Was wondering if buying the Duramatric unit was worth the money in being useful to find codes and fix things on my 2002 996 C2 Convertible.
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Right now my car is running great and i have no issues that come up on the dash so i am wondering what can you actually find out..

Should i find a used unit or just buy new??

Thanks,
B

 

P-car owners who have them swear by them (hopefully some will chime in soon). my 2 cents: get a used one if you can find one at a discount. watch the video in link below for an overview on what it can do:

http://www.durametric.com/2002-porsche-carrera-996.aspx

 

If you are mechanically inclined and planning on doing your own work on your Porsche I would definitely recommend it for the money. I think it's worth every penny for the features it offers.

If you don't do your own work but just want an idea of why your CEL is lit up I would just buy one of those cheap generic code readers.

 

+1 I think if your going to do any work yourself it's a must have.

 

Some will say yes - I've never had nor needed one.

 

I bought one after my airbag light came on in my '99 C2. It was a classic problem with the seat belt buckle, which the Durametric pin pointed to the passenger side. I don't know what a shop would have charged to fix but it easily paid for itself with that one use for me and was an easy DIY - thanks to this forum!

I bought a refurbished kit with a full warranty for about the same as a used one. I also have a cheap code reader and it's just that, a cheap code reader. It can't access nearly as many codes, doesn't give you a lot of info, and won't clear an airbag light among other things.

I also like that if anything goes wrong you can post codes here to get a wealth of info before having any repairs done.

I also agree with what others have said and if you're not interested in doing the work yourself it may not be worth it. But that's just like... my opinion... man...

 

Thanks everyone for all the input. I try and do alot of work myself on the P-car and it sounds like a great tool to have if just to reset codes and cels without the need for expensive service repair.
I will try and find a refurbished one first but may wind up just buying new.

 

Or buy the Chinese version for $25. That one uses the older pwiws software but can still read Porsche specific codes and reset airbag light.

 

Priceless diagnostic tool IMO. You will save TONS of money in the long run if you are not scared to turn a wrench every now and then.

Pair this with a Bently manual and it has the potential of paying for itself in the first issue or two you run into!