JeTexas

Same thing happened to me. I think it was about $225 at and independent shop here in Houston.

Yes, you add refrigerant via the low (<50PSI) pressure line, but I suspect in this case (if not all) the low pressure (vapor) line is the FAT one. Note that the pressure sensor/switches is in the smaller line where it can be used both to turn off the compressor once the high pressure side reaches the upper limit and prevent the compressor from operating if the system pressure is too low. You can add refrigerant as a test without "pulling" a vacuum on the system. But in the normal case the only reason you should need to add refrigerant is because the system has a leak somewhere. Good catch. Although, I'm sure he would have figured out the small one was high pressure when it started spraying at him. lol

Changing out the compressor and dryer isn't hard. You could probably save if you change it all out and then just take it to be recharged.

I don't know what part of Houston you're in, but you might try Lakewood Car Clinic on Louetta in Spring. They're honest and do a good job. I had a very good experience with them when I got rear-ended last year. I think my brother's going to have his Cobra painted there ... someday ... whenever he finally finished putting it together.

I'm surprised I haven't seen more of these ... http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/_Car-Truck-...6.c0.m245.l1318

Some years have an internal handle to save you from trunk entrapment. Seems like I remember reading something about an emergency release accessible from inside the passenger door frame, but I don't have my owner's manual with me.

If you change the compressor, you should also change the dryer. I believe you charge on the low pressure line, which is the smaller one, but you can't just put coolant in. You need to pull a deep vacuum on the system first.

I don't know what to tell you on your earlier questions except to have a mechanic check it for problems and to run a vehicle history report, check the title. (I'm assuming cars are still titled in Geneva.) As for the top speed, despite the horsepower it kind of depends on gearing of the transmission and stability of the car. Also, I'm betting the guy is just making an estimate and has never tried to top out the car. Supposedly my Carrera does 175, but I'll never know if that's true or not. It sounds like you've done your homework. Just don't let excitement blind you if the car has issues.

One of my friends had this trouble in his Shelby Cobra replica. He removed the seat tracks and drilled new holes for the seat to bolt it in further back. That's kind of an extreme option for a 996, but it might work.

Maaco does such terrible work that even if they tried to make things right on your car, it's just going to mess other things up and do more damage than good. You're better off asking your insurance company which local body shops are their approved vendors and then consulting with them regarding a good price on cleaning up the mess Maaco has made.

Mine was squeaking and when it rolled down the outside weatherstrip would stick and fold into the window. I haven't had time to tear the door apart, so I finally ended up rolling the window down and spraying some dry lube inside the weather stripping. It stopped by squeaking and binding, but for two days the window was a mess as I didn't want to clean it off until I was sure everything was good and lubed.

I have no knowledge of these particular camshafts, but I have found that you get much better performance gains if you make sure the camshaft is matched to the heads and intake. Replacing just one of these things in a stock set up usually doesn't land you too much, but if you can find the right set up to work together, it can be amazing.

Can anyone post a photo of their cab headliner with the top closed. Mine kind of sags at the rear corners, and I can't tell if this is normal or not. If it's not, I can't tell how it would hook in, so that it was tighter, but still allowed the hinges to have room to move. I guess it's always been that way since I bought the car, I just haven't really ever looked at the headliner before.

If the passenger door isn't unlocking with the remote, it sounds more to me like it could be the passenger-side door lock actuator rather than the alarm system. Does the passenger door lock/unlock using the dash button?

It depends on too many factors. If the hill is sufficiently steep that the car can hold a given MPH with engine braking, the car will use less fuel than if you push in the clutch and let the engine idle. The engine uses no fuel when engine braking. It uses fuel when idling. Period. I guess the real point the hypermilers are always trying to make is that if you plan ahead and COAST TO A STOP instead of braking at the last minute, you save gas.

I have a 99 996 with Halogens and the washers, so I don't think having washers would be any indication. I'm going to second Loren's guess that it's a contact in the switch.

With both cars, it would be nice to have maintenance records to see what has been fixed or replaced over the life of the car. Not being Porsche specific, as I've only owned mine for a year, I've had motors last 200,000 miles without any major problems. However, I've never had an automatic transmission last more than about 110,000 - most of them dying right around 90k. My Porsche is my first manual tranny car, and it seems solid at 95k, so who knows. At 100k I'd start expecting things like the alternator, the air-oil seperator, water pump, mass airflow sensor, EGR valves, oxygen sensors, etc. but these type things may have already been replaced, and there's no guarantees they won't go bad on the older car just due to age even though it has half the miles. The funny thing about car parts is that you never really know how long they'll last. You might have an alternator that last 200k miles with no problems or you might have one that doesn't even work out of the box. You start asking yourself if you should replace a water pump to be on the safe side at 100k, but really it's kind of a crapshoot as to whether that replacement pump will last another 100k or if it will just give out in 10k, in which case you would have been better off waiting for the first one to die. When I was racing Mustangs, I once went through three alternator exchanges just to get one that worked. When I restored a 66 Mustang I also went through four power steering pumps in less than a year to finally get one that didn't leak like a sieve. I'd like to believe Porsche replacement parts are higher quality than what you pick up at Autozone, but who knows? I'd drive both and have a mechanic check both, but if they both come back healthy, I'd go with the S.

In my brain it still seems more logical that a car uses less fuel while coasting at idle than it does in gear. I mean, if you check any of the hypermiler websites, they always emphasis coasting as much as possible to increase fuel efficiency. But this discussion obviously pertains to coming down gentle/occasional slopes, not coming down a mountain in New Mexico/Colorado as I would never attempt that coasting.

My point was just that you don't want to be riding your brakes while going down a mountain because they can overheat and give out on you.

The owner's manual says not to shift to second at less than 15 mph. I stopped doing that, and I stopped having trouble getting into 2nd. See my post above for the link to $2500 rebuilds.

I'd say staying in gear uses more fuel, but if you're on a steep down hill you want to use the engine braking, not your brakes to control speed.

If the car is running well, and you're not getting error codes, my guess is that the higher flow cats/exhaust are just letting more soot through. I had a car with no cats, and althought I kept it tuned perfectly, I was still wiping black off the exhaust tips every time I washed it.

Check your owner's manual. It says something about the computer starting in second unless the accelerator is depressed more than a certain percentage.

Maybe I'm retarded, but those look like the 996 headlights to me.

Why don't you take it to a transmission shop and find out? You can always try a rebuild. http://www.vertexauto.com/ShowItem/208343%...ansmission.aspx