Kim

In several of the many, many hot debates here regarding tires, I have voiced my pleasure with the 18" Goodyear Eagle (GS D3). Very much in line with last year's Car & Driver ratings, I have been very pleased with the grip and the lack of road noise. I have commented several times on their apparent durability along the way. This week, at the 20K mile mark .... all daily driving, no track time .... , it was time to replace the rears. The fronts still look like they have a long way to go. One of the fronts was replaced at the 12K mile mark via the road hazard warranty, and the other side looks very much like its newer partner. One poster a while back commented on the very noticeable elevation in road noise when the tires were worn. I concur ... but it did not come until the rears were worn out and due for replacement .... so no real complaint there. Once the new shoes were in place, it was back to quiet cruising on the highway.

I have a MY00: it does not have seats that respond to the driver's key ID. My issue is with the pax seat, which is not part of the seat memory settings. It happens at random times while moving on the road.

That's exactly what my indy mechanice did .... when I had rounded off the head of the Torx 12 bolt by attempting to use a metric socket. He held a Torx 12 socket in place, hammered it onto the head with a large hammer, and then inserted his ratchet and backed it out. I offered to pay for the socket, but it did not appear to have harmed it. I now have a set of Torx sockets.

Thanks, Loren, I'll do the "loose / frayed wire" search this weekend. Fortunately, no water under the seats. Been there/ done that when I first bought the car .... until I repaired the water drain tray and blew out the hoses to the rear wheel wells. Car is garaged, and has not been in any rain in a good while to boot.

I love my Goodyear GS D3's. Ask the Tire Rack experts about them.

I searched and found plenty of info on seats that will not move .... but could not find anything on a runaway seat. My 00 Cab's passenger seat (fully electric) will occasionally began reclining on its own, and continue until it hits the limit, or until is jams against the Cab wind screen when its installed. Once it stops, it will respond normally to the electric switch and come back to an upright position. Has anyone else experienced this? My car has never been to the dealer, and I hate to take it in with such a mysterious, some-time issue. That's like giving them a blank check. However, I'm actually afraid its going to ruin a $250 windscreen one of these times. My only thought is to replace the electric switch on the seat .... on speculation that it is failing internally.

If you search under "remote top" and "Smarttop", you should get many, many hits. Haven't seen much discussion of the coupe unit, but, for the most part, the cabriolet add-ons have been well received. I have both the cab products, and love them. With the first (Smarttop), I had a problem after a few months. Wilhelmy replaced my unit without question .... based solely upon a phone conversationw with me. They made no issue of waiting until I installed the replacement for me to extract and return the defective one. I certainly did not wish to tear it down twice .... they didn't even suggest that I should.

The TSB on this issue contains very specific limits on what can be reglued by the dealer. It sounds like yours may be within these limits, so it might be worth a trip to the dealer. If not, then some on the forum have reported success with finding a local shop to remove; stitch around; and reinstall the top. I could not find such a shop, so went to a dealer recommended top shop which installed a GAHH top for $1900 total, top and labor. Now, GAHH offers a top with a glass window, which seems to run about $500 more than mine. Good luck.

In every car I have ever owned, the rapid flashing of a turn signal was the indication that one of the bulbs (front or rear) on that side was burned out. You say the bulb "seems ok". How did you check it. Have you tried a known good, or new bulb in that spot?

Loren, I think that is his point .... oxidation was the cause of the corrosion, and this spray, DeoxIT, is an oxidation clearner and preventer. We won't know for a while, I guess, but I do have some experience with oxidation interfering with electrical connections, both low voltage and the household type. Using an anti-oxidizing agent as a preventative is an established practice in both fields.

Thanks for a great tip. I'm filing this one away for the future .... as I've been dreading the infamous airbag light ever since I joined RennTech and started reading of all the problems .... and the expensive dealer fix.

Can't speak to Alabama law, but Georgia insurers use a state approved formula .... fairly complex .... based upon average resale value (as established from local classifieds), extent of damage, age of car, etc. They then pay 33% of the formula result. If an insured wishes to claim more than the standard formula produces (e.g. your estimate from a professional appraiser), then its time for lawyers. Good luck,

I used to have exactly the same problem with my 928 .... seemed the gas tank was going to empty itself on the garage floor, or up my sleeve. If found a great little flexible line clamp .... sort of a metal clothes pin that latches in the clamped position, pinching off a flexible line. Is the 996 line "pinchable"?

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.

On these early models, the hood and trunk releases are straight bowden cables between the levers and the latches. However, the levers are locked down by a retaining pin when the alarm is set with the remote. As I understand it, when the battery dies, this latching pin remains in place, and the levers cannot be raised until power is restored on the car. It should be possible to loosen the plastic covering over the lever area and manually release the retaining pin. I have a full assembly sitting on my workbench, and a quick finger pull releases the levers. However, I don't know how involved that would be with the assembly installed in the car.

He was confused, or you misunderstood him. When the car has sat untouched for 5 days, the remote locking system turns itself off to conserve the battery. If you return to the car after such a period, the remote button on the key will not unlock your car. Using the key in the door lock will reset the remote locking system and allow the key button to, once again, operate the locks. That is the only thing I can imagine that he meant with regard to allowing "allow the car to recognize the key ....". I don't believe this function has anything to do with the key being able to start the car. Sounds like your transponder receiver ..... the device in the car that recognizes the signal of a mated transponder in a key head and enables the start ..... was failing intermittently.

Just to be clear, there is no relationship (electrical or otherwise) between the immobilizer chip in your key head and the remote control locking device in your key head. In fact, valet keys have the immobilizer (necessary to start the car) but not the remote locking xmitter (for doors and security system). So, when your dealer stated that the immobilzer "might need to be reinitialized", he meant that the car might need to be hooked up to the PST2 device and digitally mated once again to the immobilizer chip in your key head .... as is done with a new key head. Locking and unlocking the car with the remote would have no connection to that.

By "no luck": do you mean that you could not figure out how to do it .... or that the prescribed manual top operation method would not function properly?

Yes, I could not find it without removing the wheel well liner .... though I have read here of some who are able to. I even removed the RF wheel to make it easier. The easiest way to see it is when the right headlight is out .... but, of course, the hood must be open to remove the light. MY99 means, I believe, that you have no fuse panel lug into which you may input 12vdc ... when the problem is electrical. That configuration started some time after MY00 (cause I don't have one, either). Also, I believe that even with the seemingly all mechanical releases such as you and I have, there is an electro/mechanical interlock in the release handle assembly that prevents raising the handles when the car believes itself to be locked. I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong, but that is the impression I have gained from reading all the previous posts from early model drivers who are locked out of the trunk and engine compartment. Finally, assuming you find the cable and get your trunk open, I will repeat the suggestion I read here (and accomplished on my car) the very first week I discovered RennTech. Reroute the release cable (its easiest if you remove the right headlight) from the void behind the light to the area immediately behind your front bumper. It is plenty long enough. Then, remove your towing socket bumper plug, and route the cable loop out through that. Tie a piece of cord/fishing line to the loop, and the other end to the back of the bumper plug. Push it all back into the bumper and reinsert the plug. Now, when you find that your normal release will not work, you can just pop out the bumper plug, pull out the cable loop using the cord, and, "open sesame".

Do a search. Your model year will make a difference in the possible electrical troubleshooting. All MYs should have an emergency cable in the space forward of the right front wheel .... on the front side of the wheel well liner and in the empty fender space behind the right headlight. This will be a braded metal cable with a loop on the end. Pull it, and your hood should pop open.

The fact that the auto cutout does not work would lead one away from the switch, but not entirely. The speed signal feeds into the relay, but it could then theoretically (internally) be using some path to ground that originates with or passes through the switch. I have not analyzed the signal through the relay that completely. It is entirely possible that some of the work you completed in adding your extra switch could have come undone. Connections, especially add-ons or tap-in connections are notorious for working lose. I am attaching the wiring diagram in case you don't already have it.

First, check the work you have just done with the newly installed switch. It is my experience that whenever something suddenly stops working, the first place to look is any change I have recently made. As noted earlier, the PSE defaults to Loud. It takes activation of the console switch to cause the vacuum switch to route vacuum pressure to close the actuators and make the mufflers Quiet. With ignition OFF, you should read no ground or current in the either of the 2 contacts in the red connector at the vacuum switch. With ignition ON, PSE Switch Loud (light off), you should read nothing in the lower contact (GY/RD wire), and 12V in the upper contact (RD/BU wire). With ignition ON, PSE Switch Quiet (light On), you should read Ground in the lower contact (GY/RD wire), and 12V in the upper contact (RD/BU wire). It is this completion of circuit (current and ground) that activates the vacuum switch and ports vacuum pressure to the acutators to move them to Quiet. If you are full time Loud, then I would start with the contact in the red connector at the vacuum switch. With ignition on, do you have the 12v current in the upper contact (RD/BU wire)? If not, trace the wiring back to fuse (B10, I think) in search of the break. If the current is present in the upper contact, then activate the PSE switch to Quiet, and check for ground in the lower contact (GY/RD wire). If it is not grounded, then trace the wire back to the relay (Term A5) in search of a break. If you have found all normal at this point, then you will have to trouble shoot the connections between the PSE switch and the relay. That is another ball of wax altogether. One quick check is to see that you have 12v into the switch (RD/BU wire).

Even $100 would be high for mating a key to a car. In Atlanta, I paid under $50 to have my car set up for 2 new key heads: one remote and one just valet.

What Loren said ..... or, you could have this guy call me, and I will read him the instructions from the service manual. Just kidding of course. Its hard to believe you are hearing this from a Porsche dealer with an actual service department. This is such a routine service, that when I pulled into Hennessy Porsche in Atlanta, I didn't even have time to figure out their hi-tech coffee machine (literally). The tech mated two keys for me in just a few minutes.

Is this a Porsche dealer? If all available key signatures are being utilized, THAT is why a new key head cannot be mated to the car. However, he should be able to eliminate any currently mated keys from the computer.