CFIMarco

Hello,
1) Anyone of you guys ever experienced a PADM fault?
2) How many Dynamic Engine Mounts are installed on the 981S engine? 2 or 4?

Thanks, have a great week end :-)

JCtx

No engine mounts on 981s; just transmission mounts, because the 911 engine mounts are the 981 transmission mounts (drivetrain is backwards of a 911, as you know). The tranny mounts on 911s are too rearward to be used as engine mounts for 981s, and of course Porsche didn't want to spend the money to make that right. Therefore, we just have 2. A half-a$$ approach, if you ask me, but maybe it has slight handling benefits. I don't feel any, to be honest.

CFIMarco

I'm not sure, but there should be two Active Drivetrain Mounts on any 981 equipped with sport chrono. The fact the engine is mounted 180° if compared to the 911 shouldn't change the number of mounts. The GT3 has two PADM and one regular engine mount for the transmission.
My 981S had a PADM failure last June, I checked the invoice and they changed the left one. I don't know if this fault is from the same engine mount, in which case it should be covered by warranty, or the other one, in which case the repair will be on my dime and I will own one of the few Boxters who had a dual PADM fault

I'll keep you guys updated when I'll have the car checked at the local Porsche's shop, but if I won't take it on Monday it may take a few weeks because I'll have to leave for my tour of duty early next week.

CFIMarco

JCtx

Didn't know the GT3 has a normal tranny mount, and just 3 total. But it makes a lot more sense to have PADM engine mounts than tranny ones. The main engine mounts on my GTS are normal, not PADM. The PADM ones are more on the tranny side. Next time I'm under the car will scrutinize their location better, to see if they're right at the engine and tranny junction, or more towards the transmission. And only saw one, but know there're 2. Do you happen to have a diagram of our cars? And yes, the more electronic crap, the more chances for something to go wrong. That's why I wanted X73, and no PADM, but all GTSs have SC/PADM standard. Oh well. At least our LSD is not electronic, so good news there.

il pirata

I believe it's two, actually on the tranny.

Pavegeno928

Suncoast has them for $1300 each...will getvthis done when back in the US.

CFIMarco

Gentlemen, a quick update:
The PADM who failed wasn't the one they changed last June but the other one. Therefore 2 out of 2 failed within five months and 2,500 miles.
I have been told by the shop that I'm in good company...

Pavegeno928

any idea if there is a service bulletin or recall out for this?

CFIMarco

As far as I know there isn't.
Porsche knows that more PADM than they expected are failing, but they don't do anything about it. (They didn't do any SB or recall for the IMS bearing, I don't thing they will ever do it for the PADM)

JCtx

This is the first thread I read of such failure (maybe more common on 911s?), so not that common on 981s IMO. And remember TSBs are for hard-to-diagnose issues, so you'd never see one for this issue. And neither a recall, since it doesn't affect our safety. But yes, it's one more thing to go wrong, especially after warranty.

CFIMarco

Write PADM in the search function of this site and you will find plenty of issues.

Or check this out

https://rennlist.com/forums/991/9640...ure-again.html

JCtx

That's on 911s. On that thread somebody has 73K miles without an issue. I suspect a bad batch, or something inherently different on 911s, like mounts too close to the exhaust, or something like that. On those cars, the mounts are on the engine. On ours, on the tranny. I also wonder how they work. Are they working all the time, or just in sport/sport+, or just sport+? I know that the fluid to get thicker it requires current, but maybe in normal, or normal/sport, they don't do anything. Does anybody know exactly when they're working? I'm not worry about those at all, especially on my 2016. That's also why I wanted one of the last cars produced, since I have no dealer anywhere close.

CFIMarco

You made a good point with interesting questions, hopefully someone who is more knowledgable than myself on this matter will have an answer.
Fact is that both PADM failed on my car within a few months, but I don't think there is any relation to the fact we have these mounts on the tranny and the 911 guys have it on the engine. IMHO the reason for which we see more PADM failure reported in the 911's forum is simply due to the fact the 911 is sold at a ratio of ~9/1 vs the Boxster, therefore more cars means more failures who generate more reports. And we have to consider that a very small number of the Porsche's owners are writing here, therefore the real failures are way higher...
When the PADM on my car failed I was on Sport Mode (not sport plus) and at the exit of a corner I got the message. I read about another guy who got the same message while standing still at a traffic light.
Obviously I have had bad luck with PADM, but honestly after the first one failed, I was expecting the failure of the second one.
For example, in the field of aviation most of the parts have two serial numbers, one to identify the part itself and the other one to identify the production date and somehow if two parts with the same serial number and similar production date are installed on the same aircraft, I see that if one of the two fails, most of the times the other comes next within one year.
It would be interesting knowing if the manufacturer of the PADM is just one or if Porsche buys from different sources and eventually compare the source to the number of failures...

Pavegeno928

The PADM message has been on the 991 for a few days. Went for a nice drive this morning and again the PADM message was on at start-up. About 30 minutes into the drive it went away. Drove on for several hours with multiple shut-downs and start-ups and the message has stayed off.

Maybe it corrected itself, though I expect it to come back on at some point.