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Old 07-26-2015, 05:00 AM   #1
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Has anyone used this company SOS Diagnostics?

I'm probably going to send my immobilzer to them for repair. I took it to a local electronic shop and was told the board has water damage and he couldn't repair it.

Porche Boxster 911 996 Pas M535 Alarm System and Programming | eBay

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Old 07-26-2015, 05:51 AM   #2
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Sorry, can't help with your question.
Have you considered and researched replacement? Have you tried cleaning up any corrosion on the board?
"qualityporscheparts" has several sets for $450 and they'd probably accept $400. I have no idea what's involved or how easy it is, but I think several here have done it. I can vouch for "qualityporscheparts". Very reputable folks.
I believe that if you replace the immobilizer and ECU as a set and buy the correct year/model (as in the ad below) that no dealer coding would be necessary, but I have not researched it. Search for "Porsche 986 Boxster immobilizer replacement". There are other components that contain the VIN that must be considered, like the gauge cluster and climate control, but I don't think that a match there is absolutely essential since people swap clusters an CC units on occasion.
Research it whilst eating a nice twice baked potato.

00 Boxster s rwd Porsche 986 Immobiliser Set Engine Computer Key Ignition 55 351 | eBay

You wouldn't actually need the locks, just the immobilizer, ECU and key head (internals - transponder pill and keyless entry transmitter board).
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Last edited by particlewave; 07-26-2015 at 06:36 AM.
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Old 07-26-2015, 06:22 AM   #3
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Same here, I can't help you with your question. But, I agree with pariclewave.

qualityporscheparts is a great vendor and has a number of these sets for sale;

Boxster S RWD Porsche 986 IMMOBILISER SET ENGINE COMPUTER KEY IGNITION | eBay
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Old 07-26-2015, 06:50 AM   #4
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Thanks for the information. I did try to clean the board and the shop I brought it to did some soldering and removed a relay and said there were signs of water being underneath it. He said the center layer of the board foil strip had some damage that was creating a short that he couldn't repair. It keeps blowing the C3 15 amp fuse. I will look into "qualityporscheparts", thanks for the tip, and the twice baked potato sounds good too! Thanks again to both of you.

Last edited by joecal; 07-26-2015 at 07:21 AM.
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Old 07-26-2015, 07:10 AM   #5
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I believe if you had a good M535 immobilizer, and the chip in your immobilizer was good. You can solder your chip into the good immobilizer. I'm not good at soldering, so I can't say I've done that method. It's a lot easier and maybe even cheaper swapping out the ignition cylinder, door cylinder, immobilizer and ECU/DME. Only takes 30 minutes and that's mostly replacing the door lock cylinder. Qualityporscheparts is selling a part in his set (996.618.159.01) that doesn't need to be replaced. There's no need to replace that part. All you need to replace is the ignition cylinder and all you need is a paperclip to do that. I would suggest that you find a set that matches your car's year and transmission. You'll need to find a 97-99 set. I might be wrong about the transmission though. I've never checked to see how well a ECU/DME from an auto works on a manual or vice versa.
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Old 07-26-2015, 09:45 AM   #6
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Thanks itsnotanova, but my immobilizer isn't functioning and needs to be replaced. It sounds like this company SOS can program a new board to accept my existing key as you mentioned. I'd rather do that so the key remains original to the car. This way if there's a problem with it in the future and I need a new key made it's registered to my vin#. I've read that if it's not they won't cut you a new key. I was told my circuit board is not repairable in the immobilzer and needs to be replaced, this company says they can program it to accept my key. That's good to know about the ignition switch removal, I thought it would be a lot of work replacing. I'm going to call this company tomorrow and see what they say. They charge $495.00 which is the cheapest I've seen so far, another company on ebay wants $775.00 for the same service.
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Old 07-26-2015, 10:47 AM   #7
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After some reading, I'd go with SOS. You'll have protections and recourse through eBay and PayPal. Looks like they'll swap the immobilizer for a good one and program it using the data on your existing immobilizer, so it would be simple 5 minute swap-out on your part.
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Last edited by particlewave; 07-26-2015 at 10:51 AM.
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Old 07-26-2015, 12:04 PM   #8
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Thanks particlewave, that's what I'm going to do. I'm going to ship it to them tomorrow and hopefully get it back within a week or so. I miss driving the car especially after only owning it for a few weeks, they are fun cars to drive!
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Old 07-26-2015, 12:10 PM   #9
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Did you find the reason your immobilizer went bad? A clogged drain hole by the top transmission has caused lots of fried immobilizers.
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Old 08-10-2015, 01:32 PM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by itsnotanova View Post
Did you find the reason your immobilizer went bad? A clogged drain hole by the top transmission has caused lots of fried immobilizers.
Sorry I just saw your post, the drain holes were clogged and the car was sitting outside a few months before I bought it from a used car dealer. I had the immobilizer repaired supposedly but it's still blowing the C3 fuse. I asked the repair shop if mine was bad and they said yes and the circuit board wasn't repairable. They reprogrammed one for me, but now I'm not sure if the new one is bad or if I have a problem elsewhere, like a short somewhere. I'm really getting frustrated, it's my first Porsche and so far I'm working on it more than driving it.
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Old 09-16-2015, 12:19 PM   #11
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Sos

So, how was SOS? I have to say I've called them twice and have not heard back from them.

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