Can't clear power seat memory

The "new" 2002 996 is finally home and I'm loving every minute of it... with one small nuisance. I have followed the instructions in the manual and haven't been able to clear the prior seat memory with the pre-set buttons or for the remote on the key. What makes it more annoying is the fact that the seat seems to be binding on the rails and has blown one fuse already when I unlocked the car. For now, I'm unlocking the car with the key and putting the key in the ignition before the alarm goes off. But it would be nice to just use the remote. 1) I've got to take the seat out and see what's binding on the rails. I've got the shop manual, so I should be able to figure it out, unless someone has a handy link to help. 2) Any suggested solutions to the memory problem? Thanks, Joe

clear everything in the car un hook the battery, remove it from the car touch the + and _ leads together ( battery out of car) for 15 seconds reinntsall battery everything is erased simalar to ctrl alt del

I'll give it a shot this weekend. Thanks!

Dumb question: Why does the battery need to be out of the car? I'm sure there's a reason. Just curious.

no reason, i just dont want somebody to hook short something out and blame me for it

I think I hear the yanking of someone's chain.

???

Disconnected the battery but the leads were too short to connect. I tried leaving the car disconnected for an hour, but the memory was retained. I'll swing by my buddy's this weekend and use his jumper cable to connect the leads. There's no chance of damaging the car, there?

99firehawk, question: Your prodedure will erase all memory settings on the car/seats. Now, will that also erase whatever that was programmed on the key remote that was linked to the car's memory settings? Reason why I asked is, when I had a similar problem with my new key remote which sends the seat all the way back and reclined down everytime the anti-theft is deactivated with the key, I tried erasing the car seat memory setting by holding down 2 specific buttons for more than 5 secs (can't remember off hand which buttons now, but I did it according to the manual at the time), Then reset a new memory setting, but the key still sent the seats all the way to the back and reclined down. It's just the new key that I got that's messing up, my original old key works fine with whatever memory setting I set. Dealer couldn't program the new key (OEM key from them) to work with my memory settings, and they told me I need to replace a $1000 memory module under the seat, but they also told me that's not a guarantee it will solve the problem??? Can I do the same thing with the battery for my case?

1. You can't "erase" the settings once they are set. There is no standard default. 2. You can re-program them. 3. The power seats control and mirror tilt-down feature, don't run in the ECU. 4. The power seats have their own computer, which is part of the control box on the bottom of the driver's seat. (If you swap to GT3 seats, you lose the mirror tilt-down capability as a result). Even if you pull the battery cables for days it won't clear as it is burned on the chip everytime it is set and not in RAM. 4. Make sure the settings aren't programmed for the key. If they are programmed for the key, the key settings take precedence over the standard memory settings (this is noted in the owner's manual). In this case follow the key-memory procedure in the owner's manual.

if you tocuh the leads together you shoul.d erase everythng programed into the car. Keys, radio stations ect

A knowledgeable friend of mine strongly recommended against touching the leads together. He was saying that if there are any internal batteries in the system it would be a nasty shock to them. No disrespect intended Firehawk, I'm just paranoid about hurting my new baby. Is there any reference that you can point me to regarding your suggestion?

There aren't any internal batteries, and the ECUs are all protected against negative voltage spikes which occur frequently. But if you're concerned about a rapid short ckt. you could discharge through a load like a tail light lamp.

I have doine it 1000+ times it is a standard procedure now days on these cars proper teminalolgy is a "battery reset" you are discharging the system thats the idea

Kind of reposting from my other thread, but wanted to include the resolution for others in the future. I took the car into Auto Haus so THEY could connect the leads and wipe everything out, should there be a problem. Didn't work, but they did fix the problem. Here's what the invoice says: CAUSE: WHEN REMOTE USED TO UNLOCK VEHICLE, SEAT GOES INTO A DEFAULT POSITION, PROPERLY PROGRAMMED KEY - STILL OCCURS. CORRECTION: MODIFIED CODING WITH PIWIS TESTER TO CORRECT. SEAT IS NOW WORKING TO PORSCHE SPEC.

Great, I need to fix mine too. Haven't had time to get the car down to my mechanic who said he was gonna try checking it out. He's had a few similar cases where the dealer couldn't program the new keys correctly, isn't that sad?? How much did it cost you? And did you ask what they did exactly?

My service tech and customer service person were gone when I picked up the car, so I'm not sure exactly what was done. They charged me for 1 hour of trouble shooting and recoding. However, they originally did 4.5 hours of labour for a number of things and cut it down to 3 hours as they spun their wheels a bit... and then allocated 1 hour to each problem. I would think if they simply hooked up the testing unit and modified the coding, it shouldn't be more than a half hour to do. The shop rate up here is $129 CDN per hour, less 15% for my PCA membership.

theres nothing simple about modifying the coding, it sounds easy enough but rarely works right and many times you have to urn things on and off a few times to get them to work