nmlss2006

Got it, thank you again. OK, let me try - next weekend, I hope I can get fluids in time - and report back.

Thank you JFP, one question: I was contemplating the gas, which yes, is one of the things which are very much on my mind. The question is: Is there a reasonable way to drain it? Or, how bad is outright dropping the fuel tank to take a look inside with a borescope and see if it needs further cleaning? The rest should be straightfoward (famous last words) and I do have a vacuum bleeder for the cooling system. I'm somewhat worried by 'see if it will start', I have to say :).

Hello everyone, I haven't been around because... the cars have been sitting. Since fall 2019. In an effort to actually get SOME use out of them, I had the odd idea to at least get ONE moving and I was wondering what a reasonable order of operations is. The car was parked in mid november of 2019 with the tires topped up to 50 PSI, in a garage under a cover - where it currently sits. Battery was taken out of it at that time, but no other special considerations were employed because, well, I was planning to take it back out for Easter 2020. That.. didn't quite work out. So now the question is : what to do? I was going to move it to the lift ... somehow (that's going to be exciting...) and at the very least change engine oil and filter before even ATTEMPTING to start it. Anything else I should consider? For reference, there are 61k mi on the car, it's one of the last produced and I've had it since early 2008. Manual gearbox. To the best of my knowledge, the car is 100% as it left the factory back in late '04 save for engine oil, oil filter and air filter - and brake fluid. That means that yes, in all likelihood trans fluids and coolant are the factory fill and while I was TOLD spark plugs had been replaced just before turning it over to me, I never actually got written proof of that in the stack of receipts from Porsche in CA that came with it. Belts, idlers... should (?) also all be factory. In my head, I see this as a two-stage process, i.e. first do the 'essential' work, get it back on the road for 50-100 miles, then put it back on the lift and do .. the rest (including driver side glass regulator, finally addressing the rear spoiler that stopped working on the way back from CA in 2008... etc). Ideas, suggestions, comments welcome.

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...