Cam's 99 build/documentation thread

Hello! I am the new owner of a 99 c4. It's a well optioned 1 owner car with 101,000 miles. The previous owner was meticulous and proactive when it came to maintenance and documentation. After test driving dozens of cars over the last few months, unsure of what I wanted, I knew within minutes of driving it that this was the car for me. So, some background about my car history - I currently own a '97 E36 M3 that I've had for 7 years, and a '99 Miata that I've had for 10. When I was younger I drove a few other cars from this era, including a '98 jeep grand Cherokee, a '01 Acura RL, and a '01 ford Taurus (blech). Besides the Taurus and the horrid state of automatic transmissions in general, I absolutely love everything about this era of cars. I love the styling, I love the analog feel, and I'm especially a sucker for ****ty glossy wood trim. The '99 911 is the peak of what this era has to offer. I'll be sad to list my Miata to make space in the garage, but having both of Pinky Lai's designs will make me forget all about that. It's interesting seeing the e36 m3 and 996 side by side, and just how many styling similarities exist between these two cars. Anyways back to the Porsche. The previous owner had good taste and I likely would have ordered a very similar spec. Some highlights from the options sheet: ___________________________________ Aerokit Turbo twists Slate gray metallic Black supple leather interior and dashboard package Heated/Power seats w/ lumbar support Litronic headlights Onboard computer 3 spoke steering wheel Aluminum dials, shifter, brake handle ___________________________________ IMS was done in 2017 at ~70k miles, its a 6 year 60k/75k(?) ceramic bearing, so that's due for a replacement based on age. While the engine was dropped the clutch was done along with some other things. PCCM+ was very recently installed, and in 2021 the owner had replaced the shocks, control arms, and other suspension components. During my inspection the only things that came up were a slow oil seep on the left side of the engine - most likely from the spark plugs or valve cover, - and a bunch of gunk in the front radiator that needs thoroughly cleaned. Those are first on my list to take care of. I'm still figuring out the lay of the land - vendors, parts, common problems, common improvements, etc. for these cars. Lots of reading to do. For now I'm going to take it slow, tackle those issues, and think about what's next. I think this car is significantly different than my Miata and M3 in that its already really really good out of the box, whereas these other cars are good chassis to use as a starting point. So I'd like to approach this car with an OEM/OEM+ perspective, appreciating what Porsche has built and improving it where I can.

My first drive with the car blessed me with a beautiful sunset Family photo Bonus M3 picture - 911's new sibling. Previous owner also had a m3/911 combo so they'll feel right at home.

As an M Coupe/911/Miata owner, I approve this post!

Sweet ride. What's crazy to me is that this was a $187,000 car (inflation adjusted) in 1999. And you're still enjoying it, purchased at a fraction of the original price. Win win.

Something quick I just did - I was left a new badge in the box of parts that came with the car, so I swapped them. After installing the new badge I wiped the area with detailing spray - you can see the paint is pretty good but not perfect - I think I might purchase a paint depth gauge and see what options I have

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Plus tax! Both of these cars are seriously underrated and huge value/smiles per dollar, as long as you don't mind taking out a wrench once in a while. I have no doubt these two will appreciate further as people realize their value - case in point, 7 years ago I purchased the m3 with 100k miles on it for only $7000.

Wasted no time and got out to my first event with the porsche. It survived 200 miles and an autocross today, and took it like a champ. Maintaining balance was difficult with the engine behind me, especially through slaloms, and I have a lot to learn to get faster. The car is extremely capable though and I'm excited to see what she can do with summer tires.

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Nice, i find my car is better at hdpe then autox but its still fun.

That's a really nice spec car. Congrats and enjoy the ride.

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True, and I couldn't help but think that my miata is way better at this.. but if I cared so much about raw time I would have gotten a cayman instead. Theres still plenty of time left in the season to take it to pacific raceways and learn the car where the platform really shines and I intend to do that after gaining some confidence in the reliability of the car.

I found a really good deal on these.. $124 for the set, brand new. Probably wont get to install them for a few weeks though, and ill take the opportunity to inspect all of the brake components and order new pads/rotors/lines if needed. Will there be issues lowering 1 inch from stock springs on billstein b6?

Another goodie arrived today- the **** comes with an optional adapter to grab onto the shift boot, which needs replacing. I was trying to find something similar to the joyfast shift *****, and this doesnt dissapoint. I might try to polish it at some point too. Stock shifters not bad especially with the aluminum upgrade, but it just wasnt doing it for me.

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Interesting start to your 996 journey... i applaud your enthusiasm. If you plan on some track days or even just some HPDE i would suggest you read up on the M96 engine and its oil fluctuation issues with certain types of track driving, i hate to sound alarmist but in the interest of saving you a potential expensive repair, there are some really knowledgeable folks on this forum who can advise on how to make you engine more robust for track type work. Also there has been a recent debate on the Aerokit you have on your car, i can see from your sticker it was not put on at the factory, it could have been dealer installed, that apparently was not uncommon, or it could have be installed outside the dealer network, regardless of any of that it looks good on the car. I'm a big fan of the Aerokit cars....

Finally back from vacation... big week planned for the 996. In my jet-lag fueled boredom, I've been tackling some projects at 3am... First I took the front bumper off and cleaned the gunk off the radiators.. Next I started sanding/polishing the front headlights Still got a ways to go but I had to order more sanding pads And finally I started taking the suspension apart to fit the H&R Springs.. and the numeric shifter+cables I ordered should come this week! There's an autox this weekend and a PCA tour the weekend after that, so I'm hoping to have everything wrapped up soon

Just need to rant. getting the strut with the spring back into the car has been the biggest pain in the ***. My other cars have been 10x easier.. all the instructional videos i've found are for c2's, so I went into this thinking it would be a piece of cake. But now I'm left with a torn axle boot and a strut/spring i can't get into place..

If you loosen the inner bolt for 3the lower control arm and disconnect the drive shaft at the front differential, it is easy to pull the front strut down enough to get it in the fender well. If you don’t disconnect the driveshaft it is possible to pull the inner CV joint apart. Then you have to remove the front axle to reassemble it, ask me how I know. The axle nuts are one time use and torque to 340 ft.lbs. Good luck with the reassembly. Mark

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I disconnected the driveshaft at the diff, and i had the lower control arm loosened- the problem is (besides the torn boot/cv joint).. with everything in the fender well theres not enough vertical space to assemble.. i cant get the top of the strut rod into the top hat

Are you trying to install the strut in the strut mount? I installed the top hat/ strut mount on the shock and then installed the entire unit in the wheel well. New strut mounts made a big difference.

If your strut mounts are old replace them with 997 parts.

Two comments. 1. You should be taking the entire strut assembly out as a unit, top hat and all, then using spring compressors to disassemble and reassemble them. Trying to line that stuff up in the car, especially getting the spring to seat correctly, is going to be nigh on impossible. 2. The headlights come completely out of the car with 1/4 turn of a wrench. Then you can refinish them on the workbench without worrying about the paintwork.

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This is the safest and easiest way. Your local AutoZone will lend you a spring compressor for free too! Just go in and ask for their tool rental menu.

with the spring off I can compress the strut and get it to come out of the wheelwell under the fender, and then use my spring compressors to assemble the spring and top hat.. but then I cant get it back into the wheelwell, the added height from the top hat is too much. I just need an extra inch to clear it It looks like theres only 1 bolt holding the strut onto the strut mount.. thats the only thing holding the strut onto the car. If i undo this bolt, will the strut slide down and give me clearance? It seems to completely wrap around the strut and theres some metal brackets on the back, so i'm not sure if it allows the strut to slide down or only up and out. Does anyone know?

You're off to a good start. Lovely looking car! As a DIY guy who also came from mostly FR cars, working on a 911 is a whole 'nother animal!... I knew from the initial pics you were in the PNW, where exactly though? I miss that place, a 996 C4 would be a blast

Yep I'm in Seattle for now, curious to see how the 4wd helps.. last winter I couldn't get my m3 up the driveway lol

Ok front's are done! Rears were 100x easier to remove, getting it back in though seems to present a problem... That is, the bowl around the bottom of the strut doesn't clear the two parts the lower strut bolt goes through... when I compress the bottom of the strut with my jack, it ends up catching it and raising the hub with it. How do I clear this? Am I supposed to raise the hub a bit with a second jack? I've ordered a scissor jack to attempt this tomorrow, but I'm wondering if there's actually something else I'm doing wrong..

Always love the warm yellow of Billys !

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911s can do very well with good tires. 255 or 265 winter tires should work indeed. The 345 summer tires on my old rsr tribute were another story, they were so wide they could float on a single snowflake.

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Remove the ball joint or pull the bolt on the lower control arm. The ca will swing down enough to bolt up the shock then jack it up to reattach.

This right? It doesnt go any lower than before... and the inner control arm bolt doesnt want to budge

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Sadly the front end only gets 16% of the torque with a brand new haldex.. And only gets power when the rear wheels are spinning , prolonged rear wheel spin will overheat the viscous coupler. I got caught in a late snow storm this spring, car was fine while moving but once stopped,,, no-go.. I ended up turning back, going to a store and buying some nylon rope and made some red-neck tie chains.. Then made it home. My BMW 330xi (06) was un-stoppable in anything less than 6" of snow. RIP

Oof, well I've somehow made it so far without a real awd vehicle.. however, the resistance to my urges to buy an old jimny or pajero grows weaker every day

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No that is the toe bar. The lca is what the shock bolts to. U could also unbolt the 2 uca's instead to allow the upright to swing down.

Ah got it! Turns out what i actually needed was a second person, a giant pry bar and a lot of weight Managed to get it finished, I'll post some pictures once it's settled

Nice! Congrats on getting it in. Pelican Parts generally had good DIY write ups, I actually just bought their 101 projects book so I can just keep it in the garage with the car. Not perfect but very helpful. im approaching the end of the UAOS repair/ upgrade. Got about 2 weeks until I�m signed up to take my C2 to PECLA for their owner driver experience. No weekends free between now and then though so it will be a nailbiter to get it done in time

Some before and after

Cars looking good!

Thanks! Looks like the back drooped down a little more, I'm happy with this for now- I might get some 10mm spacers and then keep the fitment this way until I'm ready for summer tires next season.

The second autocross with this car went great, 8 seconds behind time of the day and I was on all seasons. Yesterday I dropped the car off to repair the cv boot, and they found that the water pump was leaking so theyre fixing that while its on the lift. heres what they showed me and final update, my miatas listed for sale and im prepping the m3 next

Water temps been running a bit cooler now, put a few hundred miles on it this weekend Also, I installed the numeric shifter + cables and have a few problems with it... 1. 3rd and 4th gear have significantly more play than 1/2/5/6, I wonder if I have adjusted the reverse cable at the transmission wrong.. 2. shifting to 5/6th, the bolt head that you use to secure the lever to the rest of the assembly, hits the shift boot surround and jiggles the whole console. I'm going to see if this can be flipped around 3. 3rd gear has always been sometimes hard to get into, i really have to slam it in to guarantee it doesn't get stuck. I was hoping the numeric would help with this but it still happens. I wonder if changing fluid would help with this? 4. getting the rubber grommet or the rubber tubing installed was a pain in the *** and I gave up. Bad idea... its ridiculously loud now. I tried spraying insulating foam into the gap, but it didn't do much. I'm going to try getting the rubber grommet reinstalled, cover the grommet->shifter cable section in rubber tubing, and covering everything up in dynamat. recouping costs lol

If you have not changed the gear oil, you should definitely get it done. It certainly can't hurt. It's not exciting, and you can't see it, but it's a big important bit of maintenance. Change the fuel filter while you're at it

Gear oil is almost as hot a topic as motor oil ! Many will argue use the Porsche OEM fluid . Made by Shell to Porsche specs it works great . I also have a 99 C4 and I used Motul in the transmission and front differential . My car has 150,000 miles and shifts butter smooth .

Use spray lube or even dishwasher soap in that rubber shift cable grommet and it will slide right in. There should not be any contact or looseness with that cable so u got something adjusted poorly.

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The OEM fluid is Mobil Delvac. As an aside, it's the only fluid I use. I tried Motul and did not like the way the car shifted with it. https://www.summitracing.com/parts/MOB-122035-1

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Nice -- no Porsche tax! I'll try this on my next transaxle oil change. FWIW the indy shop that did my engine install said they recommend 15K mile transaxle oil change intervals.

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Interesting . I have read on Boxster forums that the S 6 speed uses the same as a 996 . And it was stated the OEM fluid was made by Shell . Maybe it has changed ? Or the forums were wrong ? Your results with Motul much different than mine . Mine shifts perfect with it .

Im 100% sure the delvac is the factory fluid for the g50 mezger mated trans. Not sure whats in the box mated to the m96. When that trans was in my car i tried the motul but i didnt feel any difference from the fluid i removed. I change my trans fluid every 7-8 track days if anykne is looking for data points.

Ok so I did a few things and it feels much much better now 1. flipped the bolt around that holds the shift stick. It's no longer bumping into the console when I shift into 5/6 2. I cut a square in the carpet under the shifter and set it to the lowest setting. This feels so much better- I feel like its finally satisfying to shift and I have way more confidence. 3. Through liberal application of spray foam insulation where the rubber grommet was and sound deadening sheets under the console and handbrake, in addition to wrapping the shift cable inside the car with rubber tubing, the cabin is finally as quiet as it was before. Success!

I've done a ton of reading on this previously and found that Mobilube PTX SAE 75W-90 is the correct OEM fluid Porsche uses. It's been a total PITA to find and I ended up going with the OEM Porsche branded fluid, which I'm told is basically rebottled Mobilube PTX SAE 75W-90. It's especially recommended if you have an LSD.

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Matt Monson told me to use it even without LSD. And he knows a thing or two about Transmissions and differentials. Basically, he said the mix of friction modifiers in the Porsche transmission oil just work better in the 996 box. Definitely helped me but I have no idea what the PO had in there before. It was crap and he claimed it had just been changed before I bought the car but based on the recommendation from Matt I changed it out anyway with a clearly better result. In my case it was such an improvement that it saved me from buying a new transmission at least for the time being.

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Looks like Suncoast sells it. https://www.suncoastparts.com/produc...RoCFvgQAvD_BwE

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Yes - they do now. About a year and some change ago it was not available anywhere so I went with OEM Porsche labeled fluid. No issues at all since and shifting has been great.

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3 bucks cheaper than the Porsche branded stuff. Not a huge savings, but not nothing.

while ive mostly been busy the last few weeks tearing my m3 apart looking for a short in the wiring harness... (I have working turn signals now!!) I did do a porsche thing recently new speakers! huge improvement this code also popped up...ordered some maf cleaner, going to try that first and visually inspect the airbox later this week and met up with a friend, we switched cars for a while not too many events left this year, the last autocross is next weekend pnw is going into hibernation mode, and im dealing with a big move soon that comes with a smaller garage so I need to figure my parking situation out. (If anyone knows a private collector car parking in north seattle hit me up, otherwise I might try spacer.com and get a car cover for the m3.) So I'm not planning to do much more to the car until the spring.. my winter projects just going to be rebuilding my bbs rs set and working on tool acquisition and organization. stay tuned!

been pretty busy lately but heres a pic i took from the last autocross

Little update, I was getting an alignment and a stud broke off the front top hat, so I decided to just get elephant racing camber plates. Unfortunately with the H&R springs, cambers maxing out at -1.8 up front before the spring hits the metal, so think I'll need coilovers to go any further, which is a bummer since the bilsteins are fairly new and I like them quite a bit.

Do u have gt3 lower control arms? If not they will allow u to pull the bottom out away from the car to get more camber.

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A word of caution if you decide to go with coil overs - KW V3�s don�t worms with the Elephant Racing top mounts� I tried ( the elephants were more adjustable) and had to go back to to the Tarret�s I had been using before�

lower control arms is a good point, i forgot about those and will probably do those at some point instead of coilovers lately i've been having two issues first, the alarm has been going off randomly 1-2x a week. It has the PCCM+, and I read something about an unused stereo wire behind the pccm needing taped off or this might happen, so I'll need to look into that at some point Second, the psm/abs lights have been coming on together, also seemingly random but almost every time I drive the car. I'll need to investigate further, it seems like a lot of things could cause this

Are you in Oregon? Perhaps we can meet up sometime. Love the gray color. I have a slate gray metallic as well (holdout color from air cooled years and super rare).

I'm in seattle actually psm/abs lights have been turning on more regularly, even right when I start the car. I pulled the codes today, and nothing some research shows this might be the culprit, the brake light switch, so it's the first thing i'm going to check. https://www.pelicanparts.com/cgi-bin...og_description if that doesn't solve it, I'll probably replace the MAF next, since I got maf related codes a couple months ago and i read that could be related

OP - Did you find the wire that was intermittently grounding? Brake switch is logical culprit. Could be the plunger itself or the connector on the back of the switch. As for parking, groovzilla on the 997 forum has owned many 911’s for decades and knows what’s what in Seattle for P car support, if you’re staying in the area. If you can, check the MAF white wire for continuity. Chasing whack-a-mole codes with MAF as a possible suspect are no fun.

Ok so I replaced the brake switch today, good news and bad news.. Good news is the psm/abs lights aren't turning on anymore The bad news is that the steering feels completely different, in a bad way. It's much lighter, with a significant dead zone, especially at lower speeds. I really don't like it. How could these even be related? I don't understand how this is possible..

So the switch with the brown tab is the one I replaced. I swapped it back for the one that was broken and the steering was still bad/weird. I switched it out for a third one (I accidentally ordered 2 new ones). I think its good again... I noticed the black wires my fingers pointing at are connected to a plastic piece on the steering rack. I was bumping into it a lot, and jiggled it around before trying the third switch. I wonder if that has a loose connection somewhere. Anyone know what it does?

Might run up to the clockspring? Cant imagine what u did to effect the steering?

Steering angle sensor? Just a WAG...sorry

That's interesting. I have a similar vague steering feeling in one of my 996, a large dead area in the middle where the car doesn't really respond to the input.

I drove 3 hours to go to an autox this weekend and the car performed great. Still not 100% sure the steering is as good as before, but it might be placebo at this point. PSM/ABS lights are staying off, so the brake switch was definitely bad. I've just ordered Michelin PS4S. I've done maybe 5 autox/5000 miles on the AS4's since I got the car in September. With two weeks from the next autocross, and three weeks from the first track day of the season, I'm getting excited to see how the car does with some real tires.

I put some wheel spacers on and shes finally looking proper

Been dealing with this evap issue for a bit now, getting codes P0440 and P0446, along with occasional trouble starting the car. https://rennlist.com/forums/996-foru...g-p0440-2.html

evap issue fixed! and a track day completed I think some more safety equipment is in order... my home track pacific raceways has some butt puckering walls and short runoffs.

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Nice. I will have a nice Das role bar for sale real soon. If u r interested. I am on the east coast but i can ship.

Yeah I might be interested, let me know when you decide to list it

Damn these oil drain plugs are soft. It stripped out before even getting to factory torque

What did u use for the torque. Its well documented that there r eronious numbers both on-line and in print for that bolt

I had it set to 37 which is factory... seems like most people only do 19 or even 30 with these.

I opened up the door panel to see if i could find what was making such an awful rattling noise turns out it was these two screws here on the subwoofer surrounds that had backed out. put everything back together with some loctite

took pics of the left side oil seep... any idea whats causing this?

that's OAS territory...

Probably the bellows below the AOS. Definitely AOS territory...

I took a look at the documentation the po gave me, and it looks like he had replaced the AOS in 2011, about 30,000 miles ago, so it could be old. I don't have any other symptoms like rough idle, cel's or excessive exhaust smoke, though it does smoke a little and drip some water on startup/idle. Should I just clean this up and inspect for new leaks? Or should I not drive the car and get this taken care of? I'm about to set off on a 700 mile road trip, was planning on taking the porsche, and I've got a track day next weekend.

Well I made it the first 350 miles, and i did notice the smallest amount of engine hunting and remembered its a possible aos symptom I read about :<

Yeah, its a 13 year old AOS. Assuming the leak is coming from the AOS, you really don't want to track the car with an old one and certainly not a bad one for your engines sake and from a "oil drip" standpoint on the track from a safety standpoint. Sounds like you only have a week to go before your first track day, but consider getting a UAOS track version on the car if you can before the track day. Not only is it a better solution than the oem AOS, it more durable and can handle processing the oil more effectively than oem during canyon carving and track outings. It also allows you to run an extra quart of oil over full which helps with oil pressure and oil starvation, which is very important on the track. Good luck with fixing the leak and the track day. The 996 is a blast on the track.

I didnt have any issues at my last track day, and it hasnt been dripping any oil from that spot. After cleaning off the area yesterday and inspecting it after a 7 hour drive, it seems to still be clean. I've messaged my shop about it, and I'll talk to them this week about it

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37nm maybe� definitely not ft lbs. ! I think it�s something like eighteen to 20 ft lbs. There has been tons of discussion on it in the past.

I got home last night without issues, after putting nearly 1000 miles on this weekend. Before leaving I had wiped down the area a bit, and checked on it regularly along the way. About an hour before getting home, I saw some fresh oil... I just found this thread, and the dirt buildup looks about the same. It could just be that the variocam solenoid seal needs replaced. I'll take a better look tomorrow and see if theres any wet oil above the solenoid: https://rennlist.com/forums/996-foru...vers-side.html

U should be able to replace the cover only. If its leaking through the electrical connection its a lot more work as u should just drop the motor and do chains and pads at the same time.

I had to get a track inspection done and had them look at the leak. Here's what they said: looks like i can replace myself with 996-105-223-52 pretty easily, so theres nothing to worry about

Great following this thread! Do you know if the smoked front side marker lights are factory? I have a slate grey C2 with litronics and the same smoked marker light. A PO had swapped out the tail lights for mor 997-ish looking ones as well as updating the interior lights to brighter LEDs. I always assumed the smoked marker lights were part of that.

its probably factory but im not sure. your car looks good! The front camber looks a little strange, is that just the picture angle? another update, i just did the brake pads, rotors, and fluid. It was only my third time doing this job and I made a huge mess but got it done. I forgot to take an after picture with the wheel off, i went with sebro slotted/coated rotors and hawk hp+ pads. Its a huge improvement in feel and stopping power even when cold, and i'm excited to see how they perform this weekend. before after

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Good to know it might be stock. I think the camber is just the way the picture looks or because the wheel is turned all the way to the stop. The suspension is totally original on it. I did get an alignment on it ~6 months ago so any camber problems have been fixed. The pic was taken about a year and a half ago. I'm also doing some AX and HPDE with it. It's my first time for both. my local PCA held a performance driving school last weekend. It was exhausting but a blast! I think I'm starting to get the hang of it.

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Sooool fast

replaced the solenoid cover/seal and cleaned it up a bit. Hopefully thats fixed now also, while cleaning I noticed that there was an empty threaded hole just above and behind the variocam text. Is that supposed to be empty?

No issues with oil leaking anymore, I did another track day and I'm starting to get really fast at swapping my brake pads Also, my fister finally came

installed this today for a little more sound. It's perfect now

I had three track days this week that went really well, but now I'm dealing with some issue(s) p1119 came on about 2 minutes before i got to the first event, cleared and it didnt come back then at the end of the last session of the week, my dash lit up like a christmas tree. Besides break wear, spoiler, and seatbelt, which are expected, the rest of the lights are traction warning, psm off, brake fluid, abs, and battery. Surprisingly theres no check engine light telling me whats wrong heres what ive tried to fix it - filling up with gas, i had ~1 gallon left in my tank at the end of the last session when the lights turned on - checking psm/abs fuses B1, B9, E9, E10 - disconnecting the battery ground for an hour - checked the alternator belt, its tight I gave up trying to fix it in the paddock and I drove 2 hours home without issues, brakes felt fine, and I noticed the battery voltage was around 12, and dropping to 11-11.5ish while driving, the battery and alternator are only a couple months old so i dont think thats the problem either im going to put my street pads back on tonight and inspect everything, if i cant find anything obvious then I have no idea what to do next and will call my shop

I melted my brake wear sensors at a track day last year. That might be causing some of the lights. PSM uses the brakes so it could also cause the PSM light to turn on. If there's a light specifically for the brake fluid, it wouldn't cause that though. Anyway, check your brake wear sensors.

Your alt or the voltage regulator in your alt is failing. The low power is freaking the computers out. Just because u replaced it doesnt mean its hasnt failed. Better yet always check your brake pads if u go to the track. If they r so thin they set the sensor off they r still fine for the street but not even close for the track. For a steeet pad u will want more then 3/4 and a race pad should be the width of the backing plate minimum.

yeah i figured its the battery or alternator, voltage with the car off is 11.7 as for the break wear sensors, i tore them out and havent been using them. Pads are fine, lots of meat left

Do u have the wires looped? U just need to complete the circuit to turrn off the light unless its on because of the low voltage. The psm and abs system hate low voltage.

no i dont have the break wear sensors looped i just took them out, i'm not concerned about fixing the brake wear light thats been on all week i did 6-7 hours on track this week without the wear sensors and abs/psm were working fine, i think its a low voltage problem because even when driving the battery gauge is saying 11v. The battery and alternator are only a few months old, im trying to take it back to the shop that installed the alternator and see if thats covered under the parts warranty. I'm also keeping it on a trickle charger to see if the battery level increases at all after a few days

Your alternator isn�t working properly.

It's at the shop right now getting the alternator looked at, hopefully that's all it is. Windows were rolling up super slow but it managed to make it to the shop fine with everything turned off.

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Car's back with a new alternator, the battery's charging to full now and the dash lights are all off except for one - The PSM light is turning on after driving up to 10-15 mph. Any ideas?

I have no clue. It could be a wheel speed sensor, or maybe a steering angle sensor (do our cars even have those?) Is the light off the next time you start the car, but re-illuminates as soon as you go over 10-15mph? If the light doesn�t ever go away, you could try to force it off by disconnecting the battery. I like to remove both the positive and negative cables from the battery terminal, and touch them together for about 30 seconds. ( Just the ends of the cables only! ) Then you reconnect the cables to the battery and see if that changes anything. If the light no longer appears, it likely means something was temporarily disconnected while your car was being worked on, but was corrected afterwards. If the light still shows up, then the car has an issue that needs to be addressed. At that point, you�ll need a proper scan tool (like Durametric or PIWIS) that can communicate with the PSM module to identify the problem.

Thanks for your help, its turning off after restarting the car then turning on again. Most of the wheel speed sensor threads ive been reading have both abs and psm lights coming on. I just bled the brakes and made sure they were all connected and didnt see anything wrong I have a durametric, i just need to get a windows laptop to run it on. I'll try to use that to investigate once I'm back from a roadtrip I'm doing in the car this weekend. Hopefully no other issues pop up on the road

Unplug and replug the pressure sensor. It's either on the ABS unit or the PSM pump. It's got a little 3-wire plug. A tiny bit of corrosion can get into the plug and mess up the pressure reading. Unplugging and replugging wioes any corrosion away.

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No luck unfortunately

Brake light switch is a common problem too.

I replaced that soon after i got the car 6 months ago because the psm/abs lights were coming on. But that was a lot more irregular than this, sometimes it wouldnt come on at all, and it seemed to be triggered by braking... replacing it fixed that issue

alright i finally got a cheapo windows laptop for the durametric. p0153 and p1119 are still stored, along with abs code 4480, which is likely the reason for psm coming on. I reset that ABS code so hopefully it doesn't come back!

If 4480 returns it's probably a bad connection inside the ABS module, pretty common on the 5.8 ABS. Supposedly Module Master can fix them.

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They fixed two of my BMWs. Two thumbs up.

just took the car on a test drive and the psm light came on again, 4480 is back. Durametric is actually saying this is the 5.7 @theprf i unplugged everything i could get to and blew air over all the connections, the only one that looked suspect was the one plugging into the brake fluid reservoir, that had some brake fluid in the connection that i cleaned up. I havent had a chance to test if this fixed anything yet

(Bosch) 5.7 is correct designation, also for BMW and all other Bosch ESP of that era. 5.8 is a typo. Do the warning lights illuminate only when driving faster than 25mph? That would indicate that the cause is to be found between booster pump, its pressure sensor and the control unit. Quick check of the pressure sensor: across terminals 1 and 3 on the side of the wiring loom you should get 5V when ignition is on. If you manage to supply 5V to the sensor (observe polarity, it must be as given by the wiring loom), then across terminal 2 and 1 (or 3) should read either close to 0 or to 5V when pump is not running. You can check the pump itself by feeding it 9-12V to its wires directly. If it's stuck then you've found the cause. You can remove it and take it apart to replace the bearing that most probably is so corroded it no longer turns. If it runs then you can check if the sensor gives a reading between terminal 2 and 1 (or 3) whilst fed with 5V. If it does, your ECU requires repair. Search the Internet for similar woes on BMW E38 and E39, they used the same BOSCH 5.7 ESP (DSC in BMW speak, and booster pump is called precharge pump). Make sure I identified the plugs correctly in the picture before supplying voltage to pump or sensor!

Yeah 5.7 stupid typo using my phone.

@hardtailer i took some measurements today voltage of pressure sensor, ignition on, this looks right I found the 4480 diagnostic instructions in the 996tt manual: Following step 1, with the ignition off (or on), I'm not getting any voltage from p2 and ground... seems like a problem. This is the psm module plug, right? The schematics I'm finding online show a 42 pin connector, this one only has 15. with the ignition on, I'm not seeing any voltage on pin 4, so thats good I'm not sure what the non-ghetto way to supply voltage to the booster pump is, but I bought a 21/23 12v battery and just taped some wires to it. With the ignition on, it doesn't seem to do anything when i touch the wires to the pins in the connector coming from the booster pump, the one thats disconnected in the bottom picture. Could the pump be dead? Or am I doing this completely wrong

I have not seen that type of plug on a 5.7 ABS (or a 5.3 ABS for that matter). The precharge pump takes 40 amps so your little battery won't do much. Jump it to the car battery using big wires (remember, 40 amps) just for an instant.

What about using a portable jump charger and some thick wires? Will the amperage be too high?

wait the batteries in the front on this one 😅 let me try

Do make sure that you feed the motor and not the wiring loom! And be prepared to see some arching as you're basically shorting the two wires till the motor starts turning. You could wire a 12V car bulb (21W brake light) in between that limits the current, not as great as a resistor but it should work. But perhaps the easier and risk-minimized way would be to do step 7. If you get 12V on the DVM display for whatever short time (record a video with your phone, if you have no helper at hand) then you can do the following: -switch off ignition -connect the booster pump pig tail to the wiring loom -put your hand on the booster pump -have a helper (doh...) turn on the ignition -feel for the motor starts to turn. Depending on how far you want to go, but these (used on BMW's) female terminals fit the male terminals of pressure sensor, booster pump (and others) exactly https://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/partxref?q=61131368621 I don't know to which tyco or AMP type of terminal they cross reference to, unfortunately.

Cant help ya with the issues but love seeing that you're getting it on track so much! I might've missed it but are you swapping between street & track pads or are you just wearing them out? Also, I didnt see a track mentioned but Im guessing you're hitting the Ridge and SIR? Bummed I never got a car on track while I lived up there...

yeah im swapping pads pretty often, and yep the ridge and SIR! another little upgrade i did today, gt3 air ducts still havent fixed the psm issue though, but if feels good to get something done without issues

Ok so the psm is fixed! A fuse was missing. Since this started happening after taking it to a shop when my alternator was dying (which blew some fuses), i think one must have been misplaced or lost.

Just fixed 2nd gear crunchiness I hope, by readjusted the numeric cables at the transmission end.I guess they stretched out over time? She's proper now, no codes and back on street pads, which is great because I'm moving into a new place with a public garage soon, and won't be able to do any work myself for a while.

Just kidding it's not fixed. going from 3rd-6th gear to 2nd works perfectly, its just the 1-2 shift where it's getting stuck. 2/4/6 shifts have never felt as good as 1/3/5, and those are different directions on the cable thats counterweighted on the trans end. I tried some more adjustments today to ensure the cable is pulling all the way in the 2/4/6 direction, even overcompensating some, but it seems like it's getting snagged internally somehow and now 4th/6th are having issues too. It will stop about 80% into the engagement, and the last 20% requires a good amount of force. I can use a lot of force on the gear lever, but I can feel it getting stuck and it just feels bad to jam it in. With the cables detached at the transmission end, manually shifting the gearbox feels perfectly fine, so I know its something wrong with the cables. I'm getting pretty fed up at this point, I might just try going back to stock cables.

Took it into a shop today, they said the cables look fine and it's likely bad syncros :< Going to need to take the gearbox out this winter for a rebuild.

Yeah, probably do but you should try Porsche gear oil. Seriously made a huge difference for me. And I'm a non-believer. But Matt monson just kind of shrugged his shoulders and told me he didn't know why or what the friction friction modifiers were, they work in our transmissions. I dumped the brand new oil that was in there and replaced it with Porsche gear oil. It's cheap and easy and in my case, remarkably better. I always do the first five or six shifts gentle and slow but after that things get better and better. If you do a rebuild you're going to be putting new gear oil in anyway so might as well.

I've swapped the trans oil twice now and it made no difference. The car wont start so I need to get it towed to the shop. While looking through the records I found that gbox actually rebuilt this gearbox because of 2nd gear issues at 95000 miles in 2020! I started having 2nd gear issues soon after I bought the car with 101k miles. So I've sent them an email inquiring about getting this covered out of warranty. I know its out of the time window of their 12 month / 12k miles warranty, but the previous owner didn't drive it much in the few years after the rebuild, and these issues started appearing at 103k, 8k miles after the replacement. I hope they honor it otherwise this is kind of ridiculous. If they do, I'm just going to get that done the same time I bring it in to fix the no-start issue. Might as well do the clutch too. If they won't honor the warranty, does anyone have a recommendation for a different shop that can rebuild these transmissions?

Anyone but gbox....

Still waiting to hear back from gbox.. In the meantime, here's a little preview of the new wheels I'll be running this season

What are those? BBS?

It's the Apex ML-10RT, they just started shipping people's preorders. I've always loved the BBS LM design, and the apex's lower weight and price made it a pretty easy buy. I also prefer the more subtle gold color and face profile/concavity over the BBS

Ah, I see now. Good pick! I�m partial to the SM-10, but wish they made a forged version for our cars.

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Finally some awesome wheels. Was so wondering when you were going to get rid of those ugly outdated wheels. Love the new look. And great write up BTW.

Some more good news, gbox has said they are willing to take a look at the transmission and see if the error is related to any parts they installed on the last rebuild. I'm also going to do the clutch, IMS bearing, the deep sump oil pan, and LN AOS while it's in the shop. Will give me some peace of mind to not hold back this track season and start running some stickier tires. Should be in the shop at the end of january. Exciting stuff!

Nice, that�s pretty cool of GBox!

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I have the original flow formed SM-10 wheels and love them. They always get compliments and look so right on the 996. Apex did release a forged version of them if you want to upgrade - https://apexwheels.com/wheels/forged...t-line/sm-10rs The new ML-10RT look amazing as well and I've been eyeing them but haven't committed just yet since the SM-10s looks that good. Looking forward to seeing them on the 996.

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I may have spoke too soon Just dropped her off at the shop. Hope to be on track in april!

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mounting re71r's this weekend, and I should have the car back next week! - rebuilt transmission, replaced 2nd gear syncro - replaced clutch - ln deep sump oil pan - ln ultimate AOS - IMS/RMS The car's ready for some slightly higher g forces this season. Gbox claims the 1st->2nd gear syncro was damaged by a mis-shift, so that wasn't covered unfortunately.

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I was just looking up "rough 2nd, sometimes grinding when cold"... looks like I'm going to be headed towards a rebuild 2nd synchros too. What was the labor hours and parts to get that done?

The transmission rebuild was 5k from gbox, and it actually wasnt the 2nd gear syncros but 2nd gear itself Anyways, the moment we've all been waiting for is here Havent had a chance to wash her yet but I'll get some better pictures soon

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welp. the transmission gbox just rebuilt only lasted 350 miles. I made it home but cant get into 4/5 reliable, getting into 6th makes a terrible clink noise and then pops out as soon as any gas is applied. It also sounds like a water pump full of rocks is under the dash, and the sound goes away when I press the clutch in. Very frustrating >.>

Maybe clutch related but probably not.

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hopefully. If its just the clutch I should be up and running before the next track day

so gbox just sent a different rebuilt transmission and mine was sent back as a core. A short road trip, and an emergency wheel bearing replacement just before a track day and I'm sitting at 550 miles so far without gearbox issues. Verry happy with the car, down to 1:37.9 at pacific. 1:35 seems achievable without further modifications except for getting some actual track pads. I'll be back out on the 18th!

Put up a post in the track vids thread! Without the usual protaganists this year it hasn't gotten any action. I have not been to the track yet because of work. I did just sign up Lime Rock on July 3rd.

ran a 1:36.5 last week You Tube

Looks like a crazy fun track. I have never seen a vid from that one. Do u drive a 1/4 mile drag track by thise grand stands?

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Yes they do drag events there It's been a while since I posted an update because the car was in the shop for 6 months. The rebuilt transmission was making some noise, and after checking the fluid, there was lots of metal shavings, so I took it in in november. This time, that absolute cranky bastard that works at gbox told me that there is no way his 'rebuilt' transmissions fail this often and it must be my fault. Refused to cover it under warranty and started ghosting me and the shop. Also, I put rebuilt in quotes, because the last transmission he sent back actually wasn't a rebuilt one at all, it was just a known working used unit. Luckily, chris's german auto repair was able to order the tools to rebuild it themselves, and stopped working with gbox. It took a long time for parts and a lot of issues happened along the way because the shop hadn't rebuilt one before, but they got it done and I've put 600 miles on it so far with only 1 minor issue. Apparently the bell housing of the transmission he sent back is shaped slightly differently(?) and there is apparently 2 part numbers for clutch pressure plates. This caused an incompatibility with the new transmission causing lack of clutch disengagement in low gears, resulting in difficult 1-2 / 3-2 shifts. I was messing with the numeric cables a lot, wondering what I was doing wrong since nothing seemed to fix the shifting lol. Once they figured that out, the transmissions been working perfectly. syncros between 2-5 were also upgraded. I wanted to do a 4:1 rack and pinion, but we learned that is incompatible with the C4 /AWD system and I didn't want to deal with taking that out of the car yet. I'll put another 1k miles on the transmission and then get back to tracking next month!

Bummer about g box. Sounds like Chris German is getting things sorted. I think I remember hearing good things about them. Is the pressure plate deal a 996.1 versus 996.2 question?