Hammerthrow

So, my 996 was stranded deep in an underground parking garage for about 40 days because I lost my only key (yes, I know, I know, I should have had a duplicate made when I bought the car). It took a forklift and two different two trucks to remove the car from the garage. I accumulated $810 in parking fees. The parking garage manager is trying to sue me because the tow truck supposedly made some scratches on the floor of the garage. Life just keeps getting better!

Anyhow, I ordered two new keys from Germany via the Porsche dealer, showing my ownership papers and ID. A month later the keys arrived. The dealer twice came to the garage with the PIWIS computer/system in an attempt to program the new key codes into the ECU, and failed both times. The battery is completely flat, new keys opened the door without any alarm sounding.

Dealer popped the engine compartment using the emergency cable, and them proceeded to connect the car to a 12V source using the jump points in the engine bay. Alarm went off, dash lit up, and dealer connected the PIWIS system. On both occasions, I was told that the ECU was not accepting the commands to change the key codes.

After extracting the car from the garage, the car is now sitting at the dealer, and has been for a few days. I am still being told "The car's computer won't allow the key codes to be added."

TL;DR: Out of sheer morbid curiosity, what could possibly prevent the Porsche dealer with all necessary equipment from being able to code the ECU for my new keys? Is it because the car sat for over a month and the battery was completely drained? This is a bit worrying, as Porsche are the only people with everything needed to do the job, and right now my car is looking like a giant insurance write off.

sweet victory

Incompetence

Atrox

I bet the parking garage owner sees Porsche and automatically smells $. Very sorry for your troubles, and continued stress. I sure hope the cars not on the $ clock at the dealership as well. I bet your battery is toast from sitting to long and it's not drawing enough juice to properly run electrical components. This should only be a few minutes to program a key. I would drop a new battery in.

Hammerthrow

Thanks for the sympathy. Yes, the garage manager is a greedy opportunistic piece of ****. I'll have to find a way to properly repay his kindness later.

As the original key is gone, the old key-in-the-door and battery connect to fuse box terminal to pop the hood trick doesn't work unless a key paired with the car's ECU is in the door. Hood emergency release cable is behind the driver's side wheel well, and of course the wheel lock key is inside the god damned locked front trunk! Everything that can go wrong, has gone wrong.

The absolute best case scenario is that the car requires a fully charged battery and that somehow connecting the car directly to a 12V source via the engine bay where you'd normally jump start it simply isn't enough to re-program the ECU for the new keys. Another day has gone by with no process.

Being told by the dealer that they can't get the new keys to work is beyond stressful.

Ahsai

Agree with Atrox. Has the dealer tried putting a new fully charged battery in?

Hammerthrow

They are still trying to get the hood open. I guess the body shop may have relocated or accidentally bumped the hood emergency release cable when they were disassembling or reassembling my car after a full paint job two years ago. I've heard you need the key to use the battery jumper hood pop method, but others have told me you don't. I assume if they cannot find the emergency hood release cable, they may have to cut the hood off to access the battery =(

dporto

^Bingo^ ! We have a winnah!!!! Unless you're buying a new car from them, they could really care less... Just my experience

jhbrennan

Wow...what an ordeal - sorry to hear of all this. You don't need a key in the door to pop the trunk. There is nothing in the door lock to electronically recognize a key so any properly keyed blade will open the door. There are two electronic parts of the key - one is the remote transmitter to lock/unlock, arm/disarm, open trunk, etc. Two is the transponder chip that allows the ignition to recognize the key as authorized to start the car.

When trying to open the trunk have you hooked up a fully charged battery to the red connector in the fuse panel (follow the owner's manual instructions exactly)? A dealer should also have a set of master lug lock keys to remove the wheel. If not they can force the lock off allowing you to remove the wheel and access the trunk cable. Once the trunk is open, I'd put in a new battery and then have the dealer use the PIWIS to reprogram everything. Good luck.

Hammerthrow

The car has aftermarket wheels and locks, so the dealer will have to drill or break the locks if it comes to that. When the car was stuck in the garage, I did try connecting a battery to the pull out terminal in the fuse box, and the other cable to ground, but the hood would not pop. Maybe the battery was too small? It was from a Benz Smart Car.

When connected directly to a 12v source, all of the car's electricals come to life; headlights, horn, alarm, dash lights, etc. From what the dealer told me, there is some communication between the ECU and the PIWIS, but the ECU refuses to accept modifications to the already written code.

Unfortunately for them, since Porsche insists on having a monopoly on key programming for their cars, they are basically obligated to come up with a solution to the problem. If it were any other problem, they could simply tell me they can't solve it and to try elsewhere, but this key programming issue, specifically, is a Porsche problem. This is also the same dealer that provided the new keys.

The new Cayenne keys can be duplicated easily using a non-Porsche device. My Maserati key was programmed without the car even being at the dealer. The 996 style key is seemingly designed to make your life hell when you lose it.

Obviously, anyone in this board who does not have two sets of 996 keys should get a duplicate made immediately, before driving the car anywhere. Losing this particular key to this particular car is particularly painful.

FastM96

This could be a teachable moment for all of us to keep the wheel lock key in the glove box (or other accessible place) in the event things go horribly wrong. Since Porsche delivered the car with the key in the frunk we keep it there... but now I'm not so sure that's a smart decision regardless of whether we have OE or aftermarket wheels.

Arch1t3ct

I'm curious, what does a new key cost for a 996?

Triple Black

About $350 for the key and programming.

Edit: From the P-car dealer both in the US and Canada. Ask me how I know.

porsche951

What does the valet key do and not do?

sweet victory

Does your car have any anti theft devices installed?

Hammerthrow

---->Re: how much does the key cost? -It depends on where you are. It also depends on whether you want to piece a key and transponder together yourself using parts from different places. Some people buy the blank on eBay, and the transponder somewhere else, and then have an expert cut the key. If you lose both keys, the dealer will need to cut the key. Some dealers can do this, others will have the key cut in Germany using your vehicle identification number.

I ordered the two key assemblies from the dealer precisely for this reason; if the dealer has trouble getting a key to work that was not purchased through them, they are likely to blame the key and send you packing if they can't get it to work. Though I paid somewhere near $800 USD for both keys/transponder fobs, the dealer cannot blame me for the new Porsche supplied keys not working.

Total damage thus far: $810 in parking fees, $800 in key replacement fees, $200 in tow fees, car still not starting over a month after losing the key. And the parking garage is trying to extort $500 from me because they claim the tow truck scratched the floor while removing my car.

---->Re: teaching moment: Yes, absolutely. Never ever keep your wheel lock key in the front-trunk. Hide it inside your vehicle somewhere else. Also, the emergency front trunk release cable, it is worth relocating this to an easier to reach location. Some people have wrapped it around the tow hook mount area.

And again, get duplicates of your key made. It will be expensive, but no matter what, losing your only key later on will be MUCH MORE expensive. I'm 34 years old. This is my first time losing any type of key. It literally fell out of my pocket on a cold day. I searched for nearly 10 hours. A month later it still has not turned up in any of the businesses I visited on that day.

That being said, I have to give two thumbs up to Porsche's Emergency Roadside assistance program. Though my 911 is 14 years old, they still dealt with it using great care. The emergency roadside tech actually borrowed a PIWIS from the dealer, and a battery charger/12v supply and tried for a few hours to get the keys working on location where the car was stranded. When that failed, he stuck around and helped the fork lift/tow truck people safely extract the car, which took about 6 hours start to finish.