getting the porsche to the track - part 1

It has been a very long time since I want to take the Porsche to the track. I've come to the conclusion that it is safer for it to be on the track than on public roads. Tracks are where this car belongs, and not tracking it is tragic for me, and equally, for the car.

What has taken so long is preparing it for the track and I have only taken the small steps. Firstly it display a interim service due while I only have put on 2000 miles since I paid the dealer at circa 950 miles, and I would realize it is time base in addition to mileage base. A quick search on Porsche forum suggest some dealers charge up to $1000 for this service, which is essentially normal fluid and filter service plus brake fluid change.

I am fearless when it comes to working on just about anything. I have never paid anyone to service my vehicles since I learnt to drive, with the exception of jobs like tire change, machine shop work, or wheel alignment which requires specialty equipment most home mechanic cannot afford or justify the purchase.

The second utmost thing to prepare it for track is paint protection. We will get to that later.

The Porsche owners I met at the track pointed me to a few local independent shops which I can have the service done cheaper than at the dealer. The obstacle for DIY is not the work but rather the ability to clear the service needed message. Porsches are some of the hardest cars to find aftermarket consumer equipment to access and reset even the most basic maintenance messages, especially the last model years.

There are a lot of unclear information on the web of conflicting reports of which tool provide what level of support. Nearly all do not allow you to change any settings. With much time spent researching the most probable tool and at the lowest price I chose this Chinese code reader over the more expensive American ones. I had my fingers crossed that this tool would be the one.

the iCarsoft is one of many Chinese ODB tools that utilize a common design but with segmented functionality and vehicle varients

 as can be expected the UI is less than polished

oil lamp - LOL

in order to clear the service message you have to enter today's day

it would turned out that despite this "victory" message the message is not cleared

I purposely deferred updating the firmware of the tool in case they broke the code that works

I ended up updating the firmware and tried again; it turned out I enter the wrong date, which was a date advance of the day but the stupid tool or Porsche's algorithm didn't flag the error

the tool worked

The tool worked. I play with a few other function including one that scans and toggles a lot of the cars function like displays, radio. It is rather unsettling to see a $149.99 Chinese tool wiggles these built in test functions of a $118,000 car.