jaekormtb

Thanks. The ignition does have an odd issue- - it's really tight to turn for the first start of the day. I have once before changed the ignition module on the back.

The car is a 1999 Carrera 4, originally sold in Canada, manual, 143,000 miles.

So an electrical gremlin has emerged. The radio will cut out sporadically, and at the same time, the daytime running lights cut off. The radio will sometimes cut back on, but most of the time I just hit the button and turn it on. The DRL's do not come back on. By turning the switch, I can turn the lights on manually. If I do this, when I hit the brights at night, the   regular lights cut out. When the DRLs are working properly, both beams are on when I hit the brights. 

I think it's the daytime running lights relay. Any other thoughts?

I guess there are a couple of ways to go with this. I don't see a back-to-stock being worth the time/effort/money. However, this is a great candidate to become a monster street/AX/HPDE/Time Attack car. Or.... if it's a C4, Dakar Rally 996!

Got a 200 cell x-pipe fabbed up for my 99C4. She's sounding a lot better!

I'm getting ready to replace my cats and I'm deliberating whether to go with the more expensive X-pipe or just stock style pipes with high flow 200 cell cats. What are everyone's thoughts??

Alright brake experts: any ideas why my rotors are rubbing the pins in my calipers? 1999 C4. These are brand new rotors with new pads, calipers were removed for paint. I bled the system thoroughly. Also, new struts, control arms, sway bars & end links, and wheel bearings

I'm getting my 1999 996 C4 back on the road and was thinking about taking the Guard torsen diff from my Boxster S 6-speed and swapping into the 996 trans. I know that I need to keep the 996 ring gear mated with the original pinion. I'm wondering what's involved with the diff swap. I've done diff swaps in a Chevy rear where there was lots of assembly/dis-assembly to get thing shimmed right for the gear lash. How about for the Porsche Getrag trans??

Self-sealing coolant leak on an M96?? That's even rarer than an M96 head gasket failure. I think a bit more diagnostic work is in order before you go dropping the engine or selling the car. Has the coolant level dropped? Is there any oil in the coolant? How about coolant in the oil? 

Your real question was, "is it ever worthwhile (financially) to grin and bear this repair bill, sell the car, or take some other path?"

996 C4S is likely worth between $28-32,000. Replacing the head gaskets is going to be minimum $4,000, but because there are so many "while you are in there" jobs, (AOS, clutch, RMS, rebuild lifters, fuel injectors, assorted sensors, broken exhaust studs, etc) it could easily go to $8,000 or more.  

I've got both a 99 Carrera 4 and a 2000 Box S. Both have Litronics, and the headlights are identical. I assume the halogen lights are also identical.

Got my heads back from Hoffman automotive yesterday. Wow, they look great! Unfortunately, there are a lot of "while you've got it apart" items that I want to tackle, so it may be spring 2017 before she's on the road again. I'll keep posting here as things come together. 

During my disassembly I pulled all of the fuel injectors to have them serviced. Being that the car is a 1999, I expected to find 2-hole (pintle) injectors. To my surprise, they turned out to be 4-hole injectors. I'm pretty sure they were the original injectors on the engine. Has anyone else seen 4-pintle injectors as original equipment on earlier cars??

Wow, bump to 3.8! what kind of increase did that deliver?? 

Back in May I found the dreaded oil-in-coolant, followed by coolant-in oil. I got the engine out of the car and the heads off, and away they went to Len Hoffman in Georgia. He confirmed yesterday that I've got a crack in the 1-3 head. He's doing the repair along  with some other maintenance items and port/polish. The lifters and fuel injectors are also away for service. I'm aiming to have my 996 back on the road in the spring, running better than brand new with a bit more umph from the head work. Anyone else had work like this done? Just wondering what to be looking forward to.

Yeah, I'd hit the lights and nothing worked. For a bit, when the lows worked and I'd hit the highs it would kill everything except the fogs on low.... Not good! Before cleaning, sometimes if the lows didn't work, I'd flip on and off and eventually they a would come on. 

Same thing happened. I pulled the headlight switch, shot a ton of electrical contact cleaner through it and let it dry. Lights worked properly afterwards. 

Back in May I found oil in the coolant in my 1999 C4. 123,xxx miles, water pump changed @ 96,xxx miles. I sent an oil sample to Blackstone and it showed no water, but traces of sodium and potassium, indicating minor coolant contamination. I flushed the system with distilled water and ran the car a bit to flush... Now I've got milky oil. $hit. I dropped the engine and pulls the heads. There are no obvious cracks, but it looks to me like the head gasket on driver's side was allowing the mix. Thoughts on the pics??? For those who had intermix and fixed heads, what did you do about rod/main bearings??

Got some strange behavior from my 1999 C4 recently that I thought I might share. 

About two months ago I finally changed the fuel filter, and that's when things started. To change the fuel filter, I also had to pull the airbox. The filter there is relatively new, so I just banged the light dust out of it and put it back in. Also, the air-straightener in front of the MAF had popped out, so I got that back where it belonged. On my test drive, It felt like the car had a bit more pep. Super! After a couple of days of commuting I decided to open her up on a back road. In 2nd as the car passed 4K she really took off, so much so that the ABS and PSM warning lights both came on. I knew that I was feeling some wheel spin, but sure didn't expect that. After shutting the car off, the lights did not reappear. However, on any WOT acceleration, there would be a big surge from 4-5K and it would   trigger the ABS and PSM lights. ??? And then the check engine lights started. They'd come on when the car was up to temps and idling around parking lots, etc. It was the typical MAF codes, so I pulled it out and gave it a good spraying with MAF cleaner. The car is now back to it's normal behavior - no giant surge at 4K,  :(, no wheel spin, no ABS/PSM lights, no CELs. and maybe a bit better mpg. 

I'm guessing the MAF was reading less air than the engine was getting, so fuel delivery was down creating a lean condition that gave me a bit of a boost.

Any other thoughts??

Don't suppose this is what you ran across?? 

Both yesterday and today I got both PSM & ABS lights on the dash during a hard acceleration (maybe some wheel spin) in 2nd gear. The lights popped at about 5K and stayed on, but turned off after shutting the car off and restarting. I checked codes in ABS 5.7 via Durametric and got 5525, Incorrect data transfer with DME master control unit.

Any thoughts??

1999 Carrera 4, 124,000 miles.

I disassembled the wheels and had the centers powder coated black. I put some elbow grease to the lips, sanding out curb rash and polishing them.

The front bumper is from a Boxster S, (I really don't like the factory 996 "smiley") and I had the body shop cut the RS slots in front of the hood.

Yeah, I miss my 71 Camaro. Wish I could've hung on to that one.

The tail is from Getty Design. It's their Sport Design model

Back in June my 1999 C4 got wrecked... I was turning left into my neighbor hood and the person behind me decided to pass on the left. She got the door, wheel , and quarter. Insurance totaled the car. I really dig this car and just couldn't let it go, and now she's back better than ever. 996 love!!

I've got a great body shop nearby, and we're going with option 2.

When I saw pics of the door, I thought it was the right color. Not quite. ****. But a nice door nevertheless.

About 6 weeks ago my wife and I were on the way home and while we were turning left into our neighborhood the person behind us decided she needed to pass... On the left. UGH. Insurance totaled the car. After much wrangling I got the deal I needed and have begun getting her back together. It's a great car and worth saving! BTW, anybody got a spare rear Sport Design wheel they want to sell?

Aside from the door and quarter panel, the subframe moved bending the front mount bolt, but all suspension and frame parts stayed straight.

Had the same symptoms in my 2000 Boxster. The CC bulb in the dash had come loose or was going bad. I replaced the bulb and solved the problem.