose any style switch you want and even use Porsche switches. I simply used 2 toggle switches that I installed in the batwing, Jim Very useful write-up! I installed the 3rd radiator but in stop-and-go traffic, temps (even now that we're entering winter) still reach 100C and higher, so I guess I am going to do your mod soon. Any input as to which of the two mods gets you the biggest bang for the effort? I have a hunch that the high speed fans provide more cooling than the engine compartment fan. Correct? Joost

UPDATE Turns out one sensor was slightly damages by road debris and needed replacement. This was done by Porsche of North Houston under CPO warranty and all is working fine now. Joost

Edwin, Same problem with an '04 S. One beams higher than the other and want to adjust it. Any recommendations so far? Joost

You need the higher number to be at least 40 for the hydraulic valve lifters to work properly. I am in Houston, TX and use Mobil 1 15W50 Extended Performance all year round. It has 1200 ppm of ZDPP, which is good for added protection at high loads (eg. track days). Joost

My experience with the Wurth clearcoat is that it starts "absorbing" brake dust. No solution so far. Maybe a harder (epoxy) clearcoat will withstand the harsh brake dust. Joost

Rod, As I mentioned above, I guess the mid-grade shockproof would have been the right way to go, although I have to say that after a good 4 months and 4-5K miles with this stuff in the tranny, the 2/3 superlight + 1/3 heavy shockproof is working fine. If you read the following though, they say it is intended for non-synchro mesh gear boxes, where this product could be slippery, whatever that means. http://www.redlineoil.com/products_gearlub...mp;categoryID=6 I guess more user reports are needed to come to a final conclusion. Sofar I am sticking with it. BTW: Your clutch hydraulics are connected to your brake fluid system. There is a bleed nipple on the clutch slave cylinder that you should bleed together with your brakes. The Motive power bleeder is indispendable for this job. Joost

Interesting you mention the diagnostic tool. Aparently the park assist module does not have a fault memory (at least not in an 04 S), so it can only be diagnosed WHEN the problem is manifest AND while AT the dealership. So far the car has been to the dealer more than 5 times for this problem and it still persists. I will check if there is a TSB on this. JP

To remedy low octane, I would avoid using regular octane booster (just a few snippets from the web: http://www.automotivehelper.com/topic458390.htm). The most effective way, albeit not cheapest, to boost your octane is xylene, available at Homedepot, Lowes or Sherwin Williams. I buy it by the 5 gal. can for trackevents in the summer, when high temps tend to increase the engine's octane requirements. In your case 13 gal. of 87 + 2 gal. of xylene would restore your total octane to 91. In lower concentrations (<45% total aromatics in your tank) the xylene is not supposed to have negative effects on hoses etc. For more interesting reading see here: http://www.elektro.com/~audi/audi/toluene.html (As stated at the end of the article, toluene and xylene are very similar chemically and in their behaviour as octane boosters). Joost

Very interesting. I had a thorough PPI done at the same indie as Demosan for the 2003 C4S i purchased, and I specifically asked about their opinion of the condition of the clutch. The technician said the clutch was very firm and road test indicated a good strong clutch. My clutch is very heavy, has low take-up, but feels solid as a rock. Not sure what jperquin is saying here - a heavy pedal-feeling clutch is a bad sign? I have not owned a p-car previously, so nothing to compare with, but clutch feel is far heavier than clutches in other new models i have driven. Hi there, All I was saying is that with a new clutch / pressure plate, the pedal feels a lot lighter and grips much deeper. I guess it's imposible to compare between makes / models, but if for example one 2000 996 C2 has a lighter clutch feel than an otherwise identical other 2000 996 C2, chances are the first one's clutch is in better shape. Joost