2006, C4S, 6-Speed Manual, US - Incorrect Date Displayed on Radio/Nav Display

[Seth Nichols]

I have a 2006 C4S 6-Speed with Nav option.  The date displayed is incorrect.  I can easily and successfully update the time, 12/24hr format and date format but there is no option to change the actual date.  Reset factory settings but date is still incorrect (displays 11/20/2000 now).

Also, when I turn on the car for the first time of the day (following overnight rest period) the radio appears to be playing but no sound.  I am able to change the station(s) but no audio.  I have to turn the car off, wait until I hear the radio or other accessories turn off (approx. 20 seconds), then I can turn the car back on and the audio comes on when the radio/nav system comes on and everything is fine.  Very strange.  Any ideas?

I just purchased the car and these issues seem to have come with it.

[jaybart]

Sounds like your “radio on but no sound” is probably a sticky power relay for the amp. Try this out - when you first get in the car instead of on motion of key in and start turn the key to ignition on and wait. Does the sound come on after a few seconds?

 

On the date, I don’t have a 997.1 anymore, but I recall that to be configured in the PCM. Dig through the menues...

[Richard Hamilton]

The PCM takes its time signal from GPS.  Is the navigation working properly?  This is what the workshop manual says about the time setting after changing a PCM2.1 unit:

For vehicle equipment with DVD navigation unit, switch on the PCM in clear surroundings (to load GPS almanac); as soon as four satellites are identified the almanac will reload. The time is updated again when there is a plausible GPS reception (four satellites). The date and time are also adopted once the GPS almanac has been loaded; it may be necessary to change over to summer time (daylight-saving time). This time is transferred to the instrument cluster. If the time is then manually changed by means of the instrument cluster, this time is adopted by the PCM and synchronised with GPS time.

 

There is a screen which shows the number of satellites being received.  Maybe also try switching to summer time to see if it will pick up the date.  It can take a long time to update the GPS almanac, so be patient and check the date setting after a day or two.

As for the sound, I can't help I'm afraid.  Are there any on-screen messages?  It is going into mute when you first switch on?

[Seth Nichols]

First of all, thank you for your suggestions.  This is an amazing way to get help and I love it!

 

jaybart - I tried just turning the key on and waiting, but the audio does not come on even after waiting several minutes.  The radio displays the current station/song and changes if I change the station, but no sound comes out.  I tried mute/unmute but no change.  I have to turn the key off and wait until I hear the radio head unit make a noise.  Then I can turn the car back on and the radio automatically starts playing without me touching a thing.  Weird.  I guess it just adds about 60 total seconds to my first start up of the day.  ...first world problems, right?

 

Mr. Hamilton - I found that the Nav system was getting a signal from up to 11 satellites, but it was I was not able to enter destinations to start route guidance.  It said "Navigation not active" so I tried resetting the head unit by pressing the 1, 4 & 8 buttons.  This seems to have done something because a few minutes later I was able to use route guidance for a local destination.  The date did change, but not to the correct current date.  I set it to "summertime" and now I will wait for a few more drives to see if it updates.  We'll see.

 

Again, thank you guys for your input.  This is a great resource and I appreciate your willingness to share your knowledge.

[tommd]

I also started having the date problem on a 2005 997S that I have had since new. Everything functions correctly including nav, but my date reads 1 day ahead.

 

Any ideas or suggestions?

 

Tom

[tommd]

Is there a way to reboot that might help?

 

Tom

[Richard Hamilton]

On 12/10/2018 at 10:12 PM, tommd said:

Is there a way to reboot that might help?

 

Tom

 

As Seth says, press the 1, 4, and 8 buttons at the same time.

[tommd]

Thanks.

 

I tried the 1-4-8 reboot to reload the GPS almanac.  Still no change.  Date reads one day ahead.

 

[911urge]

This is being reported on other forums for the 997 and early Cayenne's and I'm in the same boat along with a coworker. The date display on the PCM is blank while all other settings are correct. Ive done the 1,4,8 reboot and pulled the fuses etc. I have 8-11 Sats locked in and the map follows me correctly. This just started a few days after the new year.

 

I suspect there is a firmware bug in the PCM with the coming 2019 GPS Week Rollover. I wonder if a PCM Nav update to the latest SW & maps (2015/2016) works around this?

[WTL]

I have a thread : in which I had a time issue also after batter replacement.  I think I figured it out - I actually always changed the clock in the dash when daylight savings came around.  after the time was messed up after battery change I also used the dash to reset and it was changing on me.  Messing around, I was reminded of the reset option in the PCM in which I then had the right time set but the GMT was wrong....  They noticed that the daylight savings was checked - after changing that and setting gmt to -6, alls well with the time.  BUT now my date is wrong - reads something like 03-12-2000.  So now I have a wrong date and dont see that it can be reset??

 

 

 

[911urge]

On 1/12/2019 at 10:13 AM, WTL said:

I have a thread : in which I had a time issue also after batter replacement.  I think I figured it out - I actually always changed the clock in the dash when daylight savings came around.  after the time was messed up after battery change I also used the dash to reset and it was changing on me.  Messing around, I was reminded of the reset option in the PCM in which I then had the right time set but the GMT was wrong....  They noticed that the daylight savings was checked - after changing that and setting gmt to -6, alls well with the time.  BUT now my date is wrong - reads something like 03-12-2000.  So now I have a wrong date and dont see that it can be reset??

 

 

 

Out of curiosity do you have a date displayed on the Main PCM screen or is it missing? Mine still says 01/09/2000 and is not on the Main screen any longer.

[WTL]

6 minutes ago, 911urge said:

Out of curiosity do you have a date displayed on the Main PCM screen or is it missing? Mine still says 01/09/2000 and is not on the Main screen any longer.

This is what I have:

 

[911urge]

Yep - You are missing the date in the Main display. I called my local Pcar dealer but I got the usual bring it in and we can look into it - for a fee or course.

 

Anyone have a PCNA contact as I think this is a weird problem (bug) , albeit small, in the grand scheme of things. Im hearing more people report this across other Porsche forums.

[WTL]

so the local Porsche of new orleans dealer was nice to offer to look at the car for the date not showing issue.  They hooked it up to the computer but could not get the date to stick.  The tech was using the latest version.  He checked a couple of things and all looked good but when he tried to set the date it would not stick.  I was there and saw that the date was still blank.  It would take for a sec, then blank out.  He offered to unpack an older version diagnostic and said he would try on sat if I went back.  I said okay.  For the heck of it, on the way back home I decided to change (again) the date format just to see.  The date was still not showing on the main display.  get home, turn car off.  Come in to look online for the latest map disc info - mine's 2013 and the tech mentioned that it may be the latest, so I check online and go back out to the car to get my software version as parts says "Special Note: The new navigation DVD(s) can only be used with software version "B" in PCM 2.1. If "A" software is present, your local dealer may need to update the PCM software (effects 2005-06 cars only)."  

 

 

Soooo, when I turn on the car, this is what I see:

The date is back.  Guess ill see if it sticks and report back.

[911urge]

Very interesting. My PCM is at Rev B but using older maps disk. I will change the date format and see if anything changes.

 

Keep us posted if the date sticks

[WTL]

On 1/17/2019 at 10:08 AM, 911urge said:

Very interesting. My PCM is at Rev B but using older maps disk. I will change the date format and see if anything changes.

 

Keep us posted if the date sticks

So the date is still in the main display.  Very strange as mentioned - the tech said every time he changed it to current date 

, it would revert back to incorrect date and I had already changed the format once or twice with no effect. 

 

Out of curiuosity, do you know if the battery was changed before you bought the car or have you changed it recently?

[911urge]

It did have a newer battery prior to purchase. I did disconnect the battery to do the Alt-Starter battery cable change but that was back in Sept. The date was displaying correctly until new years day. Maybe I will take it to my local indy as he has PIWIS and see if he can do a reset.

[WTL]

Worth a shot seeing as that would be what my guy did I guess. I also noticed yesterday that my radio presets were gone. Possible result of what the tech did. Update after you go out of curiousity. Tks and good luck. 

[tommd]

If we're stuck with the wrong date due to a GPS system change, can the date display on the PCM be turned off?

 

Tom

[911urge]

4 hours ago, tommd said:

If we're stuck with the wrong date due to a GPS system change, can the date display on the PCM be turned off?

 

Tom

My date is incorrect and does not display on the main PCM display now. The time and timezone are correct at least. I've tried different date formats too. If I have time I may run down to my local indy that has PIWIS and see if that helps the issue. Its a small annoyance.

 

Porsche could do something about this as it appears to be a programming bug. There is a PCM update disk set being sold by a vendor and they have a 2015/2016 maps update. I may try that and see if that corrects the issue if nothing else fixes it.

[tommd]

The error seems to manifest itself several different ways.  On some cars no date is displayed.  On others, a date in 2000 is displayed.  On my car, the date displays a constant one day early.

 

If this is caused by a GPS system change, it must react differently to slightly different PCM software versions or patch status.

 

Why would Porsche or PCNA not feel obligated to support software in cars still in use?  It's not like they can sunset support after a mandatory upgrade.

 

Tom

[OscarAH1W]

You guys are gonna love this!  I am posting it here as it appears to be a PCM2.X problem and not a 996/997 issue.  So I noticed the same issue on my 2004 Turbo Cabriolet AFTER I reset the time for DST.  No ability to move forward a day to the correct date.  I am getting 8-11 Sats like everyone else and I have the most recent Navigation Discs.  Car navigates flawlessly.  Pretty much the same story, right?  Here is where it gets odd...I borrowed my parents' 2004 Turbo Cabriolet (poor thing needed to be DRIVEN anyway) as both of our daily drivers were in the shop and theirs has the 2007 Nav Discs and the date reads PERFECTLY after the DST change but doesn't display the bottom-of-screen info (which I think is their software version but I am not sure).  WTF?!

[911urge]

Since Becker actually makes these units I sent them an email today with a few pictures and all the SW/firmware versions on my unit. Lets see if they respond.

[tommd]

Any updates?  Have Porsche and Becker abandoned the issue?  This bodes poorly for how the 992 will age and has me reconsidering a purchase.  

[WTL]

like I said, not sure what made mine start to work again.  still no issue with the date and time.   BUT, personally, Id be, and am, more pi***d off about all this foam insulation still blowing out of the vents.  INSANE!