The New Official "Things you didnt know about your 996" thread
 

EDIT- I have edited a copy of this thread to remove some of the non tech posts and made it a sticky, Lets post only tech info on this thread. - Thanks to all who contributed!
-- Marc Gelefsky


What are some things that most people do not know about their 996? Interesting little bits of information, odd facts, interesting tricks....LIST EVERYTHING YOU KNOW THAT YOU THINK SOMEONE ELSE MIGHT NOT!!!!


Ill start with a couple..

996 engines are hand assembled
996 NB width = 69.5 inches, 993TT WB width = 70.7 inches
There is a tool under the overhead lights to open/close the sunroof in case of failure.

Phil's former C4S is still in a garage sitting... :)

The 996/997 series are subject to condensation on the outside of the winshield due to a rather stupid design flaw that as of yet Porsche will not admit.

Do you mean like dew in the morning? That's not Porsche's fault.

On "Auto" the AC vent aimed lower middle part of the windshield is on so it gets cold enough for condensation to form on the exterior of the glass. The net result is that you have to run your windshield wiper on a bright sunny day.

Even though you may turn off your AC(manually), when you restart your 996, the AC will return to the AC setting you had on prior to shutting it off.
Just because you had the RMS seal replaced (again),doesen't seem to prevent the same problem from occuring over, and over again...

Here's a fun fact: If you get the condensation on the window with AC on, press the second button from the top on the right side of the climate control unit. It's the one with the oval icon that represents the center vent. It will stop the condensation and you won't have to use your wipers. Works for me anyway.

I didnt know (for a short while) that there is a manual spoiler lift button, and that its press once to raise and press and hold to lower...

BTW, I LOVE that thing.... the spoiler automatically going up on the highway just does it for me... ;)

- There is a light in my ashtray that comes on when I turn the headlights on and I can see this little light shining in there through the seam in the ash tray door when I have it closed. Interesting, my coins need a night light!

- Rim's are not 17" or 18". They are metric and slightly larger then the 'stated' size in inches. For example. Most 15" rims are 15.2 inches. Found this out last night while being taught how to use a wheel balancer machine. When you place the measurment arms onto each side of the rim, the unit reads out the size, (plus all other dimensions). We tried it on a few different rims and they all read (in inches) slightly larger then the 'assumed' size. For whatever old school ease of speech purposes I guess, we have stuck to 'rounding out' the measure of rim sizes in North America.

I wont say this is 100% across the board, so may be just a quirk of my car -

(1) If you fill the tank with the engine running the gas guage will not show full until you drive about 10 miles (or shut the car off, remove the key and turn it back on)

(2) The spedometer is off so that it reads faster than you are driving - almost all 996's from what I hear

cool idea for a thread Fred !

if you push and hold 2 (can't remember now which 2) buttons on your climate control you get a whole series of temperatures - outside, inside, engine, etc.

what year car? (mkI, mkII?) - COOL!

Only works on the Mk1 cars. I use this all the time to get a slightly more accurate reading of operating temps, but there's a long list of other things it tells you. Here's how to do it:

Press and hold in the recirculate and the top (arrow up) buttons on the right side of the panel for a few seconds. The left screen will change. Using the + key below that screen, advance so the display reads 6c. Then press the center vent button once. The display will show you your coolant temp.

To revert to the original HVAC settings, just press 'auto'. For the rest of that drive cycle, you can get the temp info again by pressing the recirc and arrow up buttons again, and the temp will appear immediately. You have to repeat the whole process for the next drive cycle.

Wheel installation guide pin in the tool set. Helps prevent hitting the calipers and just make it easier to put on the wheel.

Ignition Switch on the left side, came from when drivers had to run to the car and start up the car. This allowed them to use 1 hand to for the ignition and the other to put the car in gear.

Jump start the car from the rear compartment. Connectors are in the engine compartment.

There are power connectors in drivers side fuse box. Connect power to this and then you can pop the trunk lid to get at the dead battery.

If you have power seat with memory, you can set the passenger side mirror to tilt down when your put it in reverse by saving your seat memory while gear is in reverse.

Disconnecting the battery clears any codes and forces engine to recalibrate air/gas mixture.

Steering wheel lock. With ignition key in gently tug the wheel left or right to lock the steering wheel in position.

To turn off AC completely, keep lowering the fan level until it turns off.

To lock seat belt into position, move seat back all the way, then tighten up the seat belt, give it a quick snap once and it should lock. Move seat back into driving position. This keeps you nice and snug for driving and the track.

I have some questions for this thread...
 

What are pumpkins?

What are MKI, MKII and any other 996 designations?

- Park any Porsche the furthest spot away from any other car, say a good 1000ft away from any mall entrance: wait 1 hour and come out and see, (often the only other car in the lot) a car parked BESIDE you when there were 900 other empty parking spots they could have used. Fact.