Page 22 - KCRPCA MarApr 2021

NUTS & BOLTS
DREADED CEL
T T H H E E L L I I T T T T L L E E L L I I G G H H T T T T H H A AT T M M E E A A N N S S S S O O M M U U C C H H
TECHNICAL EDITOR KARL WILEN
It happens; that dreaded Check Engine, Airbag, PSM, Parking Brake Fault, or other odd light comes on the dash telling you that something is wrong with your car. Or maybe it’s that time of the year when that “service now” light pops on the dash telling you to perform an annual service. We all hate having lights on our dash (PS....there really are not sup- posed to be warning lights on your dash....no seriously, not kidding), but getting the car properly diag- nosed or serviced has always been a bit difficult in the Porsche line. While the domestic market has had much better support for after- market code readers and diagnos- tic equipment, Porsche has always made things a bit more difficult. With the newer models, they are really trying to make it difficult to work on your own vehicles. There has been a “Right to Repair” battle
going on for many years between auto makers and repair facilities/ consumers. While technically manufacturers have given in, they haven’tmadeiteasyintheprocess you have to go through to properly service a newer vehicle.
As Porsche models entered the OBD (On Board Diagnostics) era back in the late 80’s, they have always had specialized diagnos- tic equipment to be able to com- municate with these cars. Late 80’s 911/944/968/928’s had some extremely basic diagnostics avail- able that could be accessed by the repair shop. In these models, this was often done through what was called the “Bosch Hammer or KTS301” via a 19 pin AMP con- nector on the car. It could access some basic functions such as some very basic engine codes; it could read some ABS codes and specifi- cally in the 964C4 could help acti-
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Der Sportwagen
YEARS