As the title suggests a new month and yet another new problem although I’m surprised I’ve made it to the 9th day before an issue arises. I'm starting to find this ever so tiring now.

Anyway this morning is woke to - PSM failure - drive to workshop light on the dash, also the PSM & ABS light was illuminated on the dash (where’s the Elastoplast). Car seemed to drive ok but being 6:10 and a train to catch at 6:25 is didn’t have time to worry about it but the car seemed to drive ok. A quick google on the train seems to bring up 20 different possible causes ranging from MAF sensor to brake switch to low battery power and even suggesting that changing the tyres or unmatching tyres could make this happen.

So I’m asking for forum thoughts and experiences. Is there anything i can try tonight before taking it to my Indy? He will say "you own a Porsche, you can afford". Yes I can afford it but i don’t want to afford it every month.

The next cost from this car will be me paying for it to be advertised in Autotrader

 

however i did find this on the 997 forum

Originally Posted by Luiey
I've just put a new battery into my 997 and once i started the vehicle. A message came up and said PSM Failure. Does anybody know how to fix the problem or What is PSM. New guy just trying to get the bugs out

Thanks.


Posted by Utkinpol
always happens after loss of power and goes away in 20 sec as you start driving.



Now i did leave the headlights on and the door open this morning without the engine running while i swapped the cars around so could this have any bearing on the fault. Seems coincidental as i started the car, moved it about 20 feet, switched the engine off but leaving lights on so power was being consumed for about 3 mins while shunting the other cars around. I dont recall the error message flagging up when i first started the car but it was there on my return and my trip to the train station.

 

Do you have a lot of corrosion underneath by chance?

I would say to check your brake switch and all your wheel/abs sensors by the hub.

There's two wires going to the brake sensor if you lie on your back and look up under your dash. It is basically a continuity switch and can easily be checked with a multi-meter.

If you take off your wheels, you can visually check for any corrosion that may exist on the tooth of hub or the wheel/abs sensors. Spray with water and cleaning agent and use a brush if you have to dislodge any dirt/gunk from the area.

 

Had the same lights plus engine overheat while driving home one afternoon, but they all reset after the car wasn't running for 30 minutes. I took it in the next day for the IMS upgrade I had previously scheduled and mentioned it to my Indy. At first they thought it was a MAF failure but it turned out to be the AOS. Its worked fine since. This happened about 4 weeks/800 miles ago.

 

Alpine, no real corrosion under the car......infact when it was on the ramp last month for tyres i had a good look and found it to be surprisingly clean and healthy looking. I'll have a check at the points you suggested this evening and see what i can find.

Philthy, why would the AOS be responsible for the PSM & ABS lights coming on?


Thanks for the advice & info folks. Got back the train station last night and she started up ok with no error messages and run like a dream. No logical explanation as to why the fault came up but all is good again and the love affair with my car can continue. I will investigate what caused this though as i plan on driving across part of Europe in May and need her to be tip-top shape.

 

I honestly don't know! There were zero codes for anything having to do with the braking system at all and my mechanic mentioned that he suspected the switch that Alpine was talking about when I called the day it happened. Sometimes it seems these cars run with voodoo electronics.


It kinda surprised me the AOS was tripping MAF codes, since I thought there was a diaphragm inside that fails. We have 3000 psi hydraulic accumulators on our 737s that have diaphragms....when they fail, it's all out. I'd never heard of a "sorta" failure.


So much to learn about with these cars.


Phil

 

Seems the slightest thing throws an error message at you making you believe the car is going into catastrophic melt down only for it to be nothing much at all.