Back from the Silver State, and CEL

I got back about 2.30am this morning from Nevada after another great outing with the Silver State Classic. This time we ran in the 120mph class, which allows a maximum speed at any time of 140mph. The car feels great at that speed, and having taken out the rear sound-deadening foam shelf to fit the DAS rollbar, it sounds great too! We placed 7th in class, 1.6 seconds off our target time of 45 minutes, which tells you just how well the winners did! Photos to follow, including some of the other Pcars. After the 996 behaved perfectly all weekend, it was a bitter irony that the CEL came on when I was only 10 minutes from home this morning. I'll get it checked tomorrow, and hopefully it's just a dirty sensor.

What is the silver state classic? I hope not an ignorant question.

It's not an ignorant question - I'm always surprised at how little publicity it gets. It's an open road race/rally, in which a 90 mile stretch of highway 318 is closed down by the Nevada DoT, and cars leave at 60 second intervals to try to hit a specified average speed. The speed allowed is determined by the amount of safety equipment on the car, and by the confidence of the driver. This time I stepped up to the 120mph class thanks to my new GT3 seats and harnesses, which allows an maximum speed of 140mph at any time - they have hidden radar traps to catch infractions. Next time I may put some backing plates under my rollbar, which in principle allows me to average 150mph and max out at 165mph, but I think I'll work up to that sort of speed more gradually over the next year or two. Lots more information, results, and an article by Yours Truly, can be found on the Silver State homepage at http://www.silverstateclassic.com We had a fantastic time again, with a great atmosphere and met a lot of very friendly and helpful people. I think there were five Porsches this time (including a Ruf), so we nearly have enough cars to form a Porsche team. PS My Avatar is a photo from May's Silver State, taken by one of the course workers - I'd guess we were doing around 115mph at the time

If the CEL shows an imbalance in thhrough one or both the cats, have your tech bang the cat with a rubber hammer. if it sounds like loose parts, you need to replace it. This seems to be a common problem on the 996 (all models) if they are driven hard for extended periods. Rgds,

Yikes, I hope not! I can't make it to my favourite tech till Friday morning, so I'll find out then. Then I can pull out the bar and GT3 seats on Saturday if it looks like the CPO might cover whatever the problem is... It would be pretty frustrating if the cats can't handle a run that was no more demanding than a spirited drive down the autobahn.

Did you read the code?? I'd be interested in the results as the same thing happened to me after a 4 hour trip at 75-85mph the CEL went off 5 minutes from home. It was an o2 sensor.I reset the cel and it hasn't come back on since!!

I used to get CEL codes after hot running. Dealer phumphed and called Atlanta tech line. Asked about bad gas, use of octane booster etc. No, and no were the answers. After five iterations, my son took a hammer and banged the cat throwing codes showing imbalance in the flow (there are two sensors). The cat rattled .. loose parts inside. New cat. Note, hot running in traffic. Never happened on the track. Go figure. Best,

I got the code this morning: it's P0420, which is the cat on bank 1. Does anybody know which side bank 1 is? I'll whip out the rollbar and GT3 seats tomorrow, and present myself to Porsche with an innocent smile next week to see if the CPO warranty will pay up.

Why would you do all that work? There is no warranty clause that says you can't have a rollbar and GT3 seats. I'd just reset the code and call it good.

Well, they need to come out anyway to restore my car to more normal daily driver status, so it might as well be this weekend. I'm not exactly sure if I'm going to need any goodwill from Porsche now or later, so there's no need to provoke them with a car that's clearly been spending some time beyond highway speed. What do mean by reset the code? Won't it just go off again?

Mine came on after two track days in a row on the way home. I went to Autozone found out it was the cat and reset it. It hasn't come back since. Your results may be different.

Bank 1 is the drivers side. I had the O2 sensor go bad... the code even said "ageing O2 sensor heater"... i guess it was tired and slow to heat up. Mine actually went away after a hard drive at AX, but came back again a few weeks later with the same codes P0139 and P1117 New one installed in 10-minutes with a 22mm wrench and bingo... no more CEL !

I'll take it to my usual dealer, even though it's less convenient than the local one, since I've put quite a lot of business their way lately. I'm pretty sure that an MY02 will be covered under the 7/70 emissions rules, which should be a useful savings.

Latest update - the driver's side cat is being replaced under warranty, and I'll pick up the car tomorrow morning.

Is there any chance you're running an aftermarket performance reflash of the DME control unit?

Luckily for me, no chance whatever. I'm pretty content with the stock engine for now. If I ever find myself wanting significantly more than 320hp or so, it'll mean it's time to move back to Europe and its more "elastic" speed limits

Bob is correct. I had the same issue on my 02. A tech friend got out his rubber mallet and tapped the cats. He smiled and told me I had a bit of a problem with the cats and that I needed to get to the dealer. Took it in and the dealer replaced both cats under warranty at 30,000 miles. BTW, those things are pricey.

Hurrah - I got my C2 back this morning with no CEL and nice new cat under warranty! I was pretty glad to give them back their Ford Five Hundred loaner too...