Steve 96C4S

My lovely little check engine light came on again for the 3rd time in 6 months of ownership and I took it to my trusty independent for the 2nd time. The fault code came up as "secondary air injection, left and right bank" this time. It's been different each of the three times I had it checked, and I still haven't done anything to fix it yet. First, Tischer Porsche said it was the one way valve and the on/off valve so it would cost $1200 to fix them both. They couldn't 100% guarantee this was actually the problem though.

When I brought it back to my independent today (Autotherapy - Gaithersburg MD) they said that when it starts up in the morning it's not getting the extra air - but it's not affecting the engine or hurting anything. Once it's warm, it doesn't hesitate or run rough at all. They thought they'd heard that there was a complaint from 96 993 owners that they run rough at idle or when the car is first driven in the morning. Anyone else had this problem? They kind of jokingly asked me if I wanted to replace the two valves (on/off and one way valve) and I said "No" as it's VERY expensive and may not even be the source of the problem. So, I guess I'll just keep having the CEL reset by them every couple of months and drive off into the wild blue yonder not worrying about it too much.

Anyone else experiencing this? It's kind of embarrassing when my ole 911 can't really take off from a cold start without that bit of hesitation, but I don't want to spend $1000's to fix it and find out it was something else, or that the $1000's didn't even fix it!

Other than that, I leave for Paris, Provence and Nice for 16 days in a week and I feel blessed. The wife has never been to France, so she's in for a treat. Ya gotta love the French and their affair with fine food. Paris may be smog filled and dirty, but it's one of my favorite cities. Magnifique! I'll enjoy not having to drive for 2 weeks and just taking trains, planes and buses. We MIGHT rent a car in Provence for the 4 days we're there in Avignon. Maybe we can get a good deal on a rental Boxster )

Steve R

adsc4s

Steve, you really don't want to take off from a cold start, no matter how embarrassing it may be. You've got to wait until the C4S is good and warmed up.

I'd rather be embarrassed than have a huge rebuild bill.

Steve 96C4S

Hey adscab - thanks for the quick reply.

What I mean't to say was that after the car is warmed for 10 seconds or so, I'll drive down my driveway and head out into the street. When I first accelerate, it will hesitate like I'm using bad gas or something. I'm not accelerating fast, just trying to drive it! It's like this for the first minute or so and then it's fine. I'm NOT revving above 4000 rpm or so for the first 5 minutes. That I at least know!

Steve

STLPCA

Steve
No such complaints from this 96 993 owner. My C2 has always started & idled from cold w/o any problems. In cold winter weather it may have a rough idle for, perhaps, 10-15 sec before smoothing out. I drive the car to warm it up (vs protracted idling), but try to keep revs below 3-3,500 until the oil is warm. However, on occasion when traffic has required brisk acceleration when still cold, there's never been any hesitation.

I might be delusional, but I'm convinced that my regular high rev runs & periodic DEs have improved my engine's performance. I do know oil consumption has dropped over the years.

Steve 96C4S

Thanks Dan for your experience with your 96 -

I DO try to rev it high (close to redline) at least once or twice on my piddly commute into work and around town. I DO try to take it on a long trip out of town whenever possible (once a month or every other month) when I get to drive it quite fast and as hard as conditions permit. I guess unless it gets alot worse, I'll just drive it as is and hope it's condition doesn't deteriorate.

Steve

billh1963

Steve,
No cold start complaints from my '96 C4S. It cranks up smooth (with just a second or so of VERY minor roughness) and smoothes out.

Have you replaced the distributor caps and rotors, yet? I've been following that thread and have been tempted to work on that this week while I'm taking a few days off from work. That has seemed to help at least one Rennlister with a rough idle...probably won't have anything to do with the CEL, though?

EDIT: No problems like the one you describe.

Steve 96C4S

Thanks Bill for you response.

I'm not great at making myself clear so I'll try it one more time. The actual problem isn't a rough idle as I'm sitting there in traffic or waiting for the car to warm up...

The problem: When I first drive the car away from my house in the morning the car hesitates as I'm giving it gas and kind of sputters a bit till "it" kicks in. Then it flies. It feels like I'm driving an old beater with bad gas in it and all of a sudden it finally gets going. Pretty lame when I'm sitting there trying to get out of the way of another car first thing in the morning and it hesitates to the point that it doesn't go anywhere for that critical second. Not the safest way to start off a day if an emergency maneuver is needed just as I head out of my neighborhood.

Steve

Firren

no comments on the '96 idle issue since I have a '95, but regarding Paris...

You'll probably enjoy *not* driving your own 993, given the French driving and parking spirit... When we last went to Nice I was quite happy that we had a rental, since parking garages around the Riviera tend to be quite narrow indeed (at least the ones we visited ...). I would have had panic attacks at every parking, garage entry and exit with my 993 But the food, the wine .... ahhh! J'adore! (I might be biased due to French heritage though)

Rohan Nath

No rough idling problems with my 96 c4s either...

Chris W. - '96 Targa

No such issues with my '96.

-Chris

tvurt

Yup mine does the same thing - I have to cross a busy road out of my development - about 1/2 mile from my house. The car will hesitate if i take it over 3k rpm. This goes away with 4-5 miles when the engine is warm. Hopefully the 30k service I am about to do will correct this.

Mike J

I thought the "secondary air injection, left and right bank" error code was indicative of the carbonization problem that is lurking in the 96-98 993's?

Anyways I do not get any hesitation but do get a slight roughness when idling. I have cleaned my ISV and it might have helped. If I put on the A/C then the roughness goes away. It also seems to be better after a DE ;-)

Sean993

I had that same error code, and my freind just got it on his 96 targa also. It is a $4500.00 fix they have to take the heads off clean and bore the air passages. Your light is going to keep coming on otherwise. They talked about this in european car and excellence about a month ago.

Rick Lee

I have a tiny, very slight hesitation when pulling onto the street out of my parking lot. It only happens when I start her up after a few days of sitting and only last until the first shift into 2nd. I drive my car very hard and she just had a DE too. If you're gonna suffer the dreaded CEL, you might as well make the car work hard for it.

Bruce SEA 993

I have never had any hesitation (Hmmm..."Got the hesitation shuffle, got the hesitation blues. Ah, a little Jorma Kaukonen...sorry for the diversion!!).

My '96 almost never gets short drives...I wonder if that is a contribution. The car is the same after last years distributor cap replacement (didn't need it based on a visual inspection and seat of the pants before and after drive).

I have to drive up a hill that is real steep right out of the lower garage...no hesitation at all.