Silver_TT

PSM and ABS problems can be fairly common when you have a bad battery and/or failing alternator. Did the dealer test your battery and check downstream voltages? What codes are showing up now with the repeated failure?

I'm not familiar the squealing you are describing -- maybe others have some experience with that. Have you checked the usual culprits: tensioner, etc? It sounds like you are having this work done at a Porsche dealer, so I would just document this issue with them stating that this started immediately after they replaced the belt. Then drive the car to see if it goes away soon as the belt breaks in, as they have advised..... if not, they should fix it.

I can't speak for Germany but in the USA it's covered....and if Porsche did the work, the labor to install should be covered as well (although not the diagnostic time).

Not likely, but is possible. Porsche parts are typically covered by a 2yr unliminted mileage warranty (at least in the USA, assuming similar in Germany?) so you shouldn't have to pay anyway......

Your PSM wasn't really "reset". You probably got that PSM error until the new battery was fully charged up by the alternator from regular driving. If the PSM unit isn't getting enough juice, because of a low/bad battery or alternator, you will often see this kind of error. If the errors are gone and everything is working fine with your new battery, you're good to go... no further resetting or other work necessary.

You won't be able to hit the bushing directly. It's on the back side of the mount so I'm not sure how you would be able to do that with the alternator in the car.

Been a couple years since I did the alternator and I don't have a NA 996 anymore, but I don't recall the bolt being terribly difficult to get at. Remember, you're giving it a good tap to knock that bushing back and loose -- but you don't need to go postal on it or anything to the point where you would lose control or accuracy of the hammer. You don't want to hit it so hard that you break the aluminum mounts or you are going to have a whole different set of problems :) You should be able to feel it as the bolt becomes flush with the mount again (ie. goes in the distance of those 3-4 twists). Hope that helps. Let us know how it goes!

Nah, with the air filter housing off and the serpantine belt removed, there should be plenty of space to hit that bolt. At that point it's pretty much wide out in the open.

Definitely need to free up that bushing and then you can pry it out with something like a piece of wood (the mounts are aluminum so no crowbars, etc). You might have success threading a scrap bolt in so that the head of the bolt is small a bit away from the alternator housing and then giving it a couple of taps with a dead blow hammer which forces the bushing back a small amount. I had the same issue you are having when I did mine and the above information helped a lot. It took persistence. Conceptually it was so simple but that little bushing getting stuck (from me not properly reading the directions the first time and taking that bolt all the way out) ending up being about 90% of the work in my case. Hopefully if you can loosen up that bushing you should be able to get the alternator out with a little coaxing. You will need to give that bolt a pretty good whack -- if you don't have a dead blow hammer, you can buffer your blow with something like a piece of wood. The key here is you want to apply some good force....but not go wild on it.

Because there's a bushing on the alternator (see attached pic) that you want to knock loose from the engine. You don't want to go wild on it and break anything on the engine, but unscrewing that bolt 3-4 turns and then applying the whack does the trick. If you get the bolt too far unscrewed or completely unscrewed and try to get it back in it can be a PITA (at least it was on mine which had the original alternator, so had been sitting in there for 10+ yrs). If you follow the steps correctly the first time it will potentially save you a lot of aggravation. Replacing the alternator is a very easy job if the instructions are followed and you can easily get it out of the car.

I don't have a tiptronic to try that on but looking at your videos, I'm pretty sure that is not normal. It could be a bearing or it could be something else. Assuming it's not normal you either can buy a reman transmission or try to get it repaired. If you go the later route just be sure you do your homework and get someone really good. RFM is right that the parts for this are going to be tough to get unless you go through a specialized rebuilder. The fact that two rebuilders told you they wouldn't do it because they can't acquire parts means to me that I wouldn't have wanted them doing the job in the first place -- as clearly they don't specialize in this specific gearbox. Having a generalist touch one of these gearboxes is a recipe for disaster. There's a certain order parts have to be removed in and special tools are required to make measurements, etc. This is the reason why if you ask Porsche they will tell you to just buy a new reman from them -- they won't even try to take yours apart. That Rennlist link you posted was by a guy named Erik Johnson that used to work at Gbox as a sales guy for Stan Richardson, who is one of the best Porsche 996 gearbox rebuilders there is. Stan is out of Boulder, CO USA. To be honest I'm not sure if he does Tips and you are in the UK so that's probably not an option anyway, but I would certainly give him a call and hear what he has to say and what guidance he can give you. He's been working on Porsche gearboxes for something like 30+ years: http://www.gboxweb.com/ Last thing is that this is your car and you can do whatever you want, but if you care about that gearbox or might need to use it as a core later, I would not try to tear it apart. An untrained person trying to take apart a gearbox is simply trying to get it apart without breaking or damaging the parts. Often they do not accomplish this.

It's pretty easy to pull that rear parcel shelf out. You're probably going to need to do it anyway. The ECU and relay panels are down closer to the level of the seats -- not that high up where you have the arrows. They are actually screwed into the bottom of some metal panels which you will see once you get the parcel out.

Adding torque and power often means various components need to be upgraded to accomodate the extra stress that will be placed on the vehicle. This is one of the main reasons it makes a lot more sense from a financial perspective to just sell the naturally aspirated vehicle and buy a car that was designed to take more stress, like the Turbo, if that's what you're looking for. Moving these cars too far out of spec can end badly. The components of a NA 996 are not built to take an extra 100+ HP. Some will be lucky and never have issues.......others not so much. When things do go south, it can be catastrophic and very expensive.

Sorry to bear bad news but after all your mods and ECU tune, I doubt there will be much difference. On the naturally aspirated engines there really isn't much HP left to squeek out. Ya, maybe you can get an extra 10-20 if you spend some money, but it will be a marginal return for the amount of money you will have to spend and I don't think you will notice too much driving. You're definitely not getting anything extra with an air filter. If power is what you're looking for, get a Turbo.

Many members here and elsewhere own a Durametric and use it frequently. it is a very good investment if you enjoy working on your car or even want to be better informed. Even if I was the "just take it to the dealer" type, I would still want to be able to do things like reading/resetting codes....not to mention the wide array of other functionality Durametric offers. If you are really a DIY type then in my opinion the Durametric is a must have. The Durametric also holds its value pretty well if you ever want to sell it at a later time.

As far as overrevs go on a 997, having 267 in range 1 and 8 in range 2 with nothing higher would not be much cause for concern. Those are pretty low numbers. For $20K under book value the car seems to be a pretty decent deal. It would be nice to know more about the accident but if you have a reputable mechanic looking at it and everything is checking out fine, I wouldn't lose sleep over it as long as you're sure that everything was fixed. For spending this much money on a car, I wouldn't be opposed to having a second set of eyes look over the car as well. If I was looking to buy your car the carfax accident wouldn't be a deal breaker as long as it's been priced in, the repairs have been proper and complete, and it's all documented. For me, the biggest thing I want to see is records and a clearly documented history of all work done on the vehicle. Without this I won't even consider the car no matter how clean it looks.

Hmmm... not sure based on the information you have posted since it's not exactly clear. I still wouldn't rule out the bearings and would look at the CV joints though. The front wheel bearings are "known culprits", and I use that term somewhat loosely, in some of these cars. JFP may have more experience but just because you only hear a noise at a certain RPM still doesn't rule out the aforementioned.

Amazon is currently selling the Bosch #13806 for $66.28 (with free shipping)

Get them for $100/each from Amazon.com. Yes, Amazon, believe it or not. Found that little goodie in an old Logray post when I did my o2s and sure enough they were exact Bosch matches in the retail box when I got them. I never would have thought Amazon if I hadn't read that. They were quite a bit cheaper than some of the other houses like Vertex or AutohausAZ.

+1 on the OEM filter only. The people that say they are getting 20-25hp extra from using the K&N filter are dizzy. Also don't use the oiled filters, etc.

Whenever I jack up my 996TT I use the jack points and only the jack points for safety. I have also used a jack under the engine but just for a couple seconds when I needed to get the rear of the car up a couple inches for 5 seconds (to get it on my buddy's lift for example). But I would never jack up the car and be underneath it or have it jacked that high unless it was using the jack points and it was extremely stable. You can read stories about people's engine mounts going out when the person jacks up the car using the engine, etc. It can be quite dangerous.

Obviously if you installed the short shift kit and the noise started immediately after that, it should be safe to assume it probably has something to do with that. For what it's worth, I've talked to Stan at Gbox on a number of occasions and he explicitly told me two very important things about these Getrag gearboxes: 1) always use OEM fluids and nothing but OEM fluids, no exceptions and 2) do not install aftermarket short shifters. Stan's one of the leading experts on these gearboxes having seen tons of them come through his shop, so I tend to put a lot more stock in what he says.

I'm sorry, I misunderstood your post #3 in response to my original post saying to check the wheel bearings -- I thought you were saying you had the bearings "replaced". Given this information, I think you have to at least reconsider the assumption that this is not your wheel bearings. If they were leaking that means there was a lack of lubrication and I would have replaced with the OEM part at that time. I concur with JFP that it might be time to give someone else a look.

Just one view here but my opinion is it's going to be a lot cheaper to sell your ROW car and buy a US one here. The cost is going to be way too high (not to mention the potential headaches) to ship + do the modifications to your ROW. Safety and emissions in most states in the USA is pretty rigid. The cost of buying a 2003 C4S is very reasonable here and there should be quite a few to choose from. You should be able to pick one up for ~ $20-30K USD depending on the condition, mileage, etc.

Well, it seems that it must have been the differential then if changing fluids drastically reduced the problem. How long had the non-OEM oil been in there? Please follow-up on this post at some point in the future when you change to different tires. As a fellow TT owner, I'm really curious to see if this completely solves your problem.