Iceyankee-Tsi

Hi 911 Rod: I agree with Jpflip on this. It is something pretty common with 996 turbos for the clutch slave to go bad. It happened to me on my old 996tt. It will be very clear to you if you look at the clutch reservior under the hood that is probably overfilled and leaking. The GT2 Slave solution is the best way to go. It will provide a slight increase in pedal pressure effort and it will cost a bit higher that just replacing the stock salve but gets rid of this problem that repeats quite often. Best of luck!

Hi Superboyg: Sorry to hear this is happening to you. I can tell you that after replacing the plug and insuring all the wires were properly connected to the fuel sender plug, evertything worked fine. My assumptions are the following in my old case: A poor connection between the fuel level sender and the plug in addition to the high Amp draw of the old fuel pump(maybe due to a deffective pump) created an overheating condition in that area that made the wire start to melt. Like I mentioned in the previous posts, when I replaced the pump with a walbro unit, the change in wire temperature was considerably noticeable. Hence, I would suggest to change the plug, insure proper connection between the fuel sending unit and the plug. If this doesn't work, replace the pump. That would be the path I would follow. I no longer have my 996 Turbo, yet after this was done I've never had to mess with it again. If I can be of any additional help, please feel free to let me know. Good luck sir!

I verified the diagram and the plug is not there. It seems that some VW/Audi supplied parts are not included in the manual. The part number for this plug is 357 906 231 and has the VW/Audi symbol stamped in the side. I looked at Rector Motors web page and it has a list price of $6.20 which is reasonable. However, I wonder if it includes the pins where the cables are crimped to or if I have to purchase them separately? I guess I would need to call to find out that one. Regarding the fuel pump test, thanks I read that info while looking across the manual for the fuel pump. That would be the appropriate way to test fuel flow. Since I am using at this time a Walbro 255 ltr/hr high pressure fuel pump, I understand everything is running as it should. For some reason, i don't think that the stock fuel pump can flow more than this. However, this is just speculation since the stock pump I have doesn't have any part number or inscription(other than the VDO letters) that I could use to identify its operation characteristics. That would be a great piece of info if somebody has it. :thankyou: Andres

ja ja ja. Thanks for that JP :D : Well, to start off my car did'nt want to start. The answer to this one is that probably due to overheating of the fuel pump ground cable, its contact to the car's ground was lost. Hence, not allowing the engine to start due to lack of fuel. After I wiggled the brown cable a little bit, the car started. Since this was the only thing I did prior to the engine starting and since after it has started every time, I understand that was the problem. That brought me to find out the problem regarding the overheating ground cable. It seems that the cable mod I made worked pretty well since even though the cable is not completely cold, it gets warm to and acceptable level. What I mean with that is that I know it is not capable of melting nothing. However, do any of you know if this fuel pump/level sender plug is sold separately that I could purchase and reconnect the wires the right way? It is not that I like to have a car like this looking like a project car. :) Thanks, Andres

Okay guys: Let me tell you what I have found. First off, let me explain in better detail what I previously said. As all of us can see, there are two cables that connect to the fuel level sender that go to the fuel pump. These are the green cable with the white stripe(which is the pump's 12 volt source) and the brown cable(which is the pump's ground). What I did was to measure the resistance of the green cable. The lecture was of 6.5 amps. After posting this message I went disconnecting fuse by fuse until I found the fuse that was creating that resistance in my green fuel pump power cable. I found out that there was a 5 Amp fuse connected in row C5 that was creating this "mini short". When looking at the fuse diagram in the manual, I noted that this fuse slot was meant to be empty by the manufacturer. The only extra thing I see in the car besides the OEM stuff was a Passport SRX radar(which doesn't work). I may think that the previous owner used this fuse slot to power his radar. I left out the fuse and now with power off and green cable unplugged, I have zero resistance as it is meant to be. However, this may have been part of the problem but it didn't fixed it. The brown ground cable kept overheating. I went on and removed the brown cable lead from the fuel pump/fuel level sender connector. The contact area with the fuel level sender lead was pretty much fried. So using the same connector, I cut and removed the remains of the fried brown cable and soldered a new piece of wire with the same specs as the old fried brown cable to the connector. I then solder the other end of the new cable to the section of brown cable that went to the car(see picture and sorry for the quality). Left the car running for 1/2 an hour and the condition seems like it has improved(the brown cable goes a little bit warm but it doesn't get as hot as before). Can anybody confirm me is a 0.30 Amps current is reasonable for the pump operating in idle? This was the measurement I took from the brown cable with the car on. After all, I think I may need a new plug. Thanks. Andres

Well guys: No luck at this point. Tested the car with my Walbro 255 ltr/hr fuel pump installed in place of the OEM one and the brown ground cable overheated. I verified continuity against ground in the green/white cable which is the 12V power source to the pump and it measured 6.5 ohms!!! Isn't supposed to be zero? can somebody unplug their fuel pump/fuel sender electrical connector and check this reading for me please? At this point I think I may have a short somewhere but I removed the fuel pump fuse and the pump's relay and I still have 6.5 ohms in my fuel pump power cable. Is there a specific wiring diagram that may show me where do these two cables (the brown ground cable and the green with white stripe power wire) go from the fuel pump plug? I have tried to find it without luck. Thanks. Andres

Well, At this point I think I have found a good way to sort this out. I will connect to the car's fuel pump harness a spare Walbro 255 ltr/hr fuel pump that I have from my 1991 Eagle Talon TSi just to see if the wiring overheats the same with this pump. If it does, I will know that I have to search for a short circuit,bad grounding, etc in the car. In the other hand, I will connect again the car's original fuel pump to a spare 12 volt source to see if the wiring overheats as previously happened. I guess that would be the final check that will prove a defective fuel pump. I will let you know my findings. Thanks for all your comments. Its great to have available all this wisdom and technical knowledge that you guys provide. Best regards, Andres

Alright guys: I am happy to tell you that I was able to start it up!!! :) However, I have a problem that needs to be solved. :( Let me provide the details. First off, I connected my Durametric tool to find out that there were no errors with the exception of the alarms attached. So I proceeded to check all the fuses. None was blown. I then started to manipulate the fuel pump relay with the Durametric and to my surprise the system sound like operating but the sound came from the back of the car!!! How come if the pump is in the front!!! Well, the answer to that is that it seems that for some reason when I activate that relay, other artifacts activate like for example the rear fan and the vacuum pump(both of them at low speed). Now, I went to the front of the car and unplug the fuel pump harness. I found curious that the brown cable(ground for pump) was like overheated and the plastic area surrounding its connection pin was melted. Humm!!! It doesn't look good. I attached some pics of what I found. I wiggled everything a little bit. Cranked the engine and.....surprise!!! Car was alive again. However, since I didn't like what I saw I continued monitoring the power leads to the pump(the brown cable and the green with white stripe). I noticed that as the car remained turned on, temperature was increasing to a point that is for concern. So in order to understand if it is a failing fuel pump or relays/fuse/short circuit related, I applied 12V straight to the fuel pump with its harness unplugged. The result was interesting, the cables I used started to increase their temperature which makes me understand that the problem is related to the fuel pump. Now my question is, lets say that for some reason I have a clogged fuel filter, could this increase the pump's work making it overheat hence overheating its power leads? I have always thought that these types of things were supposed to be captured by the fuel pump fuse. Have some of you heard anything related to a similar issue before? I verified that the fuel pump fuse was the correct grade and it is the right one: 30 Amps. At this point I may think on ordering a new fuel pump based on my testing but would like to know your opinion. Thanks, Andres

Hi WRoss996TT: I agree with you. Since I still haven't hooked up my scan tool after this issue, the first thing I will do is to check for error codes using my Durametric tool. I have an Actron Scanner which typically I use to clear my infamous P-1325 code since it is more handy than hooking up my laptop to clear it with the Durametric Software. But this is the first time that this happens to me. Is great to know that the "limp" mode will still allow me to startup the car, hence this discards the possibility of some relationship with the CEL clearance. In addition, since the car cranks, I understand that I can discard the clutch switch. If I recall correctly, I read your topic associated with the hose inside the gas tank that due to deterioration may release the fuel pressure. I will be checking this after the other battery of tests: fuses, relays, etc.. This could be a probable cause of my problem. I will let you know. Thanks guys!!! Andres

Hi jpflip: As always, trying to help up. I really thank you and appreciate it. I will absolutely verify this. As I am at work right now and the problem was this morning, I haven't done no troubleshooting at all. Will post back with the findings. Best Regards, Andres

Greetings guys: I am having a little trouble with my 2001 996 Turbo. First, let me state a known fact. For some time now, I am having a check engine light that gives the code P-1325 which is associated with the Bank #2 variocam system. Since I am pretty sure it is mechanically related, I have no plans to deal with it right now. Yesterday I used the car without any issues besides my common CEL. Last night as I am usually doing after dirving for I while, I clear up with my OBD2 scanner my CEL and left the car it alone for the day. Today when going to work, I got in the car and it didn't wanted to start. It does crank, but it doesn't start. Is there a possibility that after clearing several CELs without fixing the problem the ECU may enter in a "protection" mode (or something similar) until the fault is corrected? It may sound weird but since I didn't do anything else besides the CEL clearance, I don't know what else to think. Once I get home from work I will be checking for the basics. Ignition supply and fuel. Plus will connect the durametric to see if there are any codes. Any advice on what to check would be greatly appreciated. Best regards, Andres

Hi Sinister: Would you please show me which hose had this problem? Yesterday my car started fine and today it cranks but it doesn't start. Will like to see if everything is okay regarding gas. Thanks. Andres