devin_wala

On mine the piece that you have circled and mechanism below it was broken. The motor was good condition but the unit functions much the same as a window regulator and some small plastic piece had broken off. You will want to verify the unit is getting electricity or physically see that the unit is broken before getting a replacement. If you look in the manual or search online for the procedure for emergency top operation it tells you how to lower the side flap manually (don't go through the whole procedure). Once the side flap has been lowered you can likely raise your roof electronically to give you access (if needed, don't remember) to remove the flap mechanism. I replaced my unit with a used one off of Ebay. The cloth covering can be swapped out with the one from the old unit so you do not need to get one of a matching color.

Make sure the cloth from the roof is folding nicely. I had this problem and it turned out to be a plastic roof stop at the rear of the roof compartment that was not being raised when the roof was lowered. The stop prevents the fabric from overrunning the back end of the roof compartment. As a result the roof material sat on top of the stop instead of being stopped by it. This caused the bunched fabric to fully cover the rear catch or sit too tall and prevent the clamshell from closing far enough for the final engagement hooks to reach. In my case it turned out to just be a couple of broken plastic clips holding the stop mechanisim in place. Hope yours turns out as simple

Is there any chance that the previous owner updated the rear wing brake light? When I changed mine over to LED (before I added a load resistor) the PSM/ABS light would come on anytime my wing was raised (ie: highway speeds)

:thumbup: Awesome! This has been one of my favorite threads to follow. Would love to hear it once any obvious gremlins have been dispatched!!!

Did you drop and clean the sump pan before the plug was installed? If not, that magnet looks about as clean as I would hope for.

Try moving the tool that you used to move the headlight into the "out" position back a bit towards the "in" position and then try to gently pull the headlight out.

I repaired mine after someone else attempted to "repair" it before I owned the car. According to a thread elsewhere on the internet regulatorusa.com will supposedly rebuild them (I have zero experience with them). After fixing my own I would suggest replacing yours with a new or a low mileage used regulator instead. They are such a pain to get in and out I wouldn't want to have to do the job again anytime soon.

There is a guy in Brooklyn who used to rebuild these. His website is no longer up and I cannot attest to the quality of his work. The phone number at last listing was 718-851-0100. I agree with the previous posters though (+1 Sunset). These regulators are such a PIA to access for repair that it's best to put in new if you can afford it.

I replaced my clutch/IMS/AOS two years ago at 100K miles. '00 996 C2 original clutch (I believe). 1) My slave cylinder showed no signs of leaking at this mileage. After verifying that the fluid you are seeing is not coming from another source I would replace the slave cylinder. 2) I didn't replace my flywheel and now I'm sorry. My flywheel is now likely to be the next point of failure and will likely to take the clutch disk with it as it goes. If you are going through the trouble of dropping the transmission it's nice to have the piece of mind to know that you wont be doing the job again for a while. Then again if you are only going to keep the car another year or two you might get away with it.

I also have a 2000 Cab. I didn't know that the key could raise or lower the roof. Super pleased to learn that. Made my day You might try swapping in one of the other switches on your panel to see if that works (only because it's easy) before you spring for a new switch or begin searching though the wiring loom and associated connections. Cheers Devin

Yay! Success!!! Thank you for the link Ahsai, the connector location was the last piece I needed. Turns out I had been looking in exactly the wrong place. I really wanted to have my A/C working by this weekend and was becoming pessimistic. JFPs suggestion was what I needed. I went from not knowing how to continue to a successful outcome in just a few hours. I love that feeling of accomplishment you get when you fix a problem that's a challenge. It appears the A/C clutch wire connector was just loose and shorting against the block. Thanks for your help JFP and Ahsai and for your help with hundreds of other past threads that have helped me out as well.

Thanks so much! I barely touched the Compressor clutch wire and it popped out of it's connection (without me seeing what it was connected to). Without the clutch drawing current the fuse is no longer blowing (progress for sure). Now I need to figure out what compressor plug wire plugs back into. I've removed the throttle body for a better view but I still cannot seem to locate the connection and am not really sure what I'm looking for.

I'm trying to track down an electrical problem on my 2000 C2 Cabriolet. My climate control is working fine unless I turn on the A/C while the car is running. When I turn on the A/C the compressor engages and runs for around 2 seconds before the 30A A/C Heater system fuse in slot D6 blows. The cabin blower then stops along with anything else on the circuit. I am trying to figure out where to start. Is there is an A/C vent flap motor or other item on the same circuit that I might look at or should I do more to rule out the A/C clutch? The Bentley Circuit diagram is a bit to complex for me tell what is protected by the D6 fuse. I have tried swapping out the A/C Heater Relay (relay 18) with no impact on the problem. Any thoughts are appreciated

You should be able to depress the switch in the roof hook receiver on the lighting console located above the front window. This should allow you to operate the rear window regulator assuming it is clear of obstacles.

I replaced the rubber seals on my headlights with the referenced steel product. It is definitely a generic product and does not fit like the factory seal. The edges on the original factory seal are rounded and it is formed to fit the curvature of the lights. The new rubber seal width also had to be trimmed a bit in places to allow the headlight to fit back into the body without excessive force. On a close inspection this retrofit does not look as good as the original, however it is far superior to the original once the original seal has degraded (mine was turning to goo). This product can also be easily removed should a better solution be found. There is probably a generic product out there that would be a better replacement but I didn't want to go through the trouble to discover it given that someone had already found a serviceable solution. Best of luck on your project!

I've learned a lot this year. I've done some refurbishment work on my cars so I didn't mind getting into some cosmetics and minor mechanical work. I figured that I could bring a car up to snuff over a couple of years. I just didn't want to deal with major engine issues. I had read about IMS issues and was scared but not really knowledgeable enough to assess the risk level (not high for a dual row IMS model with high mileage). I found a 2000 C2 6 speed in the LA area with no history and just under 100k on it and eventually paid $14,800 for it. I had a local independent do a PPI and later learned that some of what they told me was incorrect and that some items they should have found were missed. I should have researched my PPI provider better but I was in a hurry and in an unknown city. The short of it is other the last year I've spent about an additional $18,250 on deferred maintenance, upgrades, a new roof and an engine rebuild. I have heard there is no such thing as a cheap Porsche and my experience bears that out. I've spent $33k plus a lot of work for a car with a value of $20-25K ish. I was feeling a bit bad about this until I realized that I have spent more on every single one of my cars than it's worth. I also now own a car that is in a known state of repair and has a 12mo warranty on it's engine. We will see what the next couple of years give me in return. If you want the full details of the first year of ownership read on... After driving the car back to Arizona I parked it in the garage and started my own inspection. I pulled the oil filter and dissected it to find evidence of a very small amount fine of metallic dust. I decided that I could not replace the IMS soon enough and ordered a IMS kit from Pelican that would replace either single row IMS or dual row. This was ideal for me as I did not yet know for what type of bearing my car had. While dropping the transmission I decided to also drop the sump to get a better idea of what was going on. What I found was a couple very small metal particles (a very reasonable amount), but a bunch of plastic from wearing chain guides and crumbling cam guides. I proceeded to replace the IMS bearing, the AOS and all three chain tensioners. This left my engine making a nasty whining sound. I was not sure which change may have caused this or even for sure if it was a new sound with this set of repairs. A call to our local independent Porsche mechanic with a good reputation responded that it would cost $10K to replace the chain guides. The person I spoke to didn't bother to explain what would be included at that price and I was a bit too much in shock to ask. He also said that I should not drive the car. For $10K I discovered that I could get a used or refurbished engine so continued to drive the car even though I knew there was some amount of risk. (the engine never failed on me) I continued on getting the basic mechanical systems up to snuff. I replaced the clutch and the flywheel bearing, air intake box, MAF, had an alignment done to spec so the car would drive straight, new gas cap, new fluids and fixed rear regulators that worked in reverse form normal operations. I also started changing the (to me) bland gray interior to black and gray. I replaced the ripped and worn seat covers with black perforated leather covers and painted the center console, bat wings, console binnacle and other assorted bits mat black. Then in August my wife said that for my 50th Birthday in November I could fix up my car or trade in on a 997. :thumbup: Given the cost difference I decided to fix up my 996. To that end I installed a new Robins roof with glass window, defogger and headliner, white gage faces, replaced the right and left roof support brackets. I replaced the convertible top compartment motor cables, the window washer pump, the left side convertible top flap. The black Carrera badge was replaced with a silver badge, and clear side markers went on the sides. The biggest piece was having UFO MotorSports in Long Beach rebuild my engine for me. I am still in my first 1000 miles but have been very happy with their service and am very happy with the results so far. Jason and Tim were very knowledgeable, helpful and professional. During the rebuild they discovered that the engine whine was due to the single row and spacer in place of the dual row IMS bearing was allowing the IMS shaft to float further in or out causing the chains to whine as they did not line up exactly with the IMS spocket. The flaw was either due to the bearing system design or due to my installation. (My money is on "due to my installation"). If doing the IMS install over again I would have waited until I knew what bearing type I was dealing with and install the correct LN engineering Bearing. UFOs time and budget estimates were right on track and they ended up throwing in some parts inclusive of the cost rather than nickel and diming me. The rebuild came with a 12mo warranty. I'll post with an update when I've run it a bit longer. I researched how to rebuild a 996 engine myself, the procedures and the tools needed. In the end I was very confident that based on my other repairs I could rebuild one successfully on the second attempt. In short, I was very happy to give these guys my business. When I got the car home from Long Beach I used a Sylvania headlight restoration kit on the headlights and put on new headlight seals. I put in a Pioneer AVIC150 2 din navigation system, a rear view camera and VW center dash cup holders under the navigation unit. Nice, but getting it all to fit and work in the space available made the install anything but clean. I hacked up several of my center dash brackets and much of it is held together with sticky tape (fortunately? the brackets were already hacked by the previous owner so not a real loss). I replaced the broken passenger seat folding lever handle installed black rear seats after a failed attempt to dye my old gray ones black. Installed black carpet in the rear seat area and behind the seats. I had a second key cut and programmed by the dealer. I installed 997 turbo II style wheels, a sports steering wheel, and 997 shifter, a new premium leather shift knob, a black brake lever with brushed aluminum, replaced the front brake pads and disks and painted all of the calipers in two part red with Porsche decals embedded underneath the clear coat. I have had limited experience as a mechanic prior to this and no experience with Porsches. What I've been able to accomplish has been due to this forum and a few others like it. I'm pretty much finished repairing and upgrading the car (well, I'm sure there will always be something that could be upgraded.. :) ). I am still searching for a power seat adjustment switch cap (the one for fore, aft, up and down). They are not sold individually so I am hoping that I might find someone who could sell one from a broken controller. I love driving the car. We live in a mountain area with lovely twisting roads and I have driven it for about 3000 miles in the first year. Was it worth it? Yeah, it was worth it.

I changed the plugs at the same time I switched out my IMS, AOS and chain tensioners. Scared the synthetic out of me with the stumbling engine and CEL light coming on. I had tried to replace the plugs without dropping the mufflers and I apparently wasn't able to get it quite right with such as small space to work in. For me it was item 2 on Loren's list. In my case this was easily addressed once I retried the plug install with the mufflers dropped. Hope your issue turns out as simple. Kind Regards

Yay! I found the problem. Someone rebuilt the regulators incorrectly (carrier is connected to the wrong wire). Now to see if I can rebuild them or if it's time to buy some new ones. Thanks for taking the time to read and your suggestions RDC. Sometimes it's nice to feel like you're not alone in beating your head against a wall.

Thanks, I had checked that and just checked again to be sure. Those are all pretty secure connections.

Sorry, I missed the reference to high beam. My experience is with the low beam lights.

No flood damage listed in it's history or as far as I can tell from working on it so it's unlikely. The rear windows are just reversed for some reason. I'm guessing it's something a previous owner or mechanic did when fixing a regulator but I don't know the history.

I was under the impression that the Litronic lights were were xenon lights with a high voltage ballast and could only be replaced with other xenon bulbs. I may be confused about this as I don't own them myself. I have standard halogen lights on my 996 and the lights were very dim when I got the car. One of the lights was also discolored from a previous owner running too hot of a bulb. I have since put in the top end Sylvannia Silverstars (whatever they are called gold or platinum I think). The lighting is much better and there has been no additional discoloring running the new bulbs.

My cabriolet came with what I'm calling shark's teeth. When the top is down the rear side windows are always up and are locked that way (unless I press the roof receiver microswitch). When the top is up you can press the rear window up switch the rear window will go down. When you press the rear window down switch the rear window will go up. The front windows operate normally. I tried reversing the wiring for the up and down functions. After swapping two pair of wires for each window the windows go down and up correctly when pressing the switch and go down and up correctly when raising and lowering the top. However, when I go to start the car with the top up and the windows up the car lowers the rear windows about an inch. I think the logic is to try to raise them to make sure that they are closed (at least that's my theory). Next, when looking at regulators online I noticed that my motors had different part numbers. So I put the wiring back to normal and swapped in new motors (including built-in control boards that looked correct for my car). No difference. At this point I am stumped. I don't know if there is anything in the PST settings that could reverse the operation of the windows but it seems unlikely. Perhaps I need to keep the wiring reversed and there is a PST setting that impacts starting window location? Thanks. Any insights are appreciated.

Congratulations on your C4 cab. There is a lot to learn. The few things I've picked up so far are: 1. If you start looking at all the things that could go wrong you will drive yourself crazy. 2. There should be many fluid changes in your future. I dropped the transmission and replaced the IMS s well as the AOS. The bearing was in perfect shape but now I have piece of mind. I do have a slight start up rattle so I am replacing the chain tensioners this week. I am now relatively sure that the plastic I saw was from my chain guides. They will have to hold on a bit longer until I can scrape together the money or gain enough experience to replace them. I now have three new style chain tensioners sitting in front of me 188-01, 186-01, and 180-56 but I have to do some more research before I know if I should install all, some, or none of them with my old style roller link chains.

Not unless he also has water in his oil. The oil system and coolant system should be separate unless something else is wrong. Thankfully there is no detectible intermix. The few small brown bits I see I tend to believe are from the chain guides. These are so few I would tend to take a monitoring approach. Some of back plastic bits are almost the size of a pencil eraser and as thick as a dime and there are many more of these. If these are from the chain guides it scares the heck out of me. I am hoping that I can track the source down to a perished AOS, oil filler tube or some such thing. Other than plastic bits in the oil are there any other signs of chain guides going bad short of catastrophic engine failure? I know splitting the engine to replace the guides can't be cheap. I paid cash for the car and am already in another 3K so I'm tapped out for a bit. I'd really like to be able to drive the car but I'd also would really like to be able to continue to drive it. Any thoughts or opinions?