PIWIS in New Mexico
 

Hello All,
I live in Santa Fe NM and have a 2003 Boxster 2.7 that I would like to add the on-board computer and cruise control functionalities to. I have all the parts required for the upgrade but need to have those functions turned on in the car using the PIWIS tool. The only Porsche dealer in New Mexico won't do it-they say it's an aftermarket job. I also tried a local Porsche repair shop that has the tool but when he tried to program the OBC he couldn't. His PIWIS is a clone. Does anyone know of a shop/individual that has the PIWIS and could do the job?

Thanks,
Hambone

You could do it yourself for 'possiblky' cheaper than a shop. Lots of members have these durametric suite sitting at home and not doing much. If the price is right, I bet you could get a fellow member here to spare you a VIN for a quick fix.

I'm saying this assuming you've already decided not to buy durametric. I'd say just ask to rent one, put a deposit of it and everybody should be happy!

Luck

I'm hoping Jim's Fine Car Service here in ABQ can do it when I get mine wired.

Micky at 505.883.4224

You could tell him he'll have at least two immediate customers if he needs to gear up.

ikchris,
Thanks for the info. I now have two shops in ABQ that I can call.
Hambone

Nine8six,
A very good idea. If I don't have any luck with a repair shop I'll give it a try.

I'll be through ABQ in 2 weeks if you can wait. I carry a PIWIS with me to all the track events I attend. I'll do it for $20. Takes 15min (10 of that is booting into PIWIS lol)

edit: I'll be through Aug. 12th or 13th.

As a shop, we worry more about reading and resetting codes, system activation functions, and other service related issues. The Durametric is pretty good in those areas. Coding or programing is not something that we encounter frequently, so it is not that much of a downside issue.

The Durametric is not perfect, and in fact may only be 75-85% as capable as the current OEM PIWIS system, but many of the so called "problems" you see people ranting about on the web are more often than not operator related, and many can be traced back directly to Porsche. Durametric cannot directly copy the functions of the PIWIS system, Porsche owns and closely protects those rights. So they are left to find a work around to get to the same end result in order to avoid Porsche's legal rath. Add in Porsche's penchant for throwing curves at you (some cars have DME's that are totally different from their normal architecture and are even from another supplier; Porsche knows all about it, Durametric has to figure out why a certain car does not communicate correctly while others of the same model year are fine) and problems are going to crop up. Porsche also seems to not totally respect their own demarcation lines on things like which version of the DME, ABS, or PSM software should be in the car because of the model year, and a vehicle that should have a 7.2 DME really has a 7.8. Try and scan the car as the 7.2 it should be, and you get weird or no results; reset the software to 7.8 and everything is fine. Now stop for a moment and think about what can go wrong when someone with little or even no diagnostic experience tries to asses a problem.

Even the mighty PIWIS is not immune to problems, I know of several incidents where Porsche techs could not communicate with the cars, and ended up calling around to independent shops for ideas. I have also heard that there are "tricks" to getting the PIWIS to work on some cars that the techs pass around amongst themselves as well.

We seriously looked at acquiring a legitimate PIWIS unit, but the combination of the outrageous cost structure, the fact that Porsche burned early lessors of the first PIWIS when they released the new system, and the fact that while the lease documentation clearly states that systems leased by "outside entities" (read non dealers) will have "certain functions disabled", you cannot get a straight answer as to what is left out of the system before you plunk down nearly twenty grand a year, we deicided that the shop is both creative and intuitive enough to run with the Durametric Pro system.

Buy a clone for 5k off of eBay. I've been using clones since 2004 (PSTII and PIWIS) and I've used the factory versions also. ZERO difference. They blocked nothing.. Now? The PIWISII ? Everything is web based (the updates) the tech manuals, the wiring diagrams. So? you are subscribing for the latest updates. Do you *need* the latest updates? I don't. I wont need them for another 3-4 years. People who buy new Porsches typically take them back to the dealer for service work.. so.. I don't need the latest updates on my PIWISII. The PIWIS clones have all been updated to V34 at this point which covers all the way up to the Siemens cars.