st4rk

The only thing that's been brought up other than a faulty switch or fuse is the battery not passing the correct voltage.

Since attempting a jump pushed the volts up into the 13.5 range and nothing happened, how likely is it that the battery is the problem?

Are you sure no fuses are blown? I've overlooked a blown 7.5amp fuse easily, they are hard to tell if they are blown. Your battery sounds fine.

Will you stick with Porsche? Just out of curiosity why did you sell the car if you loved it?

Good question. I'm looking to get something with less miles. The one I sold had 70k on it. My Rx7 is a bit faster than it too, so it kinda killed the performance factor of the 996.

Here are the cars I am considering, you can see it varies widely. In order of interest:

Exige S (220hp)

Maserati Cambiocorsa

996 turbo

E55 amg

997s

The problem is finding cars local that I can test drive and see in person. I have never seen an Exige S near me.

I have so many different cars in mind, it will take me months to decide.

As for no front license plate, I never got any flack for it and never had it on my car for a year. Some cops gave me a warning. It's only $25 as a ticket anyways, so it's worth the gamble.

Just sold it today. Definitely the best car I've owned B)

Not sure what's next, I'll probably enjoy not having to make a payment anymore on it. But that'll only last a while before I'm itching for something else.

I experienced symptoms like those you describe a few years ago with my '01 C2 Cab and learned that the problem was due to a faulty ignition fuse located behind the igintion switch. The repair was simple and not very costly and the car has started fine ever since.

There's a fuse there too?! Problem with these cars with all the electronics is they are loaded with hidden fuses. Unless that goes for every car....I remember my g35 had a crapload of fuses too.

**** that's nice!

Yep, it fired right up once I replaced the fuse. So a little 7.5 amp fused caused much stress. But it was my fault, it must have shorted when I was pulling out the stereo and putting the stock one back in.

When will I be free of this car?!

Your car doesn't want to leave you!

Haha, I know, and I don't want to leave it. But it's time to upgrade!! I will miss the hell out of it.

It was a blown 7.5 amp fuse.

I checked all the fuses once, then I had tried to bypass the clutch switch and that didn't work. Noticed my stereo was acting weird, it would stay on even after I turned the car off and set the alarm. I then re-checked the fuses and found the one I missed. It was hard to tell it was blown, I had to look very close.

The car sale is now pushed back til tuesday. When will I be free of this car?!

Also forgot to mention it doesn't make a cranking sound. I push the clutch in all the way, turn the key to start, and nothing happens.

This is the second time I've tried to sell this car where the day before something bad happens and I have to cancel the sell. Today is the day I was going to drop the car off and finalize the deal, but it won't start!!!!!

It's a 2001 carrera 4. Last night I backed it into my parking spot. I put the mufflers back on, and put the stock stereo back in. That's all I did, and now it will not start at all. All the electrical works. I turn the key and nothing happens. The battery is fine.

It's kinda low on gas, I believe the meter said I could go 20 miles. That's all I can think of.

Any ideas? I can't believe this is happening again.

Well I found the part number for the vent from an online manual, then I googled the part # and found this website called pcars.com.

The vent is $107 from them.

Sadly the other panel I wask asking about is part of the entire dash, which costs just over $2000 to replace!

Any idea where I can order some interior parts online? I need the drivers side AC vent, the one that has the light switch on it (don't need the light switch though).

Was also wondering if I can replace the bottom panel under the steering wheel, it has some scratches in the leather.

Thanks.

The saga continues - Episode IV: A new hope

So after I cooled down from being utterly pissed off, I went back out to the car and tried everything out again. Nothing worked of course, but I started to inspect the battery. I couldn't tell that it was old or anything, and the terminals were free of corrosion. I then started to jiggle the ground cable and suddely I heard a click and my hazards were flashing (I had turned them on apparently). I open the door and turn the key and everything worked.....

I then disconnected the battery and cleaned the terminals, and cables, and where the ground point is. I reconnected it and it would not turn over. I had already purchased a new battery earlier since a coworker said to just try the battery for ****s and giggles.

After installing the new battery the car is fine now (I think). The litronics turn on every time, nothing is flickering, I can go into high rpms with no issues, the voltage is steady.

But now I hear an audible click from the clutch pedal every time I shift. You know how to push in the clutch pedal to start the car and it'll make a clicking sound? I hear that after the car is started....I'm not certain I heard that before but I hope it's not an issue.

Well we'll see how long this lasts, I'm very pessimistic though, and still wondering why a bad ground point would cause the litronics not to come on, but the rest of the car to work perfectly fine?

Thanks for the help though.

I went to the dealership today and bought a new switch. I installed it right away and checked to make sure everything was working before I tightened those tiny screws down. Everything worked fine. All the interior lights came on, all the electrical worked. I didn't start the car, just turned the key to "on" position.

Took the key out, and tightened the screws down. I then put the key back in and started moving my seat forward, then turned the key back to the on position and everything died! It's now back to where it was.

So the new switch did not work, what could be the problem now?

This is pissing me off to no end.

Since I'm impatient, and was bored 10 minutes ago, I went out to the car again to mess around with the ignition switch. I took it out (that was fun, my arm is cramped) and took it apart. I noticed some gunk on the tip of it (where it plugs into the igntion), I cleaned that off and scored some of the metal connector parts. I then realised I didn't know how to put it back together the way I took it apart, but winged it anyways. I had to hook the car up again to my other cars battery, since I had left the headlights in the on position I'm guessing it drained the battery somehow...

So with my one hand holding the ignition switch in place, I used my other one to turn the key in the ignition to on. Nothing happened, I jiggled the switch around and the airbag light lit up pretty bright. Then while the key was in the on position I turned the headlights on, and the entire car came to life!

The litronics did not turn on, but everything else worked - high beams, radio, signals, etc. I tried to start the car, but it did not fire up and I'm guessing because I put the switch back together incorrectly. After jiggling the switch around the car basically shut off again and I was dead in the water. I couldn't find the sweet spot again, and decided to call it quits until the new switch came in.

On the brightside, everything still worked for a few minutes at least. So hopefully the new switch should fix this issue.

Just wondering though, if it was the alternator wouldn't the problems only come up after the car had been started? I thought the alternator was only used while the car was running, and it's basically doing nothing unless the belt is running and activating it....also when the car is running there are no other lights signifying any issues with the engine or car.

Ok, so I visited the car today and tried unplugging and plugging back in the ignition in case it was loose or something. Didn't work. But I did manage to get the car started, I found some weird procedure of turning the lights on and turning the key in the ignition.

I had to jumpstart it though, and it barely fired up when I did (on the first try). While it was running the heads up display was flickering like crazy, any time I turned on the lights the battery voltage would dip very low, almost to the point of the car turning off.

I managed to limp the car home, one time I went up to about 4500 rpms and the car almost stalled out and died. If the lights were on they were flickering pretty good, as well as anything else lit up inside the car.

So is this the symptom of a bad ignition? Or could it be the alternator? I will go ahead and order and ignition anyways.

Yeah, I forgot to mention that wiggling the key does nothing either.

For the past 2 months my low beams were having trouble turning on. I would turn them on and they would sit there blipping, along with every blip you could here an interference over the stereo.

Just a couple days ago it got to the point where they would not turn on, and even the car itself would not start! I remember struggling for several minutes, messing around with turning them off and on fast, and pulling on the high beam switch to somehow magically start the car.

But alas today, as I got off work in the freezing cold weather, the bastard car would not frickin start at all. Every trick I tried did not work, I even walked home and drove my other car to a hardware store to pickup some torx to try and unplug the headlight switch to inspect it. I tried jumpstarting it too and that did not work either.

At this point I have no idea whats going on, if I turn the key in the ignition to On, the airbag light comes on and some weird clicking sound can be heard and the door lock light flashes spasmatically. I really would like to get the POS started so I can drive it to a dealership and have them fix it. I really want to avoid towing it (it's now sitting dead on a compound that has restricted access, so getting the ***** off the lot will require some coordination with the guards).

Does anyone have any suggestions on what to try next? I'm thinking its the ignition....

Thanks for any help. Luckily the car can sit there for a while and the guards shouldn't care.

Going to trade my 01 C4 in for a 01 TT hopefully this weekend. If everything checks out I will be one happy mofo. In particular, I am looking at a 2001 TT with 38000 miles on it. Meridian Metallic (is that a real color name?). Looks amazing in the pictures. The interior is not my first color choice, the Natural Leather color in my C4 is beautiful, so I am not too thrilled with the Black interior of the TT. But who buys the TT for the interior color?! :P

Anyways, they are asking 51,998 for the TT. I'm hoping to negotiate down to 49 or 50. We'll see, if it doesn't work out I have seen other TT's for sale in the high 40's with similiar or lower mileage.

have to agree! under $5/qt. exceptional (assuming mobil synthetic)

Castrol Non synthetic 10w-40@$4.68/qt, not the high mileage one. Castrol GTX I think it's called.

They had royal purple at Advance Auto Parts, but they only had 5w-30@$6.50/qt, same with Quaker state. I like both those oils but didn't want to use 5w-30.

Parts off of pelicanparts.com for oil change - $17

Car jack - $70

Torque wrench - $40

9qts oil - $42

Number of curse words after realising the oil drain screw is stripped - 5

So yeah, any recommendations on how to remove the stripped oil drain screw? I'm at a loss.

Search is your friend...

How to remove stripped drain plug?

Doh. Nice thread, and I did try hammering in the larger size torx bit but it pretty much made it worse. But I think the screw extractor should work...now I just need to find a place that sells them.

Parts off of pelicanparts.com for oil change - $17

Car jack - $70

Torque wrench - $40

9qts oil - $42

Number of curse words after realising the oil drain screw is stripped - 5

So yeah, any recommendations on how to remove the stripped oil drain screw? I'm at a loss.

2001 Carrera 4.

So yeah the 911 is definitely not geared for the 1/4 mile. And most of you are like "well duh, it's for a track". Right before you pass over the line you're basically topping out in 3rd so right at the last second you have to shift. I tried to keep it in third but it hit the fuel cutoff and I got a crappy et. I can't seem to get a decent 60' :(

Here are the runs I got, best one in bold:

60' 2.122

330 5.809

1/8 8.829

1000 11.422

1/4 13.592

MPH 101.61

60' 2.049

330 5.794

1/8 8.813

1000 11.400

1/4 13.565

MPH 101.61

60' 2.186

330 5.955

1/8 8.999

1000 11.617

1/4 13.774

MPH 103.36

Temp was about 80 degrees. Not sure of elevation, this was at MIR in Maryland. Pirelli P-Zero tires.

Not sure what I was launching at, the tree would go off as soon as you staged. I'd guess around 5500 rpms. Got severe wheel hop once. Then a guy walked up to me and said to launch at 2500. So I tried that but it bogged really bad and I got a 13.8

Couple runs down the track midway in 3rd gear I felt a slight hesitation, hard to explain but it was very slight, kinda like the traction control was kicking in.

I've had several sporty cars leading up to the Porsche, but no car has ever emitted sounds like what I just heard a few minutes ago....ever. That was intense. I took the mufflers off my car to see if I want to purchase the muffler bypass pipes. Holy crap that was music to my ears.