POWER LOSS CONUNDRUM

Your tech guru, Chris Horton, highlighted the problem of a 996 with Tipronic transmission ( 911&PW Jan 2019 issue), not recognising that the brake was being applied. Well I've had the opposite problem on two modern era Porsches as well.

My 2000 year 986 Boxster race car wouldn't rev beyond 1900rpm. Asking around the paddock revealed a suggestion, that the brake pedal switch was sticking on. I replaced the switch and all was fine.

More recently a similar problem, with my 2005 997, which would keep on randomly losing power. Except we deduced it wasn't random. It was, in fact, after heavy braking, with the plunger switch taking time to fully release, at which point normal service was resumed.

In both cases there weren't any error codes, as neither car recognised any problem, other than believing the driver was being an idiot by pressing both the brake and throttle for an extended period of time, ie longer than heel and toeing.

As Chris points out, it's a cheap part to replace, but that's also the problem with it. As we've found out, it wears out rather quicker than the rest of the car! If any reader recognises a similar problem, it's certainly worth a go at replacing it. Phil Churchill, via email