Turning lights

This may be a bit of a silly question but are the side-marker lights supposed to blink when the turn signal is on? Mine do not.

No they don't but you can change this in the Porsche PIWIS the problem then is that they are not on as parking lights, JUST blinkers. The best approach would be to have both, but no one has done a hack for that yet.

How would I change the PIWIS? Any tips?

You have to go to the dealership and have them hook you up to the PIWIS machine that they have. Then find the setting under parking lights and have them change it from parking lights to flashers, but as I said if they do so, then the side markers will be OFF until you signal and then they will be flashers. We need a hack were the sidemarkers are ON and ALSO flashers.

Hmm. Seems from a safety point it would be better that they work as blinkers. If you have a car in your blind spot and you change lanes they could not see the blinker unless they see the side light flash. What benefit do you get that they are on as parking lights?

Relates to the original reason they put on the side marker lights, so people coming at you from the side (e.g., intersection) will see it.

Hey Kayman-S, thanks for the advice on how to change the turning lights. The service shop did not know it could be done but your direction came in handy. When I left 3 other people started asking to have it done too.

What does parking lights mean? Light remains on by flicking turning indicator when off? Like most BMWs and Mercs have?

The parking lights on the side of the Cayman can be switched to blink when you have the front and rear turning lights on. Since I have a speed yellow car, I'm not worried about people seeing my car from the side. I am more concerns with people on my side knowing I an shifting lanes so I don't have a situation where me and another car are shifting into the same lane that is between us.

How To Make Turning Lights Blink And Stay On I have a little experience on how to make the side indicators stay on with parking lights and blink. I have done this in the past on my old Honda Prelude. This requires very minimal rewiring. The side indicators should have two wires connected to the bulb. A positive (red - could be a different color) wire and negative (black - or different color) wire. You keep the positive wire connected as is. Cut the negative wire from the original source. Connect the negative lead from the indicator bulb and tap it into the positive wire of the turn signal in the main headlight cluster. So, you are basically connected to two two positive leads. One from the original power source and one from the turn signal in the headlight. Here are the following senerios: 1. Parking lights on. Power is supplied from positive lead and grounded through negative lead, which is connected to the positive lead of the turn signal. Very similar to original electrical flow. [Indicator light is on.] 2. Parking lights off and turn signal on. Power is sent from turn signal through negative lead of indicator light and grounded through positive lead. [Indicator light blinks in sequence with turn signal.] 3. Parking lights on and turn signal on. Power is sent from both negative and positive leads of indicator bulb. The voltages cancel each other out. [Indicator lights blink out of sequence with turn signal.] (when turn signal is on, indicator light is off; and vice versa) 4. Parking lights are off and turn signal is off. It sounds weird, but it works without any problems. You have to cut 1 wire and tap into another wire using something like this. http://multimedia.mmm.com/mws/mediawebserver.dyn?6666660Zjcf6lVs6EVs666WxJc7rrrrQ- You have to do this for each side. I used this on my 97 Prelude for about 9 years before I traded it in for the CS. I never had any electrical problems.

I would strongly recommend AGAINST jury-rigging any of the electrical system wires as described above, especially in Porsche's current cars. The entire electrical wiring harness in P-cars is so extensively integrated into the car itself that cutting wires may not only cause serious damage and affect your warranty, but may also hurt your resale value. I certainly won't buy a used car that's been hacked in the fashion above. There was a thread here not long ago about how someone needed a complete wiring harness replacement in their Cayman S because a single wire got nicked while installing a third party stereo head unit. Total parts and labor cost for the repair: over $14,000, a new wiring harness (which has to be specially made by Porsche), and required almost a complete disassembly of the car to install.

I think it's absurd that we'd even have to modify the circuit in our car to gain a safety feature that should've been on the car in the first place. The blinking of the side markers while maintaining side-marker capabilities is probably one of the SIMPLEST of any software change on the car. Why not write letters to Porsche Germany to force them to issue a software recall on this item? Actually, does anyone know where to direct the letter/email for cases like this? Since this is a true safety item, I'm sure Porsche would pay some attention to it.

I doubt Porsche and many owners, including myself, would bother with the expense of a recall for what is essentially a non-DOT-required safety feature. You're welcome to try, though.

K-Man S, What is your take on junglee444's hack? I've not heard of this done on a Cayman yet. -Stevie

My Car was recently in for service and I asked them to do this. When I went to collect, they said that they had searched for the option but could not find it, they had also called for help. The were told that this option was restricted/disabled for US vehicles and so they were unable to make the change. Is this true? If it is not true, does someone know the specific steps that you need to take in PIWIS to make the change so that I can print it an take it to them? Thanks

I don't feel that it is a safety issue at all. The design meets with USA DOT requirements. If the side marker lights were visible from the front also, then they would be required to blink; but they are not. Regarding safety on a lane change, if there is a car in the next lane, in a perceived blind spot, then they won't be noticing that light. Not unless you turn it on 100 feet ahead of the change. As to the electrical modification suggested in this thread, I, personally, would avoid it.