My 718 GT4

[Aaron]

Swapped out my CR for a 718 GT4 back in Nov.  Not going to get an overdose of pictures from me; just documenting progress and improvements/fixes to the car.

 

I drove the car back from Ashgood and started out with enabling Android Auto (the car already had CarPlay from factory).  Despite the headunit being VAG, Porsche do not support AA for reasons I fail to understand.  You can purchase adapters that will interwork AA into CP.  I already had a wireless AA adapter which does this but I wanted AA over USB in case I ever needed to connect my phone directly rather than use the AA wireless adapter.

 

AA is enabled using MIB.  It works on many VAG units.  Don't pay anyone to do this for you!  This software is kindly written and distributed for free.  Link here: https://github.com/Mr-MIBonk/M.I.B._More-Incredible-Bash | I used the "AIO" patch to enable AA.  It does a backup and the likes all for you.  It's easy to do.  You can use MIB to enable navigation and all sorts.  It's worth looking into if your car is lacking some desired features.  If you want any assistance with this, PM me and I'll happy help.

 

AA enabled:

 

Waze was open and my address was visible... no stalking for you lucky folks!

 

Not long after having the car, I was parking on hills and getting this wonderful error.  This only occurred on hills and not flat ground, oddly.

 

I scanned the car and got some errors for the left parking brake actuation (actuator travel left above limit 000024).  The left side would noticeably take longer to wind on than the right, approx. twice as long.  I took the car to Chris Denning in Cardiff (same specialist I have been using for years) and after some brief discussion with Ashgood, they agreed Chris would repair the fault.  One calibration later and it's working a charm.  Chris stated the calibration was miles out on both sides, but the left more so.  No more errors and the handbrake winds on as it should.

 

The car had reasonably new front tyres, but the rears wear the factory original.  They were awful loud and not all that grippy.  At 4 years old, they were past due and had less than 2mm tread in some places.  I decided to get some new ones.  No pictures of the new tyres, I'm afraid, just the old!

 

Next on the list was updating the map from 2019/2020.  You can also use MIB resources (not MIB itself) to do this.  Load it onto an SD card and off you go!  The update for my headunit was a URL directly to the Volkswagon website.  You can check your nav here: https://mibsolution.one/#/1/15 | Login with user guest and password guest | Again, PM me for any assistance.  For example, the URL to my update is: https://navigation-maps.volkswagen.com/vw-maps/P330_N60S5MIBH3_EU.7z | Your headunit may not be the same as mine.  I would not suggest downloading from the link and attempting to install them without ensuring your headunit matches mine (MHI2_ER_POG11_P5158, for reference).  If your headunit is the same as mine then go for it!

 

First of all, connected my PSU to the car to ensure there was no risk of power loss:

 

Do not connect a charger or PSU directly to the negative terminal of the battery!  Use the post on the wiper arm.

 

Old maps version:

 

New maps installed:

 

Whilst I was in the car and updating the nav, I decided to address an annoying trim issue the car has had since I bought it.  The trim on the left side of the centre console did not sit flush.  It was protruding out about 3-4mm and was not clearly seated correctly.  See this pic:

 

I removed the trim (simply release the trim from its clips; pulling outward from the back of the centre console to the front) and refitted it.  Presto, no more protrusion:

 

Next items on my list:

 

• Doing something about the exhaust valves for more noise (multiple options).
• Killing the sound symposer somehow (multiple options).
• Drive more... the weather is currently prohibiting this.

[Dipdipdipam]

Where are the pics of the car? We need pics of her 

[Aaron]

23 hours ago, Dipdipdipam said:

Where are the pics of the car? We need pics of her 

 

I'm not one for taking portrait pictures of my car, I'm afraid!  The only pics that I have are already in this thread...

 

Made some more progress today in the coding department.  Finally changed some things that have been bugging me:

 

• Auto stop-start setting persists.
• AC settings persist.
• Disabled the shift up indicator on the instrument cluster.
• Disabled the seat belt warning chime.  Not useful when you want to use a harness!
• Disabled the "HOLD" light on the speedometer (car has hill assist, but the full HOLD function isn't present on the GT4 and the light never comes on when hill assist is active).
• Set the oil level to show 4 bars instead of 1.
• Set the doors to remain locked after opening the frunk or boot.
• Activated the "expert menu" in the OBC display.  Seems gimmicky - I'll probably disable this if I never use it.
• Removed the SVM error on PCM using XOR calculated bits.  Used the XOR calculator here: https://mib-helper.com/im-so-xory/ - she's finally error free!

 

That's all for now.  Until next time.

Edited February 27 by Aaron

[Aaron]

I spent some time yesterday getting into the engine bay to tackle the sound symposer and to check the air filters.

 

The amount of things to remove compared to a 987 is pretty insane.  The CS cage doesn't make things any easier, but it is very doable with some patience and care.

 

Engine bay and sound symposer:

 

I plan to plug the hose and cap the actuator.  Simple, effective and easily reversible.  There are "delete" kits out there that block off the pipe but this won't stop the diaphram from vibrating, just stop it being pumped into the cabin.  The prices for such things are also ludicrous for two pieces of plastic/rubber.  The hose is 4mm ID for future reference.

 

I spotted this broken clamp for the shifter cable, but I can't seem to find a replacement.  I contacted OPC Cardiff but they can only supply them with the cables.  They look like a wire harness clamp of some sorts.  I'm going to do some more digging on this.

 

 

Got the air filters out and they were incrdibly filthy and full of leaves.  Bought some new ones and OPC Cardiff kindly delivered them same day.

 

 

Just need to get the new filters fitted, sound symposer capped off, then I can put everything back together.

[Aaron]

Goodbye old filters!  Getting the filter housing out was a right pain as the grease to lubricate the seals had dried up completely.  Quite a few hard tugs later and they came out.  Not terribly hard to do, but definitely a lot of effort to change a simple service item.

 

New filters on and everything back as it was:

 

The sound symposer diaphragm capped off and the hose plugged:

 

Easily reversible - remove the plug, remove the cap, plug the hose back in.  I haven't noticed a difference in intake noise, in all honesty.  I suspect this is more placebo effect experienced by others than something that's actually worth doing.  If I find myself back in the engine bay, I'll revert it.

 

The clamp for the shifter cable continues to elude me.  When I find something suitable, I'll change it.

 

I slowly but surely put everything back together... I managed to not break a clip or trim, which I'm rather pleased with.

 

The ride was noticeably quieter overall as I think the engine cover hadn't been reinstalled correctly the last time it was removed.  Two reasons lead me to believe this:

1. The layer of dirt around where the seal sat leads me to speculate that some unwanted noise was seeping through into the cabin.
2. The two bolts nearest to the storage bin trims were not lined up correctly as their thread kept catching the edge of the hole in the engine cover during removal.  I had to remove all of the other bolts first, dislodge and realign the cover, then remove those two final bolts.  I cleaned up the dirt before refitting the cover and tightened it down using the centre-outwards method.

 

Moving onto the exhaust noise department; I flashed a Softronic map with the valves fully open whenever PSE is engaged, irrespective of RPM.  This has created a boomy drone in the 2-3k rev range as expected, but the valves are open in the mid range and the sound is drastically improved overall.  The stock functionality with PSE off remains and keeps it quiet when needed.  No comments on power improvements just yet as that will come when the weather improves.

 

The taps in the fuse box are for my dash cam, in case you were wondering.

 

Connected my PSU, applied the flash, cleared the errors and went for a drive.  Painless experience just like the map on my CR.  I'm quite happy with the sound for now and will see how this goes.  If I find myself itching for more, I'll explore manifolds or over axle pipes most likely.  They both pose their challenges with the cats and OPFs and notably are costly.  Nonetheless, it's been taxed and is having its first MOT tomorrow, then it's ready for the spring and most importantly: DRIVING.

Edited March 1 by Aaron
Typos

[Aaron]

New update: everything has been going dandy until yesterday.  I got home from work, took my bag out of the boot and found it was soaking wet.  The boot smelt slightly odd, sweet - like coolant.

 

I needed to remove the carpet to dry it out it and figured I would have a poke around whilst I was there.  I couldn't check the coolant cap at the time as the coolant was still extremely hot.

 

After getting in there, there's a fair bit of coolant residue below the carpet on the chassis.  This is visible on the entire boot floor:

 

 

I checked the cap today and, lo and behold, the coolant has definitely been escaping...

 

 

 

I've cleaned up all of the residue, ordered a new cap from the local OPC (about £19.50) which I'll collect in a few days; then I'll top the coolant up and cross my fingers that this doesn't reoccur! 

 

Since I had to remove all of the boot trim to extract the carpet, I had a quick go at something separate that's been annoying the s**t out of me: the boot requiring a lot of effort to shut properly.  Rather than flick your hand down using the internal handle, you really need to give it a good yank for it to shut properly.  A weak effort results in it grabbing the catch but not bottoming out and sticking up slightly - requiring a full reset and reattempt at closing.

 

I checked the latch and you could see that it was slightly crooked and no longer straight.  I figured this was the boot latch having shifted over time from repeated use of the boot.  I straightened it back out (loosen, adjust, then tighten the two T45 torx bolts), and now she closes with the flick of the wrist.  Excellent.  Small victories and all that.  The bolts seemed rather loose for holding something adjustable, so I tightened them a touch more than how they were to theoretically prevent this from happening again.

[Aaron]

Update: The new cap seems to have done the trick.  No more coolant residue, wet carpet, or misty windows!

 

The old cap looked identical to the replacement with no obvious defects.  Both the same part number.  It must've been the seal/behaviour under pressure that was faulty.

 

The coolant didn't need topping up, weirdly enough.  I got some deionised water and after adding what I would describe as about two teaspoons, it went over max.  I had to drain this excess out.  I ran the engine to 80° with max heat and no cap on, and got two pretty big burps of air.  They sounded like a balloon being popped.  It was rather entertaining.  I'm going to continue to monitor the coolant but I'm quite comfortable in that this is resolved.

 

Just tipped over 1500 miles since I've had her so I'm quite pleased!