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How many times have you started your 996 and attempted to pull out of the garage only to realize you're in first gear and not reverse? I know some of you NEVER have the problem, but for those who do, I have a simple DIY solution.
This may not work for every Porsche 996 configuration, but after studying the wiring schematic during upgrading my stereo system, I noticed a line labeled "Reverse Gear". This line is a blue/black wire that is attached to pin #2 on the A connector on Porsche stereo CDR series head units. (see illustration #1) Before spending time and money on such a project, I first tested the output of the blue/black connection with a multi-meter and sure enough, when I engaged the reverse gear, the same trigger that illuminates the reverse lights on the rear of the car, also sends 12V current to the blue/black wire. Therefore, I purchased a simple yellow LED light and using one of the blanks on the center dash, I drilled a small hole and inserted the LED. (see picture)...
The next step is to locate the blue/black (positive) wire and brown wire (negative) for connecting the LED. I first removed the center dash components and located the wire that is connected to the Porsche plug A.
I then soldiered the positive and negative to the wires and reinstalled everything.
Now, when I correctly engage reverse into the proper position, the yellow light will illuminate.
This is a relatively simple installation that shouldn't take more than an hour to install; but again, make sure your system supports the reverse gear indicator by testing the pin#2 wire on Connector A before starting this project. It's my assumption this feature was associated with Porsche's backup sensor option. When you'd engage reverse, the 12V signal tells the radio to mute so that you could clearly hear the beeps. But since I don't have backup sensors, this is a great way to have confidence that I'm in the RIGHT gear at the right time.
Cool little mod. Another reason why the reverse wire would be at the radio would be for a navigation system so it knows the car is going in reverse when using the dead reckoning mode. Most of the time it is in that mode vs. GPS, which is just uses to calibrate itself.
Yeah I'm appreciative of the instructions for this mod but this is a problem I didn't know existed. When I start my car it goes right into neutral before the key is even turned. Then from there I select the gear.
This serves the same purpose as someone driving an automatic and shifting it into DRIVE or other gear. You get a light indicator identifying when you're moving through the various gears (i.e. P-R-N-D-M, etc.).
Last edited by ZuffenZeus; 07-15-2016 at 06:46 PM.
If you don't get... I guess you just don't get it!
The same could be said why there's a need for gear pattern sticker on the manual shifter when the 6-speed gear pattern has never changed for the 996.
Or, why there's a digital speedometer and analog speedometer on the same gauge.
Or, why some P-cars have a digital clock on the gauge cluster and an analog clock on the dash.
Or, why they call it a glove box when no one ever uses it for gloves
Or, why they charge $100,000+ for these cars new and can't design decent cup holders that actually work.
on and on and on it goes...
It's there if you want it, but if you don't care for it, then fine.
To each his own.
Personally, I only had one blank on my center dash and thought it might be a great little mod.
Personally, I've never had a problem with shifting into reverse either, but that's not always the case for other drivers that I trust to drive in my car. It's sometimes painful to watch them trying to pull out of a parking space and having to explain how how to push it far to the left and then up only to see them put it back into first gear again. The light helps.
Another option for the dash blanks would be for my Escort Smart remote. Now there's an idea!
Somewhere I saw an example of someone taking apart their Escort smart remote and installing it in the dash. If I find the link I'll post it. Great idea.
+1 to the Reverse Indicator. Easy way to help avoid a potentially hazardous error.
I will say that if I go to neutral at a stoplight I am always cautious to make sure I don't slam it into reverse instead. Since I have the SSK on my car it does take a little bit of an effort to put it into first sometimes.
So you could argue that in that scenario an indicator light would help prevent some of the second-guessing.
Your points above do make sense too. In fact I don't think I've ever really paid any attention to the analog speedo on my car. Takes too long to figure out how fast you're going. I know Porsche needs to include it because of the classic 5 gauge cluster but it's pretty useless to me personally.
I think we all agree though, great write-up and photos to go along with the job!
07-12-2016, 09:49 AM
Reverse Gear Dash Indicator - Easy DIY Project
