vandal968

I've been asking my local dealer about the recall since last August 2017. Always the same response (no parts yet). Two weeks ago, while picking up some other parts I asked again, this time I got a different service manager. As I always do, I mentioned that I have a strong gas smell and park next to a GAS water heater and am concerned about safety. This time I was told that the dealer has a small amount of parts, rather than a full-allotment for the recall and can perform the recall on some cars IF they are showing the symptoms. Mine has been smelly for months and has been getting worse, so.... They asked me to pull it into a bay so that they could sniff it since it was windy outside. After letting it sit indoors for 10mins, he told me that he couldn't smell any gas, which was strange. I sniffed the car as-well and had to agree, there was no smell, which was very unusual. We both agreed that it might be because my tank was nearly empty, so he scheduled me, but warned that if they dug into the car and couldn't find evidence of the leak (smell etc.) that I would be charged a $150 diagnostic fee. I agreed and told him that I would return with a full tank on the day of my appointment. Two weeks later (yesterday) at 9am, I returned full of gas and the car STILL did not smell, they took it anyway and said they would call. The service manager (different one) mentioned that it is easier to perform the fix with an empty tank, which I already knew, so I told him that all the service managers should probably have a chat and get their stories straight because I only filled it because I was told to do so by the other guy. At 3:30pm I got a voicemail saying that BOTH fuel flanges are cracked and that the recall applied to my car, but that they would call again in the morning to tell me what portion, if any, I would be responsible for. I spent the evening trying to imagine the hell that I was going to raise if they tried to charge me for the repair.

This morning at about 9:30, they called again and said that the full repair was covered at no charge, but that the car wouldn't be ready until the next day since they only have one flange in-stock. A strange oversight, but since I'm driving their brand-new Macan as a loaner, I'm ok with the delay. He also said "We went completely through your car since we don't have a record of it being at a dealership in over a decade. Let me see here what they found...... Ok, it looks like your tires are nearly down to the wear marks, that would be about $1100 if you want us to do the tires, everything else is perfect."

That perfect diagnosis is a direct result of this forum. Since August, I've replaced the battery, cleared about 18 codes, replaced plugs and coils, all fluids, valve cover gaskets, multiple vacuum leaks, trunk struts, parking brake strut, etc. Pretty great to get a perfect bill of health on a 14yo 144k car from the dealer, thank you all.

Lastly, my fuel smell which was barely noticeable in Aug when I bought it and which got worse and worse on a weekly basis until two weeks ago when it all but disappeared has led me to a theory. I'm in AZ and temps are 100+F in August, it got cooler all winter (down to 40's and 50's) and the smell got progressively worse. Temps have been back in the 90's for last two weeks. I think that the cracked flange itself (or sealant) may expand with temperature and mitigate the fuel leak, because level of fuel in the tank didn't seem to have an effect, but something changed.

cheers,
c

nodoors

SMH... they clearly don't understand how recalls work, do they?! I would not have agreed to such horsebaggery, but it sounds like you were desperate. Can you share with us what was actually replaced in the recall?

Andy E.

A nice ending to a potentially expensive story. Glad to hear that it didn't cost you a dime.

vandal968

Nodoors,
I agree with you. If I'm understanding them correctly, they still aren't performing the "recall" which will be done once they have a full allotment of parts and the next batch of letters go out telling owners to report to your dealers. They said that this was being covered as a "courtesy repair" rather than a recall. I don't know if these are really different things or if the guy is just blowing smoke up my ***, maybe someone who's worked at a dealership can clarify. I have been legitimately concerned about the risk of explosion or fire with my garage smelling of fumes for months, and I really do have a gas water heater, that wasn't a persuasion tactic. I don't trust other people to touch my cars unless absolutely necessary, too many bad experiences over the years. If my car weren't actually leaking, I would have waited until my car either developed the leak, or needed a pump or filter replacement sometime down the road rather than doing the fix preemptively and risking them messing up something else. When I pick it up tomorrow, I'll update with P/N's and anything else that I'm able to find out.

cheers,
c

nodoors

Thanks, and I can completely relate to this:

I too have a gas water heater in my garage. Although, I have not smelled fumes yet coming from my car it makes me a little more interested in this particular recall and issue! It sure sounds like you talked them into accommodating you on some level, but their communication seems poor. Sounds like Porsche from top to bottom ain't got no time for no recalls! They can't make any money of that nonsense!

medtech

Recently had a gas fume problem but my indy said it was a cracked fuel filter.

Wisconsin Joe

More like they don't have time to care about people who aren't going to spend huge amounts of money on a new(er) car.

phatz

for you folks with or without pilot lights, your garaging fix is fairly simple
reset your garage door closing height to create a gap for the vapors to exit

vandal968

They called to say they need it another day....

c

vandal968

Picked up my beautiful girl today. From the invoice:

Labor: Warranty
Customer states that there is a fuel smell coming from the vehicle, advise.
-Fuel Flanges leaking both sides. Replaced left and right side fuel flanges, created val, cleared faults, operating correctly with no leaks at this time.

Parts: Warranty
(1) 955-620-421-00 Flange with fuel
(1) 955-620-911-01 Angled pipe flan
(2) 955-201-133-01 Sealing ring, fl
(1) 955-620-841-10 Tank flange w/pr

Labor:
Multi-point vehicle inspection.

Total cost $0 and they cleaned her inside and out. Not sure what "created val" means.

cheers,
c

phatz

Northern or Southern Maricopa dealer?

Whilst in for this fix, is anything else we should proactively be doing?

vandal968

Porsche of Chandler. All of my experiences with them so-far have been great, I can not say that about any other Porsche dealers I've visited over the years.

cheers,
c

81911

vandal968

Good to know. Thank you.

c

Dilberto

I got the fuel smell yesterday. Called my local dealer who did not seem interested honoring the fix, citing they do not have their allocation of updated, VDO parts yet. I escalated the call to PCNA and now they are doing a Goodwill repair, using remaining inventory of the existing, "failure-prone" part. Once they get the new parts - it will be under the knife once again. I actually like the older part, as you can easily change-out the fuel filter element(and flange dome) in just 20min. Photo of new, updated Continental/VDO part(black top, sealed filter housing), for attention: