I have missed having a PIWIS Tester since retiring from Porsche and having used one for decades daily ...I have been getting along with a Durametric ( good tool by the way) and have a ELM37 Dongle with an Torque App on my phone for travel ect....But have missed the in-depth Power of the PIWIS Tester..

I have seen the Chinese Clones but have been hesitant about them for several reasons ( mainly moral ones)...

I recently bought a Genuine Samtech Piwis 2 VCI from a fellow Rennlister ( Mark Davis) who had an extra one after getting his PIWIS tester running..And now I have finally got my system working using a Toshiba Satellite laptop with an i3 processor running on a Virtual Machine ...

I am not a computer geek, but I have written a couple programs in C++ for Arduino that even impressed some computer geeks in the Arduino Forum when I was developing my digital oil temp gauge for my 996. It was a very elaborate program that started by displaying Por-SCHE in start mode then switched to oil temp on a big reed display in the center console .....( Coopducks Gauge is more practical / less conspicuous)..It was one of the first and a fun project but not something I wanted to commercialize... Video below


The PIWIS is the most powerfull tool you can have for Porsche vehicles, to get information, change coding, reprogram control units, diagnose hard to fix problems.....and is also helpful in just routine maintenance like bleeding ABS systems, trans fluid changes on Tiptronic cars...Convetable top problems, and alarm control issues...

Here is the video of me poking around on the PIWIS 2 when I first get the PIWIS up and running and just getting re-acquainted with it after a long sabbatical....



I probably made every mistake possible when trying to get this system to work, I had to totally erase the hard drive and start over at least 10 -15 times. and each time would take a few hours..But I have even more Electronic Tools now and can even clone hard drives..
If you are dead serious about Testing/Diagnosing your 996, the PIWIS is the only tool for the job...

 

I’ve been tempted to get a PIWIS.
I’d like the extra diagnostic capabilities.
One thing I would really like is to change my doors to lock when I drive off.
I know it can be done, but I’ve never seen any instructions.
Do you know if that is easy to do?

 

Yes, it's very easy, just crank up the PIWIS go to 996 diagnostics, then to alarm control, then to codeing, then select from the programs 1-4 , each one is different in locking and re-locking and relocking after drive off...They are not explained in the tester what the different programs do, but it is in the owners manual tells what each program does specifically...

 

That would be the owners manual for the PIWIS?

 

The regular 996 owners manual .......page 22.....

Automatic door locking Your authorized Porsche dealer can program diverse types of automatic door locking in the control unit of the central locking system: Type 1 Doors lock automatically when the ignition is switched on. Type 2 Doors lock automatically when a speed of 3 - 6 mph (5 - 10 km/h) is exceeded. Type 3 Doors lock automatically when the ignition is switched on. If doors are opened with the engine running, they lock again automatically when a speed of 3 - 6 mph (5 - 10 km/h) is exceeded. Type 4 The doors do not lock automatically. Note Automatically locked doors can be unlocked with the central locking button or opened by pulling on the inside door handle twice. f On vehicles with the Sport Chrono Package Plus, the PCM can be used to activate automatic door locking. Please observe the chapter “Individual Memory” in the separate PCM operating instructions. Warning! In an emergency situation where you need to exit the car through an automatically locked door, remember the following procedure to open the door. f Unlock the doors by pressing the central locking button or f pull the inside door handle twice to open the door.

Also described in the Workshop Manual under Group 0 diagnosis page 90-D-65

 

Haha, I totally did not expect something like that to be published for the general public to see. I thought they would have kept it hidden in a special manual for dealers. It certainly shows I didn’t read the manual too carefully!

 

I would love a PIWIS II as well. Skip - what actual hardware do you suggest of the various clones? And would you supply a clone of your hard drive to assist?

Actually - Skip - this may be another opportunity for you...

-Tom

 

Ditto

 

To do this as an additional project I would want to send it as a full package to ensure it all has been tested and works...

I would source the best PIWIS 2 VCI ( meaning a Genuine Samtech HSX VCI ) and a "fully rugged" Laptop like the Getac B300 G4 with a min of the Intel i3 processor...

The Toshiba Satellite is a "light duty" laptop ( even though it has the needed Intell I3 preocessor ) that will break if dropped, and the hinges are known to break just with normal use..

I think the PIWIS 2 tool deserves a dedicated device to preserve it functions for a long long time...

 

The hard drive cloning software I use is called "DiskGenius" it is free to download....you can also get PIWIS software for Virual Machines downloaded from the Net....or you can get hard drives with the PIWIS software already loaded on them......

Like I say I am not a computer geek and haven't used all of these, but my hard drive is for Toshiba Satellite C655 laptops and probably won't work on other models without re-configuring......but I am happy to clone it for you ..

 

I have published the coding for PIWIS 3 in the 996 Turbo forum here https://rennlist.com/forums/996-turb...is-coding.html.

 

PIWIS is also reeeeeeal nice if you want to do a tip to manual swap properly

 

Question for the group. I have disabled the rear spoiler warning with PIWIS for testing purpose. Any reason why some still used the harness to get rid of the warning? TIA

 

I have wondered this same thing about using the original harness but disabling the warning light.

 

It's just a redundancy during manufacturing ...

The Engineers tasked with programming the instrument cluster knew there was a different model with a fixed wing and provided the option to turn off the spoiler function...

The Engineers tasked with crating the wiring harnesses created a harness for fixed wing and one for articulating wing...

One or the other can disable the wing function, but it takes both correct ones for the articulating wing to function..

Raising the spoiler and turning it off with PIWIS was the first thing I did to Sally when I got it 2 decades ago...I really never liked the non-aero "silhouette" with the spoiler down...much preferred the spoiler up look and felt the Taco was bit too conspicuous..