Doug&Julie

My brother just bought an '03 Boxster. Last night his wife stalled the car and the radio went into "protect" mode. It stayed on until this morning when he started it and it was ok. But then after stopping the engine at work it went into "protect" mode again upon restart. He checked the manual but it basically says he's screwed and has to take it to the dealership.

<img border="0" alt="[grrrrrrr]" title="" src="graemlins/cussing.gif" />

There has to be a way around this? Has anybody had this problem as well? Is the dealer the only option?

<img border="0" alt="[cheers]" title="" src="graemlins/beerchug.gif" />

RandomApex

The car is still under warranty so your brother could complain to the dealer when he takes it in. it's just a hassle.

my wife stalls my 01 also when she first learned to drive it (also burned the clutch during that phase), but we never got the protect mode to come up.

Doug&Julie

The biggest hassle is he lives almost 300 miles from the dealership where he purchased it. There is no dealership in his city, the closest one is almost two hours away.

Looks like he'll be making a trip... <img border="0" title="" alt="[Frown]" src="frown.gif" />

Luv-n-Life

2 Hours! Must be nice...the closest one to me is 3 and half hours away. LOL I've never seen the protect mode come up on mine either...and I've stalled my car a couple of times (relearning how to drive a standard after being in an automatic for too long) I'd be interested in what you learn.

rod j

The radio 'protect' failure happened to me once when I started the car, I live about 5 miles from the dealer and drove directly there. When I got there, I made the mistake of shutting off the car to tell them about the problem. When I started the car, the radio worked and they found nothing wrong. Whatever "validation" the radio goes through at startup had somehow failed but was ok the next time. If it's stuck in 'protect' mode all of the time, I think the dealer is the only option, if it's intermittent, good luck...

Doug&Julie

Thanks for all the input so far. We'll let you know what we find out whenever we find something out.

Here are some comments from other online chat boards....

"I have had multiple problems with my CDR23. At times it will display "PROTECT", resulting in no sound and a "reboot" of the unit. Other times I have noticed, the volume **** would not respond to lowering/increasing??? Hopefully Porsche will find a solution to this, although I would not "hold my breath"... Still a very happy owner of MY '03 S Triple Black..."

"What has been your experience with lead time to get a replacement CDR23? My 03S with Bose is also awaiting replcement. Dealer has ordered from Germany but I'm not getting good status info. Thanks."

"I have experienced the exact same problems you have. My dealer replaced my head unit and I still experienced the problem. After a call to Porsche and a couple months of waiting, the service manager determined that the amp was the culprit. My amp was replaced a couple weeks ago and I have not had the problem since. Hope this helps."



We think its the amp...he noticed when it did work again, there didn't seem to be much oomph to the stereo anymore. Stay tuned... (no pun intended!)

<img border="0" alt="[ouch]" title="" src="graemlins/c.gif" />

Doug&Julie

UPDATE:

Doing more searching, Gregg found this:

"I had a similiar problem with my 03S soon after arrival. The head unit display appeared normal (ie. swapping between different sources and volume changes where indicated OK). I disconnected the optical input to the amp in the front trunk and reconnected it. Problem cured!

PS. This connector is located on the right hand side of the amp under a small piece of trim."

We have done this and it appears to be working ok! Time will tell, but it has gone longer than ever without any problems.

Yeah! <img border="0" alt="[jumper]" title="" src="graemlins/jumper.gif" />