ericinboca

Thanks Loren. Does anyone know where I would find CP 26 on a 2004 986S?

I'm using a wiring diagram to trace some electrical connections. This is the first time I've spent studying the diagrams. CP means welding point, according to one of the legend sheets. What is a welding point and why would a wire terminate there?

I believe AOS for an '01 is 996 107 023 4 I don't know if it comes with an O ring attached, but if not I think that is 996 107 122 00 You also need a tiny dab of silicon grease for the O ring I've not looked at an AOS in an '01, but I think everything else can be reused - if not, i would think the boot would be one that might not be resused - 996 107 237 52 If you drop the bolts - 900 378 177 09 Thanks !!! I found tha post on how to do the job : http://mike.focke.googlepages.com/airoilseparatorreplacement Looks like Mike is suggesting that for 2000-2004 boxster I would need a "Y" tube ??? Do you know what it is (p/n) and if I need one ? Is that the same thing as the boot you are talking about in your answer ? Last, can I use any silicon grease, or should i follow Mike suggestion with the Kluber Syntheto Glep (#000.043.204.68) ? THanks a lot....first time I am working on my Boxster and I appreciate your help ! Vincent J tube, vent line, breather tube - 996 197 145 06 but that looks to be superseded by 996 197 146 00 Do you need it? I'm not sure you do. It looks to cost about $25. It has an O ring on it - if you get a new one, get a new O ring too if it doesn't come with it. 999 707 446 40 Is that the same thing as the boot you are talking about in your answer ? J tube and boot are different. The picture mike has shows the boot - it is the short accordian looking tube at the bottom. Also shows the J tube, which looks like, well, a J. Last, can I use any silicon grease, or should i follow Mike suggestion with the Kluber Syntheto Glep (#000.043.204.68) ? Any silicon grease.

I believe AOS for an '01 is 996 107 023 4 I don't know if it comes with an O ring attached, but if not I think that is 996 107 122 00 You also need a tiny dab of silicon grease for the O ring I've not looked at an AOS in an '01, but I think everything else can be reused - if not, i would think the boot would be one that might not be resused - 996 107 237 52 If you drop the bolts - 900 378 177 09

Am I reading this right? This means a 2004 986S Special Edition Spyder takes a 986.606.125.01 MAF with NO re-programming of the DME.

You have to pry it off with a flat head screwdriver or a putty knife - wrapped in something to keep from marring the paint. There are three places it "plugs" into the metal part of the bar - one at each bottom, and one in the middle top.

Some progress - I got it to start and idle, AND I am no longer getting 02 sensors codes. I spent hours looking at, feeling and tracing the wiring bundles. Since I had all the heat damage in the rear trunk, I spent a lot of time back there, unwrapping them, tracing individual wires, disconnecting and inspecting the X connectors, etc. I did find the wires that control the tail lights, the license plate light, the rear spoiler motors and the rear trunk latch to be damaged. I don't think these were shorting or grounding anything out, but I did finally find something I could fix. There was no change, BTW, after replacing this damage. After cleaning and inspecting connectors for the umpteenth time, I tried to start again. It turned over and acted like it wanted to run, but would shut down like it was not getting enough fuel. So I gave it some accelerator when it first fired up - it "misfired" through it and caught and I held it at 1.8K to 2K RPMs for a bit, and once warm, it idled fine. I also shut it down a couple of times, and it would refire fine. We'll see if it refires once cool. I let it run with Durametric connected. Like I said above, no 02 sensor codes. And using actual values, I can see the voltage on both sensors now fluctuating properly. Only change has been the new DME. I think, knock on wood, one issue is solved. BUT, and it is a big but, I still get the hydraulic solenoid valve lifter errors for both banks; an error I was not getting before the new DME. I clear it, and it comes back. I am also getting a PSM/ABS error, saying "5281 version coding."

I use "Oil Flo Saftey Solvent Cleaner." It is water soluable, so you can use it diluted. I've found a lot of the rubber marks come off diluted, but I usually just spray it on and wipe it off, and then rinse real good. It does take the wax off, but I have been using it for 2 years and have not seen any impact on the paint. If you go this route, shop around for it - you can buy it through car care places, but contractors also use it, and I've found it through contractor supply houses cheaper.

anything you can tell me about a discreet power source to the DME?? Figured out connector X59 - it is the white 21 pin connector in the trunk next to the black one and the pink/purple one.

The heat damage. http://photos.streetfire.net/photo/IMG2280jpg_1690766.htm

New hardware too. So, I think we can eliminate the DME as a problem. I can't find any visible damage to any of the wiring. Are you suggesting the heat can damage the connector modules? the part that plugs into the brain? I don't see any damage to them, but maybe something inside of them is out of whack. I think the only thing to do with those is replace the full harness. I'm confused by the new codes popping up, and the diagnostics on them, and how they may tie into all of the this. The solenoid valve passes the test, and the voltage reading to the valve is fine too. I get lost, though, on checking the resistance between III/1 and the solenoid valve pin. I read that to mean pin 1 on the third plug module, and valve connector pin 2. But there is nothing in pin 1 on the third plug module. And I can't find the connector X59. I found in some of my manuals a reference to it being a white 21 pin connector located at the left front side of the engine compartment, but I sure don't see anything like it. And when I trace the wire back from the solenoid connector, it simply goes into a bigger wire bundle.

Update Considering the amount of heat damage I found in the rear trunk, I felt pretty good about having found the cause of the problem, and when the DME doctor reported the DME passed, but was suspect, I told him to go ahead and burn me a new one. I know it sounds like a dumb move, but everything added up and pointed to a faulty DME. (I'll post a photo later of the heat damage.) I installed the new DME today. It fired up and idled. As it was idling, I had Durametric connected, and, while everything was not completely hot yet, I got valve lift control errors in both banks (P0026 & 28), plus my old nemesis P0050, 02 sensor. I would clear them all, but they kept coming back. Shortly after the car idled down in revs a notch, it shut off, and would not/will not refire. Just like it did when it expired a couple of weekends ago at the track. I have crawled all over the motor - tracing the wiring harnesses. I've been all up under it (fortunately, I have a lift in my garage). I took the air distributor off to have a better view. I checked all the harness bundles in the rear trunk. I cannot find a thing out of the ordinary on the harnesses. No chew marks, no fraying, no melting, no loose connections, no pinching, nothing. I can't even find the factory wrap coming undone on any of it. I checked the voltage on the valve solenoid - it is within spec. I checked the resistence across the pins on the solenoid - it is within spec. I can't figure out how to check the resistance on the triggering wire, though. See this post. http://www.renntech.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=26802 I have a brand new brain, with the orginal/same software that came from the factory on it. Can't see anything wrong in the harnessing. Unless I take the next step of simply replacing all the wiring harnesses out of the DME, I'm back to stumped.

If it is your first DE, I wouldn't worry about pressures too much. My usual recommendation to my first time students (those that ask) is to start at the recommended pressures, and check after each session, bleeding them down as necessary to maintain the recommended pressures. As the day progresses, you will get better, you will be using your brakes more, heating up the rotors, calipers and wheels, creating more pressure in the tires. Eventually, you will reach equalibrium and won't have to bleed anymore. But note, by the time you get home, assuming interstate driving, your tires will be underinflated. Tire pressures get to be a big deal when you start getting more experience, and you can use tire pressures to make some compensation to oversteer and understeer. Mostly though, as you get more events under your belt, you will want to pay attention to the pressures for tire wear reasons.

2004 986S special edition I got error codes P0026 & P0028. I checked the voltage to the solenoid hydraulic valve pin 1 and ground - it was fine. I checked resistance of the solenoid across its two pins - it was fine. I want to check the continuity of the triggering wire. It says measure resitance between III/1 on the wiring harness module and solenoid connector pin 2. Connector III is the third one down right? The one with the mark on the mounting plate that says 3....the 52 pin module connector. If I have the right module connector, there is no wire coming from the harness into the pin 1 spot on the connector module. Then I noticed the diagnostic says the wiring for the solenoid hydraulic valve is routed via the connector X 59/2 pin 8. I have no clue what that is. Anyone know what is going on here?

The principle is to start bleeding with the bleeder screws the farthest away from the reservoir first, so yes, LR, RR, LF, RF for a car with the reservoir on the right side.

A DME doctor can do some bench testing on a DME, and in some cases, isolate a hardware problem, and potentially repair. The guy that I am working with at the moment, while he seems extremely knowledgeable and has fixed a CDI unit out of a 83 SC for me, said he can only do limited bench testing on more modern day DME. He can also reflash it with the unit info, etc. Yes, DME problems/failures/faults are pretty rare, but what I was trying to say was, he has seen lately, four or five Boxster DMEs come to him with problems. I think that DME issues are so rare, that getting four or five in the last 6 months is a lot to him. I do think I have a DME problem, but only because it has been repeatedly exposed to excessive heat under track conditions and with heat shield and insulation missing that should have been there to protect it. Further, I have largely eliminated all the other possible causes before turning to the DME. In your case, I think the advice you have thus far is spot on - replace the MAF, and see what happens. The are performance reprogramming flashes lots of compnaies make and sell for the DME.

On the DME, I was just talking to a DME "doctor" yesterday. He told me he has seen a few 986 DMEs have some issues. I think he would tell you to have your DME reflashed before you take the plunge of replacing, either with a new one or a used one.

i would jack it up, remove the wheel, and for convenience the brake caliper, then grab the rotor at the 3 and 9 o'clock positions and rock it and try to wiggle it. Do the same for the 12 and 6 o'clock positions. Movement, assuming the axle nut is tight, usually means wheel bearing. But also spin the axle and listen to the inner CV joint. any recent brake work in the rear? new pads or rotors?

update Last night, when I removed the DME, I dropped a nut into one of those places no human hands can fit. I had to pull back the trunk liners, etc. to find it, and found significant heat damage under the carpet near the DME. The plastic linings and the foam pieces that line the floor of the trunk are: missing, melted, or brittle. There is even a large hole, which I suspect is supposed to be filled or part of the mount point for the thick foam insulation, that is wide open, allowing heat in. I now remember at Sebring, in December, a bracket broke off on the top of the race muffler. In the heat (pun intended) of the battle, like an idiot, I kept going. I remember finding the heavy plastic on the left side that lines the heat shield by the rear bumber melted - amazing so. I cleaned all that up, but did not have the presence of mind to look and see if anything else had melted. The problem started after that event. I just talked to the DME guy. He is going to try and bench test it using both vibration and heat as intentional variables to mimic track use. He says excessive heat can screw it up, but puts his money on a software problem over hardware. He says he has seen several 986 DMEs "lose" their software. Hoping I will know something before end of week. If not the DME, then I will crawl all over the motor tracing wires.

It shut off on Sunday as a session was coming to an end, on entry to turn 17 at Sebring. Fortunately, the entrance to pit road is at the apex of 17, so I made it into the pits, but it would not refire. I left it sitting for a good 1.5 hours, and it still would not start. It would turn over, but not catch. We loaded it on the trailer, and after 2.5 hour drive home, it started up like nothing was wrong. No codes, not check engine light. I leave tomorrow morning for two weeks, but I am thinking about removing the DME and having my wife take it to a place that can bench test it...I don't know it is the DME, but it is a chance, and I will only have a week to get it fixed after coming back - it is at least something I can get fixed or rule out while I am gone. Any thoughts?

More to chew on... After the only session today I ran flag to flag, a 30 minute session, during the cool down lap, I shifted up to third after a corner, and was maintaining throttle at 4200 RPMs. The car started slowing and i could hear the engine dropping down in revs. I simply held my foot still - no increase in throttle, no letting off. You could see the needle on the tach slowly making its way lower and lower. I gave it some gas - nothing, so I clutched and revved match down to second, and it took off. It did it again when I was on maintenace throttle on the backstretch before the pits. Seems to do regardless of the gear. No check engine light. It did have the P0050 code. Once in my garage stall, I refired it before it had a chance to cool down, and interestingly, the voltage fluctuations in both banks were stagnant - whereas when it is cold, only bank 2 is stagnant. Also, on this particualr time, they were stagnant at .7 volts, rather than when cold, bank 2 hangs around at .4. When I revved it, they both started fluctuating. Will see what else it does Sunday.

Take a look at Pagid, Textar, Mintex and Galfor. I use Pagids, but my car is purely a track car, and I use high MOT, high friction pads. Shop around - you can find some street ones at a decent price. And look at the DIY on how to install brake pads.

A lot of shops will replace or turn a rotor when they install new pads because it reduces the number of come backs. But turning or replacing is not always necessary. I am unsure on the turning of cross drilled rotors - I have actually heard it both ways. I think the real answer is yes they can be, but it is diffcult, time consuming to do right and requires good equipment, so most won't do it. A new rotor is probably cheaper. In deciding whether to replace or turn, you need to consider: * do you have any brake judder/shudder and if so, is it due to a warped disk (not as common as most people think) or due to a heavy pad deposit (usually the case) - if so, turn or replace makes sense * do you have significant cracking on the rotor - hairline cracks working their way out from the holes is normal, but can become problematic when they connect hole-to-hole. also check for cracks and splits out to the edge - hole-to-hole or edge cracking means time for new rotors * are you below the wear limit at the rotor's thinnest point - sorry, I don't know the wear limit on the 996 rotors, but on the front of a 986 I believe it is 26mm (they are 28mm when new) and it is 22mm rear (they are 24mm when new); i will tell you on my track 986, i have never reached the wear limit even with high friction pads - I always kill them with cracking first from the heat * are you close enough on any of these things that you would need to go back soon to have rotors replaced and thus pay for extra labor - if so, then just do it now Porsche rotors for the front, if you don't shop around, will be 190 each - that is expensive - sunset will have them, i suspect, quite a bit cheaper. And look around - there are also many aftermarket rotors that are good - but you probably want to find ones that have an anti rust coating on the hats, otherwise the cheaper ones will show rust on the hats - that is just an appearance thing. Zimmerman, I think is the Porsche OEM provider, and sells Zimmerman branded rotors that have the hats coated to stop rust - they are a good 50 bucks cheaper than the Porsche ones. It is common and expected for the front pads and rotors to wear out before the rears, so I bet you don't need to do anything to the rears if the pads are still good. BTW, changing the pads and even the rotors, is a pretty easy DIY job if you have the right tools

"When you get a CEL, what codes are you getting?" Two faults show up. P0050 H02S Heater Control Circuit * resistance of 02 sensor heating too high * open circuit * 02 sensor faulty * DME control module faulty For this fault, I can get through all the diagnostic steps without finding anything wrong. Once step in this diagnosis does call for a pin adapter to check the resistance between the DME and the plug - i checked this without the pin adapter and think it was accurate. I just got into the little module connector at the DME and isolated the right pin, and checked resistance - it was within specs. (I think the pin adapters are just conveniant ways to isolate the pins????) P0154 02 Sensor Circuit No Activity Detected * loose contact in connector * open circuit in 02 sensor wire * open circuit in 02 sensor ground wire * 02 sensor faulty (also heating) * DME control module faulty I also get through all the diagnostic steps without finding anything wrong. One step in this diagnostic also calls for the 134 pin adapter to check the reference voltage coming out of the DME. You do this diagnostic if you do not get the proper related voltage at the connector, which I did. So, I haven't actually checked the voltage at the pin on the DME, but it should be fine as the end of the wire shows the right voltage. So, in other words, I cannot find a reason for the faults, unless I have four bad 02 sensors, since I get the same faults no matter which of the sensors I use - the originals or two brand new ones. Or, the DME is bad. "If you get codes on bank 2 only that would eliminate the "DME rich mixture theory" as the mixture would affect both banks equally." The faults say for bank 2, not for bank 1. I don't understand how the mixture is set and delivered to know why a sensor failure in only one bank eliminates my theory. I assume the mixture determined by the DME is the same for all cylinders. If it is messing up the mixture because it is getting the wrong signal from the bank two sensor, wouldn't that incorrect mixture effect both sides? and, if that were the case, would I get a mixture code? (grasping at straws) "Depending on the codes you get I would look hard at the connectors and contact points between the bank 2 sensors and the DME. " I haven't taken the air distributor off to confirm this, but it looks like the wiring from the DME to the sensor plug connectors is one piece - no connectors, except for the plug for the sensor. Contact points - you mean anywhere the bundle, and the strands as they split off and get smaller, touch anything? That's gonna be fun ;) If it is a connection problem, the most likely culprit would be the plug. But I cannot find any wrong at the plug - I get the right resistance, find the wiring to be continuous, find the right voltages, etc. In the spirit of let's see what else happens, I loaded it on the trailer today, and head for Sebring tomorrow afternoon. I'll be on track Saturday and Sunday and will advise. I'll keep an eye on the codes, will run some sessions to almost out of gas to see if that effects anything (recall RFM said sometimes a hot fuel pump and low fuel can be problematic) and I will try to do a better job of gathering data so I can better explain what is happening. Hopefully pull a tach signal to overlay on the video so we can see how it behaves. Thanks for the help.

Update If I let the car idle, I can see the voltage on the 02 sensor in bank 2 is not fluctuating. If I let it idle long enough, I get 02 sensor codes. If I let it go a really long time at idle, i can get a check engine light. If I start it up, let it idle for a short time, and then rev the motor up and down, the voltage does fluctuate, not through its normal range, but close. It will dip to .2, while on bank 1, it will dip to .1. Weird thing is I get this problem no matter what 02 sensor I use in bank 2. Further, I have done the diagnostics in the PST2 diagnostic manual except for checking the voltage out of the DME. The manual calls for a pin out box, which I don't have. But, I do get the proper 450mV at the plug, so that would mean I am getting the right voltage out of the DME. I find it very hard to believe, but doesn't this point to a faulty DME?? Isn't it the DME that fluctuates the voltage? Could I run a separate wire from the proper pin on the DME straight to the plug, bypassing the existing wire from the DME to the plug to see if there is something grounding it out or weird like that? Now, based on the discovery above, here is my working theory as to what is happening to me on the track during cool down. On the track I am constantly up and down in revs. Accelerating hard, rev matching to down shift - rarely if ever, except on a cool down lap, maintianing a constant RPM. As long as the revs are rising, the 02 sensors fluctuates nearly correct, and does not trigger a code. If I stop revving, just maintaining, the voltage becomes stagnant and the DME messes up the fuel/air ratio, and it cannot accelerate and at worst, chokes out. Anyone buy any of this????