racerden

Unless requested via WOT or by manual select method, it is normal for a Tip to launch in 2nd gear.

I think in cars that have a dipstick it is more reliable/accurate than the electronic sensor. With both you have to give it sometime to let the oil return to the pan for an accurate reading. And of course i believe the electronic sensor uses the temp of the oil so the oil has to be warm.

I have never really liked the fact that the dipstick has been removed from the newer cars.

Finally get to retire my Targa from daily commuter into a "Sunday Go To Meeting" ride (yay!). My question is awhile ago I saw a car cover on a garaged Lambo that was very thin, easy to use, the owner said it repelled light dust, and wasn't scratch prone when R&R'ing.

Any suggestions where to find one of these baby's?

Thanks,

Denny

The airbag circuit will still be active whenever the key is in the switch - it's designed that way.

Thanks Loren. If SIR is alive it sure isn't much nor measurable. Here's what I came up regarding parasitics:

1. Key in off position without removing & reinserting- 12MA

2. Key in off position after removing key and reinserting- 2.5-3MA

3. Key OUT parasitics are the same as #2.

Again, thanks for the input keep up the great work.

Denny

May be old news to some, but I just figured this one out: For those who garage their cars and want to keep the ignition key in the switch without parasitic battery drains, after turning off the ignition simply remove the key and reinsert it. If you have a remote start feature this will not affect it's performance.

DV

I have an '02 996 C2/6 speed with 48,000 miles. I have seen on a few forums that Mobil1 15w-50w is recomended to use. I live in Colorado so I'm thinking that if I do use the 15w-50w, it would only be during the summer months. Any opinions on using this oil?

Thanks,

Steve

First, the Mobil 1 deal is exactly that- A merchandising deal. Ferrari does Shell, Corvette Mobil 1, Jaguar Castrol etc. Anyway I live in SoCal, my 996 is a daily driver & sees s/loads of traffic stop and go (mostly stop) and do use Mobil 1 20/50 w/no issues.

Are you sure the lights don't shut themselves off after a while? My engine and trunk lights shut off automatically after being open for a period of time and I'd expect the interior lights to do the same.

I'm sure RAP (random access power) will turn 'em off after some time, it's the "immediate" I'm looking for. You'd think the engineers would have thought about that feature (like most every other car built) but who knows. Thanks for the feedback Ratbone, appreciate it pal.

Unless I'm missing something here, I can't figure out a way to disable the interior courtesy lighting on my Targa. After washing or just for a garage "air out" I like to leave the doors open for extended periods but considering our famous battery situation, it is most prohibited unless they can be disabled. Any directions fellow RennTech folk?

Thanks,

Denny

My Autozone battery is fine and very dependable. One thing of note, you will need a donor battery connected to your drivers side kick panel access point NOT a trickle charger to retain any memories. Battery chargers do not produce amps unless connected to a battery (I made this mistake). The only other thing I suggest different is to make sure your power windows are in the full up posotion so a re-index isn't necessary if you loose the donor battery power.

Hi there,

I just bought a 2003 Targa and, I believe, the battery is on its last leg. I read here about replacing it with a cheaper alternative from Autozone. So my question is: do I have to do anything in addition to swapping the batteries out in order to prevent having to reset codes, alarms etc.

Thanks for your time!

Just curious, what age was everyone when they bought their first Porsche?

29 (914 2.0)

I have spent a lot of time researching my problem on the many 996/986 forums so I am hoping someone who has fixed this problem can help. I notice others have had it but no one I can find has followed up with the correct diagnosis.

I am driving a 1999 996 cab and when i go in reverse the passenger mirror tilts downs to the curb level. The problem is when i put the car in drive, mirror does go up, but only around 50% of the travel needed to return to the memory position. The funny thing is I can put the mirror back in its location by using the mirror toggle on the drivers a pillar. After searching on the web, I have drawn the following conclusions.

1. The settings or system needs that operate this function need to be reset by the dealer.

2. I have a bad mirror motor or control module.

3. I am not inputting the memory settings correctly, though I have tried for 4 months every possible combination detailed by this forum and many others on the web and I doubt there is another procedure i have not tested.

Any help would greatly be appreciated as this has been going on for six months now and its getting very annoying since its easy to forget to adjust your tilted mirror passing cars at 90 miles per hour.

The $64K question is does the mirror dip down to the proper setting or is it also lower too? If so here's a few shots in the dark and a bit oppisite of your concern but it may be the deal. When vacuuming, I unknowingly moved the seat position very slightly. The next time I started out, the mirror would not dip down and the original up position was out of index. Remembering what the owners manual says about the seat/mirror memories I selected the #1 memory button, the seat returned to it's originally programed position (very slight difference) and everything came back. Another situation may be the his/hers key FOAB usage/settings. I'd suggest pull out the owners manual and re-do everything if necessary if you haven't done so yet. Lastly keep a close eye on the passenger side mirror glass when washing/drying. It's easily moved from it's desired index point during the process.

Just a few suggestions, G'luk

Denny

Gus; What I've discovered is yes, you can move the shifter from N to D as long as the car is moving and the brake pedal hasn't been depressed. Once you come to a stop (like traffic) you can slip it into N however, the brake pedal must be depressed to get it back into D. That's my gripe. On the Tip shift indicator lights, yes they are v-e-r-y slow.

Yea, now I fully understand your gripe, and would still definitely advise you to save yourself a lot of hassle and just leave it in drive like everyone else probably does.

However can you just confirm that you can go from Drive to Neutral and Reverse to neutral (whilst rolling and no brake depression) as well as go from Neutral to drive as you say!

After thinking about this for a while I'm guessing that the above is a big must otherwise you would never be able to get the car into (freewheeling) neutral allowing you to tow the vehicle in the event of a breakdown and no power!

And it is the gear change that lags behind the lights (by about 2 seconds) not the other way around, right?

Appologies for repeating myself I just want to be sure, the Porsche Parranoia is affecting me quite a lot this week, now then, where's that bottle of red wine :thumbup: (It's early evening over here by the way!)

Definately the enablement of accessing R points at a defect. No way can I access R unless I'm stopped, have my foot on the brake and depress the lockout feature on the shifter. As for the Tip's sluggishness, yup it's slow. I've researched our forums and other resources trying to see if there's something out there (aftermarket programer, etc) that will at least get the shift speed into something acceptable...there isn't. It's my understanding that's another reason Porsche went to the PDK. One last note, I finally had the opportunity to track my car at my last race (I road race a NASCAR style car) and if you just leave the car in Drive, the yaw/pitch sensors, trans adapts, brake app sensors and all the other goodies will actually do a pretty good job. Using the steering wheel buttons doesn't cut it at all.

Hope it helps, take care Gus.

Thanks, i appreciate your input. FYI, our car's are very simular appearing.

Black was number 1 on my list of requirements!

Whilst we're on the subject, I'm trying to discover the cause of a start glitch on mine which has baffled everyone so far... Can I therefore ask if it is normal to be able to move the shift lever from Drive to Neutral without touching the brake and whilst moving forward or stationary? Also I appear to be able to move the shift lever from Reverse to Neutral without applying the brakes... Is this common, or a fault?

I will say though that you can't move it from Neutral into Drive or Reverse without then having you're foot on the brake... I'm confused!

Also, the gear indicator lights on the dash change in drive about two seconds before the actual gear moves... Is that normal too? (First time owner)

The start glitch I mention is detailed on another post and the symptoms may be related but I just don't know... Anyone got any theories?

Possibly related start glitch can be found here

http://www.renntech.org/forums/index.php/topic/36832-996-tiptronic-shift-lever-glitch-engaging-park/

Thanks in advance for any help and apologies for hijacking this thread! Gus...

Gus; What I've discovered is yes, you can move the shifter from N to D as long as the car is moving and the brake pedal hasn't been depressed. Once you come to a stop (like traffic) you can slip it into N however, the brake pedal must be depressed to get it back into D. That's my gripe. On the Tip shift indicator lights, yes they are v-e-r-y slow.

I think I understand what you're asking... I've done an awful lot of reading about Tiptronics in the last few months; opinion on this side of the pond is that you are much better to leave the shift in drive in stop start traffic, so as not to be constantly disengaging and engaging the torque converter (I think) which supposedly causes more wear than leaving it in drive...

Defonately never put it in Park as if someone rear ends you they are likely to break something on your car more so than if it had been alowed to roll forward at impact. The park position having locked the wheels...

I'm not quite sure why they tell you to put it in Neutral and i'm quite happy just to leave mine in drive...

As for your request to disengage the parking paul break light thing, Its basically a safety issue and is probably illegal, and given that you could engage reverse by mistake and immediately roll back if you were on a hill youre bound to be asking for trouble!

Its set up like that for a reason...

I'd leave well alone, and if you dont like doing what the book says (which I've never done anyway!) just leave it in drive! :)

Thanks, i appreciate your input. FYI, our car's are very simular appearing.

Being a Los Angeles traffic-a-holic, I adhere to the owners manual suggestion of placing the TIP in neutral for "prolonged periods of traffic situations". My question is there any way to disable the brake switch/shifter interlock system so I can simply revert to placing the A/Trans in neutral while in heavy traffic without the necessity of having to (1) apply the brake then(2)being to engage the gear shifter knob 'engage request' baloney....Basically reverting to old school AT ingage/disengement w/out brake switch in the picture.

Thanks folks

Hello all you 996 lovers!

This is a short story and I have one question at the end.

My automobile experiences have been with cars from the 60's.

I owned a couple nice stock (65 & 67) corvettes. I even built a

replica 66 AC Cobra from the chassis up. Drove it for 20 years and sold in

last year. I rode motorcycles for years and finally fate caught up with me

in July were I ended up in the hospital for one week and two surgerys.

So I couldn't stand the void in the garage (no more motorcycles) and began

looking at the last sports car I will probably own. At first it was 78 + 911SC's.

Then I discovered for whatever reason that $20,000 would get me into a 10 year old,

low mileage, 1,2 or 3 owner pristine 996. Water cooled too!

I am a very content owner of a beautiful 996 6 sp Carrera 2 coupe.

After driving it for 2,000 miles.... yep, the CEL came on.

Technology is a good thing but I have been "old school" all these years and now

I need to change. My question is this:

I am willing to diagnose the causes and some I might be able to fix. What exactly is the

package (scan tool, software, interface connectors, etc.) I need to procure to do this?

You can purchase a low cost OBD2 scan tool from Jegs for $80 (extract & clear codes only) then use our site or whatever for code ID...a definate worth while component for the garage. Go to www.jegs.com and pop in part nmber 390-3030

It was THAT TIME again yesterday and I discovered two important tidbits about the 2003 Targa/C2 battery and the Autozone Gold Duralasts. 1st, the A/Zone catalog lists two possible applications; an #832331 H8 or an #8323332 H6 battery. The H6 is just under 11" in length, the H8 almost 14" (both are same height and width). My 3rd time replacement OEM Bosch is almost 12". What I didn't know under the battery tray are 3 different location options for the clamp mount. The outer most being the OEM location, center is the H6, God knows what in inner most fits. The longer H8 won't fly at all, the shorter H6 will fit perfectly utilizing the center clamp provision. CCA for the H6 vs. the OEM is the same. So, I paid $154 for the Gold Duralast which has a 8 year warranty and perhaps most importantly an 3 year FREE replacement provision (which I'm sure will be utilized).

Hope it helps.

Denny

2 awesome months now since my 1st 996 (Targa) and lovin every day of it. Any direction on what makes the engine compartment electric cooling fan operate? I know it does, just need some direction on what tells it to do...what and when.

Much thanks,

Denny

I have an '04 996 Carrera coupe and my only complaint is that I can't really hear the engine. I am considering muffler replacement, but don't want annoying droning either. Fabspeed is one of the few options I have found. Anyone have first hand experience with these or any other suggestions?

Thanks

I have the Porsche Sport Exhaust w/TechArt SS tips. Really like the ability to push a button and hear the heartbeat, then convert it back to the vacuum cleaner as desired Not a cheap date, but with our rides, what is. 35K miles on the system w/no defects experienced.

I think the others jhere have already confirmed this, but I highly recomened Lloyd mats - I'm very happy with mine. Just read the directions!

Simon

Thanks to all for the valuable feedback. This forum rocks!

Denny

Change your ATF and see if it improves. I changed mine at 15k miles and WOW was it a gunky mess. I change mine every year now. It comes out a little discolored. But, the first change at 15k... it looked like mud. No complaints from mine. Fast shift and really nice when you need to show off... just hold the the button down and punch the gas... it will do the rest. I have flown by much faster cars trying to down shift to catch up... it really is not fair :rolleyes: I just watch them get smaller in the mirror... Now, I wish it had a better launch from a stand still.

It is curious that few of the chip tuners will touch the Tiptronic cars. Look around, even Giac does not have a retune for a Tip. I think the MB tranny is too complex to retune... Anyone else know?

Thanks, I just changed the Tip oil a few days past w/no noticiable change. What caught my eye was what you said about 'just hold the button down' and go. Do you mean keeping it depressed throughout the 'mat job'? The prevoius owner was telling me for agressive driving/cornering, just keep it "D" and the car will do it's thing because of the lateral acelernometers/mapping etc. I will be able to track the car in a few weeks and see if that's true or not.

I'm very new to the Tip and any help from a vet is deeply appreciated.

Thanks again!

I'm probaby the only one who hasn't had a concern w/the OEM mat retention velcro/disc set-up but now it's time for new fronts and need to know how the replacement Lloyds are working out. I understand they have some sort of teher set-up that holds 'em in place? And how is this retained? Any feeback is appreciated.

Thanks,

Denny

Those of you w/a Tip know the shift request/engagement response time leaves alot to be desired. Anyone know of any recalibrations/modifications to at least get things going a bit quicker? I'm not looking for F1 or Indycar response, just something that will help things out a bit (and will last) for my '03 Targa.

Thanks all,

Denny

Changed my fluid on my 996 MY03 C2. Everyone told me not to... "you only have 13,600 miles!". What came out of the transmission was barely red and full of brown suspended matter (old, burnt, and decayed ATF fluid). The new fluid is pink/red and completely transparent... I am glad I did not wait... Obviously, the fluid goes bad from sitting over the years. BTW, I purchased the "Porsche charging hose" for MY02 and newer 996. This is the best way to refill the tranny. $40 from Sunset Imports! I placed the charging hose on the bug sprayer setup and presto....easy to refill your tranny! I used Porsche approved Fuchs ATF 3353 plus (Titan) I found at Pelican Parts. AND, it is very important to note that the overflow plug needs to be put back BEFORE you turn off the engine...or glup...glup...glup... you will waste a liter of fluid! :o

Denny

Yesterday, my car smoked a little when I started it, then as I drove off I noticed the car did not want to shift manually (i.e. using the thumb shifters.) I parked the car in front of Autozone and noticed more smoke appear after the engine was shut off and reddish brown fluid begin to accumulate underneath the car. The engine did not overheat and given the problems with the transmission I would assume that the smoke and red liquid was transmission fluid leaking/burning. I've noticed a gradual decrease in the performance of the transmission since I bought the car used about four months ago.

Does anyone have any ideas as to whether this is symptonmatic of a transmission needing to be replaced or maybe just the gasket blowing? Should I try a refill and gasket replacement first before I assume the transmission is shot? Or would that just be a waste of time/money? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Anyone know any good indy Porsche shops that can rebuild a Transmission in Southern California? Thanks

1998 Boxster 2.1L Tiptronic 137k

Give Jack a call at Scientific Automotive in Pasadena; TOP SHELF Porsche inderpendent in business for 30 years +. Tell him I recommended you. His number is 626.795.7018

Denny Valdez