A question came up in a discussion about testing Relays. Relays seem like magical little boxes of wonder. They often catch the blame for mysterious electrical gremlins because they're operation is a mystery to most auto enthusiasts. But if we really stop to learn what a relay is and how it works, we will learn that they are really quite simple. Understanding and being able to test them can help us cross them off the list when things go wrong. So let's take a lesson on Relays, how they work and...
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The dreaded day arrived for me last fall. I'm writing of course about when my factory Tire Pressure Monitoring System (TPMS) sensors reached the end of their life. My car is a 2007, manufactured in June 2007, put into service in July 2007. I started seeing TPMS malfunctions (the readings all went blank while driving, then came back) in the summer of 2014. So I got about 7 years, 80,000 miles out of my sensors before they went kaput. This is pretty much in line with the 6-8 years that other...
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It seems one of the more common failures we see in our Cayman cars are the horns. I know I've had one horn failure in my 2007 and recently Retired Teach had his third horn failure in his 2008. Changing the horns is a relatively easy job, but it does require the removal of the front bumper cover, which makes it a lot less easy and means that you can count on a pretty expensive repair bill if you take your car to the dealership. Gonzo and I offered to help Retired Teach swap out his horns,...
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Changing a battery or suffering a dead battery is something that all of us will experience at one point or another. Our Caymans are very sophisticated. They contain many computerized control modules that may/can/will be effected by loss of battery voltage. This technical article will present the many instructions that Porsche recommends to their mechanics after loss and replacement of battery power. 1 Control Unit Memory Values and faults stored in the control units can be lost if the...
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If you track your car a lot, you may find yourself considering the use of some more aggressive brake pads. There are many good choices available. Some folks use them part time only when on the track, others use them full time for both track and street. Regardless of how you want to use them, you will run into one snag. Many of the available race pads are not compatible with Porsche's brake wear sensors, and for those that are, changing the sensors from pad to pad is a hassle that slows down an...
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Properly breaking in your new brakes is essential to their continued performance and reliability, yet it's something that few people really understand. I've recently followed a very informative thread where several of our members were trading some pretty good information on this topic. I found the information was so valuable, that I thought it would be a good idea to archive it here as an article. Special thanks to all the members who contributed these really cool links: Bedding...
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