Porsche 911 2003

• Recall 157626 [USA]: If the pin fails, it will cause separation of the strut from the vehicle, affecting vehicle control and increasing the risk of a crash.
  Ohlins usa, inc (ohlins) is recalling certain front struts, part number pos 5n20. These struts were sold as part of ohlins strut kits part number poz mn02, intended for installation on 1999-2005 porsche 911 carrera 4 and 4s (generation 996), and 2001-2006 porsche 911 turbo / turbo s (generation 996) and kit part number poz mn05, intended for installation on 2005-2012 porsche 911 carrera 4 and 4s (generation 997), and 2006-2013 porsche 911 turbo / turbo s (generation 997). The pin of the strut may experience excessive stress during maximum steering, possibly resulting breakage of the pin.
  ohlins will notify owners, and dealers will request the return of all unsold kits containing the subject part from dealer/distributor inventory for a full refund. All owners who purchased one of the kits (poz mn02 or poz mn05) will receive replacement front struts (pos 5n20 or pos 5n21 - these parts are interchangeable), along with new top mount interface solutions, free of charge. The recall began december 22, 2020. Owners may contact ohlins customer service at 1-800-336-9029.
  owners may also contact the national highway traffic safety administration vehicle safety hotline at 1-888-327-4236 (tty 1-800-424-9153), or go to www.Safercar.Gov.

• Recall 34833 [USA]: In the event of a vehicle crash, the seats could twist, tilting on one side to the rear, possibly resulting in personal injury to the vehicle occupant.
  Certain passenger vehicles fitted with front seat backs, which do not meet porsche's strength standards.
  dealers will replace both the front seats. Owner notification began on april 26, 2004. Owners should contact porsche at 1-800-545-8039.
  customers can also contact the national highway traffic safety administration's auto safety hotline at 1-888-dash-2-dot (1-888-327-4236).

• Recall 35477 [USA]: If the fitting is loose, the hydraulic fluid could leak out, which could lead to loss of power steering assist and, for vehicles equipped with a manual transmission, loss of clutch assistance. if the leaking fluid comes into contact with hot exhaust components, it could ignite.
  Certain passenger vehicles may have a loose fitting in the pressure line of the power steering assembly.
  dealers will tighten the fitting to specifications. Owner notification began on december 1, 2003. Owners should contact porsche at 1-800-545-8039.
  porsche recall no. A307.Customers can also contact the national highway traffic safety administration's auto safety hotline at 1-888-dash-2-dot (1-888-327-4236).

• Recall 2004061 [Canada]: Seats and restraints
  On certain vehicles, the front seat backs may tilt towards the rear during a rear end collision. If this were to happen, seat occupants could be injured. Correction: dealer will replace both front seats.

• Recall 2003150 [Canada]: Steering
  On certain vehicles, a fitting in the pressure line of the power steering assembly may be loose. Correction: dealer will tighten fitting to specification.

To ensure accuracy and for your safety, it is recommended to do a free VIN recall check here or here [USA] - UK - Canada.

Bulletins are notices put out by manufacturers in conjunction with the NHTSA to notify the public of manufacturing issues or changes.

• Rapid coolant loss investigation as of 20130426

  On april 26, 2013, the office of defects investigation (odi) opened pe13-009 to investigate 10 complaints alleging incidents of sudden coolant loss while traveling on public roadways in certain model year (my) 2001 through 2007 porsche 911 vehicles.The complaints alleged that pipe ends joined by epoxy to certain cooling system components may fail suddenly and separate, resulting in large volumes of coolant leakage.The investigation was opened to assess evidence of a design or manufacturing defect in the coolant pipe fittings and any related safety consequences. In response to odi’s information request letter, porsche identified a manufacturing quality issue with the supplier’s application of adhesive to coolant pipe fittings that resulted in elevated failure rates in approximately 6,800 early production 997 generation vehicles (my 2007 and early my 2008).Odi’s analysis of field data showed that the age-adjusted failure rate for these vehicles was approximately six times greater than my 2001 through 2005 996 generation vehicles and my 2008 through 2011 997 generation vehicles built after a process improvement for adhesive application was implemented by the supplier.Most of the leak complaints reviewed by odi did not appear to involve complete separation of the fittings and many were detected when the vehicle was parked.There were no crashes or injuries reported to be related to the alleged defect in any of the subject vehicles.Odi identified two allegations that coolant leakage resulted in loss of control incidents, but neither involved vehicles affected by the assembly process quality issue.A third loss of control allegation involving a vehicle built during the period affected by the supplier process concern is not counted since odi was unable to contact the owner to confirm the incident.See the full closing resume in the document file for pe13-009 for additional information about the subject cooling system and odi’s analysis of field data related to the alleged defect. A safety-related defect has not been identified at this time and further use of agency resources does not appear to be warranted.Accordingly, this investigation is closed.The closing of this investigation does not constitute a finding by nhtsa that a safety-related defect does not exist.The agency will monitor this issue and reserves the right to take further action if warranted by the circumstances.
  

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Common OBD Error codes specific to this vehicle.

• B1096 [1] B1096

Odometer reading on the cluster and title do not match what the car actually has. I purchased the car from mullins ford of vero beach. Found many problems with the car and found that the mileage true mileage was actually 13,000 miles more. Spoke to two managers and neither of them wanted to do anything about it. I really loved the car and wanted to keep it but for someone to lie and do something fraudulent is not a pleasure i wanted to be apart so i informed them of it and made them refund my money. After 9 hours of my life wasted for this horrible experience i feel that something needs to be done about it. I have also found out that they are reselling the car with incorrect mileage again.

Odometer reading on the cluster and title do not match what the car actually has. I purchased the car from mullins ford of vero beach. Found many problems with the car and found that the mileage true mileage was actually 13,000 miles more. Spoke to two managers and neither of them wanted to do anything about it. I really loved the car and wanted to keep it but for someone to lie and do something fraudulent is not a pleasure i wanted to be apart so i informed them of it and made them refund my money. After 9 hours of my life wasted for this horrible experience i feel that something needs to be done about it. I have also found out that they are reselling the car with incorrect mileage again.

While driving home from work in december 2015, on a local road near my home, the engine began emitting a large steam cloud behind the vehicle and the coolant level light appeared. I pulled over and there was a major coolant leak behind the car. I had the car taken to a shop, and they identified the issues as one of the coolant pipes had separated from the engine and dumped all of the coolant on the road. In the attached image you can see the separated coolant pipe from the engine towards the back of the picture. Given the cost of repair, i had to wait until summer of 2016 to have the repair completed. *tr

I was driving on the putnam park road course track on 9/12/15, and one of my coolant fittings broke loose from the defective porsche adhesive. It spewed coolant all over the track, creating a very dangerous situation causing other drivers to lose control. I had a porsche dealer remedy the situation by pinning the fittings and applying new adhesive.

I was driving on interstate 15 northbound when i felt the rear end of my car slip. I was traveling at approximately 70 mpg in 5th gear on a 68 degree evening. I looked in my rear view mirror and saw smoke / steam coming out of the engine compartment. I pulled over as soon as i could, which was approximately 1 minute later. This is exactly what happened in nhtsa action pe13009. *js

I was driving my vehicle down the highway while accelerating when i felt the car squirm and noticed a large cloud of smoke billowing from the rear of the vehicle. I pulled over and identified the issue as a catastrophic coolant leak from the engine area (rear) of the vehicle. I had the vehicle transported home and then to a repair shop where they identified the problem as a coolant line that became separated from the engine block. It was explained to me that porsche, from the factory, used an adhesive like material to mate the connectors of the coolant lines and engine and after usage they will come apart causing coolant to be hemorrhaged onto the engine and potentially wheels/tires causing for very dangerous road conditions. During the incident i almost lost control of my vehicle due to the coolant contacting the tires which would not have otherwise happened had porsche not manufactured their vehicles in the aforementioned way. I as well as others on the road were put in a very dangerous situation because of this manufacturing issue. *tr

Vehicle's engine started to "rattle" at warm-up, then would go away, typical for an ims failure. Any longer wait may have resulted in complete engine failure. *tr

Aluminum coolant pipe, that is glued into water pump manifold, came loose causing massive loss of coolant all over the road causing slippery conditions for other drivers. *tr

My car is a 2002 porsche gt2 (the drop down menu above did not have a 2002 to select). It is a street car but to fully enjoy it i participate in high speed driver education events held on racetracks buy the porsche and bmw clubs. The engines in these cars are known to have catastrophic coolant line fitting failures. These fittings are adhered to the manifolds and they can come loose. When they do all the coolant dumps out quickly. As antifreeze is extremely slippery this can cause a very dangerous and life threatening situation both to the porsche and cars behind; the cars, drivers and occupants that may drive over the coolant are at risk. I had one of the 7 coolant line fittings in the car fail at a high performance driving education event at new hampshire motor speedway while braking hard from the back straightaway entering turn 3. I was slowing from a high speed when the fitting failed. My rear end wiggled when the tires hit the coolant but fortunately neither i or anyone else on the track had an incident. The track was shut down for 30 minutes while they cleaned up the slippery, dangerous surface. Porsche has known of this problem for years yet has not issued a recall. The proper repair which i had performed entails welding all the fittings at a cost of approximately $5000. This is the only acceptable solution, one porsche should be doing proactively and should cover the costs for folks like me, to prevent potentially fatal accidents. *tr

Coolant hose failure when the vehicle is run medium/hard. I lost 1/2 liter the first couple times in total, and roughly 1 liter of coolant the last time, all over the exhaust and rear driver's side wheel tire. Lucky i did not spin out or have many cars behind me. I captured pictures of the last leak after returning to my garage on 05/03/2013. Prior to the last leak, i had the front radiator replaced and the porsche mechanic pressure tested the coolant system to ensure there were no leaks, as i had mentioned it would leak from near the rear driver's side. He did not find any leaks while the car was off and pressure tested. *tr

Repair to the engine coolant hard pipes was required to prophylactically prevent failure of the factory epoxy seal. Welding the pipes was required while the engine was out of the vehicle. *tr

Coolant pipe failure at "coolant console" on top of the engine causing all coolant to immediately spill on top the engine, spraying the rear tires causing rear tires to lose traction. The coolant pipe is press fit with what appears to be an adhesive which failed leaving the exit pipe made of steel separated from an aluminum " console or block". The coolant loss was immediate causing total coolant loss. Very disconcerting at 70mph having coolant spray all over the rear tires (particularly the drivers side rear). Causing the rear of the car to slide sideways on a gentle right hand bend on an interstate. *tr

Coolant fitting on engine blew off on the freeway, dumping all the coolant and causing a major traffic slowdown. Car was able to be repaired by bonding (jb weld) in the fitting into the engine block. No issues since. Also, the left front radiator leaked and needed to be replaced. *tr

Factory connection at coolant pipes had come apart due to poor manufacturing process, use of glue. Weeping of coolant at connections. Had shop weld coolant pipes to rectify the imminent issue. *tr

The coolant line connectors that come out of the engine / block are dislodging from the engine blocks and blowing out all of the coolant in a matter of seconds. Porsche used some sort of adhesive to hold the connectors in the block instead of welding them in; as the cars age and go through lots of heat cycles, the adhesive is wearing out and the connectors are blowing out of the engine block causing a massive coolant dump which can be dangerous if traveling at freeway speeds. *tr

I was driving my car to a charity event hosted by a high school tennis team when i noticed steam coming from my engine bay. All my cars coolant leaked out into the parking lot and it created a very large puddle. My wheels were covered in coolant and it created an unsafe driving condition for the participants behind me who were follow me into the car was. As all of the coolant evacuated my car, it is a miracle that it did not happen on the freeway where it could have caused an accident. Because the cause of this was faulty coolant lines, my alternator was also shorted and need to be replaced, again, if this happened on a long trip or on the freeway i could have been stranded. *tr

An epoxied coolant fitting for the engine cooling system failed while driving. This resulted in the sudden loss of most all the engines coolant on the roadway. Permanent fix was to have auto repair shop weld the fitting in place. *tr

I was cruising with the family at 65mph and heard my belts squeel and then stop after 2 or 3 seconds. About 20 seconds later a low coolant light came on and my temp light was blinking. Temp was only around 195 to 205, pretty far from the red. I immediatly pulled over and shut it down. There was a lot of coolant leaking, a large trail followed me off the interstate. *tr

This vehicle has a dark history around 2010 ! There were five title issues reported all staying lemon law issues ! I can't get anyone to vlarify

Entered highway and reached highway speed, low coolant light appeared and large cloud of smoke exited the rear of the car. Pulled over and engine bay smoking with coolant everywhere inside engine bay and over rear of car including tires. Coolant had completely drained due to a glued in fitting which had come loose. *tr

2003 porsche 911 c4s coupe: catastrophic engine failure in new york. Would likely have caused a serious accident, if had still been on i-87. Moments before, diverted to nearly empty rt-9. From web research and discussions with porsche service centers, i estimate that 1st gen water cooled boxer engines in boxster and 911 during '99-'08 have had > 5% catastrophic failure rate associated with the intermediate shaft system (shaft, bearings, lubrication system). The 2nd gen water cooled boxer engines introduced in 2009 eliminated the intermediate shaft. My experience indicates porsche ag and porsche na have been conducting a cover-up by persuading authorized service centers to return the engines unopened to porsche ag, where they do a nice business salvaging the case for remanufactured engines sold back to victims. That happened to me at pepe porsche. At first, they said the 'intermediate shaft bolt' broke. There is no such part, although there is a threaded end. My 3rd party warranty company said, 'sorry, fine print, we do not cover failures caused by broken bolts'. Pepe later admitted that the fundamental failure mechanism was likely intermediate shaft bearings. The warranty company demanded an inspection. By then, the broken engine was long gone, and i had spent $13,000 for installation of a remanufactured engine. I fought porsche ag, porsche na, and pepe for satisfaction (by myself, without an attorney). I finally settled for 50% back from pepe. Watching the toyota story vis a vis the nhtsa, i have renewed hope that the nhtsa would pro-actively receive my complaint and investigate. I suggest you poll authorized service centers to find out how many '996-series' engines they have seen from 1999-2008 model years with catastrophic failures, how many were associated with a crash, and how many engines were returned to porsche ag unopened, without a thorough investigation of the failure mechanism. *tr

Driving on private road and a radiator hose (in front of car) came off causing immediate and rapid purging of coolant on to all 4 tires and me spinning off of the road. Fortunately only into the grass on side of road. Car was flat bedded to mechanic for repairs. Spent several hundred dollars on repairs. Have since spent thousands on additional preventative measures due to mechanics alerting me that the hoses in the rear will let go and cause coolant loss. Had to pay for engine removal and welding of lines for my safety. Costs was well over $3000. *tr

Tl*the contact owns a 2003 porsche 911 carrera cabriolet. While driving approximately 55 mph on normal road conditions, upon braking, the driver's side seat back tilted slightly to the rear position without assistance. The seat back support attachments were not properly secured to the seat. The failure occurred without warning. The vehicle was taken to an authorized dealer, but they were unable to determine the cause of the failure. The vin was excluded from nhtsa campaign id number 04v070000 (seats), although the failures were identical. The vehicle has not been repaired. The failure mileage was 15,000 and current mileage was 22,000. Updated 11/25/08. *lj updated 11/25/08.*jb

Consumer received a manufacturer's recall a309 notice for replacement of both front seats. No parts were available. Service manager pat collins. *ak *nm

The driver's side seat belt fell off the consumer's shoulders while driving, but the retractor and buckle were still engaged. *ak when driving in the city, the driver seat belt and the passengers seat belts slid off their shoulders when looking over the left and right shoulders. There were no guides on the seats to keep the belts in an appropriate position. This happened on many occasions, especially when turning corners. The seat belt slid out of the out board shoulder. *scc *jb

When the air conditioner a/c was engaged condensation appeared and spread across the windshield. This reduced the driver's visibility. Also, intermittently door remote opener failed to function. *ak *mr

2003 porsche 911 carrera affected by a seat recall. Customer states that his vehicle is in the dealers hands until the seats are changed and the vehicle has been there for 7 weeks. *kb the consumer further stated the dealer does not know when the part will be received to perform the recall. The consumer also stated he asked the dealer for a loaner car and one has not been provided, the dealer stated it has not been approved as of yet. The consumer stated he would like the issue investigated. *tr