What did you do to/with your 996 today?

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Dgi 07
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Re: What did you do to/with your 996 today?

Post by Dgi 07 » Tue Mar 03, 2020 8:24 pm

5chn3ll wrote: Tue Mar 03, 2020 3:21 pm Battery warning? That sounds positively civilized! The battery warning in every car I've owned to date is audible-only: you twist the key and hear click-click-click-click-click...
Guess it was my "lucky" day. Alternator wasn't charging.
But 12 hours before it was working perfectly.
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DTMiller
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Re: What did you do to/with your 996 today?

Post by DTMiller » Wed Mar 04, 2020 4:56 am

Dgi 07 wrote: Tue Mar 03, 2020 8:24 pm
5chn3ll wrote: Tue Mar 03, 2020 3:21 pm Battery warning? That sounds positively civilized! The battery warning in every car I've owned to date is audible-only: you twist the key and hear click-click-click-click-click...
Guess it was my "lucky" day. Alternator wasn't charging.
But 12 hours before it was working perfectly.
Same thing happened with our Acadia. I fixed it myself a couple weeks ago and the cuts on my hands have almost healed!
2002 Guards Red Targa, Fister exhaust, H&R Sport Springs, semisolid motor mounts
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Re: What did you do to/with your 996 today?

Post by FRUNKenstein » Wed Mar 04, 2020 9:24 am

DTMiller wrote: Wed Mar 04, 2020 4:56 am
Dgi 07 wrote: Tue Mar 03, 2020 8:24 pm

Guess it was my "lucky" day. Alternator wasn't charging.
But 12 hours before it was working perfectly.
Same thing happened with our Acadia. I fixed it myself a couple weeks ago and the cuts on my hands have almost healed!

I now need to replace the same headlight bulb that was burned out when I bought our Acadia in November. I was really hoping that those bulbs would last longer than 3 months. Oh well, at least they designed it so that the bulb is really easy to replace. You totally don't have to remove the wheel well liner at all to get to it, then kneel down and stick your hand 2 feet up into a blind hole and fumble around with small wire retaining clips or anything. :roll:
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1987 928S4, Guards Red
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1973 914 2.0 Bahia Red

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Re: What did you do to/with your 996 today?

Post by gnat » Wed Mar 04, 2020 9:39 am

FRUNKenstein wrote: Wed Mar 04, 2020 9:24 am
DTMiller wrote: Wed Mar 04, 2020 4:56 am

Same thing happened with our Acadia. I fixed it myself a couple weeks ago and the cuts on my hands have almost healed!

I now need to replace the same headlight bulb that was burned out when I bought our Acadia in November. I was really hoping that those bulbs would last longer than 3 months. Oh well, at least they designed it so that the bulb is really easy to replace. You totally don't have to remove the wheel well liner at all to get to it, then kneel down and stick your hand 2 feet up into a blind hole and fumble around with small wire retaining clips or anything. :roll:
Owning a 986 or newer Porsche really spoils you for having to mess with headlights in other vehicles...



Well... At least until you need to replace one of the Xenon housings...

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Re: What did you do to/with your 996 today?

Post by DTMiller » Wed Mar 04, 2020 9:51 am

FRUNKenstein wrote: Wed Mar 04, 2020 9:24 am
DTMiller wrote: Wed Mar 04, 2020 4:56 am

Same thing happened with our Acadia. I fixed it myself a couple weeks ago and the cuts on my hands have almost healed!

I now need to replace the same headlight bulb that was burned out when I bought our Acadia in November. I was really hoping that those bulbs would last longer than 3 months. Oh well, at least they designed it so that the bulb is really easy to replace. You totally don't have to remove the wheel well liner at all to get to it, then kneel down and stick your hand 2 feet up into a blind hole and fumble around with small wire retaining clips or anything. :roll:
Acadia alternator requires removal of wheel well liner, engine cover, radiator cover, power steering line, upper radiator hose. Which gives you almost enough room to pull the thing out the top of the engine bay so long as you rotate it 37 times to allow it to clear some stuff; then repeat with the new one headed back down. Other than that, it's simple.
2002 Guards Red Targa, Fister exhaust, H&R Sport Springs, semisolid motor mounts
1997 MX-5 track car
Friday at the Track, Chin Trackdays, SCCA WDCR Novice Classroom Instructor, SCDA, Audi Club Potomac, TrackDaze HPDE Instructor
June 16, 2017 Funland GoKart Champion (6:13 p.m. main event)
Willing to risk life for track time

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Re: What did you do to/with your 996 today?

Post by gnat » Wed Mar 04, 2020 10:08 am

DTMiller wrote: Wed Mar 04, 2020 9:51 am
FRUNKenstein wrote: Wed Mar 04, 2020 9:24 am


I now need to replace the same headlight bulb that was burned out when I bought our Acadia in November. I was really hoping that those bulbs would last longer than 3 months. Oh well, at least they designed it so that the bulb is really easy to replace. You totally don't have to remove the wheel well liner at all to get to it, then kneel down and stick your hand 2 feet up into a blind hole and fumble around with small wire retaining clips or anything. :roll:
Acadia alternator requires removal of wheel well liner, engine cover, radiator cover, power steering line, upper radiator hose. Which gives you almost enough room to pull the thing out the top of the engine bay so long as you rotate it 37 times to allow it to clear some stuff; then repeat with the new one headed back down. Other than that, it's simple.
Sounds like my old Escape. Except you didn't mention having to remove the passenger wheel, it's axle, unbolting the engine from the body, and jacking up the engine by 6"...

Of course the downside of ripping out the stereo, installing 4 amps, and installing a Mac Mini in the dash meant that I had a short that I could never find and burned out 4 alternators (3 were some serious 250A custom jobs (the factory alt was only like 90A) :(

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Re: What did you do to/with your 996 today?

Post by 32wildbilly » Wed Mar 04, 2020 10:46 am

DTMiller wrote: Wed Mar 04, 2020 9:51 am
FRUNKenstein wrote: Wed Mar 04, 2020 9:24 am I now need to replace the same headlight bulb that was burned out when I bought our Acadia in November. I was really hoping that those bulbs would last longer than 3 months. Oh well, at least they designed it so that the bulb is really easy to replace. You totally don't have to remove the wheel well liner at all to get to it, then kneel down and stick your hand 2 feet up into a blind hole and fumble around with small wire retaining clips or anything. :roll:
Acadia alternator requires removal of wheel well liner, engine cover, radiator cover, power steering line, upper radiator hose. Which gives you almost enough room to pull the thing out the top of the engine bay so long as you rotate it 37 times to allow it to clear some stuff; then repeat with the new one headed back down. Other than that, it's simple.
Why do the current flock of design engineers totally disregard the end user maintenance problem? One would think that would be part of the educational process. Perhaps it is on purpose to force the do-it-yourself people to the dealership for even the most basic of repairs. HHHMMM?
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Re: What did you do to/with your 996 today?

Post by Einsteiger » Wed Mar 04, 2020 11:28 am

I think the designs are purposeful - to drive the labor hours higher for dealer service departments. Dealerships make money from service, not sales, and independent shops also charge by the hour. They win - we lose
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32wildbilly
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Re: What did you do to/with your 996 today?

Post by 32wildbilly » Wed Mar 04, 2020 11:29 am

Einsteiger wrote: Wed Mar 04, 2020 11:28 am I think the designs are purposeful - to drive the labor hours higher for dealer service departments. Dealerships make money from service, not sales, and independent shops also charge by the hour. They win - we lose
Agreed! I think us "Mature" folks have it all figured out! :lol:
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Re: What did you do to/with your 996 today?

Post by gnat » Wed Mar 04, 2020 12:11 pm

Einsteiger wrote: Wed Mar 04, 2020 11:28 am I think the designs are purposeful - to drive the labor hours higher for dealer service departments. Dealerships make money from service, not sales, and independent shops also charge by the hour. They win - we lose
Actually if you talk to techs at dealers, they hate this garbage too as tasks that should be simple and fast turn into multi hour pains in the ass. The SAs hate it because they have to explain to the customer why a traditionally fast/cheap job needs hours and will cost a fortune.

While I'm sure there is degree of "screw the customer" in the designs, it's really mostly about how to cram all the needed items in the smallest space possible.

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