Did you know.........?

I've always considered myself to be a total Anorak, but admit to being guilty of a case of not RTFM in this case. Since getting the Turbo, I was aware of the stupid LED in the door handle which is supposed to illuminate the ignition lock, but is about as dim as a glow worm's armpit. I didn't realise that there was also an "orientation light" in the overhead console which is supposed to "project light onto the cockpit and centre console area and also serve as an orientation light during night-time journeys. The slight brightening effect generates a greater feeling of space whilst at the same time improving the ability to see the switch controls." Not only that, but it has TWO settings - useless and comletely useless. You use a ball point pen to switch it from dim to incredibly dim. So the question is ......... what have you found after months of ownership that you didn't know you had?

for me I only found out how use the headlight wash system after 4 years of ownership! - but I know that's just rubbish!

Hmmm - is that a turbo-only feature ... presumably designed for 3 wise men or something? On a sadder note, I only found the 'door pockets' after about 6 months use [&:]

lol[ ]

[anorak n] No, it was introduced for all 996s for MY2001. Facelift ones are a bit different, as the light is integrated into the mirror mount. [anorak ff]

It was in the Boxster too... almost the same question asked on their area [ ] After two years I've only just realised my split dash display can have a choice of display options!! garyw

Unbelievable timing, Richard! Just yesterday I discovered that if I press and hold the lock/unlock button on my key fob for a few seconds it will close anything that I've left open and then lock the car too! Eg. It'll close the sunroof and both windows if needed! I've owned my car for four years.[ ]

And if you hold it down when you unlock it will put the windows down for you as well! Mark

Thanks, Mark. I wonder if it will open my sunroof as well.....? I'll have to give it a try!

The sunroof will close on locking, but won't open on unlocking.

You know how you should let the water and oil temperature reach operating temperature until you give the car full beans. Even when the water temp reaches 90, the oil temp may take time to reach the same. The 996 has no oil temp gauge but I use the oil pressure gauge to judge the oil temp roughly. Oil is more viscous when cold hence a higher pressure. When it warms up fully, mine always reads just below 2 Bar at idle (700rpm). This is for Mobil 1 0w-40. Whatever oil you use, drive the car for a good 20 miles and see what the oil pressure is at idle and you have a rough guide when your oil is fully warm. Not strictly a 'do you know...' but close.

I discovered a new feature on my car on Saturday night which I didn't like very much. I found that when you use approximately 57% of the car's available speed on a quiet motorway, lights emerge from the slip road you just passed and accelerate towards you. Then some strange flashing blue lights appear in the mirror and my car quickly comes to a stop on the hard shoulder. Then a man in a funny hat comes and tells you off and tells you that you have to pay a motoring tax (which he strangely referred to as an endorsable fixed penalty) and my car seemed to travel the rest of the journey very slowly [ ]

Mine had cocaine stashed under the seat which I thought was a novel extra, couldn't find it on the option codes in the hand book though. Not the snort of additional recreational aid you can turn your nose up at!!!!! RB

When I fitted my garage door operator I recovered £13.50 in loose change stuck in the centre console. Hardly the same street value as a stash of coke, but a nice bonus nevertheless.

Whilst routing around in my engine bay compartment I discovered a 3/8th drive, sealed head, short handled, flexi-head, Snap-On ratchet, with no socket on it, worth (according to their web site) $106! It was jammed into a crevice so it wasn't rattling around and had probably been there since I'd owned the car and driven it around 12K miles! Which was nice. No sign of any Peruvian marching dust, though! Is this turning into a ".....which was nice" thread?[8|]

I only found £2.40 in my centre console while looking for the £1 that fell out of the ashtray. There were 5 paperclips under the rear seat cushion I found useful.

Oops - but in your line of business presumably you can put it down as a valid business expense in the name of research ;-)

In my case it was the cup holder which folds out from the dashboard which I found last week after 2 years of owning the car

Aaah, but did you find that by pulling it a bit further you get TWO cupholders?

Where are the cupholders? I can't see any.

on facelift cars so however hard you look, you may not find them! nice idea regarding my "research" on the M6!

Pre-facelift cars had ones that clip on the air vents, or you could buy a two-cupholder retrofit kit which goes in the top position of the centre console. (You have to move the a/c panel to the bottom). If, like me, you have the leather covered side vents, then you are stuffed.

Richard, where exactly in the centre console, I feel I might be sitting on a minor goldmine [ ]

The previous owner used the ash tray to store his loose change, and had obviously overfilled it several times. If you take out the tray itself there are two screws holding the switch panel in. Lift out the panel and voila! It was like winning the lottery. I even found a couple of Euros, so in effect more like Euromillions! It was better han looking down the back of the sofa. God knows how it didn't interfere with the gear linkage - there were coins trapped all over the place.

Now I know why I should have bought a 2nd hand car... the only thing I have found is bits of plastic...

I too wondered what the orange LED in the mirror cluster was for, couldn't figure at all. I then had an 08 plate Cayenne as a service courtesy 6 months ago. This also has the orange LED in mirror cluster. However, it does actually work in the Cayenne (that one anyway) and does give a nice atmosphere. Is it adjustable in the 996? Perhaps ours are just not pointing in the right direction?

this might even surprise the anoraks I have had the charger on the car just to keep the battery topped up I noticed that it seems to take forever to reach full charge Anyway we all know there is a coutesy light in the front well,I had carefully disconnected this whilst charging completely dumbfounded as to why it was taking so long I walked way from the car in disgust Only to notice there was a similar light on in the engine bay The rear hatch was shut I checked but the light was still on Until I shut the bonnet Now unless my wiring is hookey Why in gods name would Mr Porsche do this over to you Richard

They all do that! God only knows what the logic is. He also knows what option code 226 is. [ ] [ ]

You can run the charger wire out of the top of the bonnet (by the wipers) and then you can close the bonnet and lock the car. Simples...

You can run it out of the side of the bonnet too. There's a rubber sealing strip, remember.

Ok - try this one. I have a sunroof. Car locked, all windows closed and sunroof open (tilted). Press and hold the main button on the keyfob and..... ...car unlocks and both windows go all the way down. Please don't bother telling me if there's something wrong with my car![ ] Adrian.

That's normal, but when you press and hold the button to lock, the windows should go up, and the sunroof should close.

ok anorak nirvana although this is quite a useful function when one drives on the continent (certainly with your litronics) one does not need to get headlamp patches from mr halfords( they would melt anyway) one just pops out the headlight,unscrews the back twist a plug thing hey presto your have changed the handing of your lights

Does this apply to Targas as well (as mine certainly doesn't do this with windows or roof)? Andy

i was browsing through my manual the other day, and apparently the windows are supposed to go up when i lock my C4S and hold the button.....but they didn't the unlocking thing works - according to the manual, you hold the button until you want the windows to stop

I would have thought so. The country coding determines whether this function is active or not. It might be that it was set incorrectly - it wouldn't be the first time I had seen that - or possibly not coded to the correct model (coupe/cabrio/targa). You need someone with a Porsche tester in order to check this. If you are anywhere near me I'd be happy to do it.

I discovered this evening that the petrol cap has two slots in it that let you sit it onto the top of the filler door when you are filling up with fuel. Not too exciting, but I'm amazed I've never noticed before!

My wife is a primary school teacher and she used my car yesterday, "I discovered that" the kids still get very excited for these cars and my wife was the most popular teacher of the day, especially with the young boys. The most common question was 'how fast does it go miss'. And with the answer 190mph they were suitably impressed. My car was even the talk of the staff room and the deputy head even said how 'beautiful' it was. It caused quite a commotion apparently. Just shows the hidden talents of these cars, even as the years roll on.

Mark thanks for that! i new it closed everything i didn't realise it could do the same when opening and it will help when getting in the car in the garage[8|]

Did you know that the lightest part of an alloy wheel is where the valve protrudes out through the hole. Therefore Porsche has designed the locking wheel nut to compensate for the weight loss and should be placed at the bolt beside the valve hole! I've read it in the 993 manual, although I'm not sure if this is still the case with 996/997s.

Spoken like a true Anorak! [ ] [ ] But that's only true up to MY1996. After that, it was optional. (Yes, I'm serious!) No such requirement on 996 though.

Hi Rodney & Richard I think you guys need to get out more [ ][ ][ ]

Cup holders .... I always thought they were in-car handcuffs [ ]

My new discovery is the outside air temperature read out on dash. Its never worked before (so I didn't know it existed) but came back from annual inspection with it working! I though it was only with models with OBC but apparently not? Hugh

They must have enabled the OBC during the service. Doing this on pre-facelift cars will display the outside air temperature.

Ha Ha 2 cupholders what luxury - my wife was not very happy that I spent all that money on a car and it only had one cupholder - "typical b****y Germans" she said as we whizzed up the autobahn to Berlin - where I had to visit a Porsche dealer as the engine management light came on at 160 MPH - wife said "there you go you've broken it!! Turns out that the oil filler cap had come loose - they fixed it and washed the car F.O.C. They were so charming that I had to buy a polo shirt, anyway after 3 years of ownership I was sat in the car waiting for SWMBO (she who must be obeyed) and thought that it was time to RTFM - lo and behold there are two cupholders - peace reigns at last on long journeys [ ]