Highlander

OK, so I have to vent. I have had this vehicle in my physical possession for exactly 3 weeks. I took a bit of a risk buying this car sight unseen, but with a service history and PPI by the local Porsche dealer, I thought I was going to be OK. Boy was I wrong :blush:. The PPI passed with flying colors. Only comments were that an aftermarket head unit was fitted and the front brakes would need replaced soon, and it would need rotors as well as pads. No big deal on the brakes, and the aftermarket head unit gave me hands free calls and bluetooth audio - awesome! Once I (finally) get the car 3 weeks later, the first thing I find is that the passenger seat won't adjust if you are sitting in it. It doesn't move smoothly on the tracks even when not sitting in it. Probably damaged or misalighed tracks. Hmmm, no mention of that on the PPI. Lock the car for the first time and the horn beeps! I wonder why? I know the radio is aftermarket and if it has not been installed correctly it can cause this error. No mention of of this in the PPI either. What else did they miss? I drove the car for 2 weeks on my commute and had a few "spirited" runs both in a straight line and through the local canyon. Wow! Fantastic. Put the seat adjustment and horn beep to the back of my mind. Then, early last week, I floor it. Revs to ~5k and the car stumbles, the check engine light flashes and I get "drive to service" on the dash. CE light went off as soon as I got off the gas. So quickly in fact that I thought it was the PSM light. Pulled the codes from the Durametric. Excessive misfires and Misfires on cylinders 4 and 6. I had never experience a car with misfires before, so it was an eye opener. I realize this has been happening mildly all along at WOT and high revs. I had put the momentary stumble down to either lack of traction or some AWD jiggery pokery. So, PPI missed that one too. In their defense, I would never have picked up on it had I test drove the car personally, but then again, I'm not a factory trained Porsche Tech. The next day, driving in to work, the passenger seat starts rattling something fierce. Can't figure out where it's coming from, but it's driving me bananas. WTF is going on with this car!!!! Then on Thursday last week, the dreaded "air bag failure" message comes up and the air bag light is illuminated. Crap, not another thing! Now, I can only assume the misfires are coil/plug related. I can get to those myself. I had just hoped I might get more than 2 weeks of ownership before it was required. The air bag light is probably the seat belt receptacle (how that is not a safety recall, I'll never understand). If it is, I can get in there with the resistor fix" for that too. Again, not quite on my plan of activities with my "new" car. Then today, the pièce de résistance I can't open the drivers door with the outside handle. The handle pulls out a little, the window drops, but it does not unlatch. I can open it with the inside handle, but not the outside handle. Is this is a common issue, or am I just "lucky"? OK, I'll climb off my soapbox now....

I think it's part of the headlight assembly and not a separate part. I have the same problem. Mine is cracking and has gone mushy, like putty.

You are correct of course - thanks for the remindier that driving on a flashing CEL is a "bad thing". However, in this instance, I only caught something flashing out of the corner of my eye. I originally assumed it was the PSM light as the effect was very similar to PSM cutting spark. Then the message came up on the information center to "drive to service". It was at that point that I took a good look at the warning light positions and determined it was the CEL that had been flashing. Back to driving like a normal human being (not my usual technique :D ), the car is well behaved - for now. Parts are on order and will be installed ASAP. There are some decent write ups on how to swap coils/sparkplugs on a 996TT, but none I have found with good pictures. I'll attempt to docment how it goes and post a writeup when I'm done.

Back in my youth, I autocrossed a Grand Prix GTP with an underdrive pully on the supercharger. Blew more than 1 tip off the end of a spark plug with that car :)

That looks nice. Which tool is that? I see two MMR spark plug gapping tools. PN#900985 MMR Spark Plug Gapping tool Item# 900985/234 MMR Spark Plug Gapping tool/93-2014 2V, 4V, GT500 & TiVCT 5.0 (NON 3V) PN#900985 MMR Spark Plug Gapping tool Item# 900985/235 MMR Spark Plug Gapping tool/2005-2008 3V

I have no idea why they are giving the IK20's a "bad rap", we use them gapped to around 0.042 and have no issues with them, and in fact they ran very well for a long period. Did they say over on the other site why they don't like them? I know several people with elevated boost levels drop the gap down around 0.30 or so to accommodate the high pressures and they have had good luck with them as well. The IK20 is a good plug. I wonder if the problems they had were due to center electrode damage while gapping, very easy to do on and iridium plug............ One issue reported was that the central electrode eroded away. More than one person reporting it. Could very well have been caused by careless gapping. The other is lots of misfires with the stock gap of 0.044. Talking about gapping. How do you gap an iridium plug? Not with one of these I assume :blush: How about this tool? http://www.carid.com/accel-ignition-systems/accel-ignition-systems-12710255.html

denso pk20prp8? Gapped to? .040? I see the IK20's getting a bad rap over at 6speed. No idea what boost level I'm running. Not quite ready to look down at WOT! :jump: Need to leave the Durametric hooked up and do a couple of hard pulls.

Thanks Jeff. Any suggestions on plugs? Just go with OEM, or is there consensus on newer/better aftermarket? I'll most probably be sticking with plain old copper as the only downside I know of is longevity and I'm not afraid of getting my hand dirty to change a few plugs :)

New to me '02 TT The drivers side auto dimming mirror is not very clear. Looks a bit "milky". Is this normal for an auto dimming mirror, or is it an indication of a problem. If I have to replace it, are there auto dimming aspheric mirrors available? TIA, Highlander

New to me '02 TT Last night, when I really got hard on the gas, PSM cut in, then the CEL started flashing and the display said, "Engine Fault, drive to service" (or something like that). I got off the gas and the CEL went away. Car was running fine, smooth and still lots of power. I pulled the OBC lever to clear the error message and it has not returned. Hooked up the Durametric and pulled the following: Current Fault Codes P0300 Porsche fault code 507 - Misfire detection (total) P0302 Porsche fault code 510 - Misfire cylinder 2 P0305 Porsche fault code 513 - Misfire cylinder 5 Only 29k miles, but I have the FVD Bromacher tune and I know the car was someones track toy for a year. Time for new plugs? At 13 years old, maybe new coils too? If plugs, any suggestions other the OEM?

New to me '02 TT beeps when locking. There is an aftermarket stereo installed that was in when I purchased the car. The beep was there when I bought it. Durametric reports the following: 49 K lead Status: not present Occurance Counter: 1 This fault is displayed for informational purposes, it is not an indication of a problem and no repair is needed. 60 Central locking limit position Lock not reached Status: not present Occurance Counter: 1 This fault is displayed for informational purposes, it is not an indication of a problem and no repair is needed. 54 Radio receiver defective Status: not present Occurance Counter: 2 This fault is displayed for informational purposes, it is not an indication of a problem and no repair is needed. Any clues why I have a beep when there does not appear to be any repairable faults?

I see lots of references to "check for leaks with smoke machine". Is this something that should be in every TT owners tool cabinet, or is it something you swing by your local indy to do? If I should have one in my tool cabinet, any suggestions on make/model. I apologize if this is a dumb question. Just got my '02 TT on Tuesday :thumbup:

I'm running the Enthusiast Version 6.3.2.5 When I launch it, it does not recognize either of my cars (I have an '02 TT and an '01 Boxster S). Is this normal? Sometimes once I tell it what car is attached it will then go on to recognize the DME all by itself, but mostly, I have to tell it everything! This just does not seem right. I thought all that info was readily available through the OBD2 port.

Thanks Jeff! Those are the $122 lines I was referring to! :cheers: I'll add them to my growing list of parts for my refurb. Hey Loren, really like the "Mark Solved" button. Really improves the effectiveness of the board!!!!

Front trunk light missing ?

I'm doing a complete brake system refresh on my '01S with 107k miles (and more than a few track days). Looking at braided lines to replace the 13 year old factory rubber lines on the car and I noticed that prices are all over the map. $122 to over $400. The car is my daily driver now - no more track duty. What is the collective wisdom on #1, braided lines in general, and #2, $100 lines vs $400 lines for a peak time commute daily driver? All questions. comments, opinions, recommendations welcome! TIA, Highlander

Thanks Loren. "Perhaps some electronics cleaner on the throttle jacking connectors." Where will I find the throttle jacking connectors?

Hooked up the Durametric and got the following: <log> Bosch Digital Motor Electronics Motronic 7.2 Module Identification Part Number 986.618.660.05 Supplier Part Number 004157029000 Current Fault Codes P1508 Porsche fault code 408 - Function monitoring Torque comparison Signal implausible P1505 Porsche fault code 404 - DVE control range Open circuit </log> Any clues would be most appreciated.

This has happened 2 times now, both with identical circumstances and result. Cold morning, cold tires, greasy road. Pulling out onto a road and accellersting "briskly". I'm assuming I encounter what race car drivers refer to as a "Traction Control Event". In the past, this would simply result in a short loss of power, then off we go. What's happening now is a significant loss of power ie, the engine speed drops to idle. I pushed in the clutch and the engine is running fine - only at idle RPM's. Worse, it does not repsond to the throttle at all. Once I pull over, turn the car off then start it again, everything is back to normal. I'm going to hook up the Durametric when I get home, but there are no warning lights on the dash and the car is running just like it always has. Anyone else experience this?

Excellent! Keep us posted :thumbup:

"There is nothing more expensive than a cheap Porsche!" - so the saying goes. LIke Loren says, find a respected independent Porsche shop and spend a few $ on a PPI. Those folks will know what to look for and will advise you on the risks involved with each of those vehicles. Good Luck!

Good idea... from what I've read it can be a hereditary issue anyhow. Sounds like a possibility... does the 986 S have enough guts to pull that off slamming 2nd gear on a redline shift? It did feel like things were breaking loose back there. it sounds like a strong possibility. I'm hopeful that is what it was (it certainly makes sense in retrospect) the descriptions I read make it sound like it happens at launch, not at 35+MPH... Launch technique? comes from a Magnum R/T Auto (floor it) and Honda VTECs (always shift at red-line). "does the 986 S have enough guts to pull that off slamming 2nd gear on a redline shift?" Yes it does, even on sticky Hoosier A6's - been there done that! I was just pulling your leg with the launch technique jibe :thumbup: Is the car driving OK? Any residual problems?

Sounds like you experienced "axle tramp". When the rear tires break loose, rather than just leaving black streaks on the pavement, the suspension geometry causes the wheels to kinda bounce up and down *very* violently. This is affectionately know as "axle tramp" even though it's the wheels actually bouncing up and down. Nothing to worry about - except maybe your launch technique :D

Ah Murphy's law! Since carrying my durametric, I have yet to get the double horn beep. Isn't that just typical... I have to say I'm just a little intimidated by about removing the door panel. Anyone have a favorite writeup on how to do it without breaking anything?