JeTexas

I was sure it was until I looked at that photo and saw all the grunge up there above it. When I finish driving, I'll have clean looking oil around the neck of the bolt and drip hanging from the head of the bolt. I'll do more cleaning to make sure. It definitely only happens after I drive because I cleaned the bottom of the car up and wiped that bolt down when I did my coolant hoses last weekend and it sat all weekend clean with no drip. I would have never noticed the fresh oil on it if I hadn't just wiped everything (on the bottom of the car) down.

This sounds like the "ghost window" problem that was experienced on 99 models. There's a TSB for it, and it's discussed quite a bit all over the Internet. However, I don't know why your 2002 would have this problem unless it was serviced and somebody used an NOS window motor from 99 to repair it. If the motor has part number 996 624 101 02, then that's probably your problem. However, if it's the newer 996 624 101 04, it's probably something else.

I read a previous post where Loren detailed how the engine compartment fan works. Apparently the car takes temp readings every few minutes after you shut it off, and it it stays above a certain temp, the fan will kick on for 20 or 30 seconds (I can't remember which he said) at a time ever few minutes until the engine compartment is below the designated temp.

Thank you Tool Pants. What does it mean if I get a drip? Was my oil level too high? Has the valve gone bad? Is it just normal? It only happens when the car is hot.

Actually, now that I'm sitting here looking at the photo instead of lying under the car, maybe something is leaking from above the bolt. What would leak in the center of the motor? Would that be where water pump seepage showed up?

I've got a bolt that seems to be a plug of some sort in the direct center of my 99 c2 motor just behind the bumper. I guess that would be the front, center of the motor? It's slowly leaking oil, so I'm trying to figure out what it is, where the oil is coming from and what seals/rings I need to replace it. Thanks in advance for any help.

They arrived today. Looks like their front brake pads are just taller versions of the rear brake pads. They definitely don't fit. Got to take them back tomorrow. Guess I'll go the ebay mintex route. (I should also note that although both sets show the brand as Wearever Silver, the rears came in a large Wearever Gold box instead. )

I've got a 99 C2 Cab, and I'm looking for a way to carry my bicycle other than with the top down and the bike upside down in the back seat hanging over the side of the car. Due to the spoiler, trunk racks are out of the question. As far as I know, there's no hitch options for the 996, so a hitch rack is no good either. I have the hard top. My question is, can you mount the RTS to the cab's hardtop the same way you would mount it to a coupe? My bike is very light, so I don't think weight would be an issue, but I'm worried about the added wind resistance pulling on the latch. I've been searching for used racks due to the ridiculous price of buying them straight from Porsche, but I've only found coupe racks, not the cab racks. If I can mount the coupe racks to my cab hard top with no problems, I might as well do that and save some money, but I don't want to just be cheap and tear up my car. Any advice? Anyone know of other bike rack options?

Regardless of the mileage, you have to take the age into account. Remember, Porsche is attempting to be on the cutting edge of technologies, so they're going to have systems more advanced than many other car companies out there. However, because it's new technologies, there's going to be bugs in it. By the time this stuff works it's way down to being affordable and put into Fords and Chevys, etc. it's much more refined. When I read about things like the air-oil seperator problems and your alarm problems, I'm really missing the simplicity of my 66 Mustang. Then again, my 66 always had a leak somewhere, didn't handle worth crap, overheated in heavy traffic and only got 14mpg on premium gas. When I first got my 99, I expected very little maintenance, but the local Firestone had me for $2k pretty fast. Knowing what I've now learned from this board, I would have changed my own oil and saved the cost of a stripped out oil plug and pain replacement and saved $500, epoxied the crack in my oil filler tube for $3 and saved $500, and changed my own Mass Airflow Sensor for $350 and saved another $500. Aside from massive engine or transmission failure, nothing seems to be that difficult or expensive. I just wasn't expecting it and hadn't done any research and learned my lesson when the local shop took advantage of me. On the other side of things, I bought a lifetime alignment package from that Firestone, so I'm now going to make it a point to have my alignment checked AT LEAST every other weekend if I have time just to take up their time and annoy them.

Yeah, I just figured the plus to this one is I could use it on my other non-Porsche vehicles as well. In the long run I'll probably end up buying both.

Has anyone tried one of these ScanGauge IIs with their 996? http://www.thinkgeek.com/gadgets/car/8426/ It says compatible with all models, but I've heard that before ... I'm thinking about ordering the OBD II, but this would be cheaper and easier since my only laptop computer is a company computer.

So everything came back to life for a while when you changed the radio back out? That seems strange. Could you have a wiring short that got rustled around when you were moving the radio wires, and now it's shorted out again? Have you tried disconnecting the battery to see if anything would reset? I wish I knew more, but I haven't faced a problem like this yet.

I think a lot of the failures stem from the cars sitting too long without being driven. Seals dry out, which causes leaks or bearings to dry out and freeze up, etc. Have you checked your other fuses aside from the one in the alarm box?

I wish somebody made billet versions of these latches and the door latches as well. A nice solid metal piece would look better, feel nicer and never need repainting like these plastic pieces.

Thanks so much for this info. I ordered one from eBay and did mine this evening. Worked like a charm - no trimming necessary anymore. The only thing that confused me was that in the supplied instructions it referenced an orange lens, but my unit had a white lens, so I spent 3 or 4 minutes searching the table for the orange lens, which I'd apparently overlooked upon disassembly. (Yes, I'm that bright.) Once I figured out that the orange lens being referenced was actually the white lens sitting in front of me, it all went back together with no problems. It's so nice to see the temp numbers again.

I finally got around to replacing these hoses today as parts of my preventative maintenance on my 99 C2 6 speed. 996-106-250-55 A 996-106-212-52 996-106-233-51 A 996-106-222-57 One runs from the overflow tank down to the bottom rear driver's side of the motor. Apparently this one tends to go out often as it runs right by the headers, and the heat takes it's toll. It had been replaced before on my car. The other three seemed to be original and had the original spring-loaded hose clamps. The two that run to the front of the car were bonded to the little plastic retainer brackets. I guess that will happen after almost 10 years and 94,000 miles. I was able to get the rear two hoses off by sliding a flathead up inside the rim, but I had to cut those front hoses off. They just weren't going to budge. I had a slight bit of trouble getting the short, bent hose on the passenger rear to seal where it goes into the motor. I kept getting a little drip on the motor side. There's not much space between the flare on the metal spout and the back-end of the spout, so it turned out the hose clamp I had put on there was too fat and not seating behind the flare. I dug around in the toolbox and found a skinnier clamp that just barely fit. As you can see in the pictures, there's no extra hose sticking out on that fixture. I did it all with the rear wheels up on ramps. I refilled it in this position with the vent valve open and left it over night. In the morning I had to add more coolant. No trouble with air in the lines. In fact, just by changing out that 2 gallons or so of coolant that drained when I pulled those hoses, the car is now running about 5 degrees cooler. That's making me think I should go ahead and flush the entire system soon.

I had a key go bad on my 99 C2. The red light was flashing, but it wouldn't lock/unlock the car. I tried to have it reprogrammed, but they told me that the board was corrupted, so it wouldn't take the programming. I don't know if it has flash memory or what exactly. Anyway, I had to order a new key head and have it programmed. I think it was like $125 for the key, and $75 for the programming.

What would happen to performance/drivability if you just disconnected it and plugged off the intake?

I'm new to p-cars, so bear with me on this question. What does the AOS (which I believe means Air Oil Seperator) do exactly? It is just a crankcase vent that puts warm air back into the intake for emissions purposes or does it serve some complex purpose? Sorry if it's a dumb question, but the AOS is new to me, and I like to understand how things work, and why they're on the car.

My best guess is that you're oozing from this gasket, and it's running down and pooling on the bottom there. I'm embarrassed to admit, I don't know what that piece is. I bought a Car Expert 996 manual on CD-Rom from www.autorepairinfo.org because I can't seem to find any printed 996 manuals, but the stupid thing doesn't even have a motor diagram. Lots of older vehicles ooze like that from their head cover gaskets. Keep an eye on your oil level. You're probably ok if it's not making a pool on the driveway.

I'm guessing it has a similar internal board, but with more buttons. They're all made to be opened to change the batteries, so why not open it up and find out?

Now's the time to buy them if you can afford the gas. I've seen quite a few around here for under $30k. I thought they'd hold their value much better than that. http://houston.craigslist.org/car/731189193.html

It's a one-button key for a 1999 996. I just stuck my thumbnail in the crack and gently pried it open. The board is just held in with two clips. Just be careful not to lose the rubber ring. Sorry for the blurry picture. The camera on the iPhone is about the most worthless thing ever, and my real cameras are in the car.

There's TONS of Boxsters advertised in Houston for around $13k give or take. It's a rough car market right now. When I was selling my 2004 SUV last year, I watched Blue Book fall almost $1k a month as gas prices skyrocketed. That was really depressing.

On my key I can pry open the head of it, and take out the little disc with the guts, but I have never tried to take the blade off of it.