Just got my 992 last week and its awesome! It was a lightly used C2S that was pretty loaded for a great price. It was also a “market launch vehicle” and was an executive loaner for porsche employees (so I was told). About 5900 miles on it with full CPO warranty until 2025, and I got the CPO checklist and checked the car fax for service history before purchasing and everything seemed to check out. Was a great deal off the $158k sticker.

In the first week now I’ve had 3 instances where the car went into limp mode, for seemingly no reason. I wasn’t even going crazy with it, but all seemed to start when trying to accelerate rapidly.

Each time it would cut power very quickly after accelerating quickly, make some kind of beep, and tell me I can still drive but it needs service. I don't hear any mechanical noise or issues, and engine performs just fine.

Last night it happened again and I’m ready to take it in and complain to the dealer about it.

First error was this:

Error 1. “Electric parking brake error. Status temporary, driving permitted." (e-brake light turned on but it was obviously not engaged). Came to a stop, I hit the e-brake to turn off the light and it seemed to go away. Car had a CEL on the dash. Parked it overnight and it went away.

Error 2 happened on day 3 of ownership while out driving at night. I accelerate from a roll and it goes into limp mode, and flashes something like "Differential Lock failure. Visit workshop". That was the only one that I didn't get a photo of, and eventually after parking overnight it went away.

That happened twice, and it went away shortly.

Last night I had it again but with 2 more errors, and now power steering is inoperable and neither of the errors are going away.

Error 3. “Start/Stop failure” (this is in white, not yellow). This persists.
Error 4. “Steering Assistance error. Driving permitted. Visit workshop.” (This was in yellow). Power steering is now inoperable and isn’t going away. I can still drive, it just takes a LOT more energy is all

2 CEL errors are still active in the dash. I’ve parked it, but problems persist and power steering isn’t working. When I drove it this morning, a new error popped up upon startup saying Error #5 - "Instrument Cluster failure".

The most odd issue was after errors 3-4 came up last night, the tach was completely "off calibration". I was cruising at 50mph in 5th gear and the tach was at 6k, even though the engine sound was clearly in a very low rpm. If I accelerated (which it would still do just fine) I could easily see it go WAY past 8k rpm at a moderate engine load, at where I would imagine it was 4500rpm based on engine sound. The car shifts fine and accelerates fine. After I drove it for a few minutes, the tach recalibrated back to normal.

I don’t think it’s reasonable to expect a CPO car to have this many errors upon delivery. Thoughts on what you would do? I want to go to the track, but I have low confidence this car would last a session and don’t want to waste my money on track fees to then not be able to enjoy it for what I bought it for.

It seems like there are electrical gremlins as the CELs pop up with a heavy throttle application and the "jolt" knocks around some wiring or sensors or something. Because they're all also completely unrelated, I'm hoping its just a loose wire harness somewhere.

I took it in today and the SA suspected it was maybe rats chewing on something, but I'd be pretty pissed if they try and pass it off on me after owning it for 9 days. We've never had rats in our garage, so I know it isn't that.

The complicated part about this is I bought this car out of state and had it shipped here, so taking issue with the selling dealer isn't going to be straightforward.

 

Without addressing the individual issues the one part that should not be complicated is the dealership. This is a fully warrantied car and your local service center should not and will not care where the car was bought. A fix under warrantee is easy money to the servicing dealer and as such they should and will welcome your business

 

Another ****ing TLA!

 

For your sake, I hope that it’s not mice, rats, or some other kind of rodent. A friend had to have his Alfa towed after being stored for the winter — the cause? mice. They LOVE to eat soy-based wire insulation.

https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a2...hink-is-tasty/

You’ve had the car for less than 2 weeks. This is what the CPO warranty is for. It’s doubtful that rodents could have done so much damage in a short term if you’re driving the car. If it was rodents, you might be able to file an insurance claim.

 

Oh I'm not worried about that. But if I have more of these errors over the first 60 days of ownership, I'm going to be pretty peeved that it's a bit of a "lemon". Time will tell. I have no doubt Porsche will continue to fix whatever issue there is...unless they try and say any electrical problems were from me from "rats" chewing on wires AFTER I took delivery.

If any of my cars gets rodents it's the Tesla that is now parked outside, displaced by the Porsche lol

 

Me, I'd be thinking the same as you: some sort of pre-existing electrical or battery issue. We know modern cars go all crazy on us when batteries die or are replaced, this car is yours for 9 days after how long with PCNA and who knows what they were doing with it in that time? Nah, that doesn't pass the smell test.

 

Check your alternator output voltage and battery.

then check vacuum system for leaks....... probably something simple but because all system communicate through CANbus system, if one gets a fault, others will follow.

 

I'd have to go with a CAN Bus system error. Most probably a poor connection that is common to the various system errors that are being coded. If the technician can satisfy themselves that all connections and terminations in the CAN Bus System are good, then a module that is common to all of the system errors would be my next suspect.

Just in case . . . . if you have added any aftermarket electronics of any sort. Step #1, disconnect them completely. See if your problems don't disappear. RFI/EMI issues can be both confusing and debilitating to the vehicles electronics, if the vehicles system(s) and the added item can't live with one another.

 

Please keep us updated!

 

Thanks all.

SA has confirmed no visible evidence so far is chewing on wires.

No aftermarket adds. Bone stock right now.

It’s in Porsche’s hands and I’m confident they’re not imbicels here. We’ll wait and see

Will keep this updated!

 

I have to agree. If the car grenades and you get a new engine, congrats. The car is under warranty and should be treated as such. My car was cpo at 2300km and I was worried about the same thing. I have a few weird issues as my car was also the first 992 delivered in my city but I figured with the factory warranty and the 2 year cpo if the car blows then it should be covered.

Take it to a local authorized dealer and have them check it over. Good luck!

 

Sounds similar to the errors i got when I picked mine up a year ago. It turned out the negative battery terminal was not on/tightened properly. Likely the car had a Ctek attached, which was removed before being sold to me and the Tech forgot to tighten it back up. I had suspension error, power steering, stop start etc... as soon as battery on tight, never had any errors since. I would pop the frunk, take plastic bits off by the windscreen and take a look at the battery underneath. Is a 1 min job to check.
best of luck sorting.

 

HA HAH AHAHAHAHAHAA HAHA HA

 

Don’t get frustrated, I understand this is painful. If it was rodent damage from a car that was stored, which can happen, it may not have shown up during the CPO. The good news is a Porsche CPO will cover it all since you bought the car with the issues. It will all get sorted out stay calm and get it to the dealer.
Hopefully you have a great dealer that can quickly ferret out the issues.

 

Good advice. So often it's simple things like this, while we go looking for the complicated.