The 997 - General Discussion Thread

[Whoozit]

Excellent thread

What's the cheapest way to replace the TPM? I've been quoted a fairly ridiculous amount by a Porsche dealer, short of waiting until fronts or rears need replacing is there any magic to it?

[Brisvegas 997C2S]

Do all 997’s have a TPM? I guess back then it was probably most definitely an option. Only aslong as I don’t know whether mine does or not.

[c4sman]

No TPM was an option on most models as far a I know. My GTS doesn’t have it which is good news in my book as the system seems troublesome/expensive on most cars as they age!

[Remote]

Cargraphic exhaust with 200 cell cats for me, 997Turbo. Very happy

[ATM]

FriedMarsBar said:

STiG911 said:

Yes. I accidentally forgot to turn on my maintenance charger when parking up two years ago, and the battery went flat inside two weeks. Remember that in addition to the alarm, most 997s have trackers too which are on all the time regardless, not to mention the heavy load the battery has to deal with powering all the additional control modules a 997 has over the 996 when it's running, so if used for a short journey there's no way you'll make up the voltage used to start and run the car for the period.
After it went flat, my battery - Same Bosch as yours - never cranked the same and gave up the Ghost altogether a couple of months ago. Right after we moved house, which was nice.

Cheers, agreed there's a lot of stuff running in the background which all add up. Now the worst of the cold is over (he says hopefully) it seems to have improved. I'm off over Christmas so can keep an eye on it.

I've been using a little LiPo battery on my cars. I swap and change the car depending on which one I am using more regularly. I am starting to think these make more sense for an occasional use car which is not sat plugged in to a maintainer constantly. LiPo batteries generally come with some in built protection which stops them getting fully drained because this can scrap a LiPo battery. These batteries give full power whatever their charge level. So if it has charge you will never experience a lazy starter. The best bit is they charge very quickly. So little journeys will give it a good charge. You can even get the more expensive ones with in built low energy Bluetooth so they can tell your phone their charge state. Oh and they are about 25% of the weight too.

[Brisvegas 997C2S]

Did you get one in particular? I have been thinking about these too as mine can go a couple of weeks without going anywhere.

[ATM]

Brisvegas 997C2S said:

Did you get one in particular? I have been thinking about these too as mine can go a couple of weeks without going anywhere.

I don't really want to recommend one. You make your choice. My first purchase has no Bluetooth and it does not even mount like a traditional battery. It will go flat if left in a car which is not used for about 4 or 5 weeks. If you want one which will last longer you need to buy a bigger one. I also remove the battery tray when I'm using mine as you can see. I have another in my camper which I might use in the car instead.

[dgswk]

All

A word of warning to anyone looking at a 997.1 - get it inspected - including Borescope - by an independent specialist, before you buy. Fortunately I did, and although £300+vat lighter, I'm not £15k lighter for a rebuild this morning.

Came back Cyl 6, scored 'not excessively, but not going to get any better' and Cyl 5, 'early signs are there'.

Full service history, no signs of ticking engine, no signs of soot on one set of exhausts. Low-ish mileage (< 70k), few other issues as well, but those could have been dealt with / negotiated into the deal.

To all the wise sages on here who say get it inspected - thank you.

To potential buyers, be careful....

To my very patient wife - sorry darling, but my hunt goes on....

Edited by dgswk on Tuesday 17th January 10:47

[ATM]

dgswk said:

All

A word of warning to anyone looking at a 997.1 - get it inspected - including Borescope - by an independent specialist, before you buy. Fortunately I did, and although £300+vat lighter, I'm not £15k lighter for a rebuild this morning.

Came back Cyl 6, scored 'not excessively, but not going to get any better' and Cyl 5, 'early signs are there'.

Full service history, no signs of ticking engine, no signs of soot on one set of exhausts. Low-ish mileage (< 70k), few other issues as well, but those could have been dealt with / negotiated into the deal.

To all the wise sages on here who say get it inspected - thank you.

To potential buyers, be careful....

To my very patient wife - sorry darling, but my hunt goes on....

Edited by dgswk on Tuesday 17th January 10:47

Thanks for the warning. Discussing just this topic elsewhere. Would it be possible to share some pics of the scoring if you have them, thanks.

[dgswk]

No worries

Cylinder 1, normal for age / mileage (2 and 3 look the same)


Cylinder 4, normal-ish but apparently some early signs (looks the same as 1-3 to me)


Cylinder 5, early signs (again, hard to tell for me, but there are some wider marks)


Cylinder 6, yeah, OK, that's not right, even I can see that


Obviously, the people doing the check can have a really good nose around so the pictures are just a snapshot of the evidence for me.

I don't want this thread to turn into another Borescore thread, and I'm not naming / shaming the dealer as my gut is that they didn't know and they've probably got a car worth £5-10k less than they paid for it.\

If you are buying one - and I still thoroughly intend to - get it checked out, Borescore is not an internet myth, it exists in the wild!

[Brisvegas 997C2S]

Has anyone fitted one of these?

https://www.design911shop.com/p/shift-linkage-desi...

One of the jobs I am thinking of doing next.

[FriedMarsBar]

ATM said:

I've been using a little LiPo battery on my cars. I swap and change the car depending on which one I am using more regularly. I am starting to think these make more sense for an occasional use car which is not sat plugged in to a maintainer constantly. LiPo batteries generally come with some in built protection which stops them getting fully drained because this can scrap a LiPo battery. These batteries give full power whatever their charge level. So if it has charge you will never experience a lazy starter. The best bit is they charge very quickly. So little journeys will give it a good charge. You can even get the more expensive ones with in built low energy Bluetooth so they can tell your phone their charge state. Oh and they are about 25% of the weight too.

Thanks that does sound like an interesting option, I'll research them. I'm about to fit a small solar panel to the roof of my garage with a built in maintaner.

[ATM]

FriedMarsBar said:

Thanks that does sound like an interesting option, I'll research them. I'm about to fit a small solar panel to the roof of my garage with a built in maintaner.

Is this all just to charge your car battery?

This is the sort of thing you can get for camper vans. Should easily be able to start your car and should fit in the battery tray like a conventional lead acid battery. Not sure how long it will last but says equivalent to a 120ah. That's a very big lead acid battery equivalent. Then when you drive the car it should take a full charge in much quicker time than a lead acid. So ideally you would charge it fully from just driving occasionally and then forget about it.

The other option of course is taking it into the house overnight for a charge. You can easily carry it with one hand. My little 20ah LiPo last for 5 or 6 werke I'd guess if the car isn't used. I'd extrapolate that to 15 weeks for this bigger one if it is 3 times the size.

Obviously with the Bluetooth app you can query the battery and see how much juice it has left when discharging but also while driving and charging. These LiPo batteries will give full power for starting even when only 5% charged.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/113759969195

[FriedMarsBar]

ATM said:

"Is this all just to charge your car battery?"

It is yes but also a spare battery I use for lighting. The solar panel I found owas on Amazon for about £40. I've made a bracket to mount it on the roof so I'll rig it up and see how the batteries fair. I'm optimistic it will work however I don't imagine it's particularly well made or hardy so think it will only last a couple of years.

ATM said:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/113759969195

Thanks for the link it does look great but ££££££££££££££ - ouch!!

Edited by FriedMarsBar on Saturday 21st January 19:55

[rob1234]

Brisvegas 997C2S said:

Has anyone fitted one of these?

https://www.design911shop.com/p/shift-linkage-desi...

One of the jobs I am thinking of doing next.

Kind of - this is what you need: http://www.911uk.com/viewtopic.php?t=127355&po...

It's the above with a couple of improvements. It's not going to turn it into an S2000 box, but I'd definitely recommend it!

[Brisvegas 997C2S]

rob1234 said:

Kind of - this is what you need: http://www.911uk.com/viewtopic.php?t=127355&po...

It's the above with a couple of improvements. It's not going to turn it into an S2000 box, but I'd definitely recommend it!

Cheers Rob, some good insight! I’ve ordered the kit up. I had an S2000, it was a five shift!

[FriedMarsBar]

So I snapped my outside bleed nipple on my rear caliper and as the car is in for a service in a couple of weeks I'm going to get all the calipers checked/repaired and all nipples replaced with SS and braided hoses installed at the same time as well as new fluid.
Discs and pads are fairly new at 2 years old but they will checked at the same time.


Is there anything brake related I need to consider?

[ATM]

FriedMarsBar said:

So I snapped my outside bleed nipple on my rear caliper and as the car is in for a service in a couple of weeks I'm going to get all the calipers checked/repaired and all nipples replaced with SS and braided hoses installed at the same time as well as new fluid.
Discs and pads are fairly new at 2 years old but they will checked at the same time.


Is there anything brake related I need to consider?

If keeping your calipers on the car then No not much other than the main rigid brake pipes that run the length of the car. I had these done on my 996 5 years ago so these can be past their best if your car is over 15 years old. Some people use standard copper pipe bent to shape and some use genuine Porsche parts.

If removing your calipers then you can start thinking about caliper bolts, the handbrake parts hidden behind the rear discs, the discs and pads you mentioned, the pads have some anti squeal shims, there is a pin which holds the pads in and some R clips to hold these in also. Basically all parts other than the calipers, discs and pads themselves.

Some people go for caliper refurbishment which means stripping them down and replacing seals and pistons. You can also get the main caliper bodies powder coated whilst at it.

[FriedMarsBar]

Thanks ATM, that's a comprehensive list. I've had the handbrake bits replaced recently and my mechanic says that the long brake pipes are all fine, well at least he did about 6 months ago!

I think I'll have a go at refurbing the brakes over winter, new seals and pistons if required and I'll paint them myself too.

Thanks

[ATM]

FriedMarsBar said:

the long brake pipes are all fine

Good

Some people recommend dropping the gearbox to do these so it can add up quickly