Note ... I'm adding edits here to make it easier to follow the troubleshooting and evaluation process. By Edit 4 I'm down to checking a micro switch for the frunk light.

Looking to the brain trust ... 2010 C4S PDK with 135K miles.

A couple weeks ago I had the misfortune of tripping something that triggered the air bag warning light. I suspect it was associated with removing the A pillar trim to better route the radar power cord but it may have happened as I wired in a retrofit satellite radio.

But it's good to have friends with resources ... One of those being a Durametric Pro. So the air bag warning is off now (only after a motor on off on sequence ... After clearing the code and disconnecting the Durametric I initially started the car without removing the key from the ignition and the warning stayed on).

So I decided to play around a bit more and ended up with the following questions ...

1. I went into the alarm and door sections to enable comfort windows for both up and down. There are two lines in the alarm system (one that includes the roof ... C4S). Only the first was enabled. In each door both up and down were already enabled. But the windows neither go down when unlocking or up when locking. So I went back into the Alarm section and enabled the Comfort Windows and Roof option as well. Still no luck. I recall others having problems with this feature. Any thoughts?

Edit 1 ... By disabling comfort up and comfort down in the door sections while enabling it in the alarm section comfort windows work. The sunroof doesn't seem to work with the remote no matter the settings. Not logical but maybe it's in the translation from German!!!

2. In the past I've seen oil temperatures reach 275 when having fun. So a month or so ago I tore the front end apart to clean the radiators and straighten the fins. Monday, on a cool day, during one climb I saw 260. This was a cool day along the coast. That would easily convert to much higher values on a hot day in the altitude of the mountains and on longer climbs. So I tested the fans. They both activate but once they spool up they auto shut off. Is this normal operation for the Durametric? Or is this indicative of a fan problem?

Edit 1 ... Per Bruce's question ... Will try this again with the motor running. More later.

Edit 2 ... This won't happen tonight. Drove a good distance on Monday but the battery only charged to 12.5. Won't start the car today. New battery is due ... Only 11 months on this one but it did take a couple discharges over the last three months.

Edit 3 ... Looking deeper into this it could be the transition from the low speed relay to the high speed relay. If both high speed relays have failed and the Durametric transitions from low to high speed at around 5 seconds this would make sense. If it was a ballast problem I would expect no low speed but high speed would work. Low speed only implies the high speed relay. Will check tomorrow with a full battery.

Edit 4 ... Unlike the Boxster video I watched the 997 apparently does not have relays. There is an infinite speed control box near the right fan that adjusts speed based upon demand. So I'm guessing the start fan command line is merely a rev to speed and stop request.

Edit 5 ... Looks like a run to speed with auto off is how the Durametric works. No fan problem implies temperature of oil is not due to fans. Time to flush the system or add a third radiator.

3. My frunk light no longer goes on when I raise the frunk lid. But it activates with the Durametric. I see no on off switch. Am I being stupid about something?

Edit 2 ... Pelican says there is a micro switch. In the latch? Looks like maybe. Tapped on it to no avail. More research due.

Edit 3 ... The micro switch is in the latch. Will disassemble it tomorrow.

Edit 5 ... Micro switch is operating correctly. How important is this frunk light?!?!

Edit 6 ... I pulled things fully apart. Everything appears good. From what I can tell the micro switch wires into the front computer control box. If I keep the frunk open and set the alarm I get a chirp from the horn. So I know the computer is seeing the switch. I know the computer can operate the light because the Durametric can light it. And I find nothing in the menus that requests that the frunk light stays off. So we're down to a computer logic problem. This happened around the time I had that computer replaced since it was behaving weirdly with the hazard lights ... Hazards off after battery disconnect until after the motor was started and then stopped, and then started again, at which point the flashers engaged and would not stop. So I know from experience these computers can do unlikely things. I guess tomorrow I'll pull the old computer apart.

Final edit ... I pulled the old front computer apart. There appears to be a PCB mounted mechanical relay but as would be expected, no user serviceable items. But I put it back into the car. Flashers are still uncontrollable but the frunk light works. It appears I got a bad replacement computer from my Indie 8(

4. This is the first time faults have been probed in at least the last 100K miles. There were a few communication errors and other various things listed after the short test. The industrial controls I've designed over the last 40+ years stored all errors with time and date. A few faults over time are unavoidable (and meaningless). For the Durametric report there was no indication of time or frequency of these errors. I assume having these errors on the 997 is normal. Is this accurate?

Edit 1 ... Appears to be normal but see 5 below.

Edit 4 ... Seems to just be the nature of the beast.

5. After clearing the faults and retesting I still got an error 8001 power supply failure in the Advanced Weight System as well as an undefined red ! message for the Air Conditioning. Thoughts?

Edit 3 ... This could be because my battery was low. It is charging over night. Will know more tomorrow.

Edit 4 ... Appears to be battery related only. Or just a normal state of affairs.

Edit 6 ... The reset codes selecting is squirrelly. The system can hang up half way through and require a full disconnect to reset. Various codes are set randomly during the test. There doesn't appear to be a specific pattern. Nothing seems to carry any weight. So be it.

Thanks in advance for any insights.

 

2009 C2S 156K miles

You are asking quite a bit here Wayne!

- Regarding the comfort windows... I see you got it. I did mine a long time ago and just could not remember... got my information from 6-Speed. I never got the roof to work, just the door windows.
- Regarding the front fan activation..... I will give that ago again tomorrow, but they never turned off automatically once started by Durametric... but honestly, I don't think I ever really ran them long. Easy enough to try. Is you car running or did you do it with the engine off?
- My oil temps can be all over the place but I only really started to see those higher temps last summer... never had them high in all years of ownership. One odd quirk is that once they go high, they tend to stay high... odd.
- Regarding odd errors, I always get some sort of communications error..... dealer saw these and said they are nothing.
- The 8001 et al errors... sounds like something is amiss.

I will test some of this out tomorrow. Again, car running or not?

Peace
Bruce in Philly

 

Thanks Bruce.

The motor was off. I'll try it with it on. The fans shut of after about 5 seconds. Upon pressing the on button on the computer screen the off button immediately outlined itself.

Looking around it appears these cars do log a lot of random communication errors. Power supply errors pop up with low batteries. And all kinds of errors pop up if you use the remote to lock the car but a door is open. The general consensus from what I've found is that if it didn't show up on the dash don't worry. I've cleared those codes and will see what happens.

Edit ... This is a work in process as I isolate and resolve various things. I will add findings to the original post with numbered edits.

 

Wayne,
I just checked my fans (09 C4S Cab). First - my Durametrics has 3 lines for fans without an explanation of what each line does. I think the first line turns both fans on low because the sound was quite a bit softer than the activation of the next 2 lines. However, I was in the car (cord not long enough) to see if both fans were running. The next 2 lines each activated separately, turn each fan on high, again noise level was the determining factor. In all 3 cases, my fans, like yours, only ran for a a few maybe 5 seconds. I will add when I had my 996 the fans would run until I hit the stop button in the program.

My oil temps have never gone above 250 no matter how spirited I drive or hot it is and if it gets to 250 it comes back down very quickly by backing off just a little. I'm not sure what this means, if anything, just thought I would add a data point.

Plus 1 on Bruce's comment - "I always get some sort of communications error..... dealer saw these and said they are nothing." My dealer told me the same thing. They also said that with the car off, there will be more communication errors than when it is running.

Oh - and thanks for the tip - diable comfort in the door section active in the alarm section - Worked perfectly.

 

Thanks ... I have the same three lines and the same three actions. But I'm not sensing a difference in sound (my hearing has experienced years of abuse!!!).

Bruce made an interesting comment ... Once his car started getting warmer it kept that behavior. If this is a high speed relay problem (one side first, later both sides) that would make sense. Once my battery gets up to charge I'll check the relays and report back.

 

So....

Three fan buttons in Durametric.....
1st one ... slow fan... auto turns off after a few seconds
2nd one ... slow fan... auto turns off after a few seconds
3rd one .... fast fan auto turns off after a few seconds

I had the car OFF... because I could not hear the the fans.... darn lawn services running on both sides of me!!!

I tested my system with the engine on and had my usual errors.... comfort seats error... another "on pin 15" which I found out was related to my seat memory (comfort seats).... and I always... always get that C152 and C150 Airbag POSIP error..... always had it since I got the car... dealer says no issue. I clear it..... retest... not there, and drive for a month or so... error is back. Others have it ... big mystery.

I have had a seat memory problem since I had the car.... button on the door always remember, memory to key sometimes works, sometimes not... mostly not.

Peace
Bruce in Philly

 

Ditto on the above and fault messages seem to just happen.

Connections are the bane of electronics and diagnostics ... There is no such thing as a good connection. In a car, couple that with power supply problems and ground noise.

If tree fault doesn't appear on the dash it probably doesn't matter.

So I'm down to the frunk light that only works with the Durametric. The micro switch on the latch ohms out fine. I'm wondering if this is a logic switch that allows a computer to time out the "on" period. Anyway ... More on that later.

 

Geez, thought I was helping you lending you the Durametric. Looks like I gave you more work!

 

Never give us neurotics any fuel whatsoever.......

Peace
Bruce in Philly

 

Joe ... More work? This is fun. I'm figuring things out.

Who would have guessed that off means on and on means off for comfort windows (well, for the doors section ... Off means off and on means on for the alarm section of comfort windows). And would you expect comfort windows to be included and dependent upon multiple sections (left door and right door and alarm)? It seems like this same inverse logic may follow for the left side drop mirror function. But the right side mirror drop works. I'll need to look into that. When I park straddling the curb in front of the house a drop left side mirror function would be nice.

And if I didn't have your Durametric to realize the frunk light was actually working where would I be?

And fault messages ... I've seen them for years (decades) in the controls I've designed so that really doesn't surprise me. Especially in the noisy environment of a car. But it was nice to see. I suspect these could be filtered out by adding buffers in the Porsche code and I also suspect Porsche has little to no incentive to do so. I've worked hard on my own comm buses to reduce the static with little acknowledgement or reward.

The auto time out of the fans was a bit weird. Especially since it doesn't seem to apply to other models. But that may be due to the lack of relays (infinite speed control, most likely variable PWM) so the intent of the test is different. The first two lines rev either the left or the right fan to what seems to be full speed. The third line operates both fans but doesn't rev them as high.

Now I'm thinking ... Is there a frunk light off coding in the Durametric that could explain that problem ...

And can I reset my old front computer module so that it doesn't uncontrollably turn the flashers on? That would give us a spare.

You see ... Fun!!!

 

And my air bag warning light is off.

Guess I could turn off my service reminder next, although that's never really bothered bothered me.

 

So let me throw a wrench into this - I too have hearing that ---welllll is almost non existent (20 years of flying helicopters). So, with that, I enlisted the help of my trusty assistant so she could hit the button and I could belly up to the fans and hear and feel what my car does (right or wrong). Car was off, all fans ran for about 5 seconds but if you hit the start button over and over in quick succession the fan would run pretty much continuously.
In contrast to Bruce's table:
Three fan buttons in Durametric.....
1st one ... slow fan... auto turns off after a few seconds
2nd one ... slow fan... auto turns off after a few seconds
3rd one .... fast fan auto turns off after a few seconds

My Results: Engine Off
1st Button...... Slow Fan Both Sides.. turns of in a few seconds
2nd Button......HIgh Speed Fan Both Sides.... turns off in a few seconds
3rd Button.... High Speed Fan Both Sides... .turns off in a few seconds
I did multiple attempts/runs - mainly because I couldn't believe both fans ran in all the tests.

If anyone has a diagnostic chart to let me know if my fans are not acting correctly please send it. The car is still under CPO so fixing them should be on Porsche.

 

Pam headed to the garage with me so she could hit the start buttons while I observed from the front. Here's what I found ...

Line 1 ... Turns both fans on. Ramps to slow speed. Shuts off.

Line 2 ... Turns both fans on. Ramps to medium speed. Shuts off.

Line 3 ... Turns both fans on. Ramps to fast speed. Shuts off.

 

Hmmmmm......

Peace
Bruce in Philly

 

Thanks Wayne - Maybe my 2nd button was medium also. That makes more sense than 2nd and 3rd going high.