Hello again,

after just slightly more than half a year of 911 ownership I have, again (see my previous posts) run into some very annoying problems with my 997C2.

Before I get to the point, I believe that some 'prologue' is in order here:

In the course of fixing my spoiler problems for a 'meagre' amount of 3000 USD, my OPC managed to mess up the coding of my vehicle (they probably just forgot), so some stuff like cruise control didn't work anymore. Therefore I brought the vehicle back (already an annoyance as it's quite a trip) so that they would fix the issue. After approximately 3 hours of waiting in the lobby, the chief mechanic brought me back my keys and told me that everything was fixed and that they had never had a US vehicle before (different coding), which had been the reason for the delay and the problems in general. To explain: I currently live in Germany and my car was purchased in the US by the previous owner who then brought the car to Germany with him where he continued to drive it until I purchased it from the dealer he had sold the vehicle to.

Well, I went back to my vehicle, got inside, put the key in the ignition...and then noticed the 15 cm scratch/crack in my windshield, which definitely hadn't been there before (I actually took pictures of the car the day before). I marched right back in and asked for the responsible mechanic. He explained to me that the scratch had been there before, which I promptly denied. I asked for his supervisor who didn't believe a single word I said (they apparently thought I was trying to get a free windshield out of them)...needless to say, I got extremely pissed (I had been fed up with them before, but this was another level entirely). After nearly an hour of constant debates with different OPC employees, working my way up in the 'chain of command', they finally 'budged' and said that they would cover half of the insurance deductible (which isn't that high any way...in fact, it's almost negligible). So this wasn't about the money for me - this was about them trying very hard to bull**** me. At 23 I'm a bit younger than their usual customers, so that may be a factor (they probably don't take me seriously? Or believe that my 'rich parents' are financing my 'hobby' here? Well, rest assured that I've had to work very hard for my 997).

So I had them replace the windshield a couple of days later. In the meantime (and to finally get to the point) another new issue had revealed itself.

Issue 1: When driving over bumps at anything but snail speed my car seems to detect that the rear (engine) lid has sprung open and displays a corresponding warning in the dash. I was (obviously) very concerned when this first happened, got out of the car and inspected the lid to find that it had not opened at all. In fact, I've had the error about 30-40 times now (small bumps are a problem already) and the lid hasn't opened a single time, so it's got to be some sort of sensor issue again. After the error has occurred, I have to open the rear lid using the door sill button and close it by hand, which gets old really quick. If I don't do that, the car uses the horn to get my attention after locking it...not at all embarassing when parking in public. To make matters even worse: the sensor sometimes seems to malfunction even when the vehicle is not moving at all, resulting in the alarm going off (always a fun 'feature', especially at night and also very popular with my neighbours).

I didn't alert my OPC to that problem but when I had the car in to get my new windshield they apparently ran into the same problem and the sales manager seemed very proud when he told me that they had fixed the problem by replacing 'something to do with the locking mechanism' (actual words - translated of course). What part exactly they had changed apparently could not be determined (and I really didn't want to waste any more of my time talking to them). He was especially proud to point out that they did all of this FREE OF CHARGE - 'Well', I thought, 'I'll be damned, they came around after all'.
Unsurprisingly the error occurred again - not even a single mile after I had left their parking lot. I suspect they didn't change anything.

Moving on...

Issue 2: As if this wasn't enough, the replaced windshield has been giving me an extra dose of headaches these past weeks. There's a constant and very uncomfortable 'rubbery' squeaking + some rattling coming from the windshield. Before this, my car was pretty much 100% quiet. There were some rattles here and there, but these were OK, I could live with those...and none ever came from the windshield! But these new ones have been driving me crazy, it truly is unbearable and is the first thing that has actually put me off of driving my car. As this is my first summer with the vehicle, I had initially believed that this is due to 'thermal expansion' or something to that effect, but the problem usually disappears after rain. In fact, moistening the rubber seals with water before driving eliminates the squeaking for some time. Internet research has hinted at any number of causes, including mistakes made during installation (yeah, that doesn't seem likely at all, does it?).


So, sorry for the wall of text, but I do believe that a bit of introduction serves to illustrate my problems better. If anyone has any suggestions regarding these two issues, I'm all ears. Obviously I'm a bit reluctant to get this checked out by my OPC again (who knows what they will break or insult me with next?) and trustworthy independent Porsche garages are few and far between where I live. Therefore all DIY solutions are appreciated!

Thanks for your time!

 

I hope you get it sorted soon.