jmustakas

My 2002 996 Carrera 4 Cab Tiptronic makes a hard clunk in the rear when starting from a dead stop with mid-to-hard acceleration.Rolling out normally does not produce the clunk. I visually inspected the motor mounts and they appear to be in tact and not leaking. I also hear a whirring (grinding) under hard acceleration from stop when making a turn.

Any ideas?

My 2002 996 Carrera 4 Cab has self-leveling headlamps but are not aimed correctly when beams come to a fixed stop. I attempted to do a manual adjustment but found no adjusters when I opened the adjustment ports to the left and right of the spare tire well. What to do?

Antifreeze smell.......on my 02 C4 the antifreeze overflow deposits expelled antifreeze directly on exhaust pipe just before the left tailpipe tip. Could be smelling the antifreeze residue burning off the pipe. This continues long after the liquid is dissolved. I wire-brushed the residue off and it seemed to help.

It's my understanding that the headlight units in my 2002 C4 start in the down position and aim based on the attitude of the vehicle, taking into consideration weight distribution front to rear. Mine seem to start out low and never correct. Can I override the mechanism and manually adjust the beam? If so, how?

Thank you both for your reply. I'm actually looking for someone that has a similar vehicle and has experienced this clunk first-handed. Perhaps they can tell me the cure.

My 2002 Cab 4 Tiptronic makes a loud clunk in the rear of the vehicle when I take off hard from a dead stop. Before I attempt to climb under for a look-see, any suggestions as to what it might be?

When I accelerate hard from a full stop, I hear a clunk coming from the rear of my 02 Carrera4 Cab Tip. This is the only time I hear this. Anyone know what it might be?

My 2002 Carrera4 Cab occasionally emits a white cloud of smoke resembling fog at start-up. It doesn't happen every time and I haven't noticed a pattern to this behavior. The fog of smoke ceases immediately and there is no oil residue in tailpipes nor any foreign buildup in the oil filler tube or under coolant cap. Can this be from using oil with the wrong viscocity or do I have a mechanical problem? I believe the oil is 10W30 and I drive the vehicle in central Florida.

Thank you for the wisdom. Do you know if Porsche will honor the TSB's as a recall or warranty issue even though my car is an '02? Can I purchase a code reader/ resetter and do the reset myself?

On a 6-7 year old car - I doubt it. But then, if there was a history of problems they could do it for free.

Thank you for the wisdom. Do you know if Porsche will honor the TSB's as a recall or warranty issue even though my car is an '02? Can I purchase a code reader/ resetter and do the reset myself?

Funny you should mention this, I just reset my AB light yesterday.

The majority of Air Bag warning lights are because of intermittent Seatbelt buckle switch issues with the microswitch (gunk or lint in the buckle) or a loose ground. Usually just buckling and unbuckling the belt cures the problem, but you still have to use either the Factory Porsche tester or a Durametric tester to reset the light. If the fault is in the buckle, blowing compressed air into it can clean out any lint or debris that might cause the switch not to close. One less common problem with the buckle is if the connectors under the seat have come apart, but this is less common.

Hopefully, your Dealer, will do a goodwill reset of the fault.

based on my experience/research when my airbag light came on, it came down to replacing the passenger side buckle. i had tried to avoid the expenditure by resetting the light a couple of times at the deadership, but it always ended up coming back on.

i believe the updated buckle has some sort of gold plating, not sure, but i remember the job was more expensive than i though it'd be. i had the dealer help me find out which buckle was triggering the light and just replaced that one side. if it comes on again and the driver side buckle is causing the airbag light to come on, i'll deal with it if and when that time comes.

i also believe porsche released a service bulletin around this issue. i'm not sure exactly what years it impacts.

Ben - Yes, Porsche issued a TSBs on this (which you now access to as a Contributing Member).

They are:

TSB 1/04 6924 Airbag Warning Light Comes On: Fault Codes 45, 46, 48 and 49 -- dated Jul 21, 2004

and

TSB 0201 6924 Seatbelt Buckle Airbag Warning Light -- dated Oct 11, 2002

Buckles need to be replaced and ground solder joints need to be re-done.

The airbag warning light came on in my 2002 996 Carrera 4 Cabriolet. I've heard a number of speculative reasons but does anyone have a fix before I spend the $$$ to hit the dealership?