Thinkdiag Porsche 987 Coding Review

I purchased $89 ThinkDiag coding scanner that came with licenses for 1 year for up to two manufacturers. I only used one manufacturer and only the Porsche had some potential I was interested in unlocking. More 1-year licenses could be purchased as needed for about $40 each per year, per manufacturer. All you had to do to activate a manufacturer was connect to the car's OBDII port. and download the manufacturer-specific software module. No cable needed since it all runs over Bluetooth on your smart phone or tablet (or even your Android based head unit). While I find their price scheme confusing and a little annoying, I think you are not limited by how many VINs - the licences seem to be per manufacturer.

So I went back to find those old P-9 threads on activating/modifying 987 features. Use Google and you'll find lots of them on P-9 and other sites. I only found a couple "features" I wanted to try and maybe a few I'd like to play with. There are more that would be nice if I had a 987.1 but not needed on my car.
1- dip the windows when the hatch is opened (and raise after it is closed)
2- option to open/close both windows using the key fob when unlocking/locking by holding the button a few seconds longer

There are are a few more mentioned in various threads - like:

• enabling front side markers to act as turn signal indicators. Not needed on 987.2 since that is how they normally work.
• dip the passenger mirror in reverse (also not needed on my 987.2)
• You could also mess with some settings like locking the doors when moving (on per key basis)
• some DRL settings
• disabling seatbelt chime

Most of those I wasn't interested in or were not applicable to my car. The first problem I had was the Durametric instructions I found in threads didn't map very well into how the ThinkDiag menu structure was organized. So I spent a lot of time just navigating through the options to find something that matched the desired settings. Some descriptions were very cryptic and I recommend staying away from changing anything that you don't understand. I even found some settings that were not even translated from German.

Note: the following has been re-constructed from my obviously defective 74 yr old memory. I'm sure I am missing steps. Also, the eventual positive results happened after trying some things that didn't work. Who knows if there was some cumulative effect of the failed attempts. I wasn't going about this in systematic, scientific manner like a good engineer.

I decided my first attempt would be to do the "windows dip" trick when the hatch was opened. Something I always wished I had. So I plugged-in the ThinkDiag and fired-up the app. You need to have the ignition ON to get into the vital stuff but for the things I was interested the engine did not need to be running. BTW, I have a newly installed Android head-unit (ATOTO A6PF) which could install and run the app, and I think the licenses would be valid on more than one host, but I decided not to bother at this time. An added benefit of using the phone was mobility - running diagnostics and activating some things while walking around the car was cooler. Sort of an "out-of-body experience". I even found I could turn on a single headlight or marker light, honk the horn's dual hi/low tones individually (weird I know). That set-off the trusty Dog Alarm!

Anyway, on the ThinkDiag app (actually called ThinkDiag+ but calls itself ThinkCar) I started by trying to automatically scan for my VIN - which failed for some reason. So I had to enter it manually. Then I had to tell it my year, make, model, and it downloaded the Porsche module(s). It restarted itself a few times during this process. I then ran a full scan ("All Systems Diagnostic") which picked-up some communication problems caused by my missing CDR30 radio. Durametric does the same thing.

Then I started browsing around. I didn't make notes at the time so forgive (for now) that I can't give menu titles or navigation instructions. I also think that this app was written by non-English speakers and some names and titles are oddly translated. Anyway I navigated around until I found a list of categories organized by area/functionality. I eventually found one called "Driver's Door". Opening that I found a list for displaying and testing many related things. I finally found what I wanted in the section oddly named "Brush Hidden/Modified" Paging through the items I found one mentioning "Window short stroke by lugg. comp operation". IIRC it had no current setting and opening it I found the option to change it to "Release". Then I pressed the "Write Code" button at the bottom of the page. It is my best recollection that this was all I did. But I won't swear to it. Anyway, I backed out of the app and used my key fob to pop-the-hatch. What da ya no! The driver's window dropped a couple inches!!! Don't forget to make the same coding change for the passenger door.

I found that all of the coding items that I wanted to do on Durametric Pro are available on ThinkDiag. But since Durametric designed their software specifically for Porsche, it seems easier to navigate. On ThinkDiag they are buried so you have to go hunting in the logical places for the system you want to tweak. I just wish somewhere at the top they told you where you are in the menu tree. Then if you found something useful you could note how to find it again.
So far on the 987.2 Cayman I've coded:

• drop the windows when hatch opens and raise when closed
• capability to lower both windows from key fob when unlocking (and raise when locking)
• capability to lower windows with the key (just for the hell of it) - had to disable an alarm setting to keep it from going berserk.
• changed the HOME setting (on HL switch) to use fogs.
• set audible Locking BEEP BEEP (but turned it off cause it was too annoying)
• enabled DRL but again turned it off. I think I can set it to use the fogs instead. Wish I could have those little LED bars work as DRL

There are some other things that would be useful for Boxster and 987.1 owners.