Originally Posted by vandal968

The valve covers are definitely plastic on the 4.5 as Mr. Haney points out. They may have planned to make them out of magnesium and printed some advertising materials based on that info, but that isn't what made it onto the car. First hint, magnesium is magnesium colored. The valve covers are black and they are black throughout the material. That's why the inside (unpainted part) of the valve cover is black, and why if you have any little chips in your reinforcement ribs, they are black there too. The outside surface is painted silver so that proud new Porsche owners don't realize how much Porsche cheaped-out on this expensive part. I designed injection-molded plastic parts for a living for many years, and I promise you that I can recognize injection-molded plastics.

cheers,
c

Originally Posted by deilenberger

You aren't reading what I posted - the information on the valve covers from the technical manual was for the 92A Cayenne, AKA 958. This was not advertising materials - it was a technical manual written to introduce the 958 series to the technicians who would be working on it. And the covers on my '11 CTT are metal... I'd assume magnesium - there is a bare metal edge around the oil fill hole.

Originally Posted by nodoors

Most of the clueless new owners who are stepping into these because they can get a 4 digit priced Porsche are going to get their *** handed to them at the first or second repair bill months down the road.

At 15 years and counting there are going to be a lot of maintenance and deferred maintenance items showing up. Few of the 3rd and 4th hand owners will be prepared for the complexity and cost. There are countless parts on these beasts that are going to be increasingly subject to failure as they age. We know about the early common ones like hatch struts and coolant pipes, but with age there will be things that switch from rare to common. Most notably some of the accessories that are regularly and easily replaced on other vehicles, but not this one. One in particular comes to my mind because I am one a small group on the boards who has had to replace my alternator early. I don't think the brushes wore out on mine, but they certainly will on all alternators with enough hours. There are countless small items, though...

All the plastic parts that get heat cycled and mechanically stressed are going to start failing. The coolant pipes in the intake were the canary in the coal mine. They failed early because they experienced the most extreme heat cycles due to their location. The Tee's behind the engine on the CTT's were the second canary because they were the second most prone to extreme heat cycling. The vacuum lines under and around the intake have become more prevalent and in time all will need to be replaced. You can bet your *** that the rest of plastic connections and fittings for the vacuum and cooling systems will follow as they continue to age and experience the high heat that is produced under the hood of these vehicles.

Many of the rubber parts will fail as well. The numerous electric motors will have brushes and bearings wear out (stepper motors in the interior, cooling fans, throttle body blade motors, vacuum pumps, aux electric coolant pumps, fuel pumps, air compressors, transfer case stepper motors, etc.) - some of these are already pretty common like the HVAC blower and fuel pumps, electromechanical relays all over the place - we have seen early signs of the major PITA ones on the steering column lock already, and as people keep adding more miles to these V8's we will see more bore scoring just like with the other affected Porsche models.

These cars see extraordinary heat under the hood due to the nature of the vehicle and the way it is all so tightly packaged. Has anyone ever run temperature tests to see if running without the plastic belly pans might possibly reduce the under hood temps and heat soak of all the components? I am also going to look into getting my fans programmed to come on earlier to try to limit the under hood temps to some degree as well. Over time I have replaced many, many plastic and rubber parts, however the list seems endless and at $35-$200 per grossly overpriced part and with such limited access due to packaging it is daunting.

Originally Posted by nodoors

Most of the clueless new owners who are stepping into these because they can get a 4 digit priced Porsche are going to get their *** handed to them at the first or second repair bill months down the road.

Originally Posted by nodoors

...snip

These cars see extraordinary heat under the hood due to the nature of the vehicle and the way it is all so tightly packaged. Has anyone ever run temperature tests to see if running without the plastic belly pans might possibly reduce the under hood temps and heat soak of all the components?...snip

Originally Posted by jeff spahn

I will tell you that removing the belly pans will almost assuredly increase the underhood temps. Where is my data you say? Well I am taking from 928 experience where you see air flow disturbances with the belly pans off that increase the temps quite markedly. Leave them on. If anything, leave your hood open when you get home from more than trivial distances.

Something else we will start to see also comes from the 928 world. Porsches like to have clean grounds. Electrical gremlins will start to appear in the coming years due to poor grounds. This CanBus system will be very susceptible due to the multiple voltage signals on our wires. Then we can be sure of seeing wire degradation causing issues. You've been warned.

Originally Posted by Pillow

As a new owner of a seemly clean CS, yes you expect some hidden repairs as you figure the PO sold it for a reason... Just how expensive was that reason is the question!

Most all the 08-10s we looked at were broken in some really obvious way. Sad and pitiful ownership and maintenance. So yes the "deferred" maintenance angle definitely comes into play here. IDK why but you see the vast majority of used Cayennes being sold ~100k no matter which model 955, 957, or 958.

After 3 days of ownership here is some of the fun things we have found on a seemingly well cared for 2010 CS at 89k:
- Owners Manual not in folder "kit" (off to Ebay to fix this)
- Drivers door lock actuator does not lock... Apparently a common VW shared part issue when the electronic board goes bad.
- Engine Light came on. I believe related to the start up emissions air bypass valve BS stuff, the original "fix" by the dealer was a new gas cap... I guess that wasn't it.
- No spare tire pump (off to Ebay again $50)
- Front and Rear parking sensors are OFF completely... IDK if this is a setup option or the rear control module took a dump... Really weird.
- Needs a second key ($450)

I ordered the standard maintenance goodies from Pelican the other day for filters and oil. So at 90k it will get freshness all over the place and I can control the maintenance from there.
- The brake fluid needs changed out as it is a little dirty. Some fresh ATE 200 should do well here.
- Any tips on coolant replacement intervals?
- Check battery born on date and establish the replacement interval.

Again this is a clean example of a CS! I cannot imagine what a beater would cost to get back in shape!

Originally Posted by wkearney99

Wait, you bought a car without a second key and not having actually tested that the one you have actually locked the doors? Caveat emptor comes to mind.

The owners manual for a 2010 can be found online as a PDF.

Is the Park Assist button light on the upper console turned on? That controls whether the bumper sensors beep or not. Pg 237 in the manual PDF.

Originally Posted by Pillow

Sad truth is that I cannot read half of these buttons w/o reading glasses anyway! Keep laughing, you young bucks will get there when you are over 40! LOL

Originally Posted by wkearney99

You are not alone in that regard. And it's just soooo helpful having tiny text on buttons ABOVE the bifocal line of sight....

You'd think with the typical demographic being able to afford to own a Porsche they'd put at least a LITTLE effort into adjusting the ergonomics to account for it. Sadly, no.