"Any "Known" Issues with 981?
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Instructor
Joined: Aug 2014
Posts: 122
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"Any "Known" Issues with 981?
New car warranty on my 2015 Cayman S runs out September this year and would like to "document" known issues with my car in case pre-existing condition may help Porsche agree to fix even shortly after warranty expires. For instance this forum mentions door panel warping and headlight delamination as "known issue" with at least early 981 which I was not aware of. I looked and it seems my passenger side door panel is coming "unglued" at top where it wraps around to window (not as bad on driver side). Car is due for its 4 year check so I mentioned this to my dealer and upon my mentioning I saw this on Rennlist forum he then said he had seen this on one or two 981's they service and will add it to my service checks I want done--not sure dealer would have mentioned this until I referenced Rennlist mentions. At least it is now "documented" in case it gets worse on both doors.
This is my first Porsche so not tuned to how car "should" sound or drive, but I am not aware of any other issues with my 981. Would appreciate comments on things I should check on 981 like door panels.
Understand it would be difficult to list "known issues" experienced by many owners vs unique issues one or two owners have, but is there a thread somewhere or some source that attempts to list "known issues" with 981---like the thread devoted to the IMS issue when it occurred on older series? Doubtful, but has anyone had any luck getting Porsche USA or their dealer to mention known issues they are seeing? There are some well respected independent Porsche shops in my area that our local chapter of PCA knows about so I am planning to have one of them check car over before warranty expires.
This is my first Porsche so not tuned to how car "should" sound or drive, but I am not aware of any other issues with my 981. Would appreciate comments on things I should check on 981 like door panels.
Understand it would be difficult to list "known issues" experienced by many owners vs unique issues one or two owners have, but is there a thread somewhere or some source that attempts to list "known issues" with 981---like the thread devoted to the IMS issue when it occurred on older series? Doubtful, but has anyone had any luck getting Porsche USA or their dealer to mention known issues they are seeing? There are some well respected independent Porsche shops in my area that our local chapter of PCA knows about so I am planning to have one of them check car over before warranty expires.
Rennlist Member
Joined: May 2008
Posts: 1,557
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From: Tennessee
981's don't have any real known issues aside from the couple of minor things you mentioned. A few cars had windshield glue issues, but I think that was isolated to certain production months. The 9A1 engine is solid if taken care of, although evidently susceptible to bore scoring and LSPI as discussed in detail in a 997 forum thread with a couple of the best in the biz (still very, very rare). PDK's are typically reliable even in heavy track use.
Racer
Joined: Aug 2017
Posts: 487
Likes: 14
From: Michigan
Been wondering this with my own car and haven't really seen anything posted and discussed in here which I would flag as "know" issues. Makes me pretty happy.
The only thing I can really think of is from reading the motorsport forum. If you have the PTV option with the LSD or eLSD they aren't considered to be very durable. If you've tracked the car a lot perhaps you want the dealer to flush and fill the gear oil and inspect wear on the clutch plates in the differential.
The only thing I can really think of is from reading the motorsport forum. If you have the PTV option with the LSD or eLSD they aren't considered to be very durable. If you've tracked the car a lot perhaps you want the dealer to flush and fill the gear oil and inspect wear on the clutch plates in the differential.
Rennlist Member
Joined: Aug 2012
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From: Pac NW
No widespread mechanical issues have shown up in the 9A1 engine or PDK gearboxes, which is great as far as it goes. But you don't want to blow off cosmetic issues entirely. You could put a brand-new engine in many other cars for what it will cost if you have to foot the bill for both of those door panels yourself. It's definitely a good idea to make sure it's on written record at the dealership if you think you may be developing a problem.
Three Wheelin'
Joined: Apr 2010
Posts: 1,468
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From: Albuquerque, NM
Biggest problem I've had is that owning a 981 Spyder has ruined all subsequent 911 driving experiences. Each time I get excited about purchasing a 911, after I drive it I'm reminded it handles like crap compared to the mid-engine 981.
Drifting
Joined: May 2009
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From: Toronto
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Rennlist Member
Joined: Aug 2012
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From: Pac NW
The IMS bearing was an engineering f***up, no other way to spin it. If you wanted to design something that was likely to fail catastrophically outside of the warranty period with the express purpose of getting your old cars off the road and off the market, that's exactly the sort of thing you'd design. It was a simple, localized point of failure that should never have been there to begin with. The intermediate shaft was developed as a cost-saving strategy, and, being basically unnecessary for any other purpose, it was eventually removed altogether.
The PDK on the other hand is an extremely complex implementation of a component that is unfortunately necessary due to a weakness in the way all internal combustion engines work. It can and will fail, most likely out of warranty, in the same sense that you and I will eventually die of cancer if nothing else kills us first.
It sucks that we need transmissions at all, but given that we have to have a transmission of some kind -- and given that all transmissions are complex beasts that will eventually fail if nothing else takes the car out of service first -- the PDK is arguably the best one out there. It clearly has not been "designed to fail" in the way the IMS bearing was, but that's admittedly not much comfort to Porsche owners who do experience failures. IMHO it is about as reliable as it could reasonably be expected to be. It is what it is. Gotta pay to play, etc., etc.
The closest thing we have to an IMS clusterf*** in these cars is the multi-kilobuck door panels, a case where Porsche knew or should have known that it screwed up something relatively simple, but is content to make its customers deal with the fallout.
Racer
Joined: Jan 2018
Posts: 282
Likes: 27
From: Seattle Area
List of 981 problems in the car's I've owned - past and present:
- 981 2014 Base PDK Cayman:
--- Second owner.
--- Electric Distro Unit fail (insanely rare - covered 100% by Porsche even though my car was out of warranty by half a year).
--- Completely random oil leak that appeared and disappeared entirely on it's own and was never properly identified by dealer or myself.
--- Owned for 2 years. Mileage was in the 20K's.
- 981 2014 PDK Boxster S:
--- Third owner.
--- Driver's side coolant fan died. Covered by aftermarket warranty.
--- Currently own - 4 months. 27K miles.
- GT4
--- Second owner.
--- Radio/Sat head unit died 1 week after purchase. Replaced under OEM warranty.
--- Battery died 2 days after purchase. Replaced under OEM warranty.
--- Currently own - 1 year six months. 10K miles.
So...nothing mechanical for me, but some odd electrical stuff.
John
- 981 2014 Base PDK Cayman:
--- Second owner.
--- Electric Distro Unit fail (insanely rare - covered 100% by Porsche even though my car was out of warranty by half a year).
--- Completely random oil leak that appeared and disappeared entirely on it's own and was never properly identified by dealer or myself.
--- Owned for 2 years. Mileage was in the 20K's.
- 981 2014 PDK Boxster S:
--- Third owner.
--- Driver's side coolant fan died. Covered by aftermarket warranty.
--- Currently own - 4 months. 27K miles.
- GT4
--- Second owner.
--- Radio/Sat head unit died 1 week after purchase. Replaced under OEM warranty.
--- Battery died 2 days after purchase. Replaced under OEM warranty.
--- Currently own - 1 year six months. 10K miles.
So...nothing mechanical for me, but some odd electrical stuff.
John
Burning Brakes
Joined: Nov 2006
Posts: 1,197
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From: Danville, California
I too have only had some “odd electrical issues” on my Spyder. Starting about 6 mos from new. Many random codes... mostly for things not installed on my car, heated seats, heated steering wheel etc. along with PSM, power steering, etc. they will go away on their own, but always return. The dealer has cleared them many times, but the always come back. Finally they went deeper and reprogrammed the entire ecu. Still codes! Now they are trying a new, non-porsche battery. Perhaps a bad battery since day one. Stay tuned.
Rennlist Member
Joined: May 2008
Posts: 1,557
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From: Tennessee