nmlss2006

Great feedback Porschelibrarian. In the meantime, I still have the non-functional rams on mine....

Stiffen the car, absolutely not. It's even worse than the soft top as far as noise goes. I bought it. I installed it. I used it half a season. It's been under its cover since. It's ALMOST as embarrassing as a classic 911 targa roof.

You need to look under the flaps of the tonneau cover. My 09/04 came without the receivers - I had to order them. The car had been ordered from the factory without a hardtop - and should have stayed that way, BTW.

JFP, thanks for your reply. I plan to keep it monitored and I was toying with the idea of replacing the coolant anyways, in my Copious Free Time. I have the usual UView vacuum setup which I have used on several other cars with some success. I wonder if it would make sense to wait and see where this issue goes before playing with that. [edit: entertainingly enough, I saw that you suggested it back in 2015. I have had it, I just deferred doing the fluids on the 911 because other cars needed my attention more - same goes for the radiators, which must look positively ludicrous by now...] I have read the howtos here and elsewhere on draining/refilling and it is my understanding that refilling without a vacuum tool is wishful thinking... and even doing the job with the tool and a lift is an excellent way to broaden my vocabulary. I have to say the car has been remarkably trouble free. Yes, the rear wing is doing its thing and the driverside window regulator decided to quit on me this spring (I am NOT looking forward to that one) but otherwise it's been filters and oil changes...

... I love 911s... My 04 TT is now up to 69,5xx mi and has been behaving more or less as it should. Yesterday, however, I got a coolant level warning from the car. Very odd. It went away with the car warmed up (as I would expect) and once I had it cooled down again, this morning, I opened the cap to refill the circuit. Full disclosure, to the best of my knowledge this is the first time the cap has been taken off since it left Germany back on 09/2004. It is POSSIBLE, though unlikely, that the dealer futzed with it when they did the 15/30/45 kmi service. I stopped going to them after the last one. It took about a quart of distilled water (!!) to get the level back to the max mark. Of course, I started looking for leaks under the car and I found none. Ideas? Suggestions?

Very late on the topic, but it may help in the future: there is at least one company who will rebuild the factory ram system at a much lower price than the positively hilarious rennkit.com list (who even have the impudence of charging separately for dust boots...). The company I found is down in FL : http://www.cabriolethydraulics.com/porsche-carrera-hydraulics.php The complete rebuild cost $650 a few years ago and they seem to have a good reputation.

I think I should try to explain better: in the howto referenced in this thread, it is stated that the central radiator duct is held on by rivets. Not the plastic ones that have a pin in the middle that you pry out, the metal ones that need drilling to get out. I have some small experience with rivets - and with taking cars apart, gearboxes and differentials included, though this certainly doesn't make me an expert - and will stand by what I said: yes, you can drill them out. Yes, you can put them back in. No, you cannot do that ten times in the same hole. And given the position, you get to decide what rivets you should be using and whether Tefgel/Duralac is a good idea (generally, yes, unless you live in the south far from the sea). Given the fact that it looks like you'd have to buy the entire centre radiator assembly if the metal decides to be grumpy, I would rather not do it every year. Or possibly, if I had to do it every year, figure out if there's an alternate way of fastening the parts.

Oh, I guess I should add that. Mine is a 996TT, one of the very last built for the US market. I suppose I can just buy a very large bag of the PCM2 knobs, but it would be a bit annoying. It may not be irrelevant to point out that the ones that were on there I had replaced two years ago... and the storage unit is not climate controlled, but it's in the NE US. Temperatures do not exceed 110F, even in the hottest days in August.

What worries me the most is popping rivets. From several past experiences, popping them and putting them back in is not a guaranteed affair nor is it something that can be done numerous times.

It doesn't seem awfully expensive. And the BMW V8s in the house would probably benefit as well. Hm. There's a howto with that device, written for the Boxster, IIRC... I think it's in the original post somewhere.

A somewhat stupid, cosmetic issue. My car doesn't get much use, obviously. I just took it out from under its cover in storage for the first time since october, 2014. Changed the oil, replaced the tires, etc, all well and good. However, the rubber of the PCM knobs *and* of the handle of the umbrella in the passenger side doorsill seems to have gotten.. sticky. I know it's a stupid issue. My concern is that other, less stupid rubber may also be similiarly affected. Is this a known problem? Is there a way to solve it? Water and Cetaphil seem to work, to a point. I wonder if it's a feature of the place where the cars are stored? It's a storage place about two miles down the road from where I live, but it's in the middle of the countryside...

Following up - I did this for the first time yesterday. It did work, as in the car took all the 12.0x gallons it usually takes and the indicator went up to 4/4. Now, if I could only get used to the fact that the reserve light seems to come on when there are still at least five gallons in the tank, I'd be set...

Thanks JFP. I'm actually halfway tempted to hand you the car and let you do the job (if I am not mistaken about your profession)... I am not entirely clear on how one would bleed the cooling circuit but the topology does make me think it's going to be very, very amusing. For 'how much is a new 991 again' values of amusing.

Well. First opinion: not too bad. No, they are not very precise - the Yokos I had on the other TT were significantly better. Naturally you can't get those any more. Shoulder is... OK. Noise is there, but is acceptable. The old S02s, if anyone still remembers those, were infinitely worse. Ride quality is what it is. Better than the Pilot Sports but that's not saying much. Tramlining is noticeable and given the state of the roads here it's possibly the worst feature so far. A good compromise for daily use stateside. If I were to use the car aggressively like you (used to) be able to do in Europe, I'd choose something different. I would not take these to the track, but I don't do that any more either. The only thing is, I haven't tried them in the wet and I don't think that's going to happen until spring.

My TT just turned 10 recently. To the best of my knowledge, the only fluids that were ever replaced were oil and - once I think - brake fluid. Following the general guidelines for automotive fluids, I think it may be well past time to tackle the job. How, though? Brakes - is there a specific procedure for the ABS pump? Also - what fluid to put in? I would have said ATE super blue but that went the way of the dodo. The Typ 200? Motul RBF600, which is about equivalent? I will NOT put Castrol racing in a car that never sees the track... Update - found brake details here, Typ 200 it is http://www.renntech.org/forums/topic/39269-brake-fluid-for-a-2002-996911-which-type/ Does the Durametric cable activate the ABS pump? How should that be done? Coolant - given the relative position of the radiators and the engine this must be a wonderful delight. Recommendations? Does Porsche have its own coolant or should I just (gulp!) use BMW coolant? Coolant info here: http://www.renntech.org/forums/topic/36393-996-coolant-does-it-have-to-be-genuine-porsche/ http://www.renntech.org/forums/topic/3772-oem-porsche-antifreezecoolant/ Shop manual as usual isn't tremendously helpful: drain coolant from the drain cocks in the front and at the engine - OK - then connect the PST2 for bleeding. I ... happen not to have a PST2. Pentosin circuit - yes, Pentosin does degrade, I found out, and not particularly gracefully, either. Is there an accepted procedure? ...I just found out there are TWO tanks for Pentosin? What were they...? Gearbox - no clue here - read the manual, it seems straightforward but it doesn't have oils listed. Differentials - even less - same as above - the filler for the rear diff seems particularly delightful and - what about the center diff? ...help? I did search on the forum but I didn't find an awful lot.