JB911

Also, as far as I remember, when the Lift is working properly, the yellow led on th button lights up solid as the system inflates
Mine was blinking once it started to malfunction-
Hopefully mine gets shipped in this week, it's been a little over 2 weeks so it could be the units were upgraded. I started wondering if the 991 units can be installed on 997s

Larry Cable

yes the led is solid while the lift is operating...

as to the 991 unit being retrofittable to the 997 just looking at the PET diagrams for it, its completely different design ... so I'd guess (hell) no!

I really think you need a PIWIS fault report to determine what component of the unit failed...

I'm not sure what you mean by upgraded, the only difference I see in the PET catalog is the 964/7 pressure switch - I doubt Porsche have made any subsequent changes to a unit that is no longer a current part

JB911

Ya, the PET for the 991 shows a completely different unit.
This is probably why it's taking so long for my new unit to arrive, it's been almost three weeks.
Also, when this first happened I disconnected the battery to try to reset things-
Every time I drive the car, after driving a few minutes(not sure how long)the LIFT Malfunction message comes back on, and once you acknowledge it, the red ! stays on-

For those who do give up/out of warranty, removing the whole thing will probably be the solution, unless the relatively cheap pressure switches can be replaced.
If the unit is removed, and the connectors left behind, then I would think coding has to be done so the car is like the ones that didn't come with the option-

bovien

I think it is the sensor, as everything else works perfectly. I get the amber light in the button, nose is up, I just don't get the green LIFT light, which tells me that the sensor for "lift operation completed" is out. If this isn't the case, it is either the compressor not generating enough pressure, or I have a leak.

Also, as mention in an earlier post, a problem just like this was fixed by replacing two sensors.

It think it is going to be hard to replace the sensors without dropping the unit as the wires go over the compressor in either cable ties or another plastic thing, which I can only feel. Also, the wiring from the sensors comes together in one plug, leaving me to believe that I need to remove the pins of the old sensors to fit the new, and this would be impossible to do without having dropped the unit.

By the way; the pink plastic thingey is filter, so yep, it must be the intake.

So... If I could find any info on how to disassemble the coolant pipes without ripping stuff apart (must admit that I haven't spend much time looking at the connectors), I would try to order a single sensor and do a replacement.
My car is going to Mr. P for service (to get on record for the future, annoying as it is as I can service it myself) in a months time, and here I will ask the GT specialist regarding the coolant pipes, if I do not hear/find any info om the disassembly.

JB911

The part finally came in and I dropped the car off this afternoon. The service advisor led me into the bay to speak to the tech that will be installing the new one. I let them know that friends want to know as much as possible about the outcome. They will not let me have the old unit-since warranty is replacing it it will be sent back to Germany for inspection-perhaps the company that builds it re-builds them?

I asked about the details in testing but he said they will replace it, and I guess there are no testing provisions-I think he said if it was not a warranty case, they would attempt to test for a fault(pressure switches etc)
So unless other members post their results from replacing switches, I'm not gonna know what failed-
Once I get the car back I'll ask if the lines to the shocks were also replaced, banjo bolts, etc-
For those who eventually decide to remove the whole thing, perhaps one day we'll have the necessary info on coding(if needed) once the whole thing is extracted(I imagine the lines to the shocks would need to be capped off too-

Everyone at the dealership was very nice, not sure what happened in the beginning and why there was confusion about warranty coverage since I was still under CPO when I first said I thought it needed repair-
I'll follow up with the guy at PCNA and let them know how things went once I get the car back-
Service Advisor and Manager get Tequila and Scotch

Larry Cable

^^^

after reading the document that Martin posted and inspecting the pictures, as
far as I can tell, unless there is a leak between the unit and the shocks (or the
shocks themselves) the only replaceable parts are the 3x pressure switches
so any other failure (as I listed in my long email earlier) the only alternative
is to replace the whole unit - so any compressor failure for example...

I think given the price of the replacement I would probably simply drop the
FAL if it fails and use the money to buy some cool tractive DDA shocks for the
car and a lifetime supply of cup front lips...

Larry Cable

this is exactly what I am experiencing with my FAL at the moment too...

I agree its the air intake/filter for the compressor...

good luck keep us posted ...

JB911

One more thought just came to mind-what keeps water from coming in contact with the unit/pump/electronics? When you wash your car and it drains in the windshield area, could it somehow work its way down there? I'll ask the tech to take a look just in case.
My car doesn't see much rain, but I do wash and detail

JB911

Searched PET for drain pipes around the windshield, trunk, battery compartment and couldn't find a part number or section in the illustrations, etc.

There was a post I found talking about the drain sections around the battery-could it be water can get down to the lift unit? I'll call monday and ask if the tech can take a look and see if there's any evidence. If the compressor's intake was to ingest water I imagine it would be disastrous

https://rennlist.com/forums/997-gt2-...o-they-go.html

Spyerx

The undertrays keep water off it. It's not water causing these things to fail, a few i've talked to think it is the heat from being, literally, wedged between the radiator water pipes.

If it fails again best to just unplug it and code it out.

93 FireHawk 968

I have a 997.2 GT3 with very low miles and curious if the lift system fails from over or under use. My car is used infrequently and would like to avoid issues described in this thread. Thx!

JB911

I avoided using mine unnecessarily and yet got the failure. A year ago the first dealer "fixed it", no details were given but the advisor said they replaced a "sensor". I assumed it was one of the pressure switches but didn't enquire any further. This time it's being replaced as a whole unit. I suggest you use it normally and if it shows signs of malfunction, get it replaced if you're under warranty.
On the 991 side, I read a thread about a car that had to have the entire system replaced.
Then the owner had to return the next day or so because it wouldn't work-

I imagine I'll get to speak to the tech once it's done, so at least there's an idea of what might have failed-maybe it smells like it's burnt

Larry Cable

+1

its not under-use, my car is 7yrs old with 7k mi on it - FAL is faltering on it,
the only time I used it was to exit/enter home garage

lift still raises, but "LIFT" is not displayed, and the only way to lower it is to
exceed the speed limit for it to undeploy.

Larry Cable

there are only 3 replaceable components (go read my long analysis email earlier in the thread) if its not one of the pressure switches there is no
alternative but to replace the whole unit.

although there really are only a few additional "moving" parts that could fail in addition; the compressor itself and the FAL control unit.

JB911

Also, I will confirm with the tech if he had to take the coolant pipes out of the way to drop the unit-I asked when I dropped the car off and he said he could probably slide it out(probably by turning it or something to sneak it out)
If that turns out to be the case and it's easier to drop it out we can probably do it ourselves(on a shop lift)

Maybe once people start having to buy all 3 pressure switches to single out which one is the defective one, members could sell off the unused ones to other needy members. Somebody will eventually do this I suppose-

As posted a few pages back, I searched online and some dealers have the switches at around $241 each-