Strange Place for Rear Lid Emergency Cable and Other Musings

Happy Easter everybody! My engine and Transmission is out of the car (02 996 Tip). Tiptronic tranny went off a shop to fix a big leak and fix whatever else needs attention. While the car is back home waiting for parts I discovered a few things. The engine was rebuilt about a 1000 miles before I bought the car. However; the motor mounts and coolant tank were not changed. I'll replace those while there is clear access. The rubber boot that protects the end of the shift cable to the tranny is torn. Porsche doesn't list just the boot. They want you to replace the entire cable. I don't think so! I'll have to come up with something like shrink wrap. I found the loop to the lid release cable inside the engine bay (pic is a little blurry). How on earth are you supposed to fish it out if the loop is inside? I removed the tail light and moved some of the cable so it is much closer to the edge of the light. I'm not sure how to get that loop at the end under the tail light. I had an Indy shop take the engine and tranny out. I just wasn't comfortable trying that in my garage. The shop attached a chain with bolts and washers to the rear bumper mounts and we winched the car on to my friend's trailer to get it home. Unfortunately, the bumper mounts rotated with the force from winching the car. I was going to insert the tow hook in the front, but that is where I put the frunk release cable. Now I am worried if I push the frunk release cable out of the hole for the tow hook I won't be able to retrieve it without taking the front bumper off. Anyone run into this? Any solutions? I am a little concerned about pulling the bumper mounts off while under tension with the winch when I have to load the car back on the trailer to re-install the engine and transmission. Ideas and thoughts are welcome. Thank you,

My frunk cable release is routed to the passenger front wheel well. A small cut in the wheel well liner holds it in place. Apologies for no pictures. My car is not with me at the moment. The location of it as you look into the wheel well is back upper right. This is where I found it when I bought the car, so I don't know if the PO needed to add some length to get it there. Good luck!

Quotes source post: 17343298

Get a thin but stiff wire and bend a hook at the end to fish out the cable.

Should have pulled the rear bumper off and used the tow hook there.

I had my frunk release cable relocated to behind the marker light so it's an easier access point.

808Bill, There is no spot to thread in the tow hook on the rear. The rear bumper is off, that's how the chain was connected to the bumper supports. Sdematt, How do you get the cable out form the side marker light without taking the inner fender liner off? The screw for the marker light is behind the fender liner. Quick update - Rein motor mounts with new hardware and Bosch cam position sensor (connector broke) should be at my house today (ordered from FCP Euro). I ordered the tranny mount, coolant tank and cap from Suncoast Porsche. The tranny mount was significantly less money than Nashua Porsche and even less than Sunset Porsche (which I think is the same company). While figuring out what to do with the torn tranny cable boot (bellows as Porsche calls it) I found a boot from a 928 that looks like the exact same thing. I added that to my order with Suncoast. Small victory to save myself from buying a whole new shift cable.

On a 996.2 the rear tow hook spot is behind the license plate holder. No need to remove the bumper, just the license plate and holder. The transmission mount is significantly cheaper than the tool to do the job. But you can rent the tool from one of the member here. Search for the thread.

Sheesh, do I feel silly. The whole rear bumper is off the car and at the shop. I think the support piece behind the rear bumper is with the bumper. There is nothing there now to screw in the tow hook.

Quotes source post: 17352685

how much did the tip tranny mount run you? The only thing I�ve bought from Nashua so far was an oil filter and an inspection. I haven�t compared prices with them for anything else. May go back to them for an alignment unless you have someone around here you�d recommend.

nrp3, The tranny is at Dr Steve's Transmission shop in Manchester. I had to put a sizable (4 digit) deposit down. I am waiting to hear what it needs. At the very least it will need new gaskets, conductor plate, wire harness (both are known weak areas in the 722.6 transmission), along with seals, new filter and fluid. The bummer is I had the transmission serviced by Precision shortly after I bought the car a year ago. So out goes a new filter and 5 or 6 quarts of tranny fluid. This time it will get new fluid in the torque converter. If the tranny needs new clutch packs the job will probably be north of $2k. And that does not include assembling it back to the engine and installing in the car. That part of the job will be done by MAB Autoworks (formerly Northern European) in Concord. My car is spread all over the place with the engine in Concord, tranny in Manchester, and the car at my house! I had Precision Imports do an alignment when I first got the car. They seemed to do a good job. I am new to driving 911s so I am still learning how to handle the car and its quirks. After 3000 miles or so I see no abnormal wear patterns in the rear tires.

nrp3, Let me actually answer your specific question. The tranny mount was $325 at Nashua Porsche, $310 at Sunset Porsche. I found it at Suncoast Porsche for $249 with free shipping.

I�m still learning too. Doing the paddle shifter thing soon to a manual steering wheel I picked up. I think if I have to do transmission work, I�d probably make a stop to Russell auto on south willow st and see if they�d look at it. I did rein mounts and probably should do the trans mount. I�ll check out sun coast and compare to say rock auto and a few others.

I heard about Russell Auto the day I was bringing my tranny to Dr Steve's. The tranny has a Mercedes name and symbol molded into the case and has a plate with all Mercedes part numbers and symbol. It truly is a 722.6 inside, for which parts are readily available. I've done business with Dr Steve's before and was satisfied with their expertise (although never for Porsche stuff as this the first P-car with an automatic for me). The guy at Russell's is known for working on P-cars. Just hope you don't have any problems with your car. I'd never bring the car to the dealer for anything. I do most maintenance type work myself and what I can't handle goes to a trusted Indy.

I don�t have anything negative to say about Dr Steve�s, just never done business with them. Russels has worked on mine and customers trucks before. Fortunately no major problems with mine. Lost alternator early on and did that myself for $400 vs dealer price of $3000. That wasn�t Nashua though. Good to hear from local people though and always interested in who to use for various things. Still have to tackle IMSB, RMS and AOS.

Joel987, on my front release cable, with the front bumper cover off, I drilled a small hole in the bumper next to the threaded tow eye hole, then fed the cable through the hole and tucked it into the tow eye hole. With the bumper cover back on, I can just pop the plastic cover from the tow eye hole and pull the cable (when I stupidly lock my keys in the frunk). And, if I need to use the tow eye I can pull the cable out and thread the tow eye in. Oh, I also took the loop off the cable so it would fit through the small hole.

Ah yes, the AOS. While the engine is sitting on the ground I should replace the perfectly working AOS with the UAOS. Knowing my luck the original AOS will fail the week after the car is all back together. Might as well do it now as the job will be exponentially easier with the engine out. I was waiting to hear about the tranny first, but at this point I should just place the order with Porschetec3.

AZPete, Excellent idea! The next time I'm in there to clean out the radiators I will do the same.