HGGuate

I own both the Bentley Publishers as well as the 101 Projects for your Porsche 911.  The books complement each other and are great reference for the do-it-yourself Porsche Owner.

I have saved a few thousand dollars on mechanics doing some diagnostic and mechanical work on my car myself.  The books paid for themselves a few times over with just the first job, a 10 minute replacement of the Mass Airflow Sensor my local Porsche Dealer had offered to change for big bucks.  

I have to say that there are a lot of resources available online, specially here on Renntech, but it really helps to have these books on your workbench, next to your tools and car.  I cant imagine searching for WIFI signal when I am getting grease all over myself.

Gray pieces of foam are flying out of my A/C vents.  

I changed the Cabin air filter a few years back, and it is not the color of the foam pieces coming out, so I imagine it is not this filter.

Any ideas of what is coming out of the A/C?

I dont want to go through the trouble of taking the dash out without a previous idea of what i may find.

1998 Carrera 996

60,000 KM

A/C

The smart engineering that Porsche hides in its cars management systems does not cease to amaze me. After a few years with the car, I keep finding smart features that I had never heard of or read about in my owners manual.

Yesterday after a few hours of spirited driving in back country in my 1998 Carrera (996), I returned to the city and found a huge traffic jam that had me almost at a standstill for a half hour. Predictably, the engine temperature started going up (not to redline, but close to the 120 mark)

At one point the car idle speed started behaving strangely (Idle would drop from 1800 to about 1200 rpm for a second or two and would then go back up to 1800, cycling back to 1200 after about a second or two). The AC fans did not stop blowing, but the System stopped cooling the air while the engine temp was high.

We got past the traffic jam and driving at 40 KM for a few miles and the phenomenon stopped (idle went back to normal and AC started cooling again.) Once again we hit traffic and as the engine temp climbed once again, the Idle change and AC cutout came back until we started moving and the temp dropped back to normal ranges.

I have tried to find info on this motor behavior on Renntech, my owners manual and a few Porsche resources I have in my library but have not found any information detailing this or other protection mechanisms the car has.

This behavior may seem like a trivial (and logical) behavior to expect from the cars computer, what surprises me is that it was included in the electronics of a car built in 1998 and probably designed years before that.

I would love to hear about other engineering quirks Rentech readers have found through the years with their Cars, the manual only goes so far to instruct us about our "babies".

agree on Adrians book... great for 996, not specifically upgrades

my friend recently purchased a 993. He does not know much about the car and does not have any documentation.

From the look of it in the pictures I saw, a few things have been modded (lights, spoiler, badges, etc.)

Does this look like a Widebody or do you think it is a narrow body 993?

Thanks for your opinions.

Our babies are cars after all, I would consider two major concerns about winter driving in a Porsche:

1.) Porsche owners want their cars to last for decades, salt from the road causes corrosion and damage at a much quicker rate than the natural aging process planned for.

2.) High torque and low weight make for a bad combination when roads get slippery, most drivers are not thinking about this in their everyday drives and that is risky (much riskier than premature aging...)

Wash it down after the "salt bath" and be very careful when driving on slippery roads..... and drive it year round.

Congratulations. Very much like the one I found. Ipod Mod and Clear Side Markers are what I have done to it. Dont think Ill do much more.

Congratulations and welcome to the forum. Let us see how it ends up.

How did I do with the speaker upgrade? here is the complete text to my post, elsewhere on the forums....

I recently Installed 4 inch replacement speakers in my stock factory locations (dash and rear quarter) on an early 996 with stock head unit. The stock speakers were very simple, single driver, cardboard cone speakers, obviously not high fidelity. My intention was to make a small upgrade and decide if I needed to go any further after some time listening to the new sound. I was not interested in a louder sound system than stock, just better fidelity.

My initial choice was to go with 2 way, coaxial speakers in the original factory locations, using the factory grills, so as to not have any visible modifications inside my car. My key concern was that replacement speakers fit into the factory locations with no great modification beyond making the speakers fit in the factory grills.

Using the procedure illustrated on Youtube (search for "Boxster Speaker Replacement") I modified the factory grilles so they would hold the replacement speakers. If you are to embark on this project, I recommend you have a rotary tool available to cut the grills and sand down whatever you need to on the grill back and "speaker basket", you will need a torx head driver and a small wrench to turn the torx head for the screw placed closest to the windshield. You will also need a soldering iron and some quick epoxy or fast drying glue (superglue). Also, I would recommend you have some fast hardening silicone to seal the speakers into the grills once you modify them. I dont remember this last part being specified on the Youtube video, but it makes a big difference on the reproduction quality of the speakers once the job is completed.

The space below the dash speaker grilles is large and deep enough for just about any 4 inch speaker to fit (I did not check to see if 5.25 inch speakers would have fit, I would imagine they would, but would require much more modification or replacement of the factory grills, which I did not want to do). The space on the rear quarter speaker locations has less leeway. Although my replacement speakers (JL Audio C2 400x) have much larger magnets than the original speakers, they fit without having to cut any material out of the firewall insulation or further modification behind the grills.

I was initially tempted to not replace the rear quarter speakers, as the space was tighter and I usually listen to my sound faded slightly toward the front (2). I am very happy that I changed all 4 speakers, as the sound baffling created in the rear quarter is much more effective than the one created in the dash location and the sound quality for Bass reproduction is much better from the back (no crossovers were installed or changes in the wiring, just the physics of sound reproduction with a well sealed speaker grill and sound insulating material that acts as baffling behind the speaker). I now fade my sound a bit to the back (-2) and have better Bass reproduction than I did before.

The replacement speakers I used are not extremely expensive or particularly cheap; however, having better quality midrange cone material and a separate tweeter drivers, definitely makes for a great difference in sound fidelity. In my opinion, this "speaker only" upgrade is definitely worth the time and effort.

I would imagine a good sound shop will recommend you install an amplifier, crossovers, and a sub-woofer for the best quality sound. While this is absolutely true, I am not sure if I the investment in cost and modifications would be worth it (who really blasts the sound in a 911?).

Your time to make the modifications and the risk of damaging the dashboard and speaker grills are probably something you should consider before trying to do this on your own if you don´t have DIY experience. If you do not, bring the Youtube video to your local car stereo shop (this mod may not be intuitive to them) and let them have a go at it.

A few weeks ago I upgraded the stock speakers in my car with JL Audio 4 inch speakers. The modification was not complicated, and I was very pleased with the quality of the sound (not too loud, as the CR-210 only puts out about 15-20 watts, but much better clarity and quality). I wholeheartedly recommend the upgrade to anybody with a stock speakers still in their factory locations. Do all 4 speakers, as it makes an important difference.

After a lot of searching over the net I came up with an idea of how to access my IPOD through the CR-210 head unit and was able to implement it successfully (and very inexpensively). The solution requires your CR-210 have a CD Changer installed and a 12$ cable (plus radio removal keys and an hour or two of your time)

I have placed the complete DIY guide in the appropriate section, and hope it can help people like me who would rather tinker with their own car than have a Car Stereo specialist fix your problems with a new install.

http://www.renntech.org/forums/index.php/tutorials/article/242-mp3-player-through-cr-210-with-cd-changer/

Quick update and recommendations from my personal experience with a "speaker only" upgrade on a 996.

I recently Installed 4 inch replacement speakers in my stock factory locations (dash and rear quarter) on an early 996 with stock head unit. The stock speakers were very simple, single driver, cardboard cone speakers, obviously not high fidelity. My intention was to make a small upgrade and decide if I needed to go any further after some time listening to the new sound. I was not interested in a louder sound system than stock, just better fidelity.

My initial choice was to go with 2 way, coaxial speakers in the original factory locations, using the factory grills, so as to not have any visible modifications inside my car. My key concern was that replacement speakers fit into the factory locations with no great modification beyond making the speakers fit in the factory grills.

Using the procedure illustrated on Youtube (search for "Boxster Speaker Replacement") I modified the factory grilles so they would hold the replacement speakers. If you are to embark on this project, I recommend you have a rotary tool available to cut the grills and sand down whatever you need to on the grill back and "speaker basket", you will need a torx head driver and a small wrench to turn the torx head for the screw placed closest to the windshield. You will also need a soldering iron and some quick epoxy or fast drying glue (superglue). Also, I would recommend you have some fast hardening silicone to seal the speakers into the grills once you modify them. I dont remember this last part being specified on the Youtube video, but it makes a big difference on the reproduction quality of the speakers once the job is completed.

The space below the dash speaker grilles is large and deep enough for just about any 4 inch speaker to fit (I did not check to see if 5.25 inch speakers would have fit, I would imagine they would, but would require much more modification or replacement of the factory grills, which I did not want to do). The space on the rear quarter speaker locations has less leeway. Although my replacement speakers (JL Audio C2 400x) have much larger magnets than the original speakers, they fit without having to cut any material out of the firewall insulation or further modification behind the grills.

I was initially tempted to not replace the rear quarter speakers, as the space was tighter and I usually listen to my sound faded slightly toward the front (2). I am very happy that I changed all 4 speakers, as the sound baffling created in the rear quarter is much more effective than the one created in the dash location and the sound quality for Bass reproduction is much better from the back (no crossovers were installed or changes in the wiring, just the physics of sound reproduction with a well sealed speaker grill and sound insulating material that acts as baffling behind the speaker). I now fade my sound a bit to the back (-2) and have better Bass reproduction than I did before.

The replacement speakers I used are not extremely expensive or particularly cheap; however, having better quality midrange cone material and a separate tweeter drivers, definitely makes for a great difference in sound fidelity. In my opinion, this "speaker only" upgrade is definitely worth the time and effort.

I would imagine a good sound shop will recommend you install an amplifier, crossovers, and a sub-woofer for the best quality sound. While this is absolutely true, I am not sure if I the investment in cost and modifications would be worth it (who really blasts the sound in a 911?).

Your time to make the modifications and the risk of damaging the dashboard and speaker grills are probably something you should consider before trying to do this on your own if you don´t have DIY experience. If you do not, bring the Youtube video to your local car stereo shop (this mod may not be intuitive to them) and let them have a go at it.

I hope this helps you guys out there considering this mod.

Has anybody fitted after market speakers easily? I was about to order some speakers on Crutchfield, but comments on this thread made me doubt if they will fit without having to make important modifications.

I understand i will have to modify my factory grills, but it would be a pain to go through the trouble for the speakers to "not fit"

comments appreciated.

HG

I know, but it does a good job illustrating what we grease monkeys will have to do while crouching or sliding under our cars.... Ha Ha.

I have been wondering if i could do this without taking the car to the shop.

Mr. Svensen has great equipment and a lift at home, I dont, but you may.

thanks to Mr. Svensen for this and his other tutorials

Dissasembly and removal of Front Brake calipers and rotors: http://www.youtube.com/user/vsvenson#p/u/11/CC16WXBcE7Q

Reassembly of front brakes http://www.youtube.com/user/vsvenson#p/u/10/--6HLa3Vays

Steps for Changing Rear Brakes http://www.youtube.com/user/vsvenson#p/u/8/9DpC0lXHP5o

and dealing with stripped screws on the rear brake rotor http://www.youtube.com/user/vsvenson#p/u/9/B84quYWFLd0

hope this helps all you DIY ers.

Mr. Van Svenson has posted some good video guides to DIY projects on his Porsche Cars.

Dont know if he is on this forum, but he sure deserves our thanks.

hope this helps

Here is a step by step video on how to change the oil on a Porsche 996 with a wonderful explanation by Mr. Svenson. I dont know if Mr. Svenson is on the forum, but he does a great job of going through all the steps.

Please comment on how it helped you.

For a list of speakers that fit into your factory speaker locations, go to www.Crutchfield.com and look in the "Outfit my car" section.

After entering your vehicle brand, model, year and type, the Crutchfield page will give you alternatives for speakers, head units and other equipment that fits your car. The speaker recommendations will all have a note that states that "Some modification is required", as the speaker covers need to have some modification done to them to serve as speaker mounts.

Go to

Please post info on how you did...

Go to Crutchfield.com and look for the "Outfit my car" section. After entering your vehicle brand, model, year and type, the Crutchfield page will give you alternatives for speakers, head units and other equipment that fits your car. The speaker recommendations will all have a note that states that "Some modification is required", as the speaker covers need to have some modification to serve as speaker mounts.

go to

Please post info on how you did...

I thought of this topic while replying to another post.

I had a great time researching my Porsche Purchase. Bought all the good books, subscribed to Excellence Magazine, befriended a Porsche Mechanic, read the internet, asked questions on different forums, and in the end, I have a lot of fun stories to tell about my journey to Porsche ownership.

I hope some of you reply with your stories. Here is mine:

A bit more than two years years ago, after about two years of looking and pondering between 986 model Boxsters and different years of 911´s I was ready to make an offer on a 1990 C4, I test drove it on a Saturday and offered to call with my offer on Tuesday night. On Monday, my wife and I visited the radiologist and found out we were having triplets..... shocked me and made me think twice before plunking down money on a toy.... So long Porsche.

To years later, and luckily with three healthy beautiful babies (and none of the complications that can be expected with triplets, thank god) I started my search again.

I saw the same 1990 C4 was available for sale by the guy who actually bought it a few years back, I also test drove (in some cases weekend long drives) different models. I test drove a 1972, 1980, 1984, 1990, 1994 and 1999 911´s (and a 2007 TT just for the fun of it, although I had no chance of affording that car) and 2001 and 2005 Boxsters.

In the end, I appreciated modern convenience and comfort over the classic styling and fun of the older models, and considering a coupe is definitely more convenient than a convertible, the Boxsters were out of my considered alternatives. (Although I enjoy spending time with my car, I would much rather going out driving on a weekend than troubleshooting and babying a classic.)

I purchased a 1998 ROW Carrera with about 35,000 miles on it in 2,010.

I have enjoyed my driving and babying the car, have not fallen in to the mod trap yet. The car has already been slightly tinkered with before I purchased it, having an upgraded air filter, interior trim, and tire spacers installed. Once I decide I want to start making changes I imagine white running lights, upgraded speakers (and maybe an amp), and probably upgraded head and stop lights (LED) will be in my plans. Till then, its just hot wax and loving washes for my baby.

If I decide to upgrade the car itself, I will probably move a few years forward on the same track (Carrera) or maybe move to a C4. My driving sometimes requires the stability control to take over, and weather where I live permits me to drive the car all year long, except for the very rainy season (I spun the car once driving conservatively, when going through a curve with pooled water on it). I think I would be more comfortable driving in very wet conditions if I had a backup and 4 wheel traction on my side.

I think that the S and TT upgrades are really not a necessity with this type of car unless you want to be competitive with your speed, and even then, I think money is better invested in Driving classes and track time, where you can really become faster through talent, not sheer HPs.

Ok, hope to get some replies.

Hermann

41 but I think its and interesting story.

A bit more than two years before that, after about two years of looking and pondering between 986 model Boxsters and different years of 911´s I was ready to make an offer on a 1990 C4, I test drove it on a Saturday and offered to call with my offer on Tuesday night. On Monday, my wife and I visited the radiologist and found out we were having triplets..... shocked me and made me think twice before plunking down money on a toy.... So long Porsche.

To years later, and luckily with three healthy beautiful babies (and none of the complications that can be expected with triplets, thank god) I started my search again. I saw the same 1990 C4 was available for sale by the guy who actually bought it a few years back, I also looked at different models. I test drove a 1972, 1980, 1984, 1990, 1994 and 1999 911´s (and a 2007 TT just for the fun of it, although I had no chance of affording that car) and 2001 and 2005 Boxsters.

In the end, I appreciated modern convenience and comfort over the classic styling and fun of the older models, and considering a coupe is definitely more convenient than a convertible, the Boxsters were out of my considered alternatives. (Although I enjoy spending time with my car, I would much rather going out driving on a weekend than troubleshooting and babying a classic.)

I purchased a 1998 ROW Carrera with about 35,000 miles on it in 2,010.

I have enjoyed my driving and babying the car, have not fallen in to the mod trap yet. The car has already been slightly tinkered with, having upgraded air filter and tire spacers installed. Once I decide I want to start making changes I imagine white running lights, upgraded speakers (and maybe an amp), and probably upgraded head and stop lights (LED) will be in my plans.

If I decide to upgrade the car itself, I will probably move a few years forward on the same track (Carrera) or maybe move to a C4. My driving sometimes requires the stability control to take over, and weather where I live permits me to drive the car all year long, except for the very rainy season. I think I would be more comfortable driving in very wet conditions if I had a backup and 4 wheel traction on my side. S and TT are really not a necessity with this type of car unless you want to be competitive with your speed, and even then, I think money is better invested in Driving classes and track time, where you can really become faster through talent, not sheer HPs.

where is the video?

Last weekend, while driving on a twisty mountain road at about 40-45 MPH I drove through a muddy patch and spun out. When I came to a stop I had spun 180 degrees, and rolled backward in 3rd gear with the clutch released and the brakes firmly planted.

Luckily I did not drift into a ditch and the only damage seemed to be scratches to the front bumper and spoiler from rolling over a pile of mud and rock. Checked for leaks and could not find any.

When I tried to start the engine, the Check Engine light stayed on for a few seconds, the car did not start up immediately and sputtered off. After a few tries, (the check engine light was now off) the engine caught and held a rough idle. After a few seconds the idle leveled and the car seemed to run well.

I drove home (slowly.....) trembling from the scare and have not driven my car till now. Engine felt fine and gear changes normal for the 30 mile drive back home.

There are no leaks or warning lights, I checked the underbelly and found no damage, but I wanted to know if any of you have had an experience like this and to get your ideas on other things I may need to check out before my next scheduled service visit.

I particularly would like your opinions on the short backward roll, with gears engaged. I imagine this is what caused the rough idle at startup.

Enjoy your drive, Take care of the car...... and post the video