KirkM

First, as a new Rennlist member (signed up today) and a new 993 owner, I want to thank you all for the great information on this board. I have been reading here for a few weeks now, and it has helped me make the jump to a 993. Also, I apologize if this has been addressed already in detail.

I just traded my 1988 3.2 Carerra for a 1997 993 Cabriolet. I absolutely love this car. However, after 10 days of having the car and less than 400 miles, the "check engine" light popped on. The car was warmed up and I had been highway driving for about 15 minutes when it turned on. I plugged in an OBDII scanner, and it shows a code "P-1411 auxiliary emission controls, manufacturer control". Does anybody have any idea what this means? I'm concerned that it may be something pretty serious. The light isn't flashing, but it is still on when I drive the car. I bought it from a reputable used Porsche dealer, but he is 300 miles away, and I can't get a service appointment for days, possibly weeks. Should I not drive it at all until I bring it in for service? Any help would be appreciated. I can't imagine not being able to drive the car for days when I've only had it for 2 weeks - I'm dying to get it out of my garage!

Thanks again for a great site.

Phil

Welcome Kirk,
If you do an advanced search on " sai code" you will find about 3+ pages of info. I just did the search. Are you sure its "p1411"

SCMomentum

This is a direct quote from a Rennlister...I found this doing a Search on SAI issues/CEL stuff. I'd suggest you do the same to get all the information that you can. If this is indeed a SAI issue I hope you got a warranty from the dealer and I would make them take care of this. Top-end rebuilds are not cheap ($4-6000)!!!

You can drive the car as SAI faults have nothing to do with performance nor will do any damage to the engine. It is purely an emissions issue.

Best of luck.

Dave
p.s. How many miles are on the car?

KirkM

Thanks for the info guys. It has 48,000 miles. The dealer is very reputable, and deals almost exclusively in used 911's. The problem is the dealer is 300 miles away from my home. If there is a serious problem, I'm sure he would address it (optimist that I am). I'm starting to get a little nervous about some of the issues that I'm now reading about. I don't even want to think about what my wife will say if I need major service after a mere 2 weeks.

Thanks again,
Kirk

Phil

you can drive the car, no issue in doing so. Maybe the dealership will help out with the fix, if it is indeed clogged ports.

Scott 1996 993c2

Kirk -

Congratulations on the car purchase and welcome to the forum (from another relatively new user ). I bought my 993 less than 3 months ago and joined the Rennlist forum right away. The info available here is unbelieveable. There are some guys here with so much knowledge about these cars -- very willing to share. As Chris Walrod has said so perfectly, "Is this a great place, or what?" Enjoy!

Scott

JasonAndreas

I'm almost willing to bet you the valve job that you now more than likely need (hopefully I'm wrong) that the dealer (and the PO) that sold you the 993 knew about the SAI problem beforehand. What state is the dealer in? There are consumer protection laws that will help you if the dealer doesn't but hopefully it won't come down to that and they will fix the problem on their dollar. Does your state test emissions using the OBD2 port or do they sniff test you? Your just on the edge of the federally mandated emissions warranty and despite what PCNA says officially and what their response was to the EPA they have covered some cars.

kkim

P1411 is a SAI issue. If you have a scanner that will clear the code, clear it and see if it comes back. It is okay to drive the car without fear of harming it. Most likely being triggered by clogged SAI passages and can be cleaned by the DIY on Pcar.... http://p-car.com/diy/sai/1/sai.htm

If, on the other hand, the code is due to valve problems, you should look to the dealer that sold you the car for some sort of compensation. My guess... they knew the car was throwing the code before they sold it to you... they just were hoping it didn't pop up so soon.

coltj

FWIW, you can use this url to decode any manufacturer-specific OBD II code.

http://iequus.com/obd_def.asp

According to this site, it is the SAI fault code for cylinders 4-6.

I agree with previous posters: Your experience was NOT the first time the car threw this code.

Talk with the dealer.

HK G36C

the 3110 model also reset and clears the code, so for DEQ purposes will he be able to reset the code and pass the test?

JasonAndreas

I think when you clear an SAI fault code you also clear the SAI readiness flag so you'll have to go through the driving cycle for the SAI monitoring system which after/around 400 miles (in this particular case) will illuminate the CEL again? There is a way to fool the system into ignoring a clogged SAI port but if you just bought the car the dealer should fix the problem properly. (i.e. valve job)

SCMomentum

Regardless of what the problem may be...SAI or valve job...get the dealer to fix it and fix it correctly. Save the DIY stuff for down the road with less burdensome and less costly issues.

Dave