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NINEAUTO Porsche Service

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Tel: 03 9090 7522
Tel: 0407 325 878
19 Wannan Street
Highett 3190
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General Interest

Missing scheduled servicing can be costly

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Over these crazy covid times, many have chosen to delay the scheduled servicing of their Porsche. Letting your service lapse a couple of months over the due date isn’t really a big deal, and is unlikely to have any impact on the performance of your car. However, we strongly encourage wherever possible sticking to the recommended service schedule. Servicing on time is your best insurance to avoid foreseeable mechanical issues that could prove costly if they remain unchecked. Regular servicing is also a key criteria for most prospective Porsche buyers, so a well maintained Porsche is likely to maximise your car’s future resale value.

If you were fortunate enough to negotiate free servicing when purchasing a vehicle, your last free dealership service needs to be completed no more than 4 weeks pasts it’s due date. For example, if you purchased a car on 1st June 2019 and received 3 years of free servicing from the dealership, you would then only be eligible to receive a free third service up until the end of June 2022. Back in 2020 with covid restrictions initially precluding non-essential servicing, many customers scheduled service timing were pushed out with a potentially costly knock-on effect. Let’s say your first service may have slipped from June to September 2020, you then undertook your second service a year later in September 2021. However, if you then wait until September 2022 to book your car in for your third free service it will be well past it’s June 2022 due date window, and most likely you’ll be paying for a ‘free service’!

AC not as cold as it used to be….

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With Melbourne weather starting to heat up, you’ve probably already turned on your car cooling… especially on those sticky humid days where opening the windows just doesn’t really cut it.

If you have been underwhelmed by a coolish breeze rather than an icy cold blast from your AC, this may signal the need to get your cars AC re-gassed. Although there can be several reasons why your AC is inefficient, a common and easy to fix issue is that your system just needs a re-gas. It is recommended that a car’s AC is re-gassed every couple of years, as most vehicles loose between 5-10% of their AC gas annually.

A re-gas costs $210 and is a quick procedure for most modern Porsches. For the older 1980’s and 1990’s models fixing the AC can often be as simple as the repair of leaking “O” rings. The AC problem children in the 911 family are the 964’s and 993’s, they are notorious for having evaporative issues as well as compressor problems. To diagnosis these more complex issues your car may need a re-gas with a dye in the system to find the fault.

 

Roadworthy eCertificate – green slip now via email

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VicRoads has given the Roadworthy certificate a modern make over and introduced the Roadworthy eCertificate (eRWC). Ironically the ‘green slip’ is now white but uses a ‘greener’ process.

Under this new system, when a roadworthy test is undertaken by a registered provider, VicRoads will automatically email a copy of all completed reports and an eRWC to the email address of the vehicle presenter.

The vehicle presenter will receive:

• the first test report and the second test report (if a second test was needed)
• the Roadworthy eCertificate.

The key benefit of the Roadworthy eCertificate system is that it automatically provides VicRoads with information on every eRWC issued. Conveniently, you can also email on a copy of the Roadworthy eCertificate to a third party, which can make applying for Historic/Club Permit Registration easier or selling or buying a vehicle more straightforward.

Please note the same conditions apply to the new Roadworthy eCertificate as the paper based version. The eCertificate is still only valid for 14 days. After 14 days VicRoads will automatically cancel the Roadworthy eCertificate and you will need to start the process again, and pay for a second Roadworthy eCertificate!

Performance driving in your Porsche

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If you’ve always wanted to get your Porsche out on the race track and see how it performs, NINEAUTO have two events scheduled in May that should help make it easy to take that first step.

PERFORMANCE DRIVING EXPERIENCE WITH NINEAUTO AND EVOLVE DRIVING – 28TH MAY 2021 – SANDOWN RACEWAY

NINEAUTO have teamed up with Evolve Driving to offer Porsche owners a performance drive day at Sandown Raceway on Friday 28th May. This is the perfect opportunity for those with limited or no track history to experience the amazing handling and performance of their Porsche in a safe environment with no speed limit!

The Evolve Driving team will lead the day, educating drivers on how to drive safely at speed whilst giving you the opportunity to have professional driver coaches (who have race experience) to sit beside you and guide you around the track.

We have secured a special price of $495pp (Usually $585pp) for the event which includes:

  • Heaps of track time – 6 x 20min sessions
  • Small group size – maximum 12 drivers per session
  • Professional in-car instruction – 3 sessions
  • Shared garage hire
  • Full catering package: Great coffee & smoothies, Yummy snacks, Hot buffet lunch and refreshments

NINEAUTO technicians will be on hand to help with your car set up or any mechanical issues that you may experience throughout the day.

Places are limited so please register your interest with the team at NINEAUTO on 9090 7522 or send us an email at admin@nineauto.com.au

 

INTRODUCTION TO PERFORMANCE DRIVING WITH NINEAUTO, EVOLVE DRIVING AND SPECIAL GUEST: SAM BRABHAM (CARRERA CUP GB, RACING FAMILY HERITAGE)

Sam Brabham

7pm – 12th MAY 2021 – NINEAUTO – 19 WANNAN ST HIGHETT

NINEAUTO and Evolve Driving are holding an open invitation night on Wednesday 12th May from 7 -8.30pm to discuss preparing yourself and your Porsche for a performance driving or track event. We will cover:

  • Awareness, attitude and technique for performance driving
  • Safety and Safety equipment used in motorsport
  • Preparation of your Porsche for the event and what to monitor throughout a performance or track day
  • Q&A session

On the night, Sam Brabham (Carrera Cup GB, 3rd generation of the Brabham racing dynasty) will be joining us to share some fantastic racing stories of the Brabham family and what it takes to drive a Porsche fast!

All customers and their friends are welcome but please let us know you’re coming prior to the event via phone on 90907522 or send us an email at admin@nineauto.com.au

If you have any questions or queries on these events, please don’t hesitate to contact us.

Cheers, Tim, Stuart and the NINEAUTO team

 

Automotive workshops permitted to reopen with no limits on the work performed

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We are excited to announce that with the easing of restrictions on 28th October 2020, NINEAUTO is now able to offer a full range of services.  Whilst we are operating in these challenging times we will be following a ‘COVIDSafe Plan’, including additional hygiene steps and social distancing precautions to keep our customers and staff healthy.

 

Porsche Macan S – Seat memory settings lost

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This Top Tip regarding a Macan seat issue is courtesy of a resourceful NINEAUTO customer.

A recent glitch with our 2017 Macan S involved the loss of the comfort setting, where the seat moves a small amount to make it easier to get in and out.

Memory settings
In trying to understand what was happening it turned out that none of the seat memory settings were working. This looked like being a major pain manually adjusting the seat for every driver change.

With COVID 19 restrictions in place, calling in to get some help from NINEAUTO is not as easy as usual. So let’s see if Dr. Google has anything useful.

Thank you Stan for this 2016 entry https://www.macanforum.com/threads/seat-memory-set-button-wont-light.139033/#post-1514802

#2 • Mar 27, 2016
In order for your memory to remember a position, it needs to remember “the limits” of the seat first. Sometimes it looses those limits and you need to teach them again. To do this follow these instructions.

With your vehicle running, stand next to your seat, move your seat all the way forward and hold it there for 2 sec. Then move it all the way back and hold for 2sec. Then down and hold and then up and hold. Do not change the sequence.

Now try if you SET button lights up. If not, chances are there is something else that it needs to “learn”. Do the above with your telescopic steering wheel. If the problem is still there, you will have to take it in for service, where they will connect a computer which imitates the above procedure for all memory functions.

Trickle Charger – Worthwhile investment now we’re driving less.

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During Covid restrictions many of us are driving far less than we would usually. Hopefully ‘Danny Boy’ will soon allow us to travel further than a 25km radius, so we can take our cars out for a solid run, or even an extended weekend blast! Here’s hoping. In the meantime, many Porsches have been stored for weeks or even months without being driven. Over time, your cars battery will lose charge, and then may begin to struggle to hold full charge. When we do eventually get the green light to go cruising, you may find that you’re battery is flat and won’t hold charge even if you attempt to charge it over night.

Modern cars (Porsche’s included) can also suffer from batteries with low charge. I have had issues with my 996 where accessories do strange things when the battery is low or nearly dead. Even when stopped and locked, modern Porsches do continue to use the battery to maintain their systems and alarms. Some cars may lose programming if the battery is completely dead.

The best way to preserve your battery when your car is not being regularly run is to hook the battery up to a trickle charger. Modern “smart” trickle chargers have circuitry to cycle on and off to maintain the battery charge at its optimum. The charger can sense the battery condition and will not overcharge the battery. Some also have the added features to recondition flat batteries if they have been run flat for minimum period of time.

With modern trickle chargers and batteries, you can simply hook up trickle charger and leave it until you next use your car.

Things to consider when using a charger:

1. If you have a light under the front or rear hood, and have the hood open to charge the battery, consider removing the globe to prevent continual battery drain or premature failure through being constantly on.

2. The charging process gives off hydrogen and some older batteries require ventilation to prevent the build up/concentration of the flammable gas.

3. We have heard of car fires from use of fast chargers (Note: little heard with low amperage trickle chargers). Recently, in nearby Brighton, there was an older car that caught on fire at the starter motor, likely explained through excessive charging of the battery and poor wiring. Rare but worth noting! With older cars that do not rely on the battery to maintain systems, you may consider disconnecting the battery terminal before charging for long periods.

Liven Up Your Engine Bay

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Whilst many of us are purists when it comes to our older 911, there is the ever growing trend to individualise your ride. One small and simple way to achieve this is to have your engine fan powder coated. There are two popular options – either colour code to a key feature of your car, or select a bright/contrasting colour. Bespoke powder coating will transform the metal fan in the pre-89 911 models or the beige/grey fan in the later air cooled cars.

The example above is of a 964 fan colour coded gold to match BBS wheels. The image below is of a SC 3.0lt engine currently being build with a bright red fan. This modification will add a contrasting burst of colour to a silver car with black interior.

One benefit of this minor mod is that it’s easily reversible. At a later date if desired the powder coating can easily be removed, and the fan can be either hydro blasted or returned to the original factory colour.

It’s also worth noting that the 964 pictured at the top of the post has also had an additional modification of re-routing the  4-5-6 cylinder ignition leads from over the fan housing to behind the housing, resulting in a tidier and cleaner appearance.

Wet front carpets and faulty electrics in your Cayenne?

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If you have experienced wet front carpets or ongoing electrical issues, the problem could be that you have blocked plenum drains. Cayenne’s have a series of drain systems that take water from the sunroof, where the bonnet meets the windscreen and also the side sills. If you hear sloshing after a heavy rain, it’s likely that one of these drains may be blocked.

A blocked plenum drain can cause water to flood electrical components or flow through certain holes in the firewall into the cabin. We recently had a Cayenne with a wet passenger foot well due to a blocked plenum drain. This is always concerning as underneath the carpets are wiring looms, and overtime wetness can easily lead to wire corrosion and shorting!

Plenum drains can become blocked from leaves, small sticks and other debris getting clogged in the drain outlets (or the main chambers in severe cases). The drain outlet has been cleverly designed to allow water out and prevent bugs/debris getting back up, but can easily get blocked if leaves, sticks or other debris gets caught in the drain.

Image – Drain Grommet. The grommet ends star design narrows to allow water out but prevents bugs/debris getting back in. This can get blocked if the debris is already in the drainage system.

As part of an annual service the plenum drains should inspection to ensure that they are free from debris and water cannot get trapped and accumulate. To prevent blocked drains, we recommend routine cleaning of the drain outlets. However, accessing and cleaning each of the drains can be a challenge if you don’t have a hoist and aren’t confident removing access panels and wheel arch liners.

If you suspect a blockage in your Cayenne plenum drains, please bring it in to NINEAUTO and we’ll check it over for any blockages.

Boxster Roll Bar – Painted to match Car

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Looking for a way to make your ride more unique? Check out the matching colour roll bar on this Porsche Boxster!

Whilst having work completed at NINEAUTO, one of our customers decided to paint the roll bar on his 986 to match his car’s paintwork.

A simple idea with a spectacular result… It’s a real standout compared to the dull standard black bar.