Hey, a Porsche PIWIS system tester for $10 bucks! :D
 

Anyone want to buy one and let me know if it works?! :D

http://www.allworldautomotive.com/auto_parts_for_sale_diagnostics_testing_tools_ots2 2206.html

No thanks, I threw 20 out on a Chinese Ipod that was a POS, I figured for 20 it was worth the wager, I'm willing to bet this will be a classic "fail" too.

I've bought a few things from 'unknown' sites like the one you mention, around the $10 mark (£6.50) and they've been a little on the cheap side but they've all worked. Cable testers, electric motors...other stuff I can't rememebr.... Anyhow, if you can wait the 20 days for delivery, and can use a credit card with a low limit so if they do rip your details it isn't THAT bad....might be worth a try? I have one of my credit cards with a limit of £500, purely for using on sites I don't know very well.

Hehe. Well, $10 bucks for an item that normally costs over $3000, I'd say is hhmmmm... too good to be true? ;)

I'd re-think that; when we looked at obtaining a PIWIS, the first year's lease costs were about 10 times that amount...............

You can find them on eBay now in the $2800 range (the laptop pc, and probably pirated versions).

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/KTS520-Porsche-PIWIS-Tester-Diagnostic-Scanner_W0QQitemZ120511813438QQcmdZViewItemQQptZMo tors_Automotive_Tools?hash=item1c0f10573e#ht_3364w t_1166

Problem remains that the PIWIS system is a network system (with each node communicating in real time with “mother”), and with most of basic system and all of the updates resident somewhere else on a computer controlled by Porsche. So long before I'd drop $3K to supposedly buy what PCNA wants to lease to me for $30K (first year, and without full functionality), I'd have to have one Hell of a level of confidence that the dude from China isn't screwing me...... :chicken:

Yep, well this seller on fleabay is based out of CT, and a friend was going to drive up to test to see if it would work first before buying. Interesting what you said about the system needing to communicate with the mother computer to gain access to certain updates though. Very sharp of them. :)

That was apparently one of the objectives for the transition from PST II, a stand alone system that could be cloned or used after being stolen. With a network based system, they know who is using it, there is no need to issue updates, every time a car links up to it the "mother" system can see if things like the DME software have been altered and kill your warranty literally “at the source” so you can't seek relief at a more friendly dealer (every time the system connected to your car, it would say “no warranty”), and they can cut you off from using the network if they don't like you. Solves a lot of problems from their view point..............

First.. why bother about your credit card limit? they will cover your ass something happen anyway, it won't cost you nothing.. so why caring about all those safty ??

Also, the way you talk is like the worst that could happen is that it dosn't work.. but what happen if it actually DAMAGE your car computer? :P I would'nt plug untrusted device in my Pcar :P


Interesting :)

FWIW, one of the guys in our local Boxster club has a PST2 and later also got a PIWIS, and used it as a stand alone, and it worked fine. Maybe he doesn't have access to all the updates, but I saw it in action programming peoples' 987 and 997s at our TSBL gathering (programming stuff like allowing keys to remotely operate windows and stuff like that.

As far as I knew the PIWIS was stand alone as well? I certainly know of people running cloned versions on laptops with the breakout box to connect to OBD2 ports that work.

I'm going on the basis of what we learned when we tried to lease a legitimate unit from PCNA........... I’m sure a lot of the functions, which are the same or similar to those in a PST II, can be cloned into some type of "third party" a stand alone, but we were attempting to obtain the real thing with all the “bells and whistles”, which turned into a totally futile waste of time………...

"I'm going on the basis of what we learned when we tried to lease a legitimate unit from PCNA........... I’m sure a lot of the functions, which are the same or similar to those in a PST II, can be cloned into some type of "third party" a stand alone, but we were attempting to obtain the real thing with all the “bells and whistles”, which turned into a totally futile waste of time………... "

Who is "we"?

I'm dreading the day that I buy a car that's too new for my PST-2.