drateam

Yes; take that setting as normal.

Thoughtcrime,

Thanks very much - checked the head and really poor soldering all through it. Resoldered, cleaned it up, and it works much better, although still quirky. Doesn't lock and unlock all the time; sometime pretty particular about which side of the car I'm standing near; horn sounds when locking sometimes, but sometimes not; seat adjusts when opening sometimes, and sometimes not, etc. Tried Loren's suggestion of using the steel key, but no luck. This key was sitting somewhere for 2+ years, while the previous owner attempted to use the US mail. Remote key I've been using works consistently, although it too is intermittent re the horn and the seat adjustment. In any event, thanks again for the hit.

I had the exact same problem...

It was a broken solder joint.

Take your key head apart and pull the electronics out.

Look VERY closely at the left and right sides of the momentary contact switch where they are soldered to the PCB.

One side on mine was cracked clean through.

After soldering, it works like a champ.

This topic has been partially covered in previous posts but I thought I would share my findings.

When I bought my 56K miles 996 a couple of weeks ago, I had to have it smogged to transfer title. It passed smog easily, but I noticed that the speedometer was reading 4 to 5 MPH high compared to the smog machine it was being tested on. I asked the tech about it and he said that of course his machine was right on and the cars speedo had to be off. That's not hard to believe since the rollers that spin the tires could be easily designed and constructed to consistently duplicate a correct speed. And I assume the state is going to be pretty fussy about making sure the test equipment is accurate.

Wow, maybe I have 50k mile car not a 56k mile car! So I performed a 64.3 mile test using a GPS that I use for sailing against the cars speedometer and odometer. All the driving was done on the freeway with the top down for optimum sattelite reception.

I found that the cars speedometer was indeed 4 to 5 mph high compared to my GPS. The variation was not a % variance, it was a consistent 4 to 5 mph overstating.

I also found that the cars odometer was dead on compared to the GPS track log. Thus, the car odometer was not reading high and in fact I feel comfortable that the miles on the odometer are reasonably accurate. The analog speedo is too hard to tell since the width of the needle is just about 4 to 5 mph anyway, and I didn't like staring at the analog guage while zipping down the freeway.

All that said, some poster made comments that all speedos regardless of manufacturer read high. I also tested the speedo of my 2005 Toyota 4Runner, and the Toyota was dead on at all speeds. I prefer knowing what speed I am actuallt going without having to do the extra calculations

It's my understanding that Porsche calibrates the speedometers to a specific, standard wheel and tire size per model. This number could be thrown off by anything making a small change in tire diameter, a change to aftermarket or optional wheels, etc.

My car has N-spec (Porsche OEM approved) tires on the standard 19" wheels for its model spec and the speedo is dead-on as measured against an aftermarket GPS, which itself isn't 100% accurate. Is your car on stock wheels and N-spec tires of the proper size? Either way, our findings are anecdotal.

I've owned many cars with an optimistic speedo calibration. Every VW I've owned, for example, seems to have a 5-10% higher reading than GPS or radar (ugh) suggests.

Mark

Mark - when you say standard you must mean the base set, not the factory option. On my 02 4S, I've got the staggered factory set, and my speedometer reading is off, just as Cefalu says. Would have been good for the manual to speak to the variation between the two options, no?

Thanks very much for going to the extra effort on this. As many others, I've been aware of the variance, but wondered if it is a % variance or a constant. Your post helps clear this up; allows us all to drive with a little less worry.

Glad this worked for you! Any product labeled "polish" is simply a liquid form of abrasive, just like sandpaper. The only difference is the amount of cut.

There are some jobs that still require a deeper cut and sandpaper is sometimes an ideal first step, but by no means the final step. For example, metal or other liquid polish won't eradicate a nasty rock chip in my headlamp but I can wetsand it out and then use a polish to restore clarity.

I find that for maintenance, PlastX works fine to keep my headlamps in nice shape (no affiliation, it's just easy for me to pick up locally). It also seems to have a hydrophobic component that acts like wax without the residue or fog.

Mark

So, Mark, was it your reply on the long posting about the 3M sanding kit? Re-post: Mark, there was someone else writing about metal polish too; that's the member I'm looking for to thank (thanks to you as well). He works in plastics, and seemed dead-set against any sort of sanding, and because of the UV protection you mention, did not want anything but hand work. I'd really like to have him join and/or get in touch with me.

Looking to thank the member who wrote an excellent response on sanding headlights to restore them. I read several posts this morning about restoring clouded headlights, and came upon a response from this person, who works with polycarbonate. Forgot to record his handle/post, but want to THANK HIM for his informed recommendation of using metal polish and hand polishing. I've tried several wonder products that don't work at all (except to make your pockets lighter), and can't understand why anyone would think that sanding is a good idea. I decided to give his strong recommendation a try, and let's keep it simple: IT WORKS. For lenses like mine that have seven years of environmental damage, the hand sanding is a pretty tough go, but the metal polish (Meg) he suggested cuts through everything, and leaves little to no scratches. So a big thank you from me, and I'd really suggest dumping all of the recommendations that either don't work or lead to the tales of woe that I've read here. Sanding is not the answer, period.

Two questions, since I have an 02 C4S that had a mysterious noise that finally was fixed: are you sure the noise is coming from the front; what type of noise is it (sounds like . . .)? Over the months that I tracked down my noise I picked practically every part of the car as the source of the noise and the cause ended up not being where I thought it was - it was a bad weld between body panels at the rear of the car. Hope this helps some.

it really sounds like its coming from there,the noise is hard to discribe,its like a rattle but not a steel to steel rattle,i did think that it may be somewhere else so i am going to check the whole car out,how did you find the weld?

Mine was a rattle - like pieces of metal hitting. It was speed-specific and always happened over rough roads. I found it only by process of elimination. Was pretty sure at first that it had to do with the seat belt fastenings, so started there. It took months, and finally a mechanic using Porsche's noise finding tools tracked it down to the back of the car. Everything came out of the back interior, and he found the spot where there was a bad weld. Easily fixed and never been a problem again. So, for me, it was worth paying for a Porsche tech to snoop around - I spend tens of hours and never even got close. Hope this helps.

Two questions, since I have an 02 C4S that had a mysterious noise that finally was fixed: are you sure the noise is coming from the front; what type of noise is it (sounds like . . .)? Over the months that I tracked down my noise I picked practically every part of the car as the source of the noise and the cause ended up not being where I thought it was - it was a bad weld between body panels at the rear of the car. Hope this helps some.

About your rattle. I have a 02 C4S; second owner. The previous owner didn't exactly fess up to it, but his service records show he was trying to deal with what sounds like the same rattle. Nothing found by the dealership. I inheirited the same rattle, and spend weeks trying to trace it; seatbelt mechanisms, window seals, and many other false leads. To make a long story short, an independent took it as a challenge to track it down (he was pissed off that it couldn't identify it immediately and went on a crusade). He finally found it: a bad weld on the panels at the very back of the car; driver's side, near the rear light assembly. A quick spot weld, and no noise at all; it's been a year. He checked other welds and came away even more angry -- his opinion: really shoddy welding wherever he looked. So, might not be a bad idea to check; I'm holding my breath for new weld-related noises, but after a year nothing (yet). Hope this helps

hi, thanks. so, would this bad weld spot be visible from under the car? would i have to remove anything to get to it?

The tech had to remove all internal panels and facings from the rear interior. Worth checking out (in my case, I thought for sure it was the engine tin, but wasn't).

About your rattle. I have a 02 C4S; second owner. The previous owner didn't exactly fess up to it, but his service records show he was trying to deal with what sounds like the same rattle. Nothing found by the dealership. I inheirited the same rattle, and spend weeks trying to trace it; seatbelt mechanisms, window seals, and many other false leads. To make a long story short, an independent took it as a challenge to track it down (he was pissed off that it couldn't identify it immediately and went on a crusade). He finally found it: a bad weld on the panels at the very back of the car; driver's side, near the rear light assembly. A quick spot weld, and no noise at all; it's been a year. He checked other welds and came away even more angry -- his opinion: really shoddy welding wherever he looked. So, might not be a bad idea to check; I'm holding my breath for new weld-related noises, but after a year nothing (yet). Hope this helps

Wow, I never thought that lumbar was a problem or problematic. Can you include the link to that thread? Was it not available on the Comfort package with a C4S? Or was that option not available? That was near the top of my must have list when I went looking, and it really wasn't that hard to find, IIRC. Mine have been trouble free, and very well worth it!

perryinva -- forum link is: http://www.renntech.org/forums/index.php?s...ar+support+seat. The whole thing is very confusing; local dealer says no OEM lumbar for MY02. But, you have it? What MY is yours?

Question to all,

Does anyone have experience with retrofitting a 996 C4S coupe with the driver's side lumbar support on electric seats? I'm doing long drives these days, and would like to replace the seat blank with OEM lumbar system. I'm assuming the wiring is in place -- fair assumption? Can't seem to find much information on this, and my local service people can't answer with any degree of confidence.

All help appreciated.

+1. This, I would be very interested in; lumbar support sorely lacking in my C4S driver seat too....

Found a thread here that more or less answers the question. The conclusion is that Porsche had so many problems with the pneumatic system that they stopped installing it. Not sure if this is correct or not, but there were several helpful postings using "seats" as the key; "lumbar" doesn't provide much, as you've probably discovered yourself. I've spent even more time looking at the seat schematics and I can't even see a part # for the pump; other parts that may or may not be in your seat are identified (mine has the circuit mini-board under the seat plug, as theirs did too). So, it seems to be an open question to some extent, especially since many 997s are advertised as having the active lumbar support system. I've cut to the chase and simply done what one of the responders did: bought a manual unit, that works well with P seats; costs $25, so not much of a risk.

Another P mystery.

Question to all,

Does anyone have experience with retrofitting a 996 C4S coupe with the driver's side lumbar support on electric seats? I'm doing long drives these days, and would like to replace the seat blank with OEM lumbar system. I'm assuming the wiring is in place -- fair assumption? Can't seem to find much information on this, and my local service people can't answer with any degree of confidence.

All help appreciated.

Looks like there might be several small bolts from the bottom. Lift the rear deck lid and look for small nuts on the back side. My guess would be it is both small bolts and double stick tape.

Loren and everyone else -- there are two rows of screws that need to be removed; very easily done. A couple of jiggles after removing the screws and the whole piece comes off to reveal: sheet metal. I'm voting for taking the reflector off; style preference. But, what's underneath definitely isn't meant to be seen; many holes for the bolts. I'm thinking of experimenting with Krylon paint for plastic to paint over the reflector, but cannot find the part # to see what a new one costs (not the $650 the local dealer wants) in case the experiment goes bad. If anyone has new cosmetics for this situation please post it -- I'm running out of ideas that will blend in well.

Many thanks to allomoto for helping me make contact with Jonathan at designtechnix.com. Here are three pictures of the conversion; more to follow over the weekend.

Hope this doesn't sound sacrilegious or just plain stupid, but does anyone know of a kit or parts to convert the exhaust of an 02 C4S to the center output style of a 997 GT3?

Not off the top of head but it would not surprise me if some one makes one. Realize you will also need to change the rear bumper cover.

Thanks as always for the quick reply. I assumed that change, and others too; but a couple hours of searching found nothing. Wondering just everything that would be involved.

Hope this doesn't sound sacrilegious or just plain stupid, but does anyone know of a kit or parts to convert the exhaust of an 02 C4S to the center output style of a 997 GT3?

It's all in your head....just different pumps/angles and insertions....

No, actually, it's all in the car. See above: got puzzled and did some fairly controlled tests, using the same pump. Just another Porsche quirk.

I have the same car, and mine has the same issue, although not at every fillup. I've tested different pumps and there's no pattern I can discover, e.g., the same pump will fill sometimes and not other times. Strange, but given the sorts of problems we could be having, not much of an issue (at least for me).

My 02 C4S has a rattle that is driving me crazy (like so many others). I know it's difficult to isolate an interior rattle, but if I didn't know better I'd say it is a speedometer cable noise, which seems to be coming from the passenger rear. Checked the seatbelt tensioner, rear speaker, and since the sunroof is being repaired was able to take that off the list of possibilities. Only happens when going over rough road, whether accelerating or decelerating. Any new (or old) ideas? I've checked out the forum re muffler, cat, windows, mirror, and as far as I can tell these aren't the culprits. Any help really appreciated -- tired of turning the radio up to drown out the noise.

drateam,

I am not sure it would be the speedo cable if it only happens over bumpy roads. One common "noise" issue is the baffles in the mufflers break loose inside and create various rattle like sounds.

I haven't encounteres this in my car and am not sure how many miles you have on your car. DO a search of muffler noise and will probably find some threads tha tcover this issue in more detail.

Good Luck!! demosan

demosan (and anyone else with a similar rattle),

I've finally figured out the rattle problem. First, I would have sworn that it was coming from the passenger side rear, but it's actually the driver side rear seat belt retracting mechanism -- the device that you can't get to without removing the rear interior panel. I haven't done this yet, but no matter what the problem is (not securely attached, broken mechanism, etc.) it's out of here. For me, the whole rear "seat" set is totally unusable, so it's all going. Less weight, less hassle and one less rattle. Now, on to the driver's side seat belt adjusting mechanism, which squeaks and rattles too. Hope this helps anyone with a similar problem.

drateam

My 02 C4S has a rattle that is driving me crazy (like so many others). I know it's difficult to isolate an interior rattle, but if I didn't know better I'd say it is a speedometer cable noise, which seems to be coming from the passenger rear. Checked the seatbelt tensioner, rear speaker, and since the sunroof is being repaired was able to take that off the list of possibilities. Only happens when going over rough road, whether accelerating or decelerating. Any new (or old) ideas? I've checked out the forum re muffler, cat, windows, mirror, and as far as I can tell these aren't the culprits. Any help really appreciated -- tired of turning the radio up to drown out the noise.