Daveheardt

Hello fellow Porsche owners!

I recently bought my first Porsche, a 2011 Cayenne Diesel, and I like tinkering with electronics. After some research I understand that PIWIS is the dealerships' software of choice but DIY guys more commonly go for the Launch diagnostics tools.

For me the price tag of the Launch tools is too steep (cheapest option +delivery and taxes is north of $1000 USD). On the other hand, I managed to get PIWIS II installed, with databases, and running in Dev mode on an old laptop I had laying around, for free in just a couple of hours. I just ordered a $50 VAS 6154 scanner from Aliexpress, hoping it will work well to at least reset the maintenance on my '11 CD.

While I am waiting for the delivery of the scanner, I am trying to hunt some useful materials regarding PIWIS and Cayenne programming (manuals, tutorials, anything useful really). Figured I'd ask the more experienced people here

So, if you know of any useful PIWIS materials I could use to get acquainted with the software, please share. Once I get things going on my end I'll try to create some PIWIS guides.


P.S.
I tried the search, went through 7 pages of results - didn't find anything like that. If I missed a thread, please point me to it and I can delete this one to avoid clutter.

NightFury

You can get a Launch X431 Pro Mini from ebay for under $600 or less delivered to your door with 2 years of free updates. I was able to got mine for less that $500 by utilizing an ebay discount deal they were running last winter. So it's worth waiting for deals if you have the time. It's been working out great for me so far and has all of the programming features of the larger Launch tablets for less $$. It's a good alternative if you end up not being able to get your PIWIS II working. Plus there is a lot of helpful info in the Cayenne Coding Guide on Rennlist from other members already. There's also some PIWIS coding info berried in there too. Just have to do a bit more digging to find that since the thread is more focused on Launch programming.

You also don't need a fancy bi-directional programmer in order to do maintenance resets. So might be worth looking into one of the cheaper OBD-II scanners that doesn't have as many functions if you just need to reset maintenance intervals. There also used to be some members who are willing to help out with programming if you are local to them. Not sure if they are still doing that or not, but might be worth posting up on that coding guide post if you just need a 1 time programming help to change a few settings.

Daveheardt

You most likely can, I can't. I am in Eastern Europe. When I say that the cheapest option for me is $1000 - you can take my word for it


I did go through that thread but I didn't see any PIWIS, and this is kind of discouraging:
I'll give the thread another read later today, just to make sure I am not missing anything.



I do have a Carly scanner but that thing seems to be just useless and it was just a massive waste of money for me. That's why this time I am not playing around and I am "bringing a nuclear powered submarine to a knife fight" (PIWIS for maintenance reset )

NightFury

I’m sorry, I didn’t realize you were from Europe. That definitely changes things a bit! I think I have some PIWIS threads saved from another forum on my work laptop. They aren’t specifically Cayenne related, but might help you get started. I’ll post them up for you on Monday when I get back into work.

NightFury

As promised, here are some helpful threads on getting up and running with PIWIS:

• Here is a good one on what is needed to get started with PIWIS
  • Getting PIWIS II set up and running as a VM
• And GarageForum has a lot of helpful info for getting PIWIS working as well.
  • GarageForum - Porsche Diagnostics
  • You'll need to make a login prior to being able to access the forum.

I haven't dived into getting PIWIS up and running yet since I have a Launch tablet. But those are the threads I saved from before I settled on using the Launch system.

Daveheardt

Thank you, I will go through them the first chance I get. I already have PIWIS II installed on an old laptop natively (without virtualization).

A fellow forum member messaged me and told me how to get the PIWIS II User Manual. The PDF can be downloaded within the next year:

PIWIS II User Manual: https://file.io/aVnkycDCB8zI

Tarek9xx

Just wanted to let you know that the link is no longer working. Is there another location for it?

Thanks in advance

Daveheardt

Probably someone requested the removal. I uploaded it anew here:

https://www.transfernow.net/dl/20240721RkFzLfxR

Tarek9xx

Thank you very much for the fast reply!

I hope this is not a stupid question, but does the PIWIS measure the refrigerant pressures (live data)? I have a different diagnosis tool that reads a lot of live data, but not refrigerant pressures.
Thanks in advance

Daveheardt

I use PIWIS II. I checked today and I didn't see anything related to refrigerant pressure (but I might've missed it?)

In any case, let's not veer off the "PIWIS Materials" topic, please

Tarek9xx

Thanks for the response and for the answer on refrigerant pressure. And sorry I didn't mean to veer away from the topic. Just trying to understand the scope of what it does for the prospect of acquiring it. Couldn't find that info elsewhere.
Thanks again