Hijack

It's Alive! Thanks guys. The manual release for the engine bay was so easy. A coathanger stuck in under the light and pulled out drew the cable with it on the first try. Didn't even need to wedge the light up. You can even see the cable in there be peering up under the light. I hooked the battery jumper/charger up to the normal engine bay points and it started charging right away. Car started after a quick 5 minute charge and changing the unit to jump mode. However, I've got other issues to deal with now. Maybe I'll start a new thread or check around first. The key remote won't work, the electric door lock button IN the car won't work and the electric frunk release still won't work, even though the car starts up, the radio comes on, etc etc. I wonder if I fried the alarm with my original attempt to use the auxiliary electric post in the fuse box since the jumper was set at 200 amps? The fuses are all good though? Odd. Anyway, she runs. Thanks again!

You guys are great. Definitely some new things to try. 1. While I did try the engine compartment release button as well, the issue could indeed be my charger. While my charger did provide enough charge to set off the alarm, and continues to spark if I wiggle the negative connection on the door latch, I don't know if it is really supplying full power for a charge. It has an analog volt meter and it is indeed not registering a current flow very high. Maybe this is really the issue. I'll try a pure and simple donor battery. (I did try the engine release button though.) 2. I never knew about the manual pull for the engine compartment. This is another excellent option. thanks much gang. I'll report back on progress.

Happens to me all the time after a wash (especially since the soapy water provides even more lubrication than just rain I assume, since I don't drive it in the rain). Dealer confirmed that it's a typical 996TT issue. Happens more often than not. As long as it doesn't slip for more than 5 to 10 seconds, you're good. If it slips more, than you can be "polishing" the belt, or it is already worn.

Always a potential issue, so good question. But my charger jumper is capable of 200 amps. Tried both a 40 amp and 200 amp setting

Like many others have experienced, it's spring, I let my 996TT battery die and I'm back to trying to get into the trunk to jump/charge my battery. I am very familiar with the process of using the auxiliary power post in the fuse panel to provide enough power to electrically unlock the hood. Unfortunately, I'm also very familiar with (when the bloody electric solution doesn't work) the manual release cable you get to by removing the front portion of the passenger side front wheel well. Well, I'm in dire straits my friends. Neither option is working for me. So let me set the stage, going back to front. I have used the manual release cable before. I know where it WAS. It's not there now. I didn't reroute it (like I should have) the last time around. But for some reason now, I cannot find it. It has, at a minimum, shifted position on me. Truth be told, I'm not even certain its coming through the grommet hole from the trunk anymore. How this could happen, is beyond me. But suffice to say, there is no way in gods name I'm finding it through the front portion of the wheel well without removing other parts... So....QUESTION 1. Which grommet hole does the release cable supposedly come through? There are 5 primary grommets I can see coming from the trunk into the wheel well. Starting from the back of the trunk, moving toward the bumper: There is the largest hole/grommet through which the electrical cables for the headlights, marker lights and radiator fans come through. The next two are arranged one above the other. The upper is an oval shaped blue grommet. The lower is a round black grommet. I believe these are for adjusting headlight focus/beam positions by inserting tools through the trunk into the side of the headlight housing. The next is a black round grommet further forward. I THINK this is the hole through which you insert the tool to unlock the headlight housing and slide it out of the body. The last is an oval black grommet furthest forward. I THOUGHT this was where the release cable came through. If so, bad news for me....nothing is coming through that hole (or the others). So unless there is another hole where the cable comes through, it got snaked back into the trunk somehow! YIKES Which leads me to QUESTION 2. Is there a way to remove the headlight housing without turning the lock level through the access port in the trunk? If I could get the headlight out, I could have complete visibility into the void to really know where the cable had moved to. So backing up from the manual release cable issues and revisiting the electrical solution...... The whole reason I went to the cable again, is because the donor battery/charger on the fuse box post didn't work. I have no idea why. As per normal, when I hooked my battery charger/jumper to the fusebox post and the door latch, the alarm started to sound. I had the key in the door per instructions and went to unlock/relock/unlock...whichever. It didn't stop the alarm. I pulled the key from the door and put it in the ignition and tried to turn off the alarm by turning the ignition. That didn't work either. However, the alarm (horn beeping) started getting softer and softer, stopped beeping altogether in about 15 seconds. Weird right? During this time, I was trying to activate the electrical hood release as well, and it wasn't working. At any rate, I decided to leave the thing on charge for 45 minutes to see if I'd get enough juice built up to have it work. No go. I've tried using the keyfob remote buttons as well. Again. no go. (key battery is good) AAAARG. If I could just get the bloody thing to work, I wouldn't need to screw with the release cable! QUESTION 3. Does anyone know what would stop the electrical option from working? I've checked all my fuses and they're good. Would the alarm, since somehow I could not get it turned off, be somehow involved in keeping this from working? I would think that is probable. But how, especially now that the alarm seems "dead", can I get the thing to turn off and allow me access? Pulling the C3 and the E1 fuses and trying again didn't work. If anyone out there can offer answers/insight into this, I'd be grateful. This is one of those situations where I certainly don't want to have the car towed to the dealer as I will bet that I will be raked over the coals as they try to figure this out and get into the car themselves!

Oddly enough, this just happened to me as well only yesterday! I didn't think much of it until I came across this post today. I started up the car to head to lunch, drove about 40 seconds and at the first stop sign, the car just died and all the dash lights came on. I just turned the key off and restarted and it fired right up. Now that I see this thread, I think I'll have to do a bit more investigation.

Its been a while since I've been around, but I thought I'd report on what I found to be the issue here. The stupid trunk light was staying on all the time. I still don't know why it is, but I simply removed the bulbs from the trunk and engine compartment lights and now the battery can sit for two weeks without losing hardly any charge at all. So...one problem solved! Now I just have to figure out why the engine latch actuator keeps relocking itself 1/2 second after I try to open it! At least thing car is giving me something to work on eh?

Good points. Thanks. I am getting about 14 volts, right from startup and as I drive. If I turn the engine off, I get 12. I'll just replace the battery and go from there!

Well gang, the ugly electrical issue rears its head again. And this time, it was only PART of my aggrevation! I had been driving the car for the last few weeks a day here and there. No problems. Well today I go to take it to get inspected and registered (let both run out stupidly) and the FIRST car behind me after I pull out this morning? Cop car. Figures. Anyhow, he pulls me over in a parking lot and I turn the car off (leaving radio on). Luckily, he was pretty forgiving, since I already told him I was going to get this stuff done today. Anyhow, I go to turn the car back on and .... nothing. It won't turn over. In the 10 minutes it took him, my battery drained enough so it wouldn't turn over!? Luckily I was close enough to just walk home and get my other car. A quick jump restarted the Porsche. So I'm really frustrated now. What in the world could be doing this? Over and over the car is draining in minutes (which I gather was really just my issue last time, not the actual washing/ getting something wet). I've got to have a short someplace, but I'm surprised anything could drain a battery that fast. Can anyone offer insight into what common shorts or drains might occur? I really have no choice other than to take it to the thieves...I mean dealership, but I'd like to at least point them in the right direction so I don't get robbed.

Thought, I'd chime in on this one as I just put the Hankooks on my 2004 TT Cab this week. Exact same experience as the OP. I really don't like them. They feel unbelievably "floaty" and unstable. This is not just at 100+ mph either. Spirited driving on the twisties is far more white-knuckle than with the Pilots that I had before. Heck, even on interstates going straight they don't feel like they're tracking well. I regularly get the car up over 150mph and I can tell you, its a nervous experience with these right now. Hopefully they calm down as per the OP's experience, otherwise, I may not wait to replace them. They feel dangerous to me.

I am almost certain it was a short caused by something getting wet now. After letting the car dry out for a few hours, the batter was indeed completely dead, so the short must have actively drained it. I put a battery tender on it for a couple hours and everything seems to be fine now. The car fired right up and there seems to be no residual effects in any of the electrical subsystems. I'm going to have my shop give it a once-over to see if they can figure anything out to keep it from recurring, but for now, at least I'm back on the road. Thanks so much for all the replies and assistance. I appreciate it!

Actually, its now acting like the battery is dead. Volmeter reads zero, but dash lights, radio and climate are all on? Even after having it hooked to my other car to jump for 30 minutes, it still won't turn over.

I don't think I've ever gotten the vehicle wet inside and since it's a US car, hopefully its not the issue with the control unit. But that doesn't mean it's going to be any less perplexing! The battery is almost brand new and contacts looks just fine. however, I did notice that the wires and harnesses are soaked around it. Strange. I don't know what I did to get that much water in there. At any rate, I am starting to think for certain it is a short, because now the dash and climate control panels are flashing after leaving the car on.

Additional info. Now, when left in the ON position, I am getting airbag and rollover protection failure warnings. Also, I can't close the top now. It opened the roof cover faring about 2 cm, then just stopped. thanks again for any help.

This morning, went out and washed the car. Started up just fine, closed the top washed away. When I went to start it back up to put it away, several odd things happened. First, I got a PSM failure warning. Then as I dropped the top, the windows started to go down in abbreviated stutters. I stopped the top retraction and put the windows down with their own buttons. No problem at all and I finished putting the top down. As soon as I started to pull the car back into the garage, the PSM warning went away. I left the car sit for 2 hours and was going to head out. Went into the garage to start it and got every light on the dash flashing and the typical fast clicking you get from a dead or dying battery!? Also strange, the windows started to try to go up in stutters as I tried to get the car started. I tried to jump it from another car, but it was no go. Same flashing dash lights, clicking and window stutter. Is it possible that something simply got wet while washing? It never happened before, but you never know. If it's not a short caused by water, any other thoughts? I am a complete neophyte when it comes to eletrical systems. I trying searching through the existing threads, but all were beyond me. I suppose it could be anything. starter, alternator, etc...but the window thing really has me puzzled. Thanks in advance for any help!

Here's the final results. After having the shop fix their errors, it turned out pretty nice! Before (sorry I didn't get any of the bumper while it was still on the car): And here's the after:

Yes, they're the Mina Gallery grills. Here is the finished result. Obviously, they look alot better when the bumper is mounted. In all, they're not as nice as I would have hoped, but you really have to know what you're looking for to notice they don't fit as well as they should. For now, I'm leaving them on until I see if I can use the OEM grill frames to fabricate my own.

Well, I got it back. What a dissapointment! First, they left it pretty orange-peeled. Then, they mounted it wrong. They put the right side of the bumper UNDER the ledge it is supposed to rest on and the right side correctly on top. I could slide my hand under the right light! Then, as I knew would happen, they couldn't get the aftermarket grills on to my satisfaction. The fit of those things isn't very good I know, but I, a layman, can put them on with a good degree of accuracy, I would expect they could! Sorry, had to vent! Anyhow, took it back and had them buff out the orange peel and remount it correctly. I'll deal with the grills myself. Anyhow, it definitely looks good now. Showroom new! I'm doing a Stage 2 swirld removal polish, stage 1 finish polish, seal and wax to get ready for the Vintage Grand Prix here in Pittsburgh on Saturday and Sunday (obviously for show only). I'll post pics as soon as I'm done.

The only problem I see with straight DIY meshing behind the bumper is that on the standard 996TT bumper, there are noticable holes and ridges left showing when you remove the OEM grills. You need some sort of framing to cover them and/or seat into the same position that the OEMs were in, which is what I was hoping to get from these (which you sort of get with the rubber edging). Your DIY mesh looks great on the GT2 style bumper, as there were never any grills inserted into the bumper cover to begin with. In that case, seating it directly behind the bumper works very well. Truth be told, probably the best option is to use the OEM grills, remove the horizontal plastic strakes and use the frame to house a DIY mesh. In this fashion you'd have a perfect fit, a cover for the metal bumper support structure and the mesh look all in one. I might try that, but it would require a leap of faith that I'd get it right in what would otherwise be destroying the OEM grills (which at last glance would cost around $500 to replace).

Well, I finally got around to putting these grills on my car. I was having the bumper refinished and repainted today, so figured I'd get these on while the bumper was off. I must say, I am actually disappointed in their fit. They do not fit the grill openings very accurately. They will work, and will look better when the bumper is mounted, but I'd give them a C- grade for fit. As you can see, the initial fit was terrible. Once tightened up, it gets better, but still not perfect. The method of attaching them is even worse and they come with no instructions at all. I couldn't even figure out how I was supposed to attach the center grill at all. The side grills come with bolts affixed to the grills. You then insert scrap metal tabs into the OEM grill retention slots and then tighten them to the bolts with supplied washers and nuts. Here's the final look of the side grills The center grill has NOTHING to attach retention brackets to. The brackets supplied are L shaped and they give you 1/4 inch silver phillips head screws and longer 3 inch black phillips head screws. It looks almost as if they wanted you to drill holes into your bumper cover and screw them into the plastic!? Not going to happen. The screws would go THROUGH it! I just jerry-rigged the center cover by slotting the lame L shaped brackets down in the slots without affixing them to anything. This is actually good enough to hold the bracket in place, but is pretty stupid if you ask me. Another problem with these grills is the fact that you can see the big, silver structural bumper support through the side grills on their upper, inner corners. The plastic OEM grills have a solid piece that covers this. I may have to fabricate a cover for that corner or paint the metal support. I'll post final photos when the bumper comes back painted and on the car. Hopefull it will look better mounted, otherwise, I'm taking them off! I can't believe that there isn't a better option than these. The only others are the Zunesport grills, that actually, may be far better than these. P.S. Just checked Zunesports site and while the fit seems to be much better there, you can also see the bumper structural support member with them as well. Looks like no aftermarket solution is perfect. I'll fabricate a cover piece myself and show it when the bumper is remounted.

I actually just did this yesterday to install some aftermarket mesh grills. It's quite simple really and there's a decent video of the steps on Youtube. Just look up "996 front bumper removal". Tools needed: Philips head screw driver 90 degree ratchet with torx head bit (number 15 I think?) Flat blade screw driver Needle nose pliers Clean, soft towels A beer 1. Remove side marker lights by pushing them slightly forward and pop the back ends outward. 2. Unclip them from their wires by pushing the metal retaining clip inwards and pulling off the connector. 3. Remove the single phillips head screw from the front corner of the marker light slot on both sides of the car. 4. Remove the single phillips head screw from the bottom corner of the bumper lip on each side inside the wheel wells 5. Remove the pop-faster from each forward wheel-well cover right were the back end of the marker lights would be. Using a flat head screw driver, pop out the pop-tab fastener head and then pull out the entire fastener with pliers. 6. Remove all four torx head screws from the front wheel well covers on each side. Push this cover towards the center of the car to get the outside edge out from behind the back edge of the bumper. In order to get these off MUCH easier, you'll have to turn your wheels completely left for the left cover and then turn them completely right for the right cover. This will give you much more room to work. 7. Inside the marker light recess, you'll see a metal clip (bottom edge, directly in the center of the recess. A phillips head screw is attached vertically here from INSIDE the bumper. This is the reason you removed the wheel well covers to remove it. 8. Under the front of the bumper, there are 6 torx head screws. Remove those. This may cause the front wheel well covers to fall completely to the ground. Don't worry about it. They're relatively easy to line up to reattach. 9. Open your hood and on the top edge of the bumper, you'll see 4 retention pieces (they're not screws) holding the weather stripping on that your hood release lever sticks through. Turn them 90 degrees and pull them out of the stripping. 10. Pull out the weather stripping by grabbing and end by the lights and pulling firmly, but don't yank. 11. Once the strip is out, there are two phillips head screws at each corner of the hood going down into the top of the bumper. Remove those. 12. Pull the bumper straight forward. Have several large clean towels to set the bumper down on so you don't scratch it up. Removal of the grills is pretty self explanitory from here. Using a flat head screwdriver, go around each grill and push the plastic retention tabs towards the outside of the grill and pull up a bit so they don't reseat in their holes. The corner grills also have a small metal clip on the inner top corner. Just use the handle of the screwdriver and give the grill a quick smack from the inside to pop them out of the clip. Done. Unlike other cars I've seen, you don't have to worry about aligning the bumper when you put it back on. All screw holes are direct mount (round, not oval like regular body panels to allow you to shift them around slightly). Just pay attention to how the top edge of the bumper fits in the groove at the hood opening and over the lip at the marker light positions. You'll see exactly what I'm talking about when you look at it. Doing it by myself, it took 25 minutes the first time. Now, I can do it in about 10 minutes.

The car is black, so color matching should be relatively easy. As for the clear bra, I had thought about that, but a buddy of mine had a 3M bra installed on his black 350Z and I really didn't like the look. It wasn't really clear. Always looked like his hood and bumper were sort of hazy. However, I've always been told that a repaint is always more prone to chipping than a factory finish, so it might be necessary after all. Anyhow, thanks for the input. I appreaciate it! I'll toss up some before and after photos. This is also going to be a opportunity for me to install those aftermarket grills I bought. Need to take the bumper off for them anyhow.

Hello all, While, overall, my car is in really good condition, it has gotten its fair share of rock chips and indentations all over the front bumper over its 23k miles. I wanted to get the bumper looking like new again and decided to get quotes on refinishing it. I've gotten two quotes around $1300 to have it done. This includes stripping it down, completely sanding it back to smooth and refinishing it. These quotes are from the arguably two best shops in my area, so I'd expect them to be a little high, but I was figuring more like $800. Does this $1300 sound within reason to anyone who's had this done before? Thanks much for any insight!

Thanks for the feedback. I learned the hard way with the Fabspeed exhaust. I hate it. It sounds like a fat piped Honda Civic now. Truth be told, I'm probably going to take it off and try to sell it, replacing it with Europipes or the like. The DVs were also a pain in the *** to install myself, but I got them in and they seem to work fine, so no huge loss there I suppose. I'm not going to do much else to the car other than the flash as you suggested. I too, was given the inside scoop before I did too much. I'm skipping any additional engine work. The only other things I'll be doing after the flash include installing mesh grills and possibly a 997 shifter.

Simple question. Seeing as how both DVs begin and terminate with single hoses (the F and Y), why are there two of them? If anyone knows, it would help me stop wondering about a completely useless issue!