Anyone? "SYSTEM FAULT VISIT WORKSHOP" **SEE IMAGE**
#91
03-13-2012, 11:18 AM
It's pre-cut and a complete pain in the *** to apply properly. Thank god the Porsche headlights are tiny in comparison to the Z3's. I ruined one the first time around. The trick is to start on one corner of the headlight and use the plastic shim to lay down inch by inch. The guide tells you to put the entire plastic piece on the headlight and iron out the bubbles. This method doesn't work, lay it down inch by inch and iron the bubbles out as you go. I use Lamin-x film, you can buy it from their website.
#92
03-13-2012, 11:22 AM
It's pre-cut and a complete pain in the *** to apply properly. Thank god the Porsche headlights are tiny in comparison to the Z3's. I ruined one the first time around. The trick is to start on one corner of the headlight and use the plastic shim to lay down inch by inch. The guide tells you to put the entire plastic piece on the headlight and iron out the bubbles. This method doesn't work, lay it down inch by inch and iron the bubbles out as you go. I use Lamin-x film, you can buy it from their website.
#93
03-13-2012, 01:58 PM
rubbing on a plastic surface.. the classic generation of static electricity.
Like rubbing a balloon on a cats fur.
I wonder if the humidity levels in the air address this static issue similarly, ie folks in the dry areas have the problems, folks in more humid regions do not?
Like rubbing a balloon on a cats fur.
I wonder if the humidity levels in the air address this static issue similarly, ie folks in the dry areas have the problems, folks in more humid regions do not?
#94
03-13-2012, 11:37 PM
So if you insist on running a rotating wool muff (or a surrogate) over your $100,000 computer, I do suggest grounding it, just as GPJli suggests. We do that with less expensive computers as a matter of course, so it's probably not asking too much for a gadget this expensive. (Unless you don't want the computer parts, in which case buff away.)
First, and probably this is the one stinging most people, make sure you plug the buffer into a grounded plug. Not just one with a third hole, because somebody may have gotten cute. Sometimes people put those in the wall to avoid hassles with grounded connectors but they don't bother to actually ground them. So buy a five-dollar outlet test widget. It will confirm the outlet is grounded properly. And if you were thinking of using a battery-powered buffer, don't.
Alright, check the outlet and fix it as necessary. I do suggest an electrician unless you can honestly say you know how to fix an outlet yourself. Now do the rest of the work the way we protect any other computer from static discharges: put a grounding strap on yourself connected to something you know is grounded. Not the car's ground. We mean different things by 'ground' in different situations. For electrostatic purposes we mean a serious honking ground. A piece of plumbing if you have steel or copper pipes. Otherwise hammer a piece of rebar into moist soil and... well, you get the idea. This is an expensive mistake. The prevention isn't expensive but it's a pain in the ***. I do suggest an electrician. You can get your entire house grounded properly for an hour's labor and you might find that sixty-cycle hum in your stereo goes away. You will save money in the long run doing this. Be nice to the guy and he'll make sure you have a well-grounded piece of hardware somewhere near your car. A bolt or a bit of plumbing. Something like that.
Now back to work. Put on a static strap. They sell them for fifty cents or thereabouts in Radio Shack. Little Velcro bracelet with a wire of moderate length. Connect the other end of that wire to that known-good grounding point. While you work, keep one hand in contact with the body part you're buffing. Either the headlight cover or the fender. Like that. [Edit: this is what grounds the car. It is essential to keep that hand on the car while buffing unless you want to run an additional connection to the ground side of the battery.]
It is possible to fry a static-sensitive chip despite these precautions but it becomes very rare. So: ground the buffer; ground yourself; grind away with the buffer.
As for it being something Porsche should fix, the only way I know is to hang one of those grounding chains from the chassis. You know: like trucks use to prevent sparks while fueling. For aircraft, we have a special ground plug built into the fuselage. I imagine Porsche Exclusive would do one for a reasonable couple of thousand at time of order.
Incidentally, I don't swear to it, but I cannot offhand picture any benefit whatsoever from disconnecting the battery. That isn't the source of the damaging voltage.
Gary
Last edited by simsgw; 03-13-2012 at 11:40 PM. Reason: Added comment about third grounding point.
#95
03-14-2012, 01:05 PM
and I'm not sure that removing the bulb protects the module, tho maybe it breaks the circuit...ne way With one hand on the fender, a grounded plug and bare feet you should be safer. Gary's house ground is always a good protection against lightning strikes as well. Personally I just wipe the suckers off with a wet rag
#96
03-14-2012, 01:21 PM
and I'm not sure that removing the bulb protects the module, tho maybe it breaks the circuit...ne way With one hand on the fender, a grounded plug and bare feet you should be safer. Gary's house ground is always a good protection against lightning strikes as well. Personally I just wipe the suckers off with a wet rag
I agree about it being useless to remove the bulb.
Gary
#97
03-14-2012, 01:44 PM
#98
03-14-2012, 02:30 PM
I'm glad somebody else said this first. Now I can just explain instead of being a curmudgeon and saying something like... No, wait. I don't have to say that now.
So if you insist on running a rotating wool muff (or a surrogate) over your $100,000 computer, I do suggest grounding it, just as GPJli suggests. We do that with less expensive computers as a matter of course, so it's probably not asking too much for a gadget this expensive. (Unless you don't want the computer parts, in which case buff away.)
First, and probably this is the one stinging most people, make sure you plug the buffer into a grounded plug. Not just one with a third hole, because somebody may have gotten cute. Sometimes people put those in the wall to avoid hassles with grounded connectors but they don't bother to actually ground them. So buy a five-dollar outlet test widget. It will confirm the outlet is grounded properly. And if you were thinking of using a battery-powered buffer, don't.
Alright, check the outlet and fix it as necessary. I do suggest an electrician unless you can honestly say you know how to fix an outlet yourself. Now do the rest of the work the way we protect any other computer from static discharges: put a grounding strap on yourself connected to something you know is grounded. Not the car's ground. We mean different things by 'ground' in different situations. For electrostatic purposes we mean a serious honking ground. A piece of plumbing if you have steel or copper pipes. Otherwise hammer a piece of rebar into moist soil and... well, you get the idea. This is an expensive mistake. The prevention isn't expensive but it's a pain in the ***. I do suggest an electrician. You can get your entire house grounded properly for an hour's labor and you might find that sixty-cycle hum in your stereo goes away. You will save money in the long run doing this. Be nice to the guy and he'll make sure you have a well-grounded piece of hardware somewhere near your car. A bolt or a bit of plumbing. Something like that.
Now back to work. Put on a static strap. They sell them for fifty cents or thereabouts in Radio Shack. Little Velcro bracelet with a wire of moderate length. Connect the other end of that wire to that known-good grounding point. While you work, keep one hand in contact with the body part you're buffing. Either the headlight cover or the fender. Like that. [Edit: this is what grounds the car. It is essential to keep that hand on the car while buffing unless you want to run an additional connection to the ground side of the battery.]
It is possible to fry a static-sensitive chip despite these precautions but it becomes very rare. So: ground the buffer; ground yourself; grind away with the buffer.
As for it being something Porsche should fix, the only way I know is to hang one of those grounding chains from the chassis. You know: like trucks use to prevent sparks while fueling. For aircraft, we have a special ground plug built into the fuselage. I imagine Porsche Exclusive would do one for a reasonable couple of thousand at time of order.
Incidentally, I don't swear to it, but I cannot offhand picture any benefit whatsoever from disconnecting the battery. That isn't the source of the damaging voltage.
Gary
So if you insist on running a rotating wool muff (or a surrogate) over your $100,000 computer, I do suggest grounding it, just as GPJli suggests. We do that with less expensive computers as a matter of course, so it's probably not asking too much for a gadget this expensive. (Unless you don't want the computer parts, in which case buff away.)
First, and probably this is the one stinging most people, make sure you plug the buffer into a grounded plug. Not just one with a third hole, because somebody may have gotten cute. Sometimes people put those in the wall to avoid hassles with grounded connectors but they don't bother to actually ground them. So buy a five-dollar outlet test widget. It will confirm the outlet is grounded properly. And if you were thinking of using a battery-powered buffer, don't.
Alright, check the outlet and fix it as necessary. I do suggest an electrician unless you can honestly say you know how to fix an outlet yourself. Now do the rest of the work the way we protect any other computer from static discharges: put a grounding strap on yourself connected to something you know is grounded. Not the car's ground. We mean different things by 'ground' in different situations. For electrostatic purposes we mean a serious honking ground. A piece of plumbing if you have steel or copper pipes. Otherwise hammer a piece of rebar into moist soil and... well, you get the idea. This is an expensive mistake. The prevention isn't expensive but it's a pain in the ***. I do suggest an electrician. You can get your entire house grounded properly for an hour's labor and you might find that sixty-cycle hum in your stereo goes away. You will save money in the long run doing this. Be nice to the guy and he'll make sure you have a well-grounded piece of hardware somewhere near your car. A bolt or a bit of plumbing. Something like that.
Now back to work. Put on a static strap. They sell them for fifty cents or thereabouts in Radio Shack. Little Velcro bracelet with a wire of moderate length. Connect the other end of that wire to that known-good grounding point. While you work, keep one hand in contact with the body part you're buffing. Either the headlight cover or the fender. Like that. [Edit: this is what grounds the car. It is essential to keep that hand on the car while buffing unless you want to run an additional connection to the ground side of the battery.]
It is possible to fry a static-sensitive chip despite these precautions but it becomes very rare. So: ground the buffer; ground yourself; grind away with the buffer.
As for it being something Porsche should fix, the only way I know is to hang one of those grounding chains from the chassis. You know: like trucks use to prevent sparks while fueling. For aircraft, we have a special ground plug built into the fuselage. I imagine Porsche Exclusive would do one for a reasonable couple of thousand at time of order.
Incidentally, I don't swear to it, but I cannot offhand picture any benefit whatsoever from disconnecting the battery. That isn't the source of the damaging voltage.
Gary
Sooo...I can't see what good grounding the buffer does? Call me crazy but, the ground for the buffer will only matter in the rare instance that the body of the buffer becomes electrified through a voltage leak from the hot wire. In that instance, the power will run back through the ground wire instead of through the guy touching it.
Further, if you havent noticed, grounding plugs are becoming less and less common. In fact, most new power tools do not even have a 3rd prong on the cord because they have become obsolete with new tools that have insulated bodies.
Your wrist to ground bracelet thingy might have some merit though, but I am not risking another $300 computer over it.
Anyway, the ONLY safe thing is to completely remove the headlight units from the car, or NOT buff the headlights.
#99
03-14-2012, 06:02 PM
First, I want to say that in my case, I zapped the CPU WITHOUT using a power tool. I waxed the headlight by hand, and it still fried.
Sooo...I can't see what good grounding the buffer does? Call me crazy but, the ground for the buffer will only matter in the rare instance that the body of the buffer becomes electrified through a voltage leak from the hot wire. In that instance, the power will run back through the ground wire instead of through the guy touching it.
Further, if you havent noticed, grounding plugs are becoming less and less common. In fact, most new power tools do not even have a 3rd prong on the cord because they have become obsolete with new tools that have insulated bodies.
Your wrist to ground bracelet thingy might have some merit though, but I am not risking another $300 computer over it.
Anyway, the ONLY safe thing is to completely remove the headlight units from the car, or NOT buff the headlights.
Sooo...I can't see what good grounding the buffer does? Call me crazy but, the ground for the buffer will only matter in the rare instance that the body of the buffer becomes electrified through a voltage leak from the hot wire. In that instance, the power will run back through the ground wire instead of through the guy touching it.
Further, if you havent noticed, grounding plugs are becoming less and less common. In fact, most new power tools do not even have a 3rd prong on the cord because they have become obsolete with new tools that have insulated bodies.
Your wrist to ground bracelet thingy might have some merit though, but I am not risking another $300 computer over it.
Anyway, the ONLY safe thing is to completely remove the headlight units from the car, or NOT buff the headlights.
Gary
#101
04-02-2012, 10:29 AM
Just wanted to update this thread. I installed the new Front Control Module, which takes all of about 30 minutes.
After installation, the fault codes went away, but a PSM failure code appeared. However, the PSM failure code went away after driving the car for 10 seconds or so (I believe the PSM had to recalibrate itself).
Anyway, expensive lesson learned.... do not wax headlights.
After installation, the fault codes went away, but a PSM failure code appeared. However, the PSM failure code went away after driving the car for 10 seconds or so (I believe the PSM had to recalibrate itself).
Anyway, expensive lesson learned.... do not wax headlights.
#102
04-02-2012, 10:35 AM
Registered User
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Natick, MA
Age: 51
Posts: 3,122
Rep Power: 162 
It's pre-cut and a complete pain in the *** to apply properly. Thank god the Porsche headlights are tiny in comparison to the Z3's. I ruined one the first time around. The trick is to start on one corner of the headlight and use the plastic shim to lay down inch by inch. The guide tells you to put the entire plastic piece on the headlight and iron out the bubbles. This method doesn't work, lay it down inch by inch and iron the bubbles out as you go. I use Lamin-x film, you can buy it from their website.
#103
04-02-2012, 10:37 AM
Registered User
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Natick, MA
Age: 51
Posts: 3,122
Rep Power: 162
that was on assie with 2005 cars, in late 2006+ revision it was addressed so waxing front bumper does not kill ECU anymore.
#104
04-02-2012, 10:49 AM
Although I hate wetsanding the headlights, it takes so long. I'm two hours in and just finished sanding one. Not to mention still need to apply rubbing compounds and plastic finish. Although the end goal of never having to worry about stone chips and color deterioration will be sweet.
#105
04-25-2012, 07:53 AM
I'm about to have a one pass paint treatment done on my car. Besides telling the detailer to avoid buffing on or near the headlights, is there any preventative measure. (Short of creating a custom grounding circuit for the guy at his shop?)
I'm not interested in a multi hundred dollar paint cleanup turning into an extra $300 in a CPU short.
I'm not interested in a multi hundred dollar paint cleanup turning into an extra $300 in a CPU short.