I just picked up a 2005 Cayenne S with 178,000 on it. Coolant pipes replaced, tons of receipts for work (LCA bushings, plugs, cardan shaft) and I personally know the owner. Figure the engine would have scored by now if it was going to.

I am a long time Rennlist member, albeit on the 928 side, with a 1990 928S4 with 155,000 on it that I have basically taken completely apart, including engine, supercharged, changed transmission, yada yada yada.

What is new to me is this part of the forum and how well supported the Cayenne is vs the 928 which basically has master mechanics available to help you through everything plus users like me who help others with both advice and wrenching when they are working on their cars.

I have read the stickies and browsed and commented on a few Cayenne things but have a couple questions that perhaps some of the longer standing members can answer:

1-Where can I get an actual set of shop manuals, either on CD that I can print and bind, or physical shop manuals. I know someone will say eBay and I have looked there but I want to know if they are junk CDs or good like we have available on the 928 side of the world.

2-Where can I find a pictorial version of work on these cars. I did find one for a basic guide for valve cover gaskets (on my list to do) and a write up for changing the valve body in trans (on my list also). We have a user on the 928 side, Dwayne, that has documented basically everything you need to ever do to your 928. I am hoping to find a user here like that

3-I have read some of the can bus stuff and I do have a VAG Com HEX-CAN cable for working on my Jetta TDi. I see that I can put a jumper wire from 3 to 7 but it really isn't clear on what I put the jumper wire, the VAG COM connector, the back of the ODB connector, where.

Thanks in advance.

 

1. Some of us stupidly bought the manual off of ebay before realizing there were kind members that will just send you a link. It is not stellar, but worth getting. I believe Mr. Haney has been helping people out with that.

2. The documentation is not as good as the 928, but as more enthusiasts begin to buy the car it seems to be growing.

3. Open up the cable end that plugs into your OBD2 port. Just solder a small wire between the two pins and put it back together.

 

For documentation - the AllData people have a DIY website with a reasonable yearly subscription ($15 or so) - where the factory manual was used and distilled down to something useable for your vehicle. It's model specific..

The CD's of the factory manual are scans of 11,000 pages of documentation. The problem is - much of the 11,000 pages is repetition. They will describe exactly the same procedure/facts/photos for EACH model Cayenne. That's how Porsche did it - so that's how the scanned manuals are.

Some of the CDs are a single file - all 11,000 pages in one huge file. That can stress most PC's - you have to use Adobe's PDF reader to open it - most others crash and burn on that size file. Then it's a chore to find what you need - using search is difficult when you don't have a clue what words Porsche may have used to describe something.

The better CD's have the manual broken into sections.. ie: Engine, Body, Electronics, Wiring diagrams, etc. They're almost useable...

BUT - IMHO - for the average user - the AllDataDIY subscription really is the way to go. It is indexed by AllData - and eliminates all the repetition (only the parts referring to YOUR model are visible to you) - much easier to use, and laid out so you can quickly find what you're looking for.

 

This is exactly what I was looking for. Pelican, while not having the greatest forums for 928 and Cayenne, has great technical articles.

http://www.pelicanparts.com/techarti...ld_Removal.htm

 

This should be interesting. Just ordered the new valve body. Got 30 days to get it done.

 

Ok, you found Pelican.

That's the best I've found so far (at least for free).

The AllData info is actually pretty good. I have a friend who owns a shop who has let me use his account to look stuff up.

And, c'mon.

You've been around long enough to know better.

Pics.

 

I know but the Cayenne forum is "thinner" than the 928 forum and I am trying to get up to speed quickly on this car. At least I have the mindset of how Porsche fits 10# of **** into a 5# bag already!!

Plus my comments on Pelican are for the posterity of those not so versed on P car repairs that it might lead them to something helpful.

I have to put a starter in the Pig while I have it up doing the valve body and I might as well do the valve covers at the same time, oh and the coil packs and plugs. The intake job on this car looks much simpler than the 928 so it has that going for it, but I do have to buy a Durametric software system for this car so that kind of sucks unless I can get my VAG Com Hex Can to read the trans temps.

Oh and then do the hatch shocks cause they are shot. At least the coolant tubes are done.

Then pull out the crappy Becker radio and put in a proper modern nav/sat unit and back up camera.

 

I don't mean to be obtuse, but which pins are 3 and 7. I don't see any indications of pin 1 on the VAG COM. Also, it seems I have the Micro-CAN and not the HEX CAN. Will this still work or do I need to spring for the Durametric anyway?