PCCM Plus Woes + Upgrades
#61
Track Day
I am having a similar issue. The unit has started crashing frequently and rebooting itself. Also my volume **** and other physical button inputs now have a massive 3-5 sec lag before they register any effect. The touchscreen doesn't have this lag. If I try to do several inputs quickly (ie roll the volume up and down) the unit crashes before it even has a chance to react. Not even sure what do to about this; my local dealer doesn't even know what to do with these things.
#63
I'm going to have one for sale here shortly! I installed it. Got it working. The volume in android sucks, some of the controls sucks, doesn't interface with the can bus and lost all the trip information that was on the pcm. Poor unit all around. Going to go with a sony marine head unit and the gt3 delete.
#66
Track Day
correct. After installing the unit last year I took it to a Porsche Center as it was not working correctly. Turns out that a part was faulty. When they replaced that, they must have played with the settings as well and since it was running fine for 20-30min each time, they did not check. I looked a long time for a solution to the problem and was checking that setting more out of curiosity as I would not have expected it to be left in the wrong mode
#67
correct. After installing the unit last year I took it to a Porsche Center as it was not working correctly. Turns out that a part was faulty. When they replaced that, they must have played with the settings as well and since it was running fine for 20-30min each time, they did not check. I looked a long time for a solution to the problem and was checking that setting more out of curiosity as I would not have expected it to be left in the wrong mode
#68
Rennlist Member
I'm going to have one for sale here shortly! I installed it. Got it working. The volume in android sucks, some of the controls sucks, doesn't interface with the can bus and lost all the trip information that was on the pcm. Poor unit all around. Going to go with a sony marine head unit and the gt3 delete.
#69
Nordschleife Master
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#70
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Pretty sure the bose question is to about the ground pin on the wiring harness to the amp. The old DSP panel turned the amp on and off with a ground. If you remove the DSP panel, you have to ground one of the pins to get the amp to still work. I had that in my 986S.
I installed this PCCM+ in my '99 996 (replaced PCM1.0) and honestly it was a mistake. Everything phone related is too quiet. When I'm using the radio with the top down, my volume is set at 15/30. When I'm using bluetooth or usb my volume is 25/30 with the "loudness" option on. Some people suggested changing the volume on my phone. My phone volume has no effect on the android auto, and doesn't make it any louder across bluetooth. I'm going to remove it and put in a gt3 delete and a marine head unit and be done with the whole damn thing.
I installed this PCCM+ in my '99 996 (replaced PCM1.0) and honestly it was a mistake. Everything phone related is too quiet. When I'm using the radio with the top down, my volume is set at 15/30. When I'm using bluetooth or usb my volume is 25/30 with the "loudness" option on. Some people suggested changing the volume on my phone. My phone volume has no effect on the android auto, and doesn't make it any louder across bluetooth. I'm going to remove it and put in a gt3 delete and a marine head unit and be done with the whole damn thing.
I'm going to have one for sale here shortly! I installed it. Got it working. The volume in android sucks, some of the controls sucks, doesn't interface with the can bus and lost all the trip information that was on the pcm. Poor unit all around. Going to go with a sony marine head unit and the gt3 delete.
#71
Drifting
I'm wondering if some of these issues are software based. I know the trip meter reset issue is and that there is an update available. Getting that update is the issue and I'm not to keen on paying an hourly rate at the dealership for it. Granted they have a clue about it. One of my dealers didn't
#72
Something is not right because the CAN bus should be recognized. Going to an aftermarket units won't solve any of your problems. The Sony won't interface with Porsche Canbus channel nor will it perfect fix for the phone with the convertible down. I installed an aftermarket unit in my 03 cabriolet and it was almost impossible for the other people to hear me. Too much ambient noise.
The Sony matches the amber interior lights of the 996 and is nice and loud. I lose Navigation (never bought the maps), android auto (sound is terrible), and instrument cluster display (never had it). I'll still technically have hands free calling, but I don't want to talk to anyone while I'm driving anyway.
To answer the question about MOST compatibility directly, yes. The suncoast parts package has all the adapters for just about every possible 996 configuration. There is a most adapter, and since that's a digital output it should eliminate the issues I'm having with the onboard amp. I really think that Porsche designed this version of the PCCM+ for the MOST 996's. And rightly so, since I'd guess most 996's use the MOST system.
Last edited by armoden; 07-06-2023 at 02:20 PM.
#73
Rennlist Member
I guess my question is when you sell it does it include the PARTS to connect to the MOST system?
#74
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Your 03 has a most bus, that's completely different animal than my 99 cab with hifi. The can and most are two separate systems entirely that get mixed up with the description of this head unit. The PCCM+ doesn't read from the can bus, so it displays no car information. It sends audio information to the instrument cluster via the canbus, but the '99 cluster doesn't display radio information so that function is moot. The PCCM+ has an amplifier and a fiber optic converter (MOST). In "can" mode (vice amp mode) it is outputing a digital signal to the fiber ring (MOST) which newer 996 amps use to produce sound. In amp mode it is directly driving the cars speakers with it's own amp, or it is supplying an analog audio signal to the analog amp. Your car has the MOST ring, so the speakers are 100% driven from your amp and the volume with be normalized across all the possible inputs. The PCCM onboard amp is not normalizing analog audio outputs correctly. I think it's mostly an issue with a poor amp in the PCCM.
The Sony matches the amber interior lights of the 996 and is nice and loud. I lose Navigation (never bought the maps), android auto (sound is terrible), and instrument cluster display (never had it). I'll still technically have hands free calling, but I don't want to talk to anyone while I'm driving anyway.
To answer the question about MOST compatibility directly, yes. The suncoast parts package has all the adapters for just about every possible 996 configuration. There is a most adapter, and since that's a digital output it should eliminate the issues I'm having with the onboard amp. I really think that Porsche designed this version of the PCCM+ for the MOST 996's. And rightly so, since I'd guess most 996's use the MOST system.
The Sony matches the amber interior lights of the 996 and is nice and loud. I lose Navigation (never bought the maps), android auto (sound is terrible), and instrument cluster display (never had it). I'll still technically have hands free calling, but I don't want to talk to anyone while I'm driving anyway.
To answer the question about MOST compatibility directly, yes. The suncoast parts package has all the adapters for just about every possible 996 configuration. There is a most adapter, and since that's a digital output it should eliminate the issues I'm having with the onboard amp. I really think that Porsche designed this version of the PCCM+ for the MOST 996's. And rightly so, since I'd guess most 996's use the MOST system.
#75
The variety of possible instrument clusters in the 986/996 is staggering. I replaced the one in my '00 boxster and there's seriously 20-30 different variations. The issue is the pre01 clusters have a slightly smaller LCD screen compared to the 01 and up dot matrix screens. The center LCD screen has 2 rows of digits, one for speed and a second for computer data. It can only do numbers, it doesn't have the resolution to do text or station names. So any output data (station names/song titles) from the PCCM to the cluster is wasted. The original PCM 1 read canbus information to display trip stats etc, and I believe a redundant AC display. The PCCM+ doesn't and doesn't even use those connectors. I sort of expected that level of integration from what was billed as a modern upgrade to the original PCM. It's closer to an ok chinese double din display with a porsche label slapped on it and a ton of adapters to mostly fit all 30 variants of 986/996 out there. The adapters part is impressive, but the actual unit isn't. I think it works well for the 996.1 and 996.2 but there's a very limited number of 996.0s that were not tested for.
Last edited by armoden; 07-07-2023 at 11:41 AM.