JFP in PA

I would at least have it checked. Just going "off road" can throw the alignment off, and the car was not designed to be pulled out of a ditch by the front suspension.

It is very hard to diagnose something like this "long range". When was the transmission last serviced? Is the fluid level correct? Is the trans leaking? I would suggest not driving the car until you can get it into a Porsche shop. It could be something simple, but these gearboxes are not cheap, so I would get it seen to quickly.

Check your car's electrical output voltage an idle.

Yes, they do sometimes stick open or closed, but I wouldn't describe them as "prone to sticking" any more than any other thermostat I have seen. If you think it is bad, pull it an look at it; if it is stuck partially open, it will be obvious. If it isn't, you could suspend it with a wire in a pot of water on the stove and monitor the stat position in relation to the water temp in order to determine if it is doing something stupid. Or you could just pull it an replace it, they are not that expensive. And regardless of how you feel about them, the 160F stat is a good idea in these cars.............

Do a search on horn problems, this is fairly common when the contactor ring in the wheel horn button assembly goes south. Relatively easy DIY fix.

I'm sorry, but that is just plain crude. If I had the car in for a PPI, I would warn the potential buyer to be very circumspect about the condition of the transmission as we service them every 40-50K, not at the factory 90K, and you have no idea what else is wrong with it as well as having to absorb the cost of fixing your "repair" before it could be serviced. Your welder could have also drilled out the damaged drain bung and welded in a new one, hit it with a dab of spray paint and it would have been like new for a couple of bucks.

Assuming the old belt was still in good shape, you could put it back on and run a test with it as well. Weird belt sizing is not uncommon, we see it from time to time; some times it is just miss marked or packaged, other times the belt was definitely the wrong size..

Which is why we put the Durametric in the car and took it for a run, sometimes you have to "catch the moment" and start asking yourself questions, like what would cause a sudden voltage drop, and if the owner had just replaced anything, like the belt. Then the observed data ties into an active hypothesis, or in this case, how could a new belt cause the voltage to suddenly drop; which can easily happen if it slips, which was exactly what we found. Not earth shattering, but it happens. Sometimes the best answer is the simplest one.

No, it was very slightly too long, and perhaps a little too smooth as well, so the tensioner could not hold it tight enough under load and it slipped just enough for the voltage to drop off momentarily and trip the MIL's. Put on another new belt (OEM) and the problem went away. The OP said his problems started after a belt change, so it is definitely worth a look as not all belts are equal.

I have seen this before, but on a car with an AGM battery which has no free fluid in it, so I would forget that explanation. The key here is the drive belt, it is slipping enough to let the electrical system voltage drop, which is a common cause for ABS, PSM & other MIL lights to come on without reason. On the one I saw, the owner purchased an aftermarket belt which was very slightly larger than the OEM, which allowed the belt to slip under load, and the voltage dropped. The way we caught it was a road test with the Durametric connected and logging data; stand on the gas and the voltage took a nose dive, back off the gas and the voltage came back up.

To check the AOS, try removing the oil fill cap in the trunk while the car is idling; if it comes off easily and the car starts to idle funny, you are fine. If the AOS is bad, you will have a hard time removing the cap due to high vacuum in the system.

The first thing I would do is get the car scanned on a Porsche specific system; quite often, generic or "global" OBD II scan tools come up with misleading or completely erroneous codes. You are also going to need a Porsche scan tool (PST II, PIWIS, Durametric) to read and clear the air bag fault as well; there are very few (and very expensive) aftermarket scan tools that can do that. You appear to have multiple misfire codes, which while annoying, are not life threatening to the car. These can be anything from old sparkplugs to bad coil packs, which will need to be isolated and corrected most likely by replacing the failing component's. Get the car rescanned, noting all the codes, and then clear them. Drive the car and see what comes back, if anything. You would then have a valid basis to move forward on getting the car fixed.

We have seen problems with some of the after market DME programs that prohibit the car's ability to pass some state emissions tests. In some cases, going back to stock was the only option that worked. If you have access to the Durametric software, you can test activate the SAI system using it to see if it is working properly. I remain circumspect of the re-flash however, as the car supposedly has a cat efficiency issue, an O2 issue, and SAI issue, and no codes, which is a bit more than odd.

These drains are relatively important, they carry collected water down and out beneath the car. If the drain has been pushed out, the water will now collect inside the car were it can get to electronic components as well as create rust. How to get at it would depend upon which drain you moved and were it got to.

Check out post #4 immediately above yours.........................

You really don't want to go this route for two reasons: First, you are buying an illegal clone of the only aftermarket software system that supports Porsche owners. Secondly, along with potential harm the unknown system can cause, at best it is at best an old and extremely out of date version of the Durametric software, which cannot be updated as doing so will brick the cable ( a little trick that Durametric built in to foil the rip off artists that try to steal their system).

That can also be done with the Durametric system.

The engine numbers on the M96/97 are independent of the VIN numbers. Is their a topic on here to use for decoding the engine numbers? Anyone know of a Porsche experienced machine shop or rebuilder in the southeast U.S.? You need to do a search, it has been discussed before. There is a table that breaks down the engine number sequences: http://www.porscheclubgb.org/clientftp/Register/996/faq_engine_transmission_codes.pdf Probably the best M96/97 engine shop in the world is in Georgia at Jake Raby's shop: http://www.flat6innovations.com/ Thanks. I have been reading on Raby's site for an hour now. Probably can't afford the rate. I would like to attend the engine rebuild school though, but can't afford to go to Costa Mesa for the initial training through Worldpac. I have pictures of two of my engine numbers. The torn down one back from M/M is a 66Y which would be correct for the 2000 car (not pictured). The Craigslist complete motor is a 66W which equals 1998 model. That would be a real early 996, right? I bought it as a 2000 model. Seller may or may not have known. I see no rear seal or IMS leaks. The motor is plenty oil filmy but not oily wet. I removed the cam plugs and rotated. Cams are turning and appear to be ok. Seller said the motor was making a "noise" in the 3-4k rpm range. Only thing I can find is a few small black plastic piece out of the sump pan and a few in the pickup screen. No metal debris. It appears to be incredibly clean. I am tempted to install a starter and hook a battery to it and perform a compression test in the floor???? Would their be any drawbacks of using a 66W engine? There is an old adage in high performance engines: "Speed cost money, how fast do you want to go?" With factory reman short blocks costing nearly the same a some of Jake's complete engines (which would carry all the upgraded parts to replace the stuff that gives you greif in a factory engine), some of his engines are actually quite reasonable if you think about it. The black plastic bits you found in the engine are most likely chain wear pads debris (common wear item):

You definitely have lost the cam drive on at least one bank, possibly both. With the engine out, you need to pull the cam covers (you will need cam holding tools for this) and you will see which ones are gone.

The engine numbers on the M96/97 are independent of the VIN numbers. Is their a topic on here to use for decoding the engine numbers? Anyone know of a Porsche experienced machine shop or rebuilder in the southeast U.S.? You need to do a search, it has been discussed before. There is a table that breaks down the engine number sequences: http://www.porscheclubgb.org/clientftp/Register/996/faq_engine_transmission_codes.pdf Probably the best M96/97 engine shop in the world is in Georgia at Jake Raby's shop: http://www.flat6innovations.com/

Depends upon your budget and which style IMS is in the car. An '01 car probably is a single row, but there is still a chance it could be a dual row, when you take it apart you will be able to see the rear IMS flange which will identify which one is in the engine. There are no lists of VIN's or any other data that will tell you this, you have to look. If it is a single row, my first choice would be the LN IMS Solution; cost more, but is a permanent fix. Second choice would be the new LN IMS Pro dual row replacement for the single row bearing. If it is a dual row factory bearing, the LN dual row has proven to be a bullet proof replacement.

This is what can happen with a light weight flywheel: Aside from the noise and chatter, the lightweight flywheel cannot absorb the harmonic forces that the dual mass is there for, and the cranks do not like that. As for the clutch, the standard clutch is all you really need, it is what we put in our customer's cars.

A 2002 would have Litronics, either from the factory or as an aftermarket kit that Porsche offered at the time which was very popular. If the car bears the 601 code, the Lits should be factory and include auto leveling and diagnostic capabilities, while the aftermarket units would have auto fill in (low beams swing up to fill in the high beams) but no auto level or diagnostics. This can be verified during a PPI.

The engine numbers on the M96/97 are independent of the VIN numbers.

Did the fan work normally before you installed the fleabay wiring harness? Does it work correctly if you remove the harness?