JFP in PA

There is a lot of stuff in the way that has to come out first: 996 oil pump removal

Welcome to RennTech Try posting your request in the radio code request forum section (Lost Radio Code - post your request here) and you might get a response 😉

You should check that control unit, looking for signs of moisture or corrosion.

Alternator diodes can be tested in the car, but you need the correct hardware to do this.

The only thing under the driver's seat, besides the floor, is the electronic controller for the locking system, alarm, and immobilizer.

People tend to forget one simple fact: Oil seals wear and harden over time, so the older they are, the more questionable they become. So, a seal with a lot of miles on it that is not leaking, may just decide to start doing so 5 min. after you bolt the trans back on the engine. Seals are cheap, how much your time and labor are worth is another story. We replace every seal anytime the back of the engine is exposed; cheap insurance.

If it were up to me, I would update the RMS, and remove the rear facing seal of the IMS bearing so it can lubricate while you have the flange cover off to reseal that.

Welcome to RennTech Boxster door micro switch that lowers the window when handle is pulled

Porsche learned a bit of a hard lesson from the 986/996 cars; to save costs, all those cars were wired and even equipped for options like the on-board computer and Litronic headlights, even if they were not installed when they left the factory, apparently to save costs and in expectation that both they and the dealers would be able to cash in on "post-delivery" installations of these pricey options. But what ended up happening was both the independent shops and the DIY market taking advantage of the ability to do these upgrades without the dealers because the dealers were trying to charge full boat option prices to do things like activate the OBC system, which takes about 15 seconds to do. The later cars took a different pathway and required changing out sections of the wiring harness and adding electronics that require appropriate coding into the car's communications network to function properly, which cut out a large portion of the DIY and independents simply because many lack the required parts accessibility and coding ability.

Yes, I could see the photos.

Unfortunately, the Cayenne is not like the Boxster or 996 when it comes to retrofitting Xenon headlights; you simply cannot "plug and play" Xenon's for halogen lights as the wiring harness is different, the control module needs to be installed and requires coding, as does the CAN Bus system in order for everything to function. It can be done, but it is a lot of work and requires access to a PIWIS, and those that have done it seem to question the value of what you get for the all the work and expense. This may also be why the factory never offered retrofit kits like they did for the other vehicles. It seems that most people interested in this project go to aftermarket LED kits to get around the factory retrofit issues.

Welcome to RennTech From the factory, all Xenon equipped vehicles had auto leveling due to legal requirements in some countries, and as such had an additional control module for the leveling, leveling sensors on the chassis, and different wiring. And in the factory Xenon's, the leveling motor is in the headlight assembly, but is controlled by the external control module.

While I have heard of people changing out injectors without dropping the engine, it always ends up becoming a "build a ship in a bottle" exercise that takes up about three times as much time and labor. Once it is out in the open, if you do not have to remove the rail to get at it, you should be golden.

Unless you have oil on the plugs, the seals should be fine.

Leaking plug tube seals flood the plug tube, the oil doesn't go into the combustion chamber, and the plugs would come out dripping with oil:

Porsche specific scan tools are few, far between, and not cheap. The PIWIS system which the dealer's uses is a lease only item and costs $20K for the first year. A more reasonable alternative with about 80% of the PIWIS capability is the Durametric system which is a lap top software packing that comes in two flavors: Enthusiast for about $300, and the Pro for a little less than $800. There are other standalone units that claim to be set up for Porsche, but most are lacking in their capabilities.

This is a picture of a 996 plug tube seal:

I don't have a step by step, Loren may, but you can probably find one online. And changing them out requires removing the valve cover, which entails removing the air boxes, the air pumps, the torque arm, and a whole lot of other stuff as well. Definitely not a fun job. The more I look at your picture of the seal above, the more I am inclined to say it is a tube seal for one of Porsche's flat six engines, like the 996. The Cayenne tube seals are a bit more flat looking, and if one or more were missing, the plug tubes would be full of oil, which you have not mentioned: I'm now wondering if someone mistakenly put the flat six seals on the plugs that are in the car for some unknown reason.

The plug has nothing to do with that seal, it should go under the plug tube itself, not the plug. We get them from a dealer.

A "pending" code is just that, the system has seen it but has not triggered an alert just yet. This is done as these cars often throw ghost codes that are not real, so the DME has to see the fault reappear a certain number of times before the code goes "current" or active and triggering the check engine light or other indicators. If the fault does not reoccur the DME simply ignores it and no indicators light up, and the code vanishes from the DME. Some codes are designed not to clear unless the DME actually sees that the fault has been repaired; things like seat belts, air bags, and ABS fall into this category as no fixing them is dangerous, and they often require the use of a Porsche specific scan tool to clear them even after the repairs are made. I believe these are the codes that you call "permanent". In any case, if the actual fault has not been repaired, the system will continue to show it as "active", which is a requirement of the EPA to prevent people from just clearing codes before the car is inspected. When someone tries that trick, the emissions test system will deliver a "not ready" message, indicating that the DME has not seen enough drive cycles since the codes were cleared to determine that the system is fully repaired and working.

The fuel tank should have a venting system that uses the EVAP canister to relieve any pressure build up and vent it into the intake system to be burned. If anything blocks this pathway, pressure can build up in the system. As you already have the car apart, I would start checking each component of the EVAP system, the canister itself, the lines, and the valves to make sure nothing is blocked. You need to blow some pressurized air through the lines to make sure they do not have build-up in them, which is a common occurrence on these cars. Also check where the fuel pump enters the tank, the EVAP system should have a connection there as well. All the electric valves can be tested outside the car, I like you use a Power Probe for stuff like this, but you can jury rig something to do the job. The valve that normally craps out in this system is the one that lives underneath the intake of the M96/97 engine, which is also the hardest one to get to (of course). As you have a different engine in yours, I have no idea where that valve is located, but the vent line from that valve should lead to the intake system. The EVAP system is designed to be a closed loop to prevent vapors getting into the atmosphere, the canister acts as a "storage" tank to hold the fumes until the car starts up, and they are then pulled into the intake and burned off. Normal component failures in this network typically lead to small vacuum leak codes because the closed loop is now open to the atmosphere via the intake system. As yours is going to pressure, the vapor system is not getting rid of the fumes when it should.

That looks like a spark plug tube seal.

Welcome to RennTech At the risk of starting yet another "which oil is best" endless thread/argument, what you should be looking at in an oil is the level of ZDDP (and not ZDDP alternatives), shear resistance, heat transfer capability, thermal stability, film strength, and detergency; most of which is unrelated to the oil's published "X"W-whatever weights. And as this dead horse has already been severely beaten multiple times here and elsewhere, I would suggest doing some research.

If your tank's cap # does not end in -04, replace it with one that does. DO NOT use aftermarket caps.

Try our board sponsor, Sunset Porsche's online parts system; currently says it is available for about $63 plus shipping: Sunset Porsche Parts Online We have purchased parts that had to be shipped from Germany, and they offered a cheap "expedited" service that got them here pretty quick. And just for perspective, just about every dealer and independent shop has parts on backorder these days.