toddel68

1) The weak dollar vs the Euro

Don't think so, since they've raised the price over here in Germany as well. Since the threads on muffler repair have received lots of hits :-)

Thorsten

I have a sound I would describe similar or even as if somebody was honking in a distance. I always thought it's coming from the motor bay and the sound was never really loud. Thanks to my PSE I usually only noticed it when waiting at a traffic light. Lately, when I got out of the car while the motor was running, I realized it's coming from the right front where the horn is located. So I guess it could also be a leakage current getting to the horn. Maybe you have the same problem. Personally I chose to ignore it for now.

Thorsten

I have the same problem in my Boxster where i removed my dead CDR 220 and installed a "Blaupunkt Bremen MP74 US". I paid $600.00 AU for this unit and the salesman said i would just have plug n play!. What the?. Now i have a Prosche that i can not drive because i can not lock it. Every time i lock my Boxster i get a "beep" (1) indicating i left something unattended. After a while the alarm sets off, it can be after an hour or a couple of days.

My CRD 220 died after killing two Porsche Batteries because the unit was drawing 100 milliamps while the car was locked.

I gave up on the Porsche battery and installed a maintenance free Century.

Sent my CDR 220 to Becker for repairs....they quote was $600.00AU....what the! ....paid $160.00AU just to get it back un- repaired. What can i say about Becker or the head units they make.....you make up your mind.

Thanks Abbiy.

Did you tape the alarm contact or tape the side of the radio or even cut the wire? If you didn't you're just seeing the system behaving as designed.

Thorsten

This is the type of journey that everybody thinks about when it comes to 'Americans visiting Europe'. :P The mileage you're trying to cover should take 8 weeks or even more.

Do you have relatives in Russia or Poland? Otherwise you'll have to park you car in a public garage which sounds like a pretty insane idea. There's a reason why car theft isn't covered by most west european insurances if you take the car over to eastern europe.

In any case: Good luck

Thorsten

:( Please help me... I live in Switzerland and I have a technical control at the SAN (DMV for you ???) this week...

The car is very loud with PSE mode ON... so I have to start the car with PSE OFF.

I don't get it. Isn't the factory-like PSE approved by authorities in Switzerland? I was at the TÜV here in Germany last week and when they fired up my car those engineers started laughing. They think it's funny that the PSE is legal but never really questioned the fact. I didn't even bother to switch on the speed cut-out since they don't testdrive it.

Thorsten

Notice there is also a TSB on this in the TSB section. However, if you follow it an place a rubber foam in there you still have to use some silicone spray every few month. My 99C4 has been doing this for the last 3 years so it's become kind of a maintenance procedure to me.

Thorsten

I have looked high and low for the ash tray delete, which is available, but it seems it only comes in black. So now the question is where can you get interior paint to match graphite gray?

www.bumperplugs.com

I forgot:

5) Become a contributing member to see TSBs and stuff and support Loren.

1a) Get clear sidemarkers

1) I have no clue. Mine fills up nicely once I've found the best nozzle position. If I don't it won't even stay on 'auto fillup' for more than a second.

2) In my case it were the screws of the speakers which had come loose. 20min job for one door. I think there's a thread somewhere showing disassembly of the door.

3) No idea, maybe it was treated with the wrong product before or the previous owner always had the same parking spot only exposing the passenger seat. Use a good leather care milk. Can't recommend anything since the one I use is only sold in Germany.

4) I have a Bluetooth Handsfree set installed and put the RC in the ashtray (SonyEricsson HCB-300) . Fits nicely.

I came up with this question about two years ago. While some reported to have used the programming in reverse thing on their cars I never got that trick to work on mine (MY99 996C4 with seat memory). I went to the dealer where they use the PST to switch it on or off. Mine did it for free while the car was in for inspection as well as activating the autlock feature.Thorsten

Link to manufacturer's PDF file...

Unfortunately the english file misses the connection table for Boxster (986) which also works for 996. For those two the numbers would be: 8-1-9-6-3. These are the VERY small numbers on the back of the hazard light switch connector. You just use the cables running there to splice in the B3-Module.

In other words:

- the red cable of the module goes to the black cable of hazard light switch

- the blue cable of the module goes to the black-white-green cable of hazard light switch

- the yellow cable of the module goes to the black-white cable of hazard light switch

- the white cable of the module goes to the black-green cable of hazard light switch

- the black cable of the module goes to the brown cable of hazard light switch

Attention! When testing the module by putting the hazard light switch on the connector while its not in the instrument pod you might insert it upside down and thus reverse polarity. In the instrument pod is a slot that would normally prevent this. Don't ask me how I know... (although it didn't kill the module.)

As I said it's a 20 minutes job. Loren has already provided info for disassembling the instrument pod here.

All this said maybe there's a better method for you U.S. guys to pay. Maybe Mr. Ziegenhirt could set up a PayPal account or credit card payment. Also I'm not sure about customs or tax fees you'll have to face. Also shipping seems quite high, maybe that's with extra insurance. Just contact him.

Thorsten

Hi, don't know if the issue has been covered yet, but I was always bothered by the fact that the 996 didn't have the same feature when it comes to lane change as my benz has. There I can touch the turnlight switch shortly and it will automatically come on three times. This made me change lanes without signaling quite often in my Porsche since I forgot to hold it as long as needed.

I found a mosfet-module sold by CXI which does the job nicely and can be installed within 20 minutes. Just need to pull out the hazard light switch cables and clip into the according the instructions that come with it. Don't know if there's a source for it in the U.S. since the price including shipping is quite high (around 81 Euros, 49 for the module alone). Seems that there is no english page also.

I have to say that the owner Mr Ziegenhirt provided outstanding customer service by exchanging an out of warranty module that I had purchased at ebay for free. So I thought I at least owe him an honest review of the product. No affiliation!

Thorsten

Well, after 4 years and 40k miles with my 2000 Cab, I've finally found something to complain about.

I had an procedure known as "hip resurfacing" performed this week. The pre-op info included the fact that most can drive within 2 - 3 weeks. It also, however, included a great deal of warning regarding the possibility of a dislocation during the several month time to total recovery. High on the "don't" list was: "drive a car with low seating".......

.......So, I'm stuck .... and mourning. I ride shotgun in my wife's Landcruiser, where I can slide out like a kid at a water park. I will have to ask my son-in-law to drive my car occasionally. My wife is afraid to accept the responsibility. My daughter forfeited all chance with an incident in my 928 over 20 years ago .... which will remain untold at this time.

Sorry to hear about your surgery Kim. At least I have a perspective now what will happen to me after another 17 on the job :rolleyes:

Anyway, I hope you get well much sooner than your son-in-law must hope you will :P

Regards,

Thorsten

I guess the PO must have had some sort of rack on there becasue I can't get the little metal flaps to lie flush. Do I use this same instruction to get them to lie flush...or do I hve to change out that white plastic insert that's inside the recess?

Same problem here, anyone knows a part # for those plastic inserts? Is it possible to remove the roof rack holders completely and replace with a 'non holder' roof joint strip?

Thorsten

...or something with clear headlamps.

:jump:

Hey wwest - when I put the led bulbs in for my brake lights, my center led brake light no longer worked. Switched it with my stock one and it works. Is this a resistance issue I've heard about with turn signal bulbs?

Hi Glenn, did the brake light LEDs at least work? Maybe you just have a polarity issue. Other than normal bulbs LEDs need the correct polarity to work right.

Thorsten

I think reversing the one-way valve will just stop the reservoir filling (if you can fill something with a vacume!!!!) and stop the PSE valves opening.

Has anyone done this and it work ? Is the vacume reservoir used for anything else ?

I just can't see how reversing a one-way valve on a vacume line will work, surely it will just stop things all together.

Cheers

Paul

Paul, that's exactly what I thought. AFAIK the check valve is there to prevent air from flowing back. By reversing it you just wouldn't be able to build up the vacuum for the flaps to operate (to quiet).

Just my 2 cents.

Thorsten

Do not stick with what the TIRE says, stick with what the MANUAL says.

I don't think you can go wrong with the N version of the tires that you car originally came with. Those are likely to be Michelin Pilot Sports or Continentals. Check with your dealer.

The rear tire your car has on it might be a bit small, I think the standard 18" tire is 285 in the rear.

Andy

I've been running exactly the same Hankook tires for quite a while now (1 1/2years) on my 99C4 and IMHO they perform much better than the original Contis. Same grip, much less noise and less wear.

N-rating might have been a good thing when there were only a few cars out on the streets able to perform as fast as a Porsche. Now there are so many fast and even heavier cars out there that I can see no reason why any other high performance tire shouldn't do the job. They all have the stiffened sidewalls and and high speed stability (not really an issue on public roads in the U.S. :lol: ) Porsche brags about.

BTW: You're wrong about the standard size on this MY being 285.

Thorsten

Sorry it took me quite a while to give some feedback but I wanted to make sure that my engine is in a stable state now. For several weeks now I haven't heard anything from the engine and even after a final 'test' with the car resting for two weeks at temps around freezing point there was no ticking.

So the conclusion seems to be that the engine needed some break in time with the 5w-50 oil. (I wish I could offer a mor logical explanation).

Overal I'd say the engine is running much smoother now when idling warm. But that might just be an illusion and certainly not enough reason to start the great oil debate. :D

Thorsten

You should really:

1) Use Porsche approve tires

Oh please let's discuss this! Or should we rather start the oil discussion? <_<

Hi, I recently get a ticking noise about 30 seconds after a cold start of the engine which resembles the knocking noise of an old diesel engine although not as loud. Most of time it's tick-tick-tick with about o.2s pause in between the ticks and then again after 5s or so tick-tick-tick again . After that everything is normal.I'll try to link a (bad quality) sound file I've recorded. The file gives a wrong impression about the volume of the ticks though. It's not as loud as it seems.The whole thing lasts about 30s.

The car is a 99 C4 with 78300km on the clock. I already had my 80000km inspection done 2 weeks ago with oil change from Mobil1 0W-40 to 5W-50 done by myself last week. I only noticed the noise after I had already done the oil change. Should have noticed the sound if it would have been there earlier because I usually drive the car out the garage and then walk around it to load my luggage on the rear seats setting off to work. If have no idea though why the oil change or the inspection should be a cause.(Oil level is fine)

Any thoughts?

Thorsten

porsche.wav

Yes , it should be in the inner part of the seal. Actually this is exactly the same location where my whistle came from so there's a good chance to fix it. I'd say its possible to adjust the door to give more pressure to that point but I don't think it's a good idea if the door's overall fit is okay.

As Kelvin said: not really a sophisticated solution but for me it works.

Thorsten

It works and i have done it with my 1-button key...

The design key works as well as the carrera GT key...

-Keith

Thanks Keith, I knew someone must have done it already.

Thorsten

Thorsten,

It is my understanding that the key head will work just fine for an early model, one button car. You will simply have a key button that does nothing.

This is under the assumption that you are referring to taking the electronics out of your original key head and inserting them into the design key.

Hi Kim,

that's what I was planning to do. I'm just not sure if the one button of my key would be in the correct position for it to work correctly with on of the two button surfaces of the design key. Would be a little stupid though if I had to hit the hood button to open the doors.

Thorsten

According to the TSB the design key does not work for 3-button keys but what about 1-button keys like on my 99 C4? No info about that in the TSB. Has anybody done it and can confirm it works?

Thorsten