Pictures would of been a great idea !!!! Mentally noted !!
as for being cheap ,,, I try to pick and choose , I totally read the forums before making heavy purchases!
some things are just worth getting the Porsche parts and some things , porsche had just badly designed Or way over priced !!
one example was this stupid plastic piece that holds 2 coolant lines together on the engine by the alternator,, man I just touched it and it spewed out hot (luckily not burning skin hot) but it hurt , replaced that with some aftermarket part , mind you I think this part ended up being more expensive lol ok might not be the best example 😂

 

I know the exact part you're talking about. The plastic breaks into crumbs over time. Most all 996 owners will have to replace that one over and over again. Some have even gone to Home Depot and purchase brass line couplers instead of purchasing the plastic part from Porsche. Good luck with all the work. Enjoy it.

 

Oh yeah just crumbled trying to remove the two halves from the hoses !!! 5150 Motorsports I believe have this wonderful thicker plastic clip with a metal tube and a longer bolt for the thicker plastic to bolt onto the block,highly recommended!!!!
As for my brake wear bypass , still no luck finding the 2nd brown black wire behind the cluster , but I’ve received my new clips to screw the cluster to the dash (old ones were stripped) so I will take a 3rd look at it probably this week , fingers crossed !!

 

I m not sure if 2001 has can bus ??
but I have finally fixed this ,,, turns out the first black brown wire is in black plug and the elusive 2nd black brown is not black brown at all, in fact it is just brown located in the blue plug , both of these are in the cluster , so what is the best way to bypass the brake wear sensors , if anyone still wants to do this on the getting older 996 , jump the wiring harnesses from the black brown wire to the brown wire , 2001 c4 not sure how many other cars this would affect !!