This is my first post, just bought a Cayenne Turbo. My brother bought it a couple of months ago with a known heavy coolant leak. When stripping it down we found the pipes had replaced with aluminium. The thermostat was apparently stuck so my brother replaced it and re-assembled it. Still leaked a little but appeared to be from the expansion tank area and he thought it was an overflow.

After a few weeks of constantly topping up I get it on my drive to have a look, we strip down again and I find the aluminium cooling pipes have some signs of staining on the joints, on closer inspection 2 of the O rings are sticking out of the joint so whichever garage did the repair originally didn't do a very good job. I replace all O rings for new and replace the thermostat inner and outer gaskets. Put coolant in, start her up and find out that it's still leaking.

So next job, my mate pressure tests the system, we find the expansion tank has a leak (on the seam) I purchase a new expansion tank and swap it over the next day. Start it up as my mate needs the pressure tester and go for a spin round the block, 'Coolant LOW' warning on dash, return home and find a trail of coolant all up the street. I can now hear the water and air hissing from what sounds to be the thermostat pipe.

Next job, replace the O ring for the thermostat pipe, reassemble and then borrow my mates pressure tester again. This time it all seems ok, then look under the car, it's leaking again, trace the leak....It's now coming from one of the alternator coolant pipes. Get a new O ring for that the next day and reassemble, refill and start up. It's still leaking, but now from another place, trace the leak, it appears to be the other alternator coolant pipe.......

As it's not a major leak I decide to get it on the road just to see if the car has any other underlying issues, on the first roundabout I come to, I accelerate lightly and hear the sound of someone in the transmission tunnel with a sledge hammer.....suspect propshaft bearing has gone - the cars done 74k and apparently that is the age they go. On top of this the air suspension light is on (just ordered a new compressor ring set from Bagpipe Andy in Scotland) the tailgate struts are sagging, the indicator buzzer doesn't work and you have to lever your foot under the handbrake to get the handbrake warning light off......

Anyone else had similar issues with multiple leaks? - I suspect this is just typical of the overrated garbage churned out by the VW/Audi group

 

Yikes, sounds like you may have gotten a badly abused CTT. I've owned mine for 2 years now, it has 180K and no issues. I did have the fuel smell from the drivers side rear, but a new fuel filter fixed that (and improved my MPGs!) and I put in new front brake rotors/pads. That said my car has always been dealer serviced until I bought it, so no half-assed band-aids. Crazy to think mine has 100K more miles...

 

@dhc905 Funny thing is it's got full service history and looks to have been really well looked after, the last owner only had it a number of months before he sold it due to getting frustrated with the leaks, the garage that made the bodge of the coolant pipes are local too (I will remember to never take a car there).

I just don't understand why it's doing it, as it runs really smooth and doesn't overheat.

If you have a minute - Here's a link to a Matterport 3D tour of the car (when it was dirty), it was a test of the light capability of my 3D camera but it went pitch black and wouldn't scan so I didn't get chance to do the closer shots.

https://my.matterport.com/show/?m=NqPgfJf5X5M

 

Looks nice. Make sure you clean the transmission out with water where the leak ran into it or the coolant residue will destroy the seal on your transmission, it will leak and you’ll have to drop the box out...

Ive got to do my hatch struts this week too. Doesn’t look too bad a job.

On the bright side the parking foot brake strut takes 2 mins. http://www.pelicanparts.com/techarti...eplacement.htm

 

Oh, and allow an hour for the buzzer repair. Easy but fiddly.
http://www.cayenneforums.com/forum/#/topics/1033

 

Pepper pig, you bought a CTT that hasn’t been maintained adequately.

Put in the effort and fix the issues and you will discover your CTT will be the best car you have owned.

 

Its a VW masquerading as a Porsche.

A lot of quid for a VW and Porsche makes a boatload of quid which helps support the development of their high end cars.

Those of us who choose to bear the pain participate in this forum.

 

Hopefully you replaced your coolant tank cap as it's probably stuck closed which would explain all your coolant leaks due to severe pressurization.

 

+1 ^^

And the coolant caps for the 955/957 can be easily found at any auto parts store. It's identical to a common VW one.. last time I bought one for my '06 CS/**** - it was $6.00.

The pressurized vent in them can clog up from the coolant deposits.. then it becomes like a pressure cooker - pressure can build up and isn't getting relieved - all sorts of things will start to leak.

 

With all these coolant leaks, I'm betting you'll be buying a starter not too far down the road as well - just getting you mentally prepared. The coolant leaks onto the transmission seal and the starter

 

Once you get all this sorted, you're going to rack up miles like nothing. I've had mine for 75k miles (at 150k now) and I've had my share of problems, just stretched over several years of ownership.

Do the 'Jimi Fix' for the drive shaft.

 

My prediction for the next leak = coolant pipe T fittings behind the engine (plenty of info online about this common failure). Replace them with metal T's.

The rest of your issues are all very common (except the alternator coolant pipe leaks) so nothing to be concerned about. Once you get those items sorted you should well on your way to a great vehicle.

 

+3 on the radiator cap! It is likely holding way too much pressure and causing most of your woes with random leaks.
+2 on the Jimi Fix for the Cardan Shaft

Once you get it sorted you will like it.

 

Thanks for the info everyone, I’d already replaced the expansion tank cap at the same time as the tank (as that was also missing the o ring) thought I posted it here. It’s losing quite a bit of coolant (about 4 litres a day)

Did the ‘jimi fix’ on Sunday which fixed the leprechaun with the sledgehammer but I’m still experiencing issues which I feel are consistent with a faulty transmission valve body (hesitation on acceleration which feels like turbo lag and occasionally lumpy downchanges especially from 5th to 4th VAG common problem no 357898907655785.lol so I’ve seen a YouTube video on that.

The instrument panel speaker (for the indicators etc) has just arrived and just ordered some trim removers so I may tackle that next week once I’ve fixed this leak.

 

+1