jcnesq

I Noticed a kind of knocking sound the last few days, so took the car in today, and it seems the rear sway bar was a little loose. Mechanic tightened up the nuts and that seemed to fix the problem. Don't know if this will be common or if Hans was hungover when he assembled my car, but if you have your cars in it might be worth having yours checked (takes about 1 minute to tighten the nuts).

Also installing the child seat airbag deactivation kit. The part is definitely available now in the U.S. Seems its a big PIA to install - they had to remove the passenger seat, panels under dash, and do a fair amount of wiring hookup. Its taking so long I had to leave the car overnight , should be ready sometime tomorrow. Don't know the labor cost yet, but I'm sure its not going to be cheap. I'll let you know tomorrow.

Bitsa

Hey Jim

I had a loud "clunk" knocking noise a couple of weeks back, I have some long, gentle speed bumps where I live and heard it first when going over one (slowly).... I used to drive over the same bumps at 40mph in my 996... but I drove over the same bumps in my 997 at 20mph... and Clang !

I'm sure I did'nt hit the bumps or ground the car... absolutely positive of that !

I had the techs at my dealer put the car up in the air to take a look... nothing !

Of course the dealer was trying to say I'd damaged something, but they found no evidence of any impact or damage...

I've heard the same noise once since.... driving over a small dip in the road... no visable damage underneath (I've had my head underneath a couple of times now looking with a flashlight... nothing).

So, maybe I have that same sway bar problem too ? I'll ask them next time i'm at the dealer :-)

Anyone else heard something like this ?

.

dhud

Bitsa,

I had the same clunk in the rear when I went over speed bumps. It's the drop links on the rear sway bar more than likely. Have the dealer take the drop links for the rear sway bar off, rotate the bar up and out of the way, and drive around the shop parking lot. The clunk will probably disappear. This is what happened with my car. The mechanic then put the old drop links on and re-torqued them which made the sound less noticable but still present. Therefore, new drop links were ordered and once installed the clunking is now completely gone. I inspected the old drop links and they looked fine but that was obviously the problem.

One funny note, the Porsche mecahnic was actually stumped about the sound. A Jaguar mechanic walked over, asked what the problem was and stated he was good at finding clunks and thunks because he worked on Jaguars. He diagnosed my problem in 5 minutes.

jcnesq

Child Seat Update: The dealer couldn't finish installing the child seat deactivation kit because PCNA doesn't yet have the required software, so I got the car back with the parts and have to go back in "a few weeks" when they get the software.

The part was $241. They are going to charge me $330 labor but not until they finish when I go back (which actually seems reasonable since it is a lot of work to install this thing).

Father of 3

Is this an OEM part? If not, did you consider what www.airbagonoff.com offers? I think all in my install cost less than $250.

jcnesq

It's an OEM part for the 997 (part # 997-044-800-10). It includes a key operated on/off switch which mounts on the passenger side inside the door jamb (right side of dash), so its only accessible when the door is open. In addition to the switch and wiring harnesses, I think the kit includes a new panel with the cutout for the switch.

While its on the expensive side, I would always prefer OEM integrated with the car's computer to an off-market part. I assume there will be a warning light when starting the car to remind you that the airbag is deactivated (like the 996 had).

Bitsa

Hey "Dhud"

Thanks for the advice !

Maybe we should take our 997's to a Jaguar dealer for squeaks and noise problems then !