Flood damaged 996

Hi! I'm a new 996 owner based in Warwickshire and last week I bought a flood damaged 2001 Carrera as a bit of a (very!) long term project. I'm under no illusion that it's going to be an easy fix, but I'm quite looking forward to stripping it down and getting it running again! Long term, I'm planning on keeping it either as a road car or track toy, depending on how the restoration goes. The purchase price fortunately lends itself to either. The car was parked (engine off) and fresh water flooded up to a level just above the seat squab and there is a bit of silt knocking around. Unfortunately, it was sitting for a month or so before I go it, so the interior was quite mouldy. Over the weekend my very willing wife and I stripped the interior out and gave everything a thorough clean. The seats, carpet, sound deadening are currently drying. All the mould has now been removed, but there is a bit of staining on the back of the seats. Since getting the car it has either had the driver's door open in the sunshine (the passenger door isn't unlocked yet) or a dehumidifier running; which seems to be doing a good job of drying things out. I've had a look at some other flood damaged posts and I'm pretty confident that I need a new immobiliser/ecu/key set to get the engine going. Obviously, prior to any of that, the plugs are coming out/oil changed etc. My first question is whether there any obvious water traps that I should be aware of? I've had a good poke around with an endoscope in any interior access points I can find and things are looking good, but others may be able to point out something I'm missing. Are there any other big things I should be looking for? I'm guessing electrical problems are going to be my biggest headache, so any advice would be greatly received! Cheers, Simon

Simon! Brave man! The alarm control unit will likely be beyond salvation, but it is worth giving it a chance. Take the lid off and dry it thoroughly, and brush any corrosion and rubbish off the circuit board. Put it in the airing cupboard for a couple of days. If you have to replace it, you'll need the Porsche security codes for the car, and get someone with a Porsche tester to program it. A second-hand one won't work, unless you know the security codes from the donor car. Hopefully the water level won't have reached the DME, or the relay panels, front and rear. There are connectors in the rear footwell which will need checking, but you have no doubt found them while the carpet is out. And it would be worth checking the connectors in the door shuts. If it has door speakers, they will be toast, but no big deal to replace. Lets have a few photos (the good, bad and ugly), and I hope you'll keep the thread updated as you progress. It sounds like an interesting project, and I'm sure I speak for everyone when I say that it will be a good story to follow.

Wow! Brave or Crazy!!! Good luck Simon!!!! Love to see photos and please update us with progress.

What they say ^ - some photos would be great. I'm not sure what you mean by the seat squab - how high up is that? If you find a decent workshop manual, let me know?!

..... er ..... seat high! The bit you sit on!

good luck with the project Simon, would be really interested to see work in progress photos

Can I ask what she cost?.

I'd say she is priceless if she helped him strip out the interior..........

Thanks for the warm welcome everyone! I'll definitely try and keep this thread updated with progress and as suggested, to kick things off, I've added some pictures - the good (the exterior of the car is pretty much immaculate) and the bad/ugly (the rest!) It's currently got a fan heater and a dehumidifier going 24/7 which seems to have made a big difference to things. The mould is now all gone, but some staining remains. It owes me £3k so far and as I said, I'm not sure what the ultimate plan is, but if I can get the seats looking good, I will. My biggest question at this stage is regarding the electrics (surprise, surprise!) I think the immobiliser is pretty much shot. Unfortunately, a couple of resistors (about 1.5mm long) on the PCB have come lose. I've got one of them, but the other is nowhere to be found. By the looks of it, the fuse on the immobiliser board blew, so I was quite hopeful about it maybe functioning again, until closer examination revealed the resistor issue. It and the DME have been thoroughly dried and cleaned and I'm planning on finishing off cleaning and checking the electrics this weekend and attaching a battery, just to see where I am. Am I right in thinking that if I get hold of a matched DME, immobiliser and key head, I might be in business? Will I still need to get things coded if it is a full set?

serendipity i have just changed my interior 996 to black from savannah so i have all the door cards, carpet, seats brake etc if you fancy them pm me

Lol!!!! Blimey how did the mould get to the steering wheel and almost the top of the seat?

The immobiliser is incorporated in the alarm control unit. Both alarm unit and DME are programmed with the immobiliser code, and this has to match before the engine will start. The immo code can be changed in the DME if the (IPAS) security codes are known, but the alarm unit can only be programmed with an immo code once. Therefore, if you buy second hand, you need matching units, and keys which have been programmed to this pair. However, if you don't know the IPAS codes for them, you will never be able to code new keys to them. The alarm units aren't too expensive (about £150 iirc), so if the DME is OK it would be much better to get a new alarm module, and have it programmed to the car. Assuming you have the V5C, an independent (or Porsche dealer) will be able to get the IPAS codes for the car. As for the leather, I have had excellent results with Dynamix dyes. It would be worth buying a small kit, and see what results you get. This all has the makings of a great thread - keep it up!

Oh yes, and if you do need a DME and decide to get second hand, it would have to be the correct version for your car. Again, if the IPAS codes were known, then the fuel map and other settings could be changed.

Simon, #12 on your post at Rennlist could be useful. Regards.

Hi, if Simon isn't interested in the savannah interior you have removed, could I have first dibs on one of your panels. It's the rear interior panel which fits across the car under the rear screen. Will yours fit my 99 c2? Thanks

Sorry haven't got that part but looking for one in black swap ? Have front and back door cards full carpet front and rear seats all I savannah and speakers

There is a company in Parkstone, Bournemouth who can repair ECU's etc, they repaired my Tiptronic ECU in my Audi when water from the scuttle flooded the ventilation system ( quite common on the A4 range - but don't tell Audi Let me know if you want their details.[ ]

As you've already stripped out the interior why not build it as a race car? I see they've started letting 996 into club racing as of this year. I think you'd have a finished project sooner that way, and if you don't race your self maybe you can sell it with a profit. [ ] Good luck anyway, seems you're weekends are booked for some time.

Looking at the amount of mould inside the car, top marks to the wife for helping you strip it! Good luck with the restoration. What about a GT3 RS type interior?

Hi guys, Just to let you know that the resto has stalled a bit due to work (helps to pay for things at least!) Should be back in action this weekend, so I'll give a full report.

Right, bit more progress today. Sort of... Finally received a matched dme/immob/key set yesterday (after being sent one without a key) from a Porsche salvage yard. The set is from a 2000 3.4 tiptronic, so I have my suspicions as to whether it will do the job or not. Quite aside from the fact that it's from a tiptronic and mine is a 2001 manual, it seems to be missing the brass connector from the immobiliser control unit. Does anyone know what this is? It looks a bit like an antenna connection. Is it vital? Undeterred, that has been installed and I put some power through the system. Driver door unlocks and various clicking and clunking noises, so things are at least beginning to show signs of life. I removed the coils and plugs (that's a fun job!) and noticed that one of the plugs seemed to be damaged, with one of the legs touching the insulator. On closer inspection, it doesn't seem to have been hit by anything (eg a cylinder!) but I've never seen a plug in that sort of shape (image attached). I've turned the engine with a bar on the crank pulley. No water came out, so that's encouraging. At this point, I thought it might be worth trying to get the engine to turn with the key. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to want to do anything. The ignition lights come on, the clunking and clicking happens (mostly from the immobiliser unit) and then nothing. First schoolboy error was not depressing the clutch, but that doesn't seem to have made any difference. I suspect the lack of coils and plugs is preventing anything working at the moment, so that will be sorted tomorrow morning, but am I missing something simple? One thing I did notice whilst I was doing the plugs it that there seem to be drain plugs on the underside of the exhaust. (images attached) I removed those and about 250ml of water trickled out It's almost as if Porsche meant the car to be flooded...

The brass connector on the alarm/immobiliser unit is for the remote antenna. Strange that it has a remote, but no antenna..... I think the DME being for a Tiptronic will be a problem. It has a different map, and the DME and Tip units talk to each other. It could be re-programmed, BUT you would have to know the VIN of the donor car, in order to get the security codes - that's if Porsche would give them to you. They usually require sight of the V5C in the owner's name. Unless you got them really cheaply, you might have been better to buy a new alarm unit, and have it programmed to your car. When you turn the key in the ignition, can you hear the fuel pump running for a couple of seconds? If it does, then the immobiliser has connected to the DME and all is good. When the immobiliser is active, it inhibits the fuel pump, ignition, and starter motor. It could be that because the DME is from a Tiptronic, it is looking for a signal to say that the transmission is in Park or Neutral. The plug on the exhaustis a bung they put on the opposite side of the pipe to the O2 sensor. I think it is for some kind of test probe, but I'm not sure.

Thanks Richard. I got the VIN of the donor car, but was really just trying to get it running this weekend to see where I was engine wise. The tricky part is that because the car was an insurance write off, the insurance company has the V5C of my car. Once I'm at the stage where I can get an MOT/VIC check etc. then I may be able to get things sorted at a Porsche centre, but for the moment, just plugging in a matched DME/Immob seemed like an easier solution. There doesn't seem to be a fuel pump whirr, but there is a very high pitched electrical noise from the engine compartment with the ignition switched on. Your point about the DME searching for a P or N signal is a very good one. I'll return the set as it was supposed to be an exact match for my car. Third time lucky maybe!

Massive progress! Finally got a spare couple of days and the right ecu/immob combo and the starter solenoid started trying to work, which from what people had said meant that the immobiliser headache was over! The starter was removed and tested - dead. Liberal sprays of WD40 and a few gentle taps with a hammer and it stuttered back to life and eventually it seemed to be fully working. Once the starter was put back, the engine turned on the key! Very sluggishly at first, but on the second try, it very nearly fired. At that point, I rang my dad as he wanted to witness the first starting. He arrived, turned the key and it spluttered into life! The n/s bank of cylinders all seemed to be working (with a lot of steam from the exhaust), but the o/s didn't appear to be doing anything. After 5 minutes of idling, I prodded the throttle and it was definitely only running on 3 cylinders. 10 minutes of idling later and a prod of throttle and the o/s exhaust started steaming slightly (by this time, the n/s exhaust was completely clean). More idling and gentle revving and it is now on all six! There is still a bit of steam coming from the o/s exhaust, but that's not really surprising given what it's been through. I think another run up to full temperature (fans all kicked in, everything appeared to do what it is supposed to) will clear that side and we're in business! My only concern (well, top of the long list!) is that there appears to be a noise not unlike a coin in a washing machine coming from the o/s of the engine. It doesn't seem to be a constant noise and it might be related to the water which is still in the exhaust system, but I was wondering if anyone had any ideas? Bad weather has stopped play today, but as soon as it stops raining, I'll carry on. Frankly, I'm amazed (and ridiculously excited!)

Simon, you took a chance with that car, and good luck to you. I would expect it might give you a few headaches based on past experience, but I hope not. If you can fine a matching spec damaged car to get electrical components from it may be useful. Is the engine oil contaminated? gearbox? Fuel sounds like its OK If it runs, and the oils are good, I would run it for hours with all the doors and lids open in a dehumidified atmosphere to dry the life out of it. Then exercise the clutch and brakes off the public road ideally. A few difficult access things like the clutch bearing may suffer, but if dried and used it may be ok. again, good luck with the project. It sounds encouraging, keep us posted George 944t

Some more progress... The engine has been run for approximately 3 hours in total now (several warm ups to normal temp). The running levelled out after about 2.5 hours and has continued to be quite lumpy (running on four or five cylinders). All the untoward rattles seem to have settled down now. Following a brief and very slow drive around a field (not ideal, but the car is not legal on the road and the field is as level as they come!) the CEL came on. I plugged in my trusty fault code reader and it came up with codes P0302 and P0306. A quick look on the forum showed that those codes were cylinders two and six misfiring. I strongly suspect the coils have gone (I'm kicking myself for not changing them when I did the plugs!) so those should hopefully be done this week. The great news is that from that first run, the brakes, clutch and gearbox all seem to be operating very well indeed (well, as much as you can tell from a field!) It's getting so close now!

Simon, What a great result. 'Hat off to you' for what you have achieved in quite a short space of time. Look forward to the next installment!

Great news! Well done Simon!

Just another thought: the variocams are controlled by solenoids which will have been below the water line. If one of those has failed, that will lead to rough running. Worth looking at when you're checking the coils, maybe.

Thanks for that. I was hoping that they would be OK as the water didn't get in to the engine and they look pretty integral. I'll have a poke around when I finally get a chance to do the coils!

Coils replaced. Engine running perfectly! Hooray!!

Great to hear it! What a great project. Will be a great photo DIY article when it's all done!

Well, it's been nearly five months since my last post and I'm very pleased to announce that the 996 is fully back on the road! It's all MOT'd, registered, taxed and number plated. There are still a few small electrical niggles (rear de-mist and drivers' door lock are still on strike), but other than that it is absolutely fabulous. I'll do a full write up shortly, but for now, I'm off for a drive...

Congratulations, you should have a medal, for persiverance if nothing else. Can't wait for the full write-up. Puts me into shame - like most things related to Porsche - as I pay others to maintain mine. Paul.

Well done! Warms the heart!