Recommended Scan Tool for 996

Hey folks, I'm restoring a 2003 911 with the intent on learning as much as possible as I progress. My mechanical knowledge is all from my teen years, but I'm very handy, have the tools and willingness to learn. I'm an analyst by trade so very savvy figuring things out and learning. My only issue is TIME, something I have available in spurts, but trying to make more available to get this car on the road ASAP. I'll spare you the story on this, I actually have a running post as to my progress and story behind this acquisition, but for the purpose of this post I'll keep it limited to what I need now to take the next step. I was planning to leave some of the main startup work to the Porsche shop that I have my 2015 serviced, but they don't seem interested in working on this 2003 unless its the entire project, something I don't want to do since I also want to learn, and frankly it would be a lot of money. This car which sat in a driveway for nearly a decade without use, in the sun and rain is now in my driveway, I hope not for a decade. The dash and door panels need to be replaced due to sun and humidity. When I got the car I could not turn the ignition key no matter how much I tried, but the electrical worked, seats, windows, radio, instrument panel etc. My first goal was to fix the ignition so I purchased a new ignition switch after reading about all the issues with the old ignition, and what I was experiencing sounded like a defective one. Once I replaced it, I was able to turn the engine over and attempt to start. This leads me to my current problem. If I use starter, it will briefly run. I've checked all the fuses and they are all good. I put some gasoline into a water bottle with a small hole drilled in the cap, and fed it a slow stream into the throttle while someone cranked it. Yep real old school as we did in my teens when trying to get a car to start when we worked on it. Doing this, I was ecstatic to hear it start and runs nice and smooth at idle so long as the gas is continually fed that stream. (Also I should note that the car was basically empty and I've put 5 gallons fresh gas into the tank along with injector cleaner.) This to me was a big milestone because I had no idea the condition of the engine. Now at least I know it will run and can justify additional expenses. I ran the car over several days for 10 min at a time. I figured (rightly or wrongly) if there was bad gas still in the lines, it should be through by now. But it will not start without feeding it gas still. By this unorthodox method I figured that the engine is good (was not sure about this when i purchased the car) and there is obviously spark, but now it seems that the issue is the fuel pump or sensors or injectors, so that's where I am, at least where I think I am! Is this a good point to purchase a good scanner to test this without wasting money on a fuel pump without knowing if that is the issue? And if so, what if any scanner will diagnose the fuel pump as working? What steps should I take next? My goal is to get it running, then start replacing the interior, and then slowly work on restoring it to its original glory! just before I got the dash out. At least 4 hours work Please be kind, I'm on a learning curve here, with my wife on my tail for using up the extra parking spot in the driveway!!! Any input is appreciated.

From the looks of it, you'll need PIWIS for sure. Read 'PIWIS 3 for $75' thread on our forum and get it. Set it up, learn it, and you can do most anything with the right IPAS codes.

U should rent a fuel pressure tester from your local autoparts and see if the pump is working. No scanner will tell u anything about fuel pressure or delivery. There r no sensors in that system If u must buy a system the piwis3 clone is a good set up.

Not finding any $75 systems, but a lot of $1200 ones. Maybe recommendations for another basic system where I can get basic scans and enough to figure out if I can get this beast roadworthy?

searched but nothing came up Found it

Quotes source post: 19927826

The fuel pressure tester is a good idea. You might also consider replacing the fuel filter. It's been sitting there for a long time, so it wouldn't hurt anyway and it's a pretty easy job. I replaced mine just as preventative maintenance. Ethanol gas does gel up over time. Perhaps the filter is a bowl of jelly. I'm trying the $75 thing too to help with a transmission problem. I'm waiting for the part that connects to the car, but got the software running slowly on a Windows 10 laptop. I tried it on a windows 11 laptop but couldn't make it work yet. I might spend energy figuring that out, but in the meantime just added RAM to the old one. ​​​ If you just wanna read codes, there are many options that require less work. The DuraMetric does a lot more than read codes, but not much in the transmission. If you want one, I can sell it to you for $200. Below is a link to buy it new for $309. https://www.pelicanparts.com/More_Info/DURAENTH2.htm?pn=DURA-ENTH-2

Quotes source post: 19928342

I recently ran into a problem with my older Durametric (2012) with Windows11 Pro. My Windows10 laptop totally crashed so I bought a Windows11 Pro laptop. At some point Durametric changed the drivers they use in their application. The older drivers are FTDI drivers (ftdibus.sys) and are incompatible with Windows11 Pro. It will not load unless you turn off "Core Isolation" and "Memory Integrity." Then if you load the FTDI drivers, you cannot turn the Memory Integrity and Core Isolation back on. You also have to load a cable driver. The ftdibus.sys drivers are the problem and Durametric has no plans to upgrade these old drivers to meet the new security standards. After going back and forth with Durametric support, I was disappointed with their lack of support and their having no intentions of supporting their older scanners with the newer Windows program. In my mind, keeping the Core Isolation and Memory Integrity programs active was far more important than loading the Durametric. Maybe look at the Core Isolation security section to see if that's why the "$75 thing" isn't working. And check on which drivers your Durametric program is running.

Quotes source post: 19928687

Funny you should say that. I did turn off the Memory Integrity and Core Isolation features to try and get the $75 thing running on that machine. It didn't work, but when I tried to turn those protections back on, they wouldn't start because of the FTDI driver. I didn't know to what program the FTDI belonged, but figured I'd find out soon enough and removed that driver. Thanks to you, now I know what broke! I'll use my Win 10 laptop if I want to hook up the Durametric.

Yep, I had to delete the drivers which for me was scary as I'm not too computer savvy. I was able to figure out which drivers to delete by looking at the install dates. Fortunately, my wife has a Windows10 that took the program. But I'm afraid that laptop is on borrowed time as it's slow as molasses and needs frequent restarts. Not sure what I'll do when that machine dies......

Quotes source post: 19929278

I'm using a 10 yr old Windows laptop that had been my wife's off and on, but it's pretty solid. I am upgrading the memory and replacing the battery. I'm hoping it lasts a while as it's becoming my official Porsche service tool. ​​​Is yours restarting because it's locking up? Might just need a good cleansing - delete programs you don't use, run a virus check, stop programs that are automatically starting at power in which you don't need. There are lots of tutorials on all that to make it easier. I spent $15 to upgrade my RAM from 8 GB to 16GB. If you're not a tech guy, I realize this could be overwhelming but these are fairly simple things. If it does fail, you can pick up a used laptop from eBay cheaply enough or a refurbished one from Amazon. I was looking at some of the rugged Windows 10 tablet PCs for that purpose but decided to just spruce up this one.

thanks for the info guys. Capt Ron, I might take you up on that offer, let me think about it. I might just opt for something simple right now though. If I were to go for it, what will I need to run it on? what are the requirements?

Quotes source post: 19930869

The link below tells what you need. Some people in this forum have had issues with the latest version of Windows 11 due to the USB driver for the hardware (cable and such). There may be workarounds, but I've had no issues on Windows 10 on several laptops. https://durametric.com/downloadv6.aspx

Capt Ron I sent you PM just now

Yes Durametric is a good solid Tool that uses Porsche Protocol and language and will do 80% of the things a DIYer of even Pro will want to do, But if you are a Computer Geek or a Professional SuperTech that wants to get all the way down as far as you can go into Electronic Coding Mods or Programming and the vast digital info available for that last 20% of the hard to fix problems the PIWIS is the only thing that will do that ...

Quotes source post: 19931451

Yes, absolutely. My 2001 996 is having some major Tiptronic issues and that falls into the 20% that DuraMetric doesn't do. It​​ can only read and reset faults, at least on that year range. I am not totally sure what the PIWIS does in that space as I'm waiting on the magic dongle to arrive and sim mode is only partially helpful in that area. ​​​​​Of ​the 3 shops in my area, none were willing to drop the tranny and repair it. All were willing to order a used or new one. I replaced all the solenoids in the valve body, but that didn't fix it. So, I dropped it and sent it off for a rebuild twice now. Both times, I got it back in and the problem was worse. So, I want PIWIS to tell me everything it can before I drop that darn thing again. I just gotta figure out what all the cryptic functions do. ​​​​​

Quotes source post: 19931140

I didn't get it. I tried to send you one. If that doesn't work, here's an email address: [email removed] FYI - that's an alias account for security reasons.

Have you heard of BluDriver? Its $99 and works on anything with OBDII, Ive used it on my 2000 to read codes. Its very handy, pairs with your phone... https://us.bluedriver.com/pages/bluedriver Edit, looks like the price has gone up to $119

Quotes source post: 19931572

What problem are you having with your Tip? I am not a Tip Specialist, but I am very familiar with the ZF Tip and it's unique issues ... Most common is the pressure regulator in the valve body that causes intermittent high pressures..this will cause very rough shifts and will even cause the front seal and pump damage and also will blow the O-ring out in the lock-up torque converter causing code 740 ...

Quotes source post: 19940112

Before I sent it off, 3rd gear was pretty much useless. The engine would rev up like a manual transmission with a very worn clutch. It would get into limp mode, and that just got worse. P0740 Solenoid Valve - Torque Converter, and P0733,734,735 Gear Sel monitor errors for 3, 4, and 5th gears. The shop said the pump was trashed so replaced that and the torque converter along with clutch plates, etc When I first put it back in after being rebuilt, it felt like 1st and reverse took a lot of pedal to get anywhere. 3rd still slipped. When the shop got it back, they said the pump was again damaged. The second time I got it back, I tried backing it up but felt the same​ pedal issue. I put it back on the quick jacks and haven't touched it since as I was trying to figure out what tool to get to really dig into the failure. I was too frustrated to bother with getting codes, but that's obviously my next step once I get the PIWIS up and running. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated, including what to look for on the PIWIS.