Doug Donsbach

Pull the connector off the DME and arm yourself with a DVM, trace continuity and short to ground or 12V back to the harness connectors in the engine compartment. If that checks out, trace from the engine side of the harness connector to the sensor.

Shouldn't be that difficult to find.

LordVicious

Still hoping to get word back on this one soooooooo bump.

dusandimic

I'm hoping as well. Still doing the same thing after the second sensor was replaced. Checking voltage and all grounds at the moment. Waiting to here back. This is getting very frustrating to say the least! I'll stop by the shop tomorrow to see whats up.

dusandimic

***UPDATE***

After doing several tests with various parts of the electrical system they noticed a spike in AC current
right before the engine would cut out while driving. Consensus is the diode within alternator is bad.
Alternator is being replaced today.....

TomF

That's great that you may have it sorted. Keep us posted and good luck!

Cheers,
Tom

dusandimic

After 2 months & $9,500 worth of work including 50+ hours of labor/diagnostics the problem has been solved. Fortunately the warranty covered the majority of it. The culprit was 1 wire in a harness above the transmission casing that seemed to be somewhat chewed by a rodent.

Looking on the bright side I have an IMS upgrade from LN, new clutch, new alternator, & several new sensors. Picking it up later this afternoon.

I'm more excited now than I was when I first bought it!!!!!

HiWind

Awesome! Your patience is rewarded. Rats are a more common problem than you'd expect - heard of another vario-cam error that turned out to be rat chewed sensor wires.

Pac996

Sadly all the diagnostic time doesn't raise performance ay higher. Oh well......

LordVicious

hehehehehehe, got it on 1 try

washington dc porsche

Do you think if you didn't have the warranty this would have taken so long?

Macster

Probably didn't make much difference. A shop that gets a rep for padding the warranty work will have a tougher battle with the warranty company adjuster in the future approving warranty claims.

The shop has gone to the well now for a lot of money and my guess is this will hurt over time its bottom line more than this job helped its bottom line.

Sincerely,

Macster.

Macster

Thanks for the update.

As good as any place to put this: While you'll get a lot of ideas, and some really good ideas, about what may be wrong with a car from here and other sites, it really takes someone at the car with sharp eyes, ears and a nose and experience to troubleshoot some problems.

Just to reinforce this: Anytime a car comes in with a problem out of the blue if the car sits unused for any length of time rodent damage has to be suspect. 'course, in your case this bit of sage advice comes too late.

Sincerely,

Macster.

dusandimic

Thanks for all of the suggestions guys.

After 2 days of very spirited driving I have fallen back in love with it.
Clutch is silky smooth and motor runs and sounds fantastic!

There were times during the last 2 months when I was seriously considering selling the car as soon as I got it back. I looked at a couple of certified 997's. That's still going to be the next move but not until next year at least. For now I'm just going to enjoy it.

aiiee

I am mailing this thread to my Porsche service department. My 2011 Cayman S is currently in the shop for cam position error. Let's see if he can get it on one try . And thank you all for the excellent diagnosis. $9500 indeed.

DBJoe996

For $9500...find a new parking space!!