PeterK

Great news! Glad you got it back and the problem is solved! :clapping:

:beer:

Indeed! pretty amazing that the coils went out so soon.

Well, back from the dealers.

I took it there to do the 30K service as well as to figure out what was causing the misfire.

Apperently it was the coils. Three of them were visibly damaged with plastic cases showing cracks. The dealer was nice to replace all of them and charge the CPO warranty for this and part of the labor. Ended up spending just $800 for a $1500 worth of services!

The sparkplugs while looked slightly worn didn't look that bad at all.

Ok,

Here are the codes

P0300

P0304

P0305

P0302

Which means I have misfire detected in cylinders 2, 5 and 4.

The car is going for the 30K service next week. Hopefully, it is just the plugs/coils and nothing more.

Get the fault codes read first.

Most probably causes are bad coil packs or wrong/loose spark plugs.

I would recommend the Durametric so you can read the codes. I've been happy with my enthusiast version. I'd probably order the extension cable if I had to do it over again. I am always kneeling on the ground with the laptop...

I've saved the purchase price in avoiding dealer charges for resetting codes alone.

Your symptoms sound like what happened to me with bad plugs and/or coil packs. See ** Coil pack post **.

Good luck!

Indeed. I just missed an auction for durametric on ebay. Got out-sniped.

The P car CEL doesnt flash when its knocking, does it? My Mitsu did...was kinda nice on a turbo car....

I think flashing CEL is an indication of a misfire since this can damage the cats down the stream.

My p-car dealer thinks that my condition was caused by the K&N filter, letting in too much air for the MAF to measure. Doesn't sound like a likely story.

The other day when accelerating hard in the second gear, near the redline, the check engine light came on flashing. I took off the foot off the accelerator and let the car coast at idle RMP for a min a so. The check engine light then went off. I attempted to replicate it but couldn't do it in about 4 tries similar to one that caused it. My simple OBDII code reader cannot read out any codes as this incident did not cause a permanent CEL.

What should I do? The car is an a 6speed 04 tt with 28K on it. The car will be under CPO warranty for another 6 month or so.

Should I try to do the 30K service and hope that the new plugs will fix this? Or should I take the car to the dealer and ask them to figure it? I'm sort of hesitant on the latter, since from my experience with them I know that they don't want to work on something that they can't replicate.

Check out the 2nd gear pop-out thread on the 6speedforums

Change oil every year/4k and there is no change in it. 2004 car with 30k

I use a floating charger/battery tender procured from wallmart for whooping $19.99. I really failed to see the difference between porsche branded device and one from black&decker. Functionally they are exactly the same. I think it works really, really well. My battery is close to 4 years old and still holds sufficient charge to be fully usefull.

If you don't feel comfortable removing the cluster and checking the connections then find a good Porsche indie shop.

I'd hate to see some dealer replace a $2000 plus cluster for a loose connection.

Good advice! Judging from your responce, these failures aren't that common, right?

Is there a documentation on how to remove the IP?

http://www.renntech.org/forums/index.php?s...post&p=9563

http://www.renntech.org/forums/index.php?s...post&p=2434

Thanks. Something to do this weekend!

If you don't feel comfortable removing the cluster and checking the connections then find a good Porsche indie shop.

I'd hate to see some dealer replace a $2000 plus cluster for a loose connection.

Good advice! Judging from your responce, these failures aren't that common, right?

Is there a documentation on how to remove the IP?

Also, I noticed that there are some 996 IP clusters on ebay for 300-500. Can these be reprogrammed by a US shop?

If you had more electrical anomalies I would suspect the ignition switch.

But I would also remove the cluster and make sure all the connectors are plugged in tight.

Where are you located?

San Antonio, TX. Took it to the local p-car dealer on the fredrigsburg/410. Not other electrical abnormalities expept for the headlight switch. I think it needs to be replaced at one point, doesn't turn the litronix well, but only when I pull on it.

Hmm... did they check to see if a connector came loose?

No, they didn't open the car. Just scanned it and showed me the code on the computer screen. It offered two choices: pull out the key and wait, replace the cluster. Said something about voltage drop.

I just finished washing the car and was pulling it into the garage when the light first came on. I couldn't possibly cause this condition could I? I mean the entire cluster works but for the tachometer and it isn't cable driven anymore? So if detailed the engine bay, that wouldn;t have caused it right?

Judging from your responce that isn't something that common?

I guess there are no places in US that would be fixing these?

Check engine light came on the other day. I've run the OBDII scan - no codes. Took to the a dealer and noticed that tachometer isn't working. Dealer scanned it and sure enough the code was 9441 (i think) and stating that the entire IP needs to be replaced. Is that something commonly seen? Dealer said that the IP is gonna be over $2K in parts alone.

What is a suggested change interval for an 04 car? I've looked over the service book and couldn't find anything

Have the car had the 30K service? If so, the plugs were changed.

Probably not if it is a MY02 or newer. They extended the service interval.

Well, I have an 04 and the dealer is insisting on changing plugs at my 30K service. They actually showed a porsche document stating that plugs are indeed to be changed at 30k

Faulty o2 sensor might cause the engine to run too rich. The exaust will smell like gasoline in this situation. However, if you're burning oil/coolant it can cause o2 sensor to die.

So, it all depends on what kind of smoke you're seeing.

Have the car had the 30K service? If so, the plugs were changed.

Well, that kind defeats the purpose, doesn't it? In the world where chevy pushrods V8 reliably rev up to 7K, short shifting your porsche is ludacrise.

You may have misunderstood my comment. The rev's are kept low until the engine is properly warmed.

Indeed, I did. Yes, proper warm up is the prudent way!

My observation is to drive the car as a normal car with only occassional "hot-rodding". I remember reading a SAE paper many years ago wherein it stated that engine wear was proportional to the seventh power of the ratio of engine speeds. (5000/3000)^7=35.7 times the wear or shorter life.

Dan

Well, that kind defeats the purpose, doesn't it? In the world where chevy pushrods V8 reliably rev up to 7K, short shifting your porsche is ludacrise.

Prolly just weak battery due to a week of no running and open/close doors, etc.

The idle speed is temp dependent. Colder = longer.

An indie place I talked to says that it takes honest 5-6 hours of work for them to do it. Dealer charges porsche for 8 hours

Oh, you just pull them out, du'h!

I bought a used car which came with a front license plate. It has an original porsche license plate holder which looks a bit ugly to me.

So I'm trying to remove it to get back the clean bumper look. I'm down to two rubber stumps and there doesn't seem to be a way of removing it from outside. Is there any instructions on how to put the license plate?

Thanks

peter

I've driven 996 and 997 C4 and overall came up very unimpressed. If I wanted an AWD sports car I would have gotten an RS4 or EVO or STI over C4. Not to mention that extra heft and extra wheels to drive make the car feel slower.

As far as LSD, it was available in 04 996 C2 cars.