Macster

Well, CPO stands for Certified Probably Ok...

I'd walk.

There is always another car.

Sincerely,

Macster.

Number54

^^^ Yeah, very fishy. I mean, I can see this scenario: Owner 1 buys car, wishes it were a Turbo, chips it which doesn't do a whole lot, and trades it back in at Carlsen. Carlsen takes an almost brand new car (a few thousand miles), and is negligent with the ECU diagnostics (or maybe they trusted buying back a car they just sold), and sells the car as CPO'd to Owner 2. Owner 2 has no issues and never knew about this until now.

But yeah, this isn't going too well.

Anyone have opinions about what I should do?

Macster

I'd walk away. There's always another car.

I'm sure you can find with no stories like this one.

Even if you can get Carlsen to replace Ecu and then pull the diagnostics and they're ok you're still faced with the very likely possibilty the engine was overstressed. Generally redlines are raised by this chips.

Plus the diagnostic info might be untrustworthy. How do you know it was *not* tampered with by the aftermarket chip? How do you know the aftermarket chip just didn't bother to record any of the overrev events?

Forget it.

Walk away.

There's always another car.

Added: Look at the bright side: You dodged a likely very big bullet. You get to continue to look at Porsches and dream about what you'll eventually end up. Could have easily gone the other way and not now but maybe soon you'd be posting why you couldn't get a new motor cause well it checked out ok in "CPO" and now it is not ok must be something you did and oh BTW when did _YOU_ *chip* the engine?

Yep, you dodged a big one.

Now get looking!

Sincerely,

Macster.

996FLT6

Just a thought but that red one in texas is looking good. I know it doesn't have ac but u know what- I still think it be $ to swap but I like the analog dials and less weight. My car has ac- my car is pretty much 99% track so removing weight on my car is in the future. Just a thought but I fear it be expensive to swap. Mike

996FLT6

And wtf- what ****ty chip is that that u cant do diagnostics. Mike

Ahmet

I don't think programming (since they're not actually changing any chips) has an impact on diagnostics, and certainly not the over-rev count.-none that I've seen anyway.

I personally wouldn't write off a car due to a bad salesman (as in under or misinformed) if the deal is good enough, though my tolerance for dealing with bs like this is probably higher than most, since I switch cars so often, and have been around dealers/shops from the inside and out.

Good luck whatever you do. I do think there's a good selection of cars out there nowadays, so you've got that on your side...

mooty

this is a 996gt3?
if you pm me more info, i might know who owned this car before.

Number54

^^^ pm'd.

I've decided to give myself until tonight to decide, but in the absence of any more information, I'll most probably walk away. Such a shame.

@Ahmet: I can't explain why the chip impacts diagnostics. I've had 3 chips (none on a Porsche though) and they all reported diagnostics just fine, especially just the OBD2 stuff. Actually the good chip vendors all say the factory can't even tell the chip is there unless they literally crack open the ECU.

Yes, there are indeed a lot of cars on the market. Unfortunately I can't find any good matches within road-trip range of the Bay Area, CA I peruse the usual areas - Rennlist, Yahoo, Autotrader, Cars.com, Craigslist.

996FLT6

Did u actually see the readout from the dealer or just via phone. Mike

Number54

^^^ Just via phone. I have the PPI report, which contains nothing useful.

996FLT6

I think dealer is just protecting their proverbial *** when they found it has a chip. It probably does show type 1/2 but car did not show ne(maybe the 2 owners did not track the car and drove it like a grannie or babied it)so if your engine blows it's not their fault. Does the aftermarket durametric scanner show type 1/2 overrevs? Mike

996FLT6

Hopefully Mooty does know the car and it's history. If the chip is just programming from giac or revo that can be reversed back to normal programming via obd2 outlet. If the other type where u have to send off dme- that's a another ballgame. Piggybacks are easy to bypass too but pretty certain not the case esp porsche. Unichip is a piggyback type chip but u can see as soon as u open up the rear gt3 logod carpet. Mike

996FLT6

And like I mentioned before hopefully the chip is not related to the nonstart issue. My unichipped 996 c2 engine would shut off from a 4/3 downshift. Chip is only as good as who's tuning it. Mike

Kevin

With these engines getting on with miles.. I strongly recommend paying for a leakdown test.. A good technician will weed out the poor results.. You either have good numbers or you don't..

Any Type 2 overRev's on a GT3 should pass/go directly to the leakdown gauge.

Quality two gauge leakdown testers are "VERY" good and accurate. Fill the cylinder to 100 PSI and check the gauge % of leakage.. Where is the air going to go??? Intake valve, exhaust valve, or piston rings.. It's as easy as that.. If you get a dead hole, roll the engine over slowly and inject a little air into the cylinder to clear any carbon that might be on a valve seat.

If you are in still worried about that dead hole, grab a bore-a-scope and take a peak into the cylinder with your scope.. Yes, the good shops have scopes that will check valves and pistons..

Call your local dealer and ask what the cost is for a factory reman engine (not a 996NA) Spending your money on a leakdown test is cheap insurance.

Number54

Thanks everyone. Good info.

So here's the latest news... I still have to confirm this for myself, but apparently Carlsen says the car is not chipped! And they managed to pull the diagnostics info. So it seems that I might still end up with a nice gt3 soon! I have not seen the Carlsen PPI (if one was done), so it's still in the air.

What would you guys do? Should I really pay for a PPI that the dealer didn't perform, at least not fully? I'm tempted to call them up and let them know my feelings about the value of their service. Did I just get ripped off?

Thanks.