DDIOOS

Kevin, interested. Message sent.

DDIOOS

Thanks for the help Kevin, it was quite unfortunate it didn't work.
If anyone still have one spare, would appreciate it.

OttoB

The same thing happened to me and my car last week, which also left me stranded. At least it was a few blocks away from the house and AAA was there in record time - 20 minutes. I had it towed to Vertex here in Miami since they have done some work on the car. They informed me the same thing - Porsche no longer makes it and it's a matter of sourcing a used one (without any kind of warranty, despite it being very $$$). The car's being serviced on a few other things right now, but I am told that they have the car running. Good luck - the number for Vertex is (305) 442-2727.

Gus B.

Could someone describe for me what the symptoms are of a failed unit? Are you just driving along, no sign of anything wrong, car dies, and that is it? You would think Porsche has a better solution than "no more"?!

pcar964

This is a little disturbing for the rest of us. Our car could be dead in the water due to one of these units failing - with NO source for a new or reconditioned part? It can't be that hard to make a replacement unit from scratch, right? I mean, there are free toys in cereal boxes with more processing power than one of these units!

Gus B.

I agree with pcar964. What test can be done to determine without a doubt that the unit has in fact failed?

JamesE

I have just bought the ***ONLY*** spare rear 993 RSR hub from Porsche Motorsport (after braking mine due to a track incident).

I think we are getting to the time when many of these spacial parts are going to be difficult to source.

Re the ignition, I would really look at using an ECU to control the ignition. This wouldn't involve the full cost of EFI, far from it; but a worthwhile upgrade.

Gus B.

James: for those of us who are not as technically knowledgeable as you, and have some doubts regarding the place where we take our cars to get serviced (yes, I know, find another place...), do you have more information (brand, links, how tos, etc) that we could use more to learn about the ECU to control the ignition vs. going EFI? Anyone in the U.S.?

JamesE

An ECU typically controls all the engine bit and bobs. But basically they look after fuelling and ignition. The expensive bit of EFI is really sorting out the fuel side. Doing the ignition is a lot easier.

You can use any decent ECU and just hook-up the ignition inputs, then the ECU outputs will drive the amplifiers/coils. You may need a new sensor to pick-up crank timing, and you might look to go distributer less. Any half decent shop should be able to sort it out.

I'm sure Geoffrey could do it for you. As I mentioned further up the thread, there is a Blaster ignition system which is self contained coil/"ECU" and can be mapped by a laptop. This might initially be cheaper but you couldn't extend it to full EFI without an ECU.

If it were me i'd just bite the bullet and go full EFI. However it is expensive an not everyone wants that.

DDIOOS

James - it's very kind of you to explain and it also give us hopes. Let me just explain to all you guys the experience I have encountered in my search for a replacement ICU. My Porsche contact has admitted to me they definitely will phase out or stop production in some parts. Hence we have all the OEMs. But the baffling thing is why Porsche bothered to start a Classic Porsche parts unit when it's not even possible to get hold of something as simple as the ICU that I have frantically been searching for. I have called up global Porsche dealers as well as Bosch and ended up with nought.

I was clueless about this part beforehand but have become abit of an expert now and the most likely reason for the ICU failure is a surge in sudden voltage thus killing off a resistor or capacitor inside. Come on, this is 20 year old electronic technology inside a mostly mechanical movement car, so why aren't there
ore guys out there to fix this or manufacture a replacement. Sooner or later all circuit boards will go. They only have a limited lifespan (would you see your laptop
running 20+ year?!). Does it mean we all have to pay up and get ripped off for an EFI conversion? there is one guy who can try fixing it but he wanna charge me a bomb giving me a 50/50 chance of success.
Lastly and sadly, these units are available off the shelf for the naturally aspirated 964s, the 3.6T, 993s etc but not for our 3.3T. How frustrating is that and why doesn't anyone bother taking care of our car

fritz k.

a collegue has two EZ69 units fore sale, due to EFI conversion.

if you are interested pm me, i´ll send his e-mail adress.

fritz

DDIOOS

Fritz - sent. Tks