Porsche 997 interior refresh

My 997 is in good technical condition, but after more than 200,000 km and 18 years, the interior showed some signs of wear that I wanted to address. Thankfully the leather is in good condition. Steering wheel spoke My car has the standard triangular steering wheel. Apparently the default driving […]

Porsche M96/M97 cooling and oil

Much has been said and written about the reliability issues of the Porsche M96/M97 engines as installed in the 986 Boxster, 996 911, 987.1 Boxster/Cayman, and 997.1 911. The IMS bearing problems are well understood (even if opinions about the frequency of failures occurring differ), whereas bore scoring is a […]

Buying a Porsche 997

Owning a 911 has long been a dream of mine, partly because I had the chance to drive a 1973 Carrera RS back in 2003. Hence for a long time my dream car was an F-model 911 in Blutorange (preferably the 2.4S), but these have become way too expensive. I’ve […]

The glove compartment

Personal protection is important when working with tools. Standard items include hearing protection, safety goggles, gloves, and possibly safety shoes. Gloves are certainly the one that I use the most. Types of gloves I would generally categorize gloves into three types: Thin disposable gloves for protecting from dirts and fluids. […]

Mercedes W211 battery replacement

Some time ago my W211 started to complain about disabled comfort functions after a few days of not being driven. This is a precautionary measure to reduce drain on a battery that has a low voltage, and includes disabling things like heated seats and rear window until the voltage has […]

Bluetooth for the Mercedes W211 E-class

There’s a downside to driving older cars as daily driver: Some things we are used to, such as Bluetooth audio streaming and hands-free calling, are not always available – even in an upmarket cars like the E-class. Here are some options for the W211. Bluetooth cradles Hands-free calling is relatively […]

Mercedes M272 ignition coil replacement

My W211 recently developed a rough idle at certain times, and on two occasions a check engine light came on. Reading the fault codes with my iCarsoft CR Pro+ pointed to a faulty ignition coil, specifically the one of cylinder 5. Luckily replacements aren’t that expensive. I went for Delphi […]