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Did your Home Owner's Insurance Policy or Auto cover it??.
Maybe, in rhe end, if you do not use the Lift too much not worth getting???- especially when out of warranty it will cost you too much
Also- was the car s itting forever or the rat went for many rides
Jimmy, auto comprehensive covered it. I parked our cars outside under my neighbor's carport for a couple of days because I had carpet guys moving stuff through my garage, The problem showed up immediately after that as did a failure of the airbag circuit in my wife's BMW i3 from a chewed wire, probably the same rodent. (an additional $540 which I didn't submit to insurance because it was below my deductible). Talk about bad luck. We've had a number of seldom seen critters showing up around here after the fires last fall; chased out of their usual habitat. Don't know if that affected the rat population too.
I personally use the lift all the time so it's definitely of value to me. However, to your point, had I known the cost of replacement parts, I might have thought twice about it and I can understand why someone else might pass on the option just for that reason. Still, I have an extended warranty until 2022 and now. thanks to that rat bastard I have a potential backup part waiting in the wings!
Originally Posted by A/S
Please, pardon my ignorance. That looks like a very heavy piece of hardware and my 991.1 GT3 RS has the Axle lift.
Any ideas of how much weight is added by the FAL? I have configured my 991.2 GT3 RS with FAL, but if that thing weighs more than 20 lbs (including the pieces on the struts), I have to pass, as I cannot lose 20 lbs myself unless I go on a hunger strike. It looks really heavy.
The assembly you see in the picture weighs 17 pounds per my scale. As I understand it, there are chambers integrated into the struts that accept the pressure from the accumulator so I wouldn't expect much extra weight there. The entire FAL subsystem is probably right about 20 pounds, all in.
Last edited by Mike in CA; 04-17-2018 at 08:53 PM.
Please, pardon my ignorance. That looks like a very heavy piece of hardware and my 991.1 GT3 RS has the Axle lift.
Any ideas of how much weight is added by the FAL? I have configured my 991.2 GT3 RS with FAL, but if that thing weighs more than 20 lbs (including the pieces on the struts), I have to pass, as I cannot lose 20 lbs myself unless I go on a hunger strike. It looks really heavy.
who knows what the FAL in the 991.2 RS. It’s a new system based on hydraulics, rather then using air. I can’t believe it would weigh less.
I'm thinking for that kind of money I would have paid a guy from our local hydraulic/pneumatic repair shop to come take a look first. The repair wouldn't be "Porsche approved", but so what - it is out of warranty anyways. That fitting won't come off? Unless there's more than I am seeing it looks like 5 bucks worth of tubing and a fitting.
Wow.
My car IS still under warranty, and has an extended service agreement, but you're probably right about just needing a fitting and tubing, although the connection point at the manifold looks a bit problematic. I considered a non-Porsche approved solution but by the time I drove the 45 miles back down to my dealer to get the car, found another shop and got them involved, I figured I would have been into it cost and hassle wise for close to my deductible. Once insurance took on the problem, letting Porsche do the work seemed like the path of least resistance. Plus I now have that valuable old part.....just trying to look on the bright side.
Originally Posted by bigskyGT4
Been there done that. I had mice eat through the power steering lines on my previous Nissan GTR. $$. I tried several different things but the only thing that worked was cats. Pick up some freebee barn cats and enjoy the massacre. It is kind of fun to watch and they will leave body parts all over the place as trophies. Kind of like King Joeffrey if he was a cat. Poison wasn't something I was comfortable with since I had dogs.
I have a humane box trap which works great for catching mice but rats are another matter. I also have a dog so poisoning the critters is not a good idea. The guy at the dealer who sold me my car also suggested getting a cat, but my wife would have to make it a pet.
You’re not alone, this has been happening for a few years on VW cars, it’s due to the new soy based wires and tubes/lines. Genius Engineers at it again...
Had the same problem in the SF South Bay area 2 years ago.
Cars parked under a very clean carport, close to nature.
Rats ate some wires and the hood insulation foam of my Cayenne.
Cost me $1000 and decided not to get the foam replaced and paid the bill
Then....
The 2016 GT3 got attacked.
The engine had to be removed to change the wiring harness.
I got my Geico insurance involved and had them pay $10k
I became an expert in trapping rats but could not take it and then moved and got a garage LOL
Bad luck. Never a fan of the lift; just another thing that could go wrong, although hard to anticipate a vengeful rodent. Either way, would prefer to save the weight and the cash and just plan to replace the front lip on occasion.
It is intersting that Porsche switched from pneumatic to hydraulic system after only one mid-cycle generation. They state 50% weight saving so I guess that’s fair but odd to dump the industry-leading hydraulic steering only to adopt hydraulic for lift.
60 minutes did a piece years back and figured that to build a typical car costing $20,000 using the parts from the dealer parts catalog would cost between $120,000 to $150,000
Bad luck. Never a fan of the lift; just another thing that could go wrong, although hard to anticipate a vengeful rodent. Either way, would prefer to save the weight and the cash and just plan to replace the front lip on occasion."
With all the problems I've been hearing about through the years with Front Axle Lifts, I've also never been a fan of them, and did not order one on my 991.1 or my 991.2.
I figured I could buy at least a dozen front spoilers for the cost of the lift and avoid the extra weight, but I'm still on the original spoiler after 24,000 Miles.
Just needed to take steep driveways at an angle, go slow over Speed Bumps and had no problems. The very few REALLY steep driveways I've avoided through the years
would have needed a lot more than the One Inch the FAL gives you anyway.
I think it really depends on the area where you live/drive versus a blanket yes or no on the lift unless you really have large cojones and/or won't drive the car often in scenarios with any steep incline, bumps, daily driving, etc. it is true that there is a risk of failure/complication with the lift but that is a risk for me I am willing to take for the benefit
I've already come across a couple specific scenarios that I can recall where the FAL saved me from what I would guess be a replacement of the full bumper or at least some serious damage/ripping the plastic lip off lol, especially if you don't have time to really carefully slow down and adjust approach angle
Once my car is in LA maybe I won't use the FAL as much, but I like knowing I have it if I need it
I think it really depends on the area where you live/drive versus a blanket yes or no on the lift unless you really have large cojones and/or won't drive the car often in scenarios with any steep incline, bumps, daily driving, etc. it is true that there is a risk of failure/complication with the lift but that is a risk for me I am willing to take for the benefit
I've already come across a couple specific scenarios that I can recall where the FAL saved me from what I would guess be a replacement of the full bumper or at least some serious damage/ripping the plastic lip off lol, especially if you don't have time to really carefully slow down and adjust approach angle
Once my car is in LA maybe I won't use the FAL as much, but I like knowing I have it if I need it
Although the cost of a possible FAL replacement IS one more strike in the negative column, I completely agree with you that the lift's usefulness is situational and over all it's been a plus for me. Aside from the damn rodent, it's worked flawlessly for the last 4+ years. Insurance and a warranty will cover the most likely problems and the weight issue is negligible for most owners. But, pay your money and take your choice. I certainly understand why some might opt out.
04-17-2018 | 08:20 PM
