laalves

Thanks, I did that, under load (i.e. during starting) and the MAX I saw in the voltmeter was 18 mV of voltage drop in the ground cable and 25mV in the + cable, which is obviously negligible. So I guess those cables are good. I got 14.10V cold in the jump points, just after start, whilst reading 14.00V in the battery. However, letting it run and warm up, both values went down slowly but surely and after 15min of idling I had 13.8 in the back and 13.6 in the front. When I turned on A/C at LO setting, headlights and rear window defroster it went down to 13.00V in the front. If I throttled up to 4000rpm (it's a Tip, it won't go above that whilst idling) I would get 13.72V in the front under those loads. I'm beginning to suspect that either the regulator or the alternator is going. Since the regulator is not expensive, I'll get a Bosch one and replace it to see what happens.

Reading through the low voltage at the battery threads, I did notice that my bike used to have 13.8V engine running with the OEM AGM. With the lithium, it now has 14.6-14.7V, just bordering the maximum allowed by the battery of 15V. I suppose this is due to the different internal resistance and charging current. I’m curious to see if in the car the same is going to happen.

Hi all, As I’m changing the battery, I’m checking the whole charging system as well. I measured the battery to ground cable: 0,5 Ohm and the battery to distributor: 1 Ohm. Would these be normal values? I’m going to remove them and clean the contact areas to see if those values go down as they seem excessive, with so short and thick cables. Also tempted to simply buy new ones, the ground is just 15€, the other is more, 47€. I‘m getting 13.6V engine running with no loads and 13.2V all loads on. It’s not bad but I wouldn’t mind having closer to 14V.

Hi all, As my 5-year old Bosch S5A13 battery is on its way out, not holding charge for more than a few days if off the tender, I decided to look for lithium batteries. As the popular US Antigravity ones are not available or very difficult to find in Europe those were ruled out. I had seen the very cool and flashy Liteblox ones, with lovely carbon fiber housings but the prices were 10 times the price of an AGM, such as another Bosch or Yuasa. Then I found an Australian brand called LithiuMax which are available in Europe and decided to have a go from a German reseller who made me an early 20% off Black Friday discount which amounts to 3-3.5 times the price of an AGM. If they live up to their promises of lasting between 3 to 5 times a conventional battery (I kind of doubt that....), it would even be cost effective. It's a RESTART9 model with an adapter bracket: Lithiumax RESTART9 LiFePO4-Battery with BMS - Burkhart Engineering BURKHART-ENGINEERING.COM It's also 3.3 kg which compares nicely with the 27 kg of the S5A13. Weight is not a driver of my decision, as this is not a track car but it's always good to shed some weight. Recently, I also exchanged my BMW R nineT's battery with a Skyrich HJP21-FP lithium and it's similar: the OEM battery (dead after 2.5 years, as good as the Porsche Moll ones 😞 ) weighs about 5kg and the new one weighs 1.3kg. It even felt as if I was installing an empty Tupperware into the bike but it is one empty box that packs 360CA against the OEM's 200CA. It's amazing, really. Anyway, the LithiuMax is on its way, should be here mid next week and will report on my initial impressions.

Another one for Dido Tuning off the auction site 😁 Complements the other (original) alu bits nicely.

99% of car audio speakers are 4 ohm. The Bose system in the 996 is quite odd in that it is 2 ohm. If you connect 4 ohm speakers to a digital amp only ready for 2 Ohm, it will work, but the speakers will sound tiny and potentially overheat the amp and burn it. I'm sure people have tried that in the past, I haven't so I don't really know what would happen.

Another update, there is another, smaller leak, more like a sweat. It's coming from the right side and is inaccessible due to the water pump manifold. To have a go at this, would require quite a bit of disassembly so I guess I will live with this, unless it does get worse. Or maybe with thin locking-pliers I would manage to give the bolt a quarter turn as another stop-gap measure, not best practice, I know but perhaps better than leaving it as it is? Any views? I changed the oil last week and changed from Mobil 1 0w40 to 5w50 which is more suited to my climate anyhow and maybe (a small maybe) the higher viscosity might also help a little bit with slowing down the progress.

Hi, The Bose setup of the 996 is somewhat non-standard: the headunit is connected via speaker-level cables to the Bose amp, which is connected to: 1. front dash speakers (2 Ohm) 2. door woofers (2 Ohm) 3. rear fill-in speakers (2 Ohm, working from a single channel, ie, mono) 4. subwoofer amp, via speaker-level cable. 4.1. the above is then connected via speaker-level cable to the 2 rear subwoofers (2 Ohm, working from a single channel, ie, mono) Unless you find a much better 2 Ohm amp that is able to replace the Bose amps (which I'm not sure such a thing exists), I don’t see the sound improving significantly from the Bose speakers, they're not very good to start with. When you remove and examine them, they also don't quite look like hifi standards: cardboard cones, shoddy cabling and soldering, small magnets. My current setup includes a Audiotec-Fisher Match M5DSP amp/processor and a Focal FD 1.350 subwoofer amp in the exact same factory amp positions, feeding Focal speakers, all in the factory locations and with factory grilles: 2 x Utopia Be 13WS as door woofers 2 x Utopia Be 13WS as rear subwoofers 2 x 100KP as dash speakers (bi-amped, which is not the factory case) 2 x 100KP as rear speakers (mono, like the factory) This allowed me to preserve the factory look and not even the amps are visible. I used to have a very different setup with huge amps but I got fedup with the looks and the technology nowadays allows for excellent size/sound quality compromises.

As a quick update, I tightened the bolt by 90º and cleaned the engine bottom with brake cleaner. 300km later it's still clean. I don't believe in miracle cures so I guess this is only a temporary fix but it is working for the moment.

02 996TT 176000km, original engine and Tip tranny.

After looking at the engine a bit more carefully, it appears it is the timing chain tensioner bolt that is actually visible in the photo. I was thinking it was coming from higher above but it looks like that bolt is the culprit. Looking at the parts catalog, I can identify it but can't see any o-ring. It looks like it has a crush washer rather than an o-ring though, unless there's one in a flange recess. In 911uk.com, another fellow has the same but does not know the procedure to change this. Looking at the manual, all the mention is taking the complete assembly apart, engine removed. It would appear the camshafts would have to be locked. I'm tempted to check the torque (the manual says 25Nm) but I won't until I learn more, camshafts are not the sort of thing I like to touch without knowing exactly what I'm doing and its consequences. Off course, torque check would only slow the leak, at best, if anything. In the parts catalog, it is item 13 of illustration 103-15, P/N 993 105 275 52. It says "Information available", i.e, there is a related TSB. Anybody knows anything about this? Any idea on how to replace this part as I suppose the tensioner shaft and/or camshafts must be locked in position?

Well, after my own digging, I found that the seat bottom cushion does not have a heater integrated, although it looks like it does in the photo above and also in the parts catalog: the illustration shows it with a lead and a plug dangling. So, to go ahead I just need the two mats, the two cable bundles from my original seats and the two control units and most importantly, find a way to fit the mats into the seat cushions which may not work, given they are segmented. Am investigating that.

For years now (5+), I have a small oil leak on my MY02 996TT Tip. Oddly enough, It has actually improved after I replaced the engine mounts (were and are Porsche originals) and the transmission support, also with a Porsche original. I say the leak improved because I used to find drops oil on my garage floor and they were getting larger. After I replaced the above, they stopped... Anyway, I'd like to take care of this, thus I'm posting a photo, hoping to get some clues of what should I be looking for, what is the most likely culprit considering where the oil shows up and what should I do to positively identify the source. It clearly comes from the left side of the car, somewhere above on the rear side of the engine. What is there that can cause this?

Nice. I've been toying with the idea of putting an Aerokit into mine as well. Original ones can still be bought from Porsche or from Carnewal or any of the other usual suspects. If my hydromechanical contraption in the back dies (it did once, under warranty, 10 years ago), I will go for the Aerokit instead of spending on a new cylinder set.

That's a really beautiful and quite rare car, white is rare and even more so with the aero kit. It doesn't look like factory though, since the lower sill covers and the front lip are not in the body colour. Either that or the lower sills were replaced with plain plastic ones and the lip was painted black or is an aftermarket one.

Hi all, Sometime back, I installed a pair of 997 foldable buckets in my 996TT. Whilst these are superb, I lost the heated seat function of the original Comfort seats. As the car has this option (M342), all the wiring and control units are there, I thought I could add the heating elements into the 997 buckets, reusing the wiring, switches, etc. Did anybody try something like this?I have identified, with the help of rosepassion.com, the heating elements, as per PET for MY02 996TT with M342, i.e., left/right heated seats. I'm intrigued with the fact that for the bottom cushion, there seem to be 2 elements, one below the cushion and another on top of it, integrated with the cushion. In the 2017 PET, sheet 817-05, these are items 8 (996 521 531 01), 9 (996 521 525 00) and 16 (996 653 105 01) as per the photos attached. I don't feel like tearing my original Comfort seats to find out the details and am wondering if anybody had experience with repairing their seat elements and can confirm whether all 3 elements are used and are installed like it seems from the PET illustration: - Item 8 installed between the backrest cushion and the leather cover; - Item 9 against the leather as well; - Item 16, beneath item 9. As to plugs, do all 3 elements plug directly into the sockets of the wiring harness underneath the seat? From the photos, the cables seem to be long enough for that purpose.

I had this a few years ago, coolant slowly disappearing. Turned out to be a cracked expansion tank. Had to replace it.

Hi all, I've installed two 997 original bucket seats (the ones with the foldable backs) in my 996TT. I seem to remember reading that somebody made carbon fibre covers to cover the side airbags in the seats (that are irrelevant for a 996, as those have them in the door panels). Does anybody know anything about this? Would love to remove the airbags and put CF covers on top, instead of those plastic covers with the AIRBAG lettering.

Semi dead topic, but I've had these same codes over the years, that I ended up solving with on one occasion by replacing the MAF plug, that was cracked and lose and on another occasion, by replacing the famous ignition switch. On this last one, my typical symptoms (I've replaced it 2 times with aftermarket ones) are: both windows suddenly open during driving, whilst the cabin lights turn on and the car unlocks, after starting, unable to turn on headlights, if idling for a while (red light, jams) ABS/PSM lights turn on. As I'm having all of those currently, I have just bought the recommended part, the full assembly 996 347 017 07, which is now for all model-years, instead of just from -04 as initially was the case. Hope this helps.

Thanks, but I've read in the meantime that the outer CV joint is not removable, so, to replace the wheel side CV boot, the procedure is to remove the diff side CV and its boot and slide the new wheel side boot. I stopped my efforts and am waiting for a new order of a diff side boot replacement kit to replace both. The outer CV joint is not even available as a spare part, we're supposed to replace the whole driveshaft if the CV joint gets shot.

Dear all, So I had a torn outer front left CV boot. Since I am exchanging the struts for Öhlins R&T, it was a good time to take care of this. I already have the drive shaft removed and installed on my vice, and yet, despite opening the circlip with circlip pliers to the maximum, and hammering the CV joint with a rubber mallet (also tried a steel hammer, gently) at the same time, the joint does not budge by a mil, nothing. Any advice? Am I missing something? Should I get something like this: https://www.ebay.com/itm/CV-Joint-Puller-Transmission-Drive-Shaft-Removal-Tool-9hole-Ball-Cage-Separator-/283125842818 and use it at the same time I open the circlip?

After much, much deliberation, I've ordered the Öhlins kit, POZ MN02. Will probably only be able to install that in August, but will report back my findings.

I could be interested. What about ride height? How much did you lose? In the end it's the equivalent to M030 or IX73 suspension, right?

Hi all, My car is in need of new top strut supports due to old age, I suppose. I thought I had a go at doing that and to that purpose I'm looking into buying a QuickJack system, which is something I have been looking for an excuse to do for quite sometime. Anyway, since I'll have to do that, why not also replace all shocks, since those in there are 8 years old and about 70000km, so not on their prime as well and I thought about the Bilstein B6 ones. I don't want to lower ride height which means that I would either replace the shocks with stock ones or the B6s. Questions for the community: 1. Has anybody tried the B6s? My usage is 99.999999% road (tracked the car twice in the 10 years I've had it) but I wouldn't mind any improvement over stock. Having said that I dont't want any sort of negative reaction from the PSM and am wary of that. 2. Another tool I would need: spring compressors. Porsche recommends Klann (now Gedore) KL-0015 which cost about 1000€ (!!!). Something like this looks nice https://www.pelicanparts.com/More_Info/PEL013892SCH01A.htm?pn=PEL-013892SCH01A&SVSVSI=996J What do you guys use? Any recommendations very much welcome. Cheers, L

More info and pricing?