SeaJeff

I finally feel like I’ve been able to have some fun with my new 993! I purchased it about a month ago but I ended up traveling so arranged for some clean-up work to be done while I was gone.

I filled the front license plate holes and put on a front venture shield bra. (For those in Seattle area, I chose Metropolitan Detail on the recommendation of other rennlister’s and I’m a fan. Benjamin (one of the owners) seems a true professional- he takes his time, willing to share what he’s doing in as much detail as you want, and strives to continuously improve his work.) I was really happy with the job he did- you can barely see any of the film from even close up. I noticed a few imperfections, but when I looked closer, the problems were with the underlying paint. (Even with a light touch up, a 15 year old hood has imperfections (chips and stuff) that the film can’t hide.).

This camera-phone snap shows the bumper sans-holes but doesn't do the film work justice-



With the car back at home, I was looking forward to my first "DIY project"-

I had only received 1 key with the car at purchase but fortunately had 2 spare remote microprocessors from the original switchblades. (Evidently the PO purchased additional full remotes and not the shells, so I got the ‘shells’ with the electronics too- that saved me some money.) From Suncoast I purchased a few Porsche key blanks, fob-conversion kits and took the keys to a local Porsche dealership to cut a few spare keys from my master. (They only charged me $10 to cut three keys- I was pleasantly surprised.)

I also read a ton about reprogramming the immobilizer to recognize the new key fobs. Lots of good threads there, and I had thought I had read enough to get it done. I had my cheat sheets printed out and thought I was ready to go.

But, I wasn't able to even begin. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get the “warning light” (which the instructions reference) to light. So here’s a few more troubleshooting tips that hopefully might help future rennlisters:

My problem was that this light was never lighting up. Here’s some things to check:

From there, I followed the directions from the other threads (here, and here) to unlock the immobilizer and set it into the programming mode. Besides following the steps, there appears to be nuance in how you turn the key from Ignition to off. I used a quick flick of the wrist (the “off then on” steps) when counting out the immobilizer code and it seemed to work pretty well. Programmed all three new remotes.[/LIST]
This morning I took the car out on an early Sunday morning drive and it was perfect. Dry roads, no traffic. Feels good to be back in a 993.

And as always, thanks to Rennlist and all of you for your advice in these wonderful forums.
-Jeff

P-daddy

Glad your bumper project turned out well. I'm looking to respray my front bumper and clear bra it also. Did the shop have any issue with paint match? And did they have to blend some new paint to your fenders and hood?

4X4SCHE

I got a $37 fine in Bellevue WA for not having a front plate.

SeaJeff

No issues from what I could tell on matching the paint- I can't tell the difference under flourescents or grey skys. I honestly haven't been able to see the car in full sunlight yet. (It's been a miserably grey winter in Seattle and the past three weeks have been especially dreary.)

They didn't blend the paint.

I'm planning to get the the tow-hitch license plate holder. That's a bummer about the ticket. From what I heard it's sort of hit-and-miss in Washington. Did they ticket your missing plate as a primary or secondary offense?

P-daddy

That's not bad. I got slapped with a $75 fine two years ago for no front tag