CN

Yes, it happens at exactly 108,327 miles

The silver cabs don't have the problem until 272,854 miles

This is a known fact!!!

2ndof2

I beg your pardon!

Now where did I leave that can of woop-*** at?

rconnon

Thanks Eric,

Off hand i could not remember exactly what it was related to. i just knew it wasn't related to the control arms.

rconnon

Yes, too many sexy women were hurt grabbing onto the basket handle trying to
catch a date with the owners.. i guess by request Porsche brought this back as some owners didn't mind :P

It's all part of owning a 993i guess..

cnrfan

Hi CN,
What I should of asked is on average (if there is such a thing) in miles when are the CEL problems poping up because of SAI. I wonder if our usernames have a similar meaning, I'm also originally from Toronto.

97Targa

If you do a search on 993 CEL you'll get a lot of info. IIRC, general consensus says ~60k miles. But YMMV.

trojanman

General stats from posters on this forum indicate that CEL/SAI issues don't have very predictable timing... it happened very early for my car (prior owner started having problems around 25k), yet I've seen several OBD II 993 owners get 100k+ miles with no issues.

Keep in mind that a CEL due to SAI sucks for sure, but the real pocketbook damage comes from worn valve guides (i.e., top end rebuild)... the two problems are not necessarily linked together. A '95 could have the valve guide problem just like a '96+ could, it just won't throw a CEL for clogged SAI passages.

Moral of the story? KNOW THE OIL CONSUMPTION!

Just my $.02

gr8nine93

this may sound really dumb, but what is the problem wiht just putting a piece of black tape over the check engine light if the reason is some silly air bag issue. I have done that on other spendy hi tech cars where the problem really wasn't one.

CN

Yes, this sounds dumb!!!

When I was 18, I had a Yamaha 750. The 710 light kept coming on so I disconnected the wire as it annoyed me. Who needs a dang 710 anyway (I thought). The moral of the story is... Don't ignor the warning lights as they are trying to warn you about something may be wrong. As I experienced, I ran out of 710 and seazed the engine.

GD993C4

Black tape doesn't work in NY and CA (probably) a few other states that require passing a smog test. My SAI check valve died after 10 years and 23,000 miles.

RallyJon

I don't know about the whole chip = varioram equation. I have a chipped '95 and I would LOVE to have another 30-40 ft-lbs between 3000 - 4000 rpm. The chip makes it better, but there's still quite a hole in the poweband.

ZombiePorsche44

All this service is, is a reaming of the SAI (secondary air injection) channels that clog with carbon from the car being driven like an old woman (up shift points around 2500rpm) so drive your 993 harder and up shift around 5000 rpm or higher.

On 95's it is not a problem because if the channels are clogged it will not throw a CEL and the car will pass CA smog.
Good luck if you have a vario 96+ 993 that threw a CEL, because it will never pass smog here unless you clean the carbon and lose the thrown CEL.

It is also true that the vario car while having only 10 ponies more have around 20 ft lbs of mid range torque that the 95's don't, but that's easy to fix by never letting your 95 drop below 4500rpm on up shifts.


ZP44

Jack of Hearts

Zombie I thought this as well but Steve Weiner (and others) smacked me down...SAI is only open for the first 30 secs of a start-up so lots of short trips=earlier clogging of passages.

I no longer drive my car 1-3 miles to a party just to park in the driveway and show off.

(But running the car at higher revs (when warm!) may in fact help by lubing valve stems more and delaying the wear/coking that leads to the clogging in the first place.)

So take long trips and rev freely! I'm now at 81,000 on my '96 with no CEL ever (now knocking wood).

Search "san francisco syndrome" if you want to find out what happens if you DON'T stick to long trips and DON'T rev freely, however innocently you may do this.

JoH

Butzi

"San Francisco Syndrome"???? I thought that's when you run around with a flower in your hair preaching peace while trying to figure out if your LSD was working!!!

Having just recieved my 993 with 89k miles and no CEL when in the hands of previous owners (in Denver), I'm hoping I can blow out the crud on weekends that builds up during the week's shorter trips here in the city...

(although, I'm having a couple of mechanics check out what could be a leaking cylinder head right now, that may lead to a top-end rebuild, not related to CEL/SAI)

David in LA

ah yes, the infamous 710 light!!