Porsche PIWIS cable clone 3.0.15.0 reviews

by Alex Carter Mechanic Assistant

Here are reviews from those have tried the Chinese knock off Durametric tool on the web: http://www.obdii365.com/wholesale/porsche-piwis-cable-free-shipping-617.html

cheap & works:

I have a cheap Chinese copy and it works. but it only allows me to use an early version of the Durametric software which is why it comes with the software on CD Rom. i cannot for example download version 6 from the Durametric website and use it with the copy cable.

works with durametric 3.0.15.0:

i bought few months ago a PIWI cable on the web. I tried it with durametric 3.0.15.0 and it works fine but with restrictions.

I did a test with release 5 and 6 and it failed

only with Durametric version 3:

You can update some of the Durametric clone cables, but most of them are bricked if you go beyond around version 5.0.6 of the Durametric software. Others are bricked way before that. So as Clint would say “Do you feel lucky?” They usually come with V3.1 software, which is hopelessly out of date, and very limited on what you can do on a 9×7 onwards. OK-ish for 9x6s though.

If you want something that will read and reset fault codes, and read live data, from all the control modules of everything from a 9×6 up to a 9×1, including Panameras and Cayennes, take a look at the iCarsoft i960 hand held scanner. About £100. It won’t reset service indicators, but is a useful tool for diagnostics, and resetting things like airbag lights. (No affiliation, by the way).

need Windows XP:

Used this. direct off obdii365.com not resold and marked up.

Search for Porsche PIWIS.

Yes if your car is listed it will generally work, but you need Win XP ideally though bodging some drivers for a later version of Durametric gets it to work on Win 8. Looking into this for you, I downloaded Durametric 5 or 6 and used the drivers. Or just source a cheap Win XP laptop.

“YMMV” but if you just want to fool around no harm in trying. I got some interesting info off this, and also reset an airbag light (oddly, via 993 model selection despite being a 996).

My conclusion, if you are half hearted about this and don’t really see the need to splash out on a Durametric kit, then yes, this is worth having, and useful.

useful to read error code:

this is not a bad product.
you can reset most if not all the warning lights.
also useful to read error code from CEL
I think if you are gonna work on the car, you need it.
I wish they would have emulated the FULL PIWIS functions but this is just a small part of what the dealer can do.

read & clear fault codes:

With the software I could only read fault codes for each of these item and then clear them. I went through each of them to see what other contents were shown and they all save for the airbag 04 showed “no fault” and the Climate Control had a whole page of errors of something like “left flapper valve value implausible”. The air con works fine so I left this alone.

I only bought this Durametric cable for the air bag light and it served my purpose. I would not know what to do with other fault codes if I had them.

Worked for me.

useful, reset the airbag light:

I bought one for 20 usd, found it useful and actually reset the airbag light with it.

You can also delete error codes, read a lot of live and stored performance data off it, etc etc.

It’s a previous version of Durametric.

It works as long as you know the limitations, major one being XP only unless you install the Durametric V6 drivers then you can get it to work on Win8 and presumably previous versions of Windows too.

I’m not sure re using Durametric V6 in its entirety though, I thought you needed a specific proprietary cable for that which is why the clones are always supplied with an older version of Durametric.

Useful tool if you are not willing (or needing) to commit to anything special.

worth, able to reset the airbag light:

For what it’s worth, this knock-off was able to reset my airbag light for a total outlay of $43. My 993 came back from some simple repairs with the light illuminated. Of course the garage know nothing about it and when asked said “common to the 993, we didn’t do it”.

The software installed says “durametric for porsche version 3.0.15.0” which was downloaded from their site. Sadly I did not take a screenshot or copy the fault codes which appeared for the air bag unit before I cleared them. I suspect that the functionality is limited due to the age of the software, when plugged in I only saw the following items to review / clear, and my exact recollection of the numbers following the modules is not clear:

DME 5.0
DME 5.5
Air bag 02
Airbag 04
Climate Control
[perhaps one other I cannot recall]

work ok:

I bought something similar for E20 and it seems to work OK although I think after trying the Cd it came with I ended up downloading software from Durametic site.

I think this is it:

http://www.obdii365.com/wholesale/porsche-piwis-cable-free-shipping-617.html

work fine:

yes i can confirm it works fine. Ordered from them last week. Ive been able to reset my airbag, sort service light etc and saved me an expensive trip to my local Porsche dealer.

Conclusion:

The Durametric clone cable (also called Porsche PIWIS cable) is verified to works perfectly for fault codes read & clear and airbag light reset. But the cable cannot works for new software; you have to install Durametric 3.0.15.0 on Windows XP only! That is, you cannot update Durametric sw to version 5 or version 6 for new vehicles. Durametric version 3 works with most Porsche in the year 1990 – 2007:

1996-1998 Porsche 911 (993)
1996-1998 Porsche 911 Turbo (993)
1998-2004 Porsche 911 Carrera (996)
1998-2004 Porsche 911 Carrera 4 (996)
2000-2005 Porsche 911 Turbo (996)
2000-2005 Porsche 911 GT2, GT3 (996)
2005-2007 Porsche 911 (997)
1997-2004 Porsche Boxster (986)
2000-2004 Porsche Boxster S (986)
2005-2007 Porsche Boxster (987)
2003-2006 Porsche Cayenne (955)
2005-2007 Porsche Cayman (987)