These days there’s simply too much going on to devote time to cars. After thinking things over carefully I decided that it was time to let the 911 go.

After getting the car back from EVOMS earlier this year I had a blast driving it. Eventually the fuel trims spiked again though- that was frustrating since it was supposedly fixed (dealing with EVOMS… that’s a story). But, after resetting the car’s ECU, I had an almost issue free month. I wanted to go out on a high note so I put the car on eBay. It’s headed to a Reno dealer (with issues disclosed) where I hope it finds a wonderful home.

Looking back this was my favorite car. Nothing else compared to it in terms of drivability and handling. It was sexy, the speed was satisfying, the sunroof was fun on evening drives and the stereo became my favorite over time. Sadly, the experience will always remain somewhat bittersweet. Nevertheless, childhood dream fulfilled. Good bye 911!

I took the car to Ken Garff (for an inspection) and that’s where it was picked up by the buyer.

In the end I just wasn’t able to let go of the 911-  it was just too enjoyable. Despite some fine work on our end one final problem persisted – the car continued to report that the air going into the engine exceeded the air being measured by the mass airflow sensors (long term fuel trims would rise along with a P1095 code, as reported by an OBDII scanner). It was only present periodically and didn’t cause any driveabillty issues but I’m a perfectionist. There was nothing more we could do on our end and so it was time to send the car back to Evolution Motorsports.

EVOMS found a couple of air leaks, but the car’s issue persisted. The current theory is that one (or more) of the injectors has an issue and the correct amount of fuel is not getting injected into the engine (which would produce a lean condition, as reported).

To make sure there was nothing else amiss EVOMS removed my engine for further inspection. More air leak testing, new plugs and new injectors (maybe I should have had them build the engine while it was out…). Nah, my only regret is my recent oil change 😉

I have hypothesized that the car’s DME (computer) might be faulty. Some of the things I’ve seen are hard to explain any other way. I’ll be curious to see how this turns out and what they find! The ground on my end is covered with snow at this point so at least there’s no driving downtime.

After I see where we’re at on the 911 and I have recovered a bit from the holidays I’d like to get my car ducks in a row. Maybe ship off the Vette to a high end performance shop and have them do a few more upgrades (I’m like an addict…).

Ah, the 911. We’ve had some good times and we’ve had some bad times. It’s kind of a love / hate relationship for me. In the end I think it’s time to move onto something else though, especially since the Vette is just about ready (post coming next week). In order to get the car ready to sell I’ve had to sort through quite a few issues but I think she’s ready to go.

The biggest issue, of course, I’ve already mentioned in a previous post. The tune was rewritten and solved pretty much every one of the aggravating issues I was grappling with (emissions, long term fuel trims, air leak codes, etc). And I think I’ve finally got almost all the other bugs worked out now too.

The TPMS system in this car periodically acted up informing me that I had a flat tire. Sometimes the warning went away, sometimes it persisted. Resetting the car’s TMPS system occasionally helped but just as often it didn’t. I had new sensors installed when the car was in Arizona so everything was troubleshot remotely.

At one point I had them mail me a new sensor and that’s when I discovered that I had aftermarket ITM sensors and not OEM. Nevertheless I installed the replacement sensor but the problems persisted. I was sent OEM sensors that turned out to the wrong ones (after they were installed). In the end I went to my local dealer (Ken Garff Porsche) and they were extremely helpful and got me the correct sensors (997 606 021 01). After having these installed all the issues have cleared up.

The Interstate battery in the car wasn’t holding a charge correctly (as indicated by my CTEK). I also noticed that the vent faced the strut brace and there was acid covering the battery pan (I don’t know if it was from this battery though). I neutralized the acid and carefully cleaned everything and then replaced the old battery with a Duralast Gold 94R-DL.  The 94R-DL has the correct oriented vent and more cold cranking amps (765 vs 700 – the more the better). I was hoping this would help overcome the crank sensor gaping issue and I think it actually has done a lot to improve it.

After changing the battery I immediately got a P0154 code which indicated that an 02 sensor had failed. Quick info: the 997 has two 02 sensors on each bank, one before the catalytic converter (sensor 1) and one after (sensor 2). As you stand behind the car bank 1 is the driver side and bank 2 is the passenger side. Anyway, looking at real time data the 02 sensor seemed to be “stuck” (02 sensors should fluctuate as their reported voltage shows lean or rich conditions). When I unplugged the sensor and plugged it back in it seemed to work for a few minutes. I picked up a set of 02 sensors from Ken Garff and scheduled an install.

As a quick aside- if you don’t have a handheld scanner of some kind I’d recommend one. I recently picked up this excellent Actron CP9575 (you can get it for less than $100) to keep permanently in the 911 and it’s come in very handy. Keep in mind if you want access to real time data (i.e. 02 sensor voltages) that not all scanners have this feature.

Anyway! Down to RaceCo I went to have the 02 sensors swapped out. I always have a good time there- great guys. Unfortunately on my trip home it became apparent that the swap hadn’t solved the problem (and it’s not easy to get to those sensors!). To add injury to insult the long term fuel trims started to max out again. As I mentioned this issue cropped up right after putting in the new battery and I began to suspect that the real problem was electrical.

I checked continuity on the new sensor and it was fine. I worked my way through all the wiring back to the DME and decided that must the problem. I unplugged everything, let it sit for a couple of minutes and then plugged it back in. I fired up the car and noticed the 02 sensor in question was cycling a lot faster. I test drove the car and everything seemed to be working correctly. Even after about sixty miles the issue seems to be completely resolved – no codes, long term fuel trims are stable and there’s no hint of anything out of whack.

Here’s the current theory: The car has an aftermarket stereo and part of the system is a capacitor. Even with the battery totally disconnected the trunk light will stay on for a bit. It’s possible the DME is still getting power even w/ the battery out and as the voltage to the DME drops (as the capacitor discharges) is starts messing with the computer. Since the computer never fully loses power any problems the lower voltage causes are retained unless the computer is physically disconnected from it’s power source. I think it’s crazy that and electrical glitch can imitate a faulty 02 sensor, but there ya go!

And I replaced the floor mats in the car with new Lloyd’s mats. I’m not sure what was in there before (pic to the left) but it didn’t fit well. There are clips that are designed to hold the mat in place but the ones on the old mat were too big and the mat would slip under the accelerator pedal. New mats, right size clips, better fit and I like the Porsche logo running across them better.

The car and I went for a drive and I busted out “Must Have Been Love” by Roxette

It must have been love but it’s over now.
It must have been good but I lost it somehow.
It must have been love but it’s over now.
From the moment we touched, ’til the time had run out.

And some “Already Gone” by Kelly Clarkson.

I want you to know
That it doesn’t matter
Where we take this road
But someone’s gotta go
And I want you to know
You couldn’t have loved me better
But I want you to move on
So I’m already gone

Looking at you makes it harder
But I know that you’ll find another

I’m ready to let  it go (of course a part of me doesn’t want to). I think I might have a buyer for the car. I sure hope he appreciates all the hassle I went through to get it ready for him.

Finally some good news! I was about ready to pass the Porsche torch but EVOMS and RaceCo encouraged me to push on. I relented and agreed to a few more rounds of troubleshooting. Once we reached the point where there were simply no more obvious mechanical issues I felt like we needed to explore the tune again. Ian at EVOMS seemed to agree:

My thought process behind this is that we may have made a mistake, or something may not be compatible along the way that is in your current file. This car was modified by us from day one for [the first owner], then modified a couple more times in his possession, then modified again for [the second owner], and finally again for you. We do our best to make everything 100%, but when the car has been touched so many times, something may have happened along the way. Imagine a photocopy of a photocopy of a photocopy… sometimes things end up blurry in the end. That is why I wanted Todd to start fresh.

Once the new tune was loaded and the ECU reinstalled I went up to RaceCo to do my usual breaking. They had driven it about 35 miles and said things looked pretty solid. I put on another 60 miles while running the car though driving patterns that usually caused the long term fuel trims (LTFT) to max out. The LTFT did rise a bit but they actually stabilized and I even saw them drop a little. The car ran flawlessly and there were no ominous foreshadowings present.

I took the car home and over the last few days I’ve put another 100 miles on it with no problems. LTFT are still stable! I think – knock on wood – the last issue is finally resolved. I wish the tune had been considered sooner, but I take comfort in the fact that RaceCo fixed a lot of little things (i.e. repaired leaks, new check valves, rebuilt blow of valves, etc) and I know the 911 is in superb mechanical shape. All things considered I feel like EVOMS had my back and really made good faith efforts to help me trouble shoot my issues.

But I do feel like the car should have been delivered to me in the condition it’s in now. If I sold it tomorrow the new owner would get a car in perfect working order and would experience nothing but pleasure. Unfortunately my experience has been tainted by all the stress and extra effort of getting the car to this point. I have a lot of other projects I want to work on and even with the Porsche back in commission I don’t think I’ll drive it much. The future is unclear right now; I don’t know if I’ll keep the car or sell it.

In any event, I was in a much more optimistic mood today so I did a bit of work on the 911. First I replaced the chrono gauge pod. The old one had some fairly extensive sun damage. Then I put on new carbon fiber side mirrors. You can see from the picture how yellow the previous set had become compared to the new housings. Both parts are from ROTtech and the fit and finish are excellent.

It feels sort of surreal to have the problems finally resolved. I don’t feel like we’ve crossed the finish line quite yet, but it’s nice to finally be on the right track.