JFP in PA

+1, I would concur; this stuff is rather a common occurrence and nothing to be overly concerned about.

Here's a set made by a company called "Race Ramps"; but I am sure there are others:

We use BendPak lifts, both because of their quality reputation, service support, and the vast number of optional accessories they make for all their lifts. For the four post lifts, they offer everything from adjustable drip pans to keep leaky cars in the overhead position from dripping on the car below, to sliding jack pads that allow you to pick up the car on the rack for service purposes, and they even make a "double wide" four post that allows you to store or work on four cars in a two car area: We have a couple of customer's with four post that do a lot of their own maintenance and detailing work with the car jacked up on the upper rack, and they seem completely happy with the way the system works. The only down side I can see to the 4 posters is getting cars like my C4S on the lift without damaging their noses. 10 foot 2x 12S might work. JFP probably just uses a 2 poster for thes cars but he may have a recommendation on how to do this safely?? You can use wooden or even rubber ramps to augment the ramps that come on the four post lifts to keep the nose off the lift while loading. Probably the worst case scenario I have personally seen is a customer with a 458 Italia Spyder Ferrari, which has the unenviable combination of a very low stance and long front overhang: The owner had to purchase a set of commercially made long rubber ramps just to get the car into his driveway, and subsequently found that they were also perfect for getting it onto the four post as well. Sometime you have to improvise; after all, "speed cost money, how fast do you want to go?"

We use BendPak lifts, both because of their quality reputation, service support, and the vast number of optional accessories they make for all their lifts. For the four post lifts, they offer everything from adjustable drip pans to keep leaky cars in the overhead position from dripping on the car below, to sliding jack pads that allow you to pick up the car on the rack for service purposes, and they even make a "double wide" four post that allows you to store or work on four cars in a two car area: We have a couple of customer's with four post that do a lot of their own maintenance and detailing work with the car jacked up on the upper rack, and they seem completely happy with the way the system works.

Porsche has always recommended against storing the car with the suspension fully extended (hanging), and at one time circulated a technical brief concerning denying warranty coverage associated with this type of storage. As someone that owns both two and four post lifts, I can tell you that a two post offers better access for service and maintenance purposes, but can often be impractical in a residential garage as the two post have to sit several feet outboard of the car's space, which can be space prohibitive in many home garage areas: Two post lifts also typically require a minimum of four inch thick floors (rebar reinforced preferred), which is usually more than you would find in a home garage. Your floor can be cut and modified to accomplished this, but it will add cost. You also have the overhead clearance to be concerned about, so check with your proposed lift vendor to be sure the two post will actually fit. Four post lifts are much narrower and can fit in lower ceiling garages, and can be adapted to handle most service tasks. Because the four post literally "sit on the floor", most home garage floors can easily accommodate them without modifications: Unless your garage can handle the two post, you may be way ahead in both the grief and bucks departments to consider a four post.

Welcome! :welcome: I am not aware of another site that can do this for you, but we do decode VIN numbers here for contributing member's, so it's a great time to become one!

Forgot you have the DFi motor, which does use a 36 MM socket: Using a 36 MM socket will not harm the housing in any way, and you could always get one of the neat billet replacements on the market:

Hazet 2169 Wrench, Oil filter, 74.4mm, 14 point; Samstag tools and other, about $40.

By far, the easiest way to remove a Boxster shift knob is to put the top down, and stand in the car straddling the console, pull up stoutly on the knob. Just be careful of your balance, some people end up lying on the rear boot at the end of this process......... :eek:

Small suggestion here: Never clear check engine lights before reading and noting the codes. Far too often, when people pull the battery cable and clear what they think is a single code problem, they actually clear multiple codes that could have proven critical in quickly and correctly diagnosing and permanently fixing the problem(s). And when the light comes back on and they take the car to a shop, the tech now has very limited data to work from, which then ends up costing the owner more money (and aggravation) then it should. When the check engine (or other MIL's) light up, your car is trying to tell you what is actually going on, and may have stored multiple codes that took some time to trigger the light; by disconnecting the battery, you have permanently thrown all that data away............... We see this happen far too often, and it ends up costing you more money.

According to Magnuson / Moss Warranty Act (P.L. 93-637) is a United States federal law, (15 U.S.C. § 2301 et seq.), the dealer would have to prove conclusively that the modification's you made were the cause of the failure before they could void your warranty.

Like a lot of things in life, brake pads are a compromise; softer compounds dust more and wear faster, but are quiet. Harder compounds often "bite" better and wear longer, but are noisy. You need to check with your indy and find out which type of pads he used; shims, dampeners, and brake grease could help.

You have just used two completely incompatible concepts in one question: "best reliable lithium ion battery" and "reasonable price".............................. The factory Lithium battery is running about $1800 (US), aftermarket units are about $1400.

While dealers, and indies, can turn off the TPMS, you will find that for the most part, none of them will due to the liability issues with disabling a Federally mandated safety system. $1200 is excessive. You can probably find suitable replacement sensors in the after market for $60-85 each, so do a search. But you are still going to have to dismount the tires to replace them, then mount and rebalance the tires, which is going to cost $. When people ask about this type of problem, we normally suggest budgeting $100 per wheel for the sensors and about 1 1/2 hours shop time at the prevailing local rate.

A PPI is your last chance to catch something that could significantly alter your interest in the car before you part with some serious money. Quite often, a good PPI will identify some small items that need fixing, which you can use a leverage in your negotiations on price. You need to remember that once you have paid for the car, everything becomes your problem. We have seen some beautiful cars that totally took a dive during a PPI, including find 2.7L Boxster engines where a much larger engine should have been. You really do not want to be on the hook when that happens. A recent poster here told about finding a 2009 PDK equipped car that was supposed to have a small oil leak in the PDK, closer inspection found the car needed a new $17K transmission. I'd strongly suggest you don't go there............. I'd suggest you contact the local PCA chapter where you live, they can probably give you a list of shops in your area that can do the PPI.

Two possibilities: particles worn off the cam chain tensioning paddle wear pads, or small flakes of sealant that broke loose in the engine. Both are common and nothing to be concerned about in small amounts.

We get customers that call in after freezing themselves out of their cars asking what to do, we tell them to wait for it to warm up, thaw out, and dry completely before trying to get into the car. Our local Porsche dealer parts guy once told me they sell more replacement door handles during freezing weather than the rest of the year combined..............

Possibly; high pressure fuel pump issues are fairly well known, fuel intrusion from the DFI is leading to cylinder wall scoring issues, and more importantly there have been some multiple reports of abnormal cam chain wear. If the chain fails, the end result would be the same as an IMS failure. Argh, that's disappointing to say the least. Thanks for the info. I was hoping the 9A1 a bullet proof engine :( The closest thing Porsche has produced to being bullet proof was the Metzger lump (now discontinued) that used to come in the Turbo and GT cars. Brutally strong, and ridiculously expensive; but you could still break it if you really tried.

Realistically, there is no way to do what you want, and even if you could get running water onto the car, you risk freezing the doors and windows in place. If you cannot find a detail shop that will wash and dry the car indoors in a warm environment, you are better off leaving it dirty.

+1, definitely a Chinese clone/knock off of an outdated and no longer supported version of the Durametric system. Do not support these clowns, there have been reports of some of these things creating expensive problems when hooked up to the car. Buy the real thing from the only company supporting the DIY Porsche owner's, Durametric.

Possibly; high pressure fuel pump issues are fairly well known, fuel intrusion from the DFI is leading to cylinder wall scoring issues, and more importantly there have been some multiple reports of abnormal cam chain wear. If the chain fails, the end result would be the same as an IMS failure.

Good catch, the 996 has three drains in the front of the car in the cowl area beneath the battery tray. If you have access to the 996 Bentley manual, check page 50-6 for a diagram of where they are; one is right in the area of your photo.

I can't think of anything that operates at a specific speed for your model year, the EVAP system opens to vent fuel tank fumes stored in the activated charcoal under certain conditions, as does the SAI system, but they are not speed related in any way to my knowledge. I would suggest that once you get your hands on the Durametric, utilize its excellent data acquision abilities to log the car's variables over a lower speed session, and then above 40 MPH; then compare them for differences. Something has to be changing.

First of all, get the car scanned with a Porsche specific tool, we have learned to not always trust data generated by third party scan tools, they sometimes feed you erroneous data and send you on an unnecessary wild goose chase. Verify the throttle position data with the Porsche tool, if it is in the fully closed position when the RPM's seem to hang up, check the fuel trim data to see if the car is momentarily either rich or lean. If rich, you may have an injector issue which the Porsche tool will help to isolate to one bank or the other. If it goes lean, it is an air leak somewhere in the system, which is not necessarily a simple loose or disconnected hose, it could be somewhere internal to the system like the EVAP purge or vent valves momentarily opening. Problems like this are difficult to diagnose, as you are finding out; you need to collect as much verifiable data to try and isolate the source.

IMHO, issues with the previous generation M96 & M97 engines are not relevant to the 9A1 DFI engine in your car. They are significantly more stout and reliable than those ever hoped to be. Ask me how I know. I agree you should insist they replace the motor with a PCNA rebuilt 9A1 with a warranty. It is surprising to hear they are considering rebuilding it. One would think having the failed motor sent back to the factory for an autopsy would be more valuable to Porsche. Especially because of the greatly reduced failure rates of the newer motor. Plus it would probably be less expensive than a dealer rebuild and would certainly result in a happier repeat customer, but you never know. Your point about the M96/97 engine's issues not being relevant is for the most part correct; however, the 9A1 design has also shown some unique problems of its own.