dphatch

Should have soon a Google search.  Found the most common cause to be the door lock pivot. ( Bad cable would not let me open the door or actuate the window so that was easy to rule out ) It appears this is a common part failure in these cars as they age. Repair requires a  $20 part ( part number 997-555-381-03 for drivers door ) - maybe 20 minute job. Might be of interest to others.

When I opened the drivers door  ( 997.1)  this morning while exiting the car I heard pop/snapping sound coming from the  area of the door latch resulting in significant play in the actuation of the latch. I can open the door and the latch still actuates the window lowering function when entering and exiting the car but lots of play in the cable and latch does fully return to its normal position . 

Has anyone experienced this issue that can give me heads up what needs fixing behind the door card ?

My question was  about sensors in/around the wheel wells that detected the signal from the sensors in the wheel ? 

Or are the signals received by the control unit alone ?

Are there individual sensors in each wheel well that read the tpms and send data to the control unit ? or does the control unit receive and process  those signals directly  ?

Can someone tell what system in a 997 reads the signals from the TPMS  sensor in each wheel ? I'm getting readings only from passenger side wheels. Could be sensors are bad but summer  wheel set  ( just switched over to winter set ) exhibited same issue. Could be  that  all eight sensors are dying at once but might suggest something else is amiss. Just  need to know what  the "something else" might be. 

I would check the coils for cracks and replace them all together with the fresh sparkplugs. They are cheap.

+1 to  this one. 

As for tools, best bet would be to  read a few of the DIY's on plug/coil pack replacement as they offer helpful hints and tips and often reference tools required. The more you work on these cars the more tools you will need as  basic tools won't get you to many of the places Porsche put stuff in the engine bay of a 997. 

As others have already mentioned, I vote for coils being worn out given the age of the car.  If you can jack up the back of the car and remove the rear wheels it is possible to get a good at the coil packs with a good light source and a mechanics mirror. You're looking for cracks in plastic casing and/or clear epoxy sealant on the face of the coil used to weather proof it.  Once  moisture is able to enter the coil pack they are toast. 

While servicing the front brakes on my '07 C4S one of the weights on only one of the  damper pads got stuck in the piston and broke away from the pad backing. What follows is the process I used to remove it with always enjoyed pictures. I posted this because I could not find anything similar anywhere else. Having used the "how to's..."  from this site and others many times I  just wanted to offer a little payback if I could.

The  bad news, as shown in the above pic,  is the pad damper with the missing weight which was securely entombed in the piston. Damper weights are held in place on the damper pad itself by a screw which was still attached to the weight after I removed the damper itself  and easily removed ( in my case ) from the weight. Good news is that the threads in weight go all the way through to the back side of the weight. I suspect this is deliberate to allow for removal should they get stuck. had the corrosion extended to the screw soaking all in PB Blaster would have been my next step.

Here's a pic of the screws I used to press the weight out of the piston. First screw was holding the weight to the damper, second and third were a 1-1/2 " cap screw and 1-3/4 " phillips head I had on hand. All screws have  the same thread dimensions to insure a secure fit and allow for a plan "B" approach in the event  plan "A" did not work.

First thing I did was soak the piston and weight in PB Blaster. To facilitate same I removed the caliper  to allow PBB to sock in better and more fully dissolve the corrosion keeping the weight from coming out.

After 3-4 hours of soaking I  inserted the shorter cap screw into the threaded hole in the center of the weight and screwed it in until I hit the bottom of the piston. ( Cap screws are preferable to phillips heads as they allow you to apply more direct torque to screw without stripping the head ) I proceeded gradually tightening the screw for a couple of 1/4 turns to determine if the PPB had had sufficient time to loosen the corrosions hold on the weight. Once I saw evidence of the movement in the weight I proceeded to run the cap screw all the way flush to the top of weight  and then replaced it with the longer screw visible in the picture to force the weight all the way out.

Note you do not need to remove the caliper to access the weight this way  if it just needs gentle coaxing. However, the  rotor would need to be removed in that case at which point it seems worthwhile to just remove the caliper.

And success.  Next step take some emery cloth to the inside bore of the all pistons to clean out the crud and eliminate a future recurrence of this time absorbing issue.

Thanks, guys! Since it's low risk seems like a good WYAIT if changing the coolant. One more for today: Should one also change the thermostat ("coolant regulator") as a WYAIT and, if so, does one need special tool P 9627 or is there another method that works as well?

Replacing the thermostat that comes with the new housing is the more cost effective approach given the cost of the tool required to install the thermo into the old housing. If you are you are going to r/r the water pump you should use this opportunity given time-already-spent on the water pump and coolant to replace the thermostat at the same time.

Hi JFP,

 

I drained the oil today and it was typical, no water, no emulsion....

 

This is pointing towards your assessment of the AOS.

 

I have a Durametric inbound so I should have it soon so I can check out the error codes.

 

Can the AOS be replaced with the engine mounted or do you think I need to drop it?

 

Thanks!

 

Ken

If it was the AOS there will be evidence of oil in the intake runners just aft of the intake plenum. As removal of the intake plenum is needed in order to access the AOS you won't be wasting any time should you find a good deal of oil in the intake tube. AOS can be replaced without dropping the engine and there is a very good DIY on the process on one of the Porsche boards. I replaced the AOS myself and while time consuming it's not impossible. Google it and you will find it. It is essentially the same process as replacing a failed alternator/battery cable ( with a few extra steps ) which I would highly recommend doing at the same time should you decide to replace the AOS.

I got a question for you guys. OEM tire sizes for my car 235-35-19 and 305-30-19 . Diameter of these is 25.5 " and 26.3 " respectively. Now given the obvious concern over rolling diameter of the tires on C4S and the impact of too much variation in front-to-back tire diameter on the drive train why not use a 235-40-19 on the front which at 26.4" and nearly identical to the rears 26.3 ? Tires in question are Michelin Pilot Super Sports.

I don't see any reason why they wouldn't work so if you have exhausted the recyclers these could be your only option. However, If I recall correctly certain years of the 996 ( I think it was the last two years but not sure

) came standard with the hardtop standard which is why there are so many 996 tops available. Many buyers declined the top which was why Porsche stop offering them as a standard item. However all of the 996 cars where fitted with the locks regardless of whether or not the car was ordered or came with the hard top. With that said they should be available from Porsche dismantlers if you can get them to pull them from the car. Mounting bolts are available at any hardware store so if you could get a dismantler to remove them you could readily source the bolts if they didn't want to both keeping track of the. As for the lock type receivers above, at the price I'm not sure how much cheaper than the newer screw type locks conversion would be. The screw type locks minimize the rattles that were apparent in the first and second iterations of the lock down type lugs that these mounts are designed to fit. By the way, the ebay locks will work with versions 1 and 2 of the lugs as thre only change to version 2 was the addition of a plastic sleeve on the end of the lug to added to reduce the rattles owners complained about.

As a follow up. I removed the fog light housing to address the parking light issue and found both bulbs had failed. Prior to the reinstall, I checked and cleaned all the connection points on both harness and the bulbs and bulb holders themselves. I replaced the bulbs with the same blue 5 watt wedge type bulbs and reinstalled both housings. I further disconnected the negative battery terminal and clean both the terminal and the lug prior to reconnection. I started the car and checked for alerts which did not return, As this issue started with a side light alert and ended with a parking light alert I can only conclude it was a weird coincidence that both sets of bulbs failed within a very narrow time window.  

My thanks to both jl-c and Doug_ for your help.

Could be one or more the bearings in one or more of the pulleys or an alternator bearing. Need to remove air filter housing and the serpentine belt

and spin each of the pulleys and listen. Not unusual for these bearings to go. You can get the whole set from SunCoast or Sunset for acouple hundred bucks. Replace the belt while your at it regardless of your determination of it's condition. $ 30 parts aren't worth

trying to get a few extra miles out of.

when you unplug your light units, the side that is not connected to the light is the harness. It is all inside your front bumper until it enters the trunk. You can refer it to the earth side of the battery. 

So your referring to connections that attach to the light fixtures themselves. Was thinking by harness you meant the main harness connection for the all of the front bumper electrics. Any fault recorded at the harness ends would need to be traced back along the harness to its origin  ? This would require removal of the passenger side wheel well liner as this is where the main harness enters the bumper. Is it possible that a loose connection at the main harness might be causing the problem ? Issue started after I removed the side lights and fog light housings. I did not remove the headlights. Could be that the connection at the main harness end is problem.I'll start at the connections to the lights and work my way over to the main connector.  

Pin 6 in the multi plug that goes from the lights to the front harness. Brown wire. Check for 0 Ohms (or close to the reading you get shorting both probes together ) from the brown wire in the socket (front harness) to a known earth in the front compartment. You will find various studs on the bodywork with earth wires (brown ) connected to them. Anything above 2 or 3 Ohms and you need to be looking for a break. Check also from pin 6 of the plug you disconnected i.e.. the one that is connected to the actual lights, to each side of the sidelights and fog lights (bulbs removed). Should again be brown wires. pin A2, B2, C2 etc.

 

OK just read you last post  :D glad you got it sorted :clapping:

 

As luck would have it, problem was not corrected after replacing the bulbs for the side marker lights and the parking lights which are in with the fog lamps. Short tested all modules with Durametric after resetting the coeds that were showing and everything came back clear.  Now both left and right parking lights show to be needing attention so I'm back to the ground issue. Where exactly is the front harness you're referring to ?  

As an update, I acted upon Doug_B-928's  advise by just replacing the clear side lights ( I'd installed years ago) on both sides with the original orange ones and the original bulbs and believe-it-or-not the error went away. Now, not that I didn't trust Doug but, when I was a lad, a side marker bulb either worked or it didn't. There where no fancy computer gadgets to foretell of the impending death of a side light bulb ( let alone the exact location of same). I am more than a little amazed at these cars sometimes as to how sophisticated, maybe overly sophisticated is a better way to put it, these cars are.

At any rate, problem solved, new bulbs on order. I use the clear silver tipped bulbs that glow orange the originals of which have lasted over 6 years. Thanks for the help.

Will try both suggestions. Regarding checking for ground  jl-c, it would help me  if you could be more specific regarding which contact wire to check. As the side light body is all plastic and the bumper is as well, where in that harness is the circuit being grounded ?

As I removed both side lights and fog/turn signal lights I will remove and recheck all the connects and wiring looms but will try bulb on the side indicated as the most expedient fix first.

Dash indicates need to check left front side light. All lights, side lights include, are functioning normally. Removed left side light, checked connections and reinstalled. reset code with durametric but dash still shows error for side light.
Any thoughts on next steps ?

I would suggest removing the inner fender liner. Best way to do that is the jack up the car on that side, remove the wheel, and the few screws and plastic nuts the hold it in place. I am guessing ( because while I have had the inner fender liner off several times I never looked to see how the fender was attached )  there are 1 or more  screws or  speed nuts missing at the bottom most corner of the fender where your red circle is. There are no fewer than 22 speed nuts and screws that attach the fender to the chassis.  I don't think that one missing attachment (screw/speed nut ) would cause a great deal of slack in the fender at that point. Removing the fender liner would be the only way to get to the attachment points.  

For what it is worth, when I reinstalled my coolant tank I found that holding the tank nearly level while positioning it to bypass the obstructions at the top and bottom of the engine bay made it easier for me to get it into position. As you say the bracket that holds the tank in place can not be replaced after the tank is in position. I held the tank as close to the top bracket as I could and angled the back end of the tank toward the fender wall. I held tank was as parallel to the ground as I could given the various obstructions. (Holding the tank at an upward or downward angle and trying to install it would not allow me to get it into the engine bay no matter how a twisted the tank. )

Are you sure the frequency was 433 Mhz ? Installer should be able to verify what kind on sensors where installed. Hook it up to a

Dura metric and see if it will recognize the sensors and then Get a reading on the battery life remaining of each sensor. If the y won't read sensors are not the correct type.

Am thinking you've already discovered this but, the short version of the instructions called for soaking the piston, then using the air to pop it out, not the other way round. So if you method didn't work try the methods suggested by JFP and .

My 2006 C2S has a vibration during the intital high idle period at startup. I always wait for the high idle to go down to normal before driving the car. As soon as it kicks down to its normal idle the vibration is gone. The car has been like this since I've owned it, but it did seem more noticeable the last time I started it. Is this normal? If not, what could it be? There are no fault codes present. I haven't used Techron (not sure if I can get it locally) but, if I can find some, I might put it in the last tank of gas of the season before I change the oil. Additional information, in case it makes a difference: the car is a garage queen with less than 16,000kms.

Things I would look at if it's not just a cold engine warming up. My car stumbles a little when cold so if that's all it is not to worry. If the car isn't hesitating when you accelerate not sure you have any problem. Beyond that you might try cleaning the MAF with a can of MAF cleaner and clean it. .... I use the CRC stuff. Computer....disconnect negative battery cable for 2 minutes and reconnect. (reboots the cars computer).....I suspect a little cleaning and/or battery disconnect will solve your problem it you really have one. There are some good DIY's on the MAF removal and cleaning procedure so if you have never done it I suggest you read them. .

Ty

Isnt 0w40 or 5w40 the factory recommended? Im about to do an oil change myself and was going to order some 0w40 mobil 1 on amazon. I do a lot of short trips so i figured the 0w40 would be a good fit for me.

Hard to eat that price.

Very! Yuck! LOL!!

Typing on an IPad is an itch !!!!