Help with Retrofitting PCM!!

So I bought a PCM unit number 997.642.103.11 off Ebay for my non- Bose Cayman S . Brought it to an install place where they plugged it in. Powered up and ran perfect except the message "no amplifier present", and of course no sound. Am i correct to assume that the non- Bose unit has the amps built in and this number unit came from a Bose car and thus has no amp present. I also assume that there is no way to fit the amp to it,so I need the PCM unit from a non- Bose car. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks

How much do you want for the PCM ? I need one for a BOSE CS. G.

Once the dust settles and I determine that the unit will not work in my non- Bose car, I am willing to sell the unit for what I paid for it.

rosenbergendo, I am not intimately familiar with all of the audio systems, but I know that Porsche uses a MOST bus in the car. That stands for Media Oriented System Transport. That's a fiber optic system that allows daisy chaining of components and it's super tricky to interface with. It is possible that the system is currently programmed to look for the Bose amps on the MOST bus and isn't finding them. It's also possible that the system may be able to be reprogrammed by the dealer to work without. If I were you, I'd contact your dealer's service department and see if they can tell you more.

Apparently I just talked to the Porsche tech at the local dealer and it sounds like what you said it may be a coding issue where the PCM needs to be recoded for non- Bose . I will keep everyone posted.

Rosenbergendo, Your Porsche tech was right, Once the PCM is installed in a car with the CDR-24 you need the dealer to change some settings with the PIWIS machine. Bose \non- bose should not matter. - Suneet

If I may ask.... How much did the PCM run you? Thanks!!

650 +shipping and insurance

We can all sit here and pretend...... That I'm not a jealous.......:burnout: :dance: Nice find!!:cheers:

Not to sound dumb but where do these sellers get the PCM for such a low price?

Typically 997 owners who get the screen standard in their cars end up changing them out with aftermarket systems; there aren't any on ebay right now but sometimes there will be upto four at one time. - Suneet

Pulled from a 997 that was being stripped for IMSA racing

skup, I wondered that myself. Ugly ethics question again or junkyard recyling?

The problem with many of these PCM systems on Ebay is that they are either stolen or the seller doesn't really have one to sell and it is a scam (ran into 2 scams about 6 months ago, didn't fall for either). PCM will look for whatever amps it expects to find on the MOST bus along with whatever else it expects to find on the CANN bus (like sport chrono , etc.) Most (no pun intended) of this can be configured with the PIWIS machine at the dealership, but if your car lacks an amplifier then you would at a minimum need to add an amp. I don't recall if base CDR-24 head units also have an amp or not, but I believe they do, the way to check is pull your trunk cover that hides the jack tools, etc. on the back side, that is where the amp should be. I am not home so I can't check my car for you at the moment. One thing I would like to ask is that if you do install this, PLEASE take some photos, write down the PIWIS settings that need to be changed, etc. and POST AN ARTICLE to our Articles section to help benefit future owners! Thanks in advance!

http://www.planet-9.com/downloads.php?do=file&id=50 for visual location of the Bose Amp.

Ken, how do you tell it's a scam? Thanks...

One good way is to ask them questions about the car it came out of. Another is to ask them to allow you to escrow the money until you get the part to install to see if it is functional, etc. Of course the most obvious is to ask for the radio code out of the owner's manual because you may not be able to activate the radio in a different car without it. If they stole the radio code the chances are they forgot to take the owner's manual with that information in it. If it is a legitimate sale from a car someone owns then they should have the radio code in their car's documentation.

Porsche stopped using radio codes with CDR22's in the old Boxsters I believe, no system after that was packaged with a radio code. Now, rarely, you get the PROTECT mode that can be bypassed by the dealer. The three or four people I messaged about their PCM 's for sale all told me they were out of 997's and the sales closed with positive feedback; granted they could've been stolen, but I wouldn't think that is very common because the stereos are a bit difficult to remove and very proprietary. I don't think any ebay seller would escrow the money until the part was successfully installed, they are simply selling a stereo that they took out of a car and have no way of knowing exactly which car it would work in; typically the auctions say to make sure the part number works in the buyers car. In my opinion the only way to buy on ebay is from someone with highly positive feedback and even then make sure there is no extra email address given for contact, and if there is, it should match with the primary email address on the account. The best way to make sure is by using ebay messaging to contact the seller. This is because ebay accounts with good feedback often get hijacked by scammers who display another email address to contact them. The PCM and CDR24 both have amplifiers built in which are used by the base system and the sound package plus system, but the Bose variants are coded to rely on the Bose amp primarily, while the ones on CDR24 cars are set to use internal amplifiers, as the ASK amplifier simply gets its signal from speaker level output. From all the research I’ve done with my dealer and other forums, one can simply recode the PCM to use the internal amplifier and work on a base cayman or a sound package plus cayman . - Suneet

Out of curiousity, do you intend on using the PCM for nav too? If you do, wouldn't you also need to install the DVD drive, GPS antenna, and a multitude of cable harnesses?

Midnight blue, you are correct, if you want to use the PCM as anything more than a glorified cd-player\settings screen you have to get all that extra stuff to allow for navigation. The screen alone is a cosmetic mod. - SS

Ok-the update. First thanks to everyone for their input. It seems like all PCM units have amps built in and this one was from a Bose car and due to the MOST bus just needs recoding via the PIWIS to turn on its "internal" amp. Ultimately I do intend to have the DVD unit installed but I will likely buy this( plus all the other goodies needed) from Suncoast not EBAY. I will post when the unit is installed on Sunday after the PCA driving event at Moroso.

I sent you a PM about this. G.

I'm interested in this too. The overall PCM +Nav system is 3700. For $650, this would be a great functional mod too. To be able to change the settings and play mp3 cds would be worth it.

That's exactly what I said in my earlier post. - Suneet