I've done searches here and elsewhere for info on this issue, but haven't found a solution, so maybe there's somebody lurking that has more info.

Here's the deal. The interior dome lights and the trunk light won't work unless the key is in the ignition and turned to position1 or 2. But, they don't always work, just most of the time. The door lights work just fine.

I stopped by a Porsche dealership to get their opinion, and they took a quick look and said I'd have to make an appointment for them to "dig into it further".

I've only had this car for a week, so I asked the PO about it, and he said that's the way they've always worked for the 2 years he owned it. Interestingly, he did tell me he replaced the ignition switch shortly before I bought the car.

What steps should I take to start troubleshooting this issue?

Thanks in advance.
Mike

 

Have had the same problem with my 1999. Best information I found was the car is in transportation mode and can only be changed by Dealership. I haven’t felt the need to spend the high cost to change it.

 

Transport mode = the car has limited power to various lights and so on during shipment from Stuttgart to conserve battery power. Once at a Porsche dealer, they take it out of transport mode. I have heard that sometimes they forget to do that. I would talk to the Porsche dealer again and ask if they can check that for you.

 

Yeah, I mentioned "Transport/Dealer" mode to the gentleman at the dealership and his response was to just blow me off with something like "huh, that's probably not it".

 

Call around and find a dealer that knows what you're talking about - this is definitely the problem. If no joy, call Porsche America and complain.

 

Have a similar issue I haven’t found a solution to quite yet. My dome light worked with the key off when I bought the car, after a trip to my Indy for a checkup, it now only works with the key on. I haven’t had it back to be looked at yet, but it is a bit annoying. Update us if you get it sorted!

 

Hmmm. So, that's interesting. Do you know all the things they did to the vehicle while they had it at their shop?

 

They did a PPI for me (post rather than pre purchase inspection, since I had a no questions asked return period for the car). , hooked the car up to the scanner to check over revs and cam deviation, mechanical inspection, etc.

My assumption is that it was somehow put into the aforementioned transport mode while the scanner was hooked up

 

I just had my dealer take a look at my 2002 Cabriolet to see if it was in Transport Mode. My interior lights were all working, but just not how they should be in a normal operation of a car. They wouldn't go on when the door was opened, but they would go on when the key was inserted into the ignition and turned to on. Then once started, they would go off. The light in the frunk never went on when I opened the lid, likewise with the engine compartment lid. They had it for about 1/2 hour (once they actually got around to it) and were able to put it into handover, or normal mode. They said they had to jump through a few hoops to do it, as it would have been much easier for the selling dealer to do it. Not entirely sure what they meant by that. My fobs don't work, and the alarm is still inactive. I asked them to look into that as well, but they said I needed to buy a new fob to pair it with the car. Then maybe the alarm might work. I bought a couple from Suncoast, about $100 less each then the dealer wanted. They should be here in a couple of days. I was expecting a $300 bill to get out of the dealership, but they only charged me $57! I'll update the thread with the results of the new fob pairing.

 

Good to hear you had some luck getting it sorted. Mine hasn't been addressed yet, but it's on a list

 

update- I received the new fob heads last week and had the dealership pair them to the car. Now, everything works like it should. The alarm seems to be working as the red LED flashing lights on the dashboard blink when it is locked with the fob. Oddly enough, one of the original fobs I had actually started working once I got the battery installed properly. Someone had previously botched it up by jamming a battery in and folded over the hold down tab. The battery couldn’t make contact with the ground. Once I realized what the problem was, I lifted the tab back up into position, reinstalled the battery and it actually works! So now I have the key blades installed in the newly paired fobs and one functional fob head (the other key fob doesn’t work no matter if the battery is installed properly or not). I’ve got a new key blade (cut) and head shell coming from Fastkeys.com. I’ll install the old working circuit board and transponder in it and I’ll have 3 working keys for the car.

 

So, other projects on the 996 took priority and I'm just now getting back to this.

Turns out my trunk light was just blown, even though the bulb appeared to be fine. Now I'm just down to the dome lights that only work when the ignition is on.

One additional oddity I noticed is that if I turn on just one of the reading lights, it's very bright. If I leave it on and turn the other reading light on, they both are very dim.

I'm guessing that's not "normal" behavior, but would appreciate if someone could confirm...