Wisconsin Joe

Well, you need a 'scan tool' to do any real diagnostics on any modern car.

PORSCHEMORCHE

gotcha what would I expect to pay for a scan like durmetric or what brand would you recommend and should I consider a used one? I appreciate you taking your time to help out
Happy New Years

Wisconsin Joe

Durametric Enthusiast version ~$300. It allows you to work on 3 different cars (logs VINs).

http://www.durametric.com/

You can sometimes find used ones with "2 VINs left" for $200 or "1 VIN left" for $100.
You have to trust that the seller is being truthful on that.

Others use the ICar scan tool and report good usability.

I have the Durametric and find it suits my needs.
I have never used the ICar Scan.
A friend owns a shop and has the Snap-On scanner, with 'full' software. It will read my Cayenne - he wanted to see if it would really work on a Porsche and we hooked it up just to see, but didn't really explore all the capability. That tool, however, is not for the DIY'er on a budget.

PORSCHEMORCHE

got it did the snap on recognize? I would like two scans as i would use on the Cayenne and my 996

Wisconsin Joe

Yes, the Snap-On would recognize the car and read it.
Again, my friend owns the shop and got a new scanner and wanted to see if it would work on my Cayenne, just for the heck of it.

But that is the "Professional" one. I think it's the "Solus" model. Around $4k.

deilenberger

Actually - you are wrong - components can fail in an intermittent fashion also (speaking as an old Bell Labs physicist..) Not at all uncommon. What happens when a high voltage spike gets to a solid state device is - it can cause a fault to start inside the crystal lattice that makes up the solid state device. If you dissect the device and get it under a microscope you can actually see the failure. The failure - depending on where it is can grow and eventually cause the device itself to fail.. or it can change a value in the circuit causing the circuit to start behaving erratically.Correct on the not always..And yours was fixed by finding the problem and repairing it. The thing here - the symptoms started after a battery change when a battery charger was used incorrectly to provide backup voltage to the car's systems. Those systems are active when the door is open, and if the power is on.

Could it be bad connections? Maybe - and certainly worth checking, but I'm of a mind that there are damaged components - and they'll continue to cause problems.

As far as how many modules are there? Haven't counted on the 955/957 cars - I did on the 958 and there are about 40 active devices in the system, all talking to each other, and failure of one may cause problems in another - which is why the codes have to be read. He's already reported that the first time the codes were read - there were devices that appeared dead, but revived after having the codes cleared, only to fail again later. That doesn't sound like corroded wiring since clearing the codes will do nothing to fix the wiring.

YMMV - but after he's done checking the connections - he needs to get it to someplace where there is a guy competent with advanced automotive electronics diagnostics. This well may not be a dealer - most dealer mechanics are not "electronics" - they are mechanics. It's rare to find someone competent in both, who can look at what's not working, read the codes reported and do the thinking required to really diagnose the problem. Most dealer mechanics will simply replace a part that reports it isn't working right - rather than try to determine if the problem is the part or part of the circuit surrounding it - or even another module sending it some corrupted data.

deilenberger

BTW - the Durametic vs iCarScan debate? I own both. The iCarScan lives in my Cayenne. The Durametric lives in my toolbox, and hasn't been out since I got the iCarScan. Economically - the iCarScan beats Durametric hands down. iCarScan will do vehicles from 5 different manufacturers of the owners choice. Durametic will do Porsche. iCarScan will do an unlimited number of vehicles from the selected manufacturers. Durametric will do 3 Porsche vehicles, and once those 3 have been connected, it will not work with a new vehicle/VIN#. iCarScan costs around $200. Durametic costs $300. iCarScan has frequent updates. Durametic not so much.

My Durametic has 2 VIN#'s left on it - talk to me..

PORSCHEMORCHE

have you thought how much you would want to sell it for. I follow that if Im only going to use it for my 955 and 996 and sold a car and replaced it with another say...997 the durametric would be toast for the 997 but still work for the 955.But for a couple of hundred bucks I could get a iCarScan can do unlimited cars under one manufacturer like 4 Porsches, Audi, etc. so the limit is 5 manufacturers and any model within that manufacturer.

PORSCHEMORCHE

deilenberger: is it a certainty that by keeping the 2 amp charger on while replacing the battery on the 955 that there was a spike of voltage. Could it be that one might have been lucky in that while the process was going on that the power company kept a steady voltage into my house?
just trying to hold out some hope that I didn't fry every module glass have full kinda guy. By the way thanks for the education it really helps to understand what is a mystery to me.

PORSCHEMORCHE

half full damn spell check

VulcanGrey

when I replaced my battery, I used a jump pack on the charging posts under the hood to maintain power.

which would have provided a constant 12V from a lead acid battery (not from a charger as you did)
The car was fine for 4 days until I drove it on a day when it had snowed, the first time it saw water with my ownership.
Then that morning it threw 15 different faults, with the most serious being steering faulty on the dash and it wouldn't start after that!
I was able to clear the faults with the Durametric and get it running, but then decided to look at those splices in the wiring under the driver's feet.
There were no signs of water (old silty signs, but nothing recent), but that fabric electrical tape felt damp.
The wiring was corroded as well.

Now that I have cleaned up those splices and coated them to make them water proof, I've driven the car in snow, and cold weather down to about 10deg. F, it has been fine!

I'd be fairly certain in saying that the bad splices were leaking current to each other and to the chassis, draining the battery, and causing the ECU confusion. I don't think this was due to dying electrical components, however the corrosion and the stray current leaking could have caused excessive electrical loading, and could lead to premature wear on items like the steering lock solenoids.

If it were me, I'd clean up that wiring, reset the faults, and wait to see if any come back before replacing any modules.

PORSCHEMORCHE

I plan to go down that road whats the worst that could happen ? Does anybody have a suggestion on what model for the iCarScan tool to get? Also DielenBerger what do you want for your Durametric?
If I got a spike in voltage does that have anything to do with fuses in the panel? Or are fuses just for amperage? I will get it some day I promise
Thanks to all for the tip, tricks, and good sense

VulcanGrey

WHen you clean up the wiring, DO disconnect the battery entirely. DO NOT connect any external power source to, no need to "keep" any settings.
Also always remove the keys from the ignition when dis-connecting or re-connecting the battery!

deilenberger

FWIW - I'm about 3,600 miles from my Durametic (I brought along the iCarScan - as I always do when crossing the US contintent..), and won't be back to it for another month probably (no reason to leave California and 70F temps to go back to NJ and 7F temps..) When I get back I'll consider selling it. Probably $200 - since it has two more vehicles left on it.

Anyone interested - send me a PM and I'll let you know if/when I decide to sell it.

oldskewel

OK - makes perfect sense on cleaning up wiring - you don't want any voltage anywhere and no settings are worth burned wires.

But to clarify on just doing a battery swap ... since you used that jump pack, would you still recommend doing that?

I don't have a jump pack myself, but the concept makes sense to me in avoiding any voltage spikes. I would do it just using jumper cables to another battery - both to maintain voltage and to act as a buffer against spikes when detatching / reconnecting.