Petza914

v6 wasn't a consideration for me when I decided to get a Cayenne. In fact, the GTS was the least powerful model I was willing to consider, and the attraction to that model was that I could get it with a Manual Transmission, but in the end after multiple test drives, there was no way I could give up the HP and Torque offered by the Turbos.

My view is why buy a Porsche or a car like this that's going to have higher maintenance costs and buy a lower performing version of it? If I wanted a car that had the performance of a v6 Cayenne, I'd buy something else that's more reliable and easier and cheaper to fix (Toyota, Infiniti, Acura, etc). To me the secret to the Cayenne is the performance of the high-end models.

Different strokes for different folks I guess, but never really get it when I'm stuck behind a Porsche going 45 mph somewhere. Don't understand why that owner actually bought a Porsche, unless they just wanted to say they own a Porsche.

Believe me, if I'm driving one of my Porsches, you'll be behind me, but not stuck behind me.

Find a warm climate car 2009 or 2010, take care of it, and hope for the best.

Charles Navarro

I have zero experience with the diesel engines; the V6 as long as its the VW VR6 based model does not suffer any bore scoring issues.

Widarto Russell

Thanks for your reply!

Totally understand where you're coming from and mostly agree with you. I love the spec and trim level that you get with a Turbo, it's so much nicer than the base level 3.6 V6 or 3.0 Tdi. However, as this survey shows, late 08 Turbos are still affected by bore scoring, even in warmer climates. I'm still keen to test drive a Turbo or GTS, especially ones equipped with the rare offroad package, but I'll be checking for known issues first and asking about bore scoring symptoms.

However, in Australia for long distance touring, it is very tempting to get a VR6 petrol or 3.0 Tdi for increased reliability and fuel economy.

Widarto Russell

Hi thanks for your reply. The VR6, albeit less powerful, seems to be a reliable engine with less issues than the V8s. They also seem to be a bargain as they're often cheaper than the V8s and the diesels. I need to do more research regarding their fuel usage and maintenance costs so that I can compare the long-term cost of ownership.

986boxster1998

My 2005 E81 Power Kit Turbo engine suffered scoring one of the coldest days of the year on 2/13/2020 last winter. Went out to start it at lunch to warm it up, went back 15 minutes later and car wasn't running which I found odd. Tried to start and made a clatter and died immediately, towed to a friends shop and confirmed scoring. The then fiancé and now wife and I had a very tense Valentines day last year given the quotes for putting a used motor in the vehicle were around the $20k range. My Cayenne has been sitting in my folks garage for roughly a year now, they also have a 2006 Cayenne E81 Power Kit Turbo with 101K miles and they have enjoyed the car considerably less knowing what may be around the corner for them. Started using Ceratec in their oil and Lucas Upper Cylinder lubricant regularly. I just completed the survey as well. Just recently tried to contact Porsche, it took them a good month just to reply to my inital e-mail and didn't answer my question if they would help with discounted parts and labor (I've owned 13 Porsches and have had may far share of repair bills and have never before asked for assistance), they said "no because the vehicle doesn't have warranty. With Covid this year my wife and I had originally planned a honeymoon to Europe going to the Porsche Museum and a Greek Isles cruise, but have now scrapped that in favor of visiting Hawaii. Thanks, Dan Hamann

Petza914

It stinks that this happened to you, but the protocol of leaving a car idling in a driveway to warm up for 15 minutes certainly contributed to your bore problem. During that enrichment mode to heat up the cats, the DME is over-fueling the motor so unburned fuel ends up in the cats and burns to heat them up. This extra fuel if not being used to propel the vehicle washes the oil form the cylinder walls and can cause scoring.

greymda

i dont believe the ECU is enriching for the entire 15 mins. it starts regulating after some time, must find precise info, but i remember it's quite smart about it.

Petza914

Correct. The damage gets done in the first couple of minutes while in the enrichment mode. The next 13 minutes just wear out the catalytic converters as they get really hot with no air moving past them. Idle speed is also when any type of ball bearings have the greatest load on them because they're spinning so slowly. When they spin faster the ***** kind of float and don't have the physical load of the assembly on them. Warming up a car in a driveway is about the worst thing you can do for it mechanically.

hopsis

The secondary air injection pumps are there to compensate for the cold enrichment. Closed loop fuel trim control will only begin after the O2 sensors have warmed up enough. That being said, warming up the car by letting it idle is just bad for everything. On modern diesel engines, it can be quite fatal as the dpf filter will clog itself very quickly if left to run at idle for long periods of time without the chance of doing a regenerative burn.

Davebrossi

Can I just say that A.) this is the sort of Porsche nerdiness that endeared my late Father to the brand and endears me to it (since as a non-engineer I rely on those more well versed than me to explain things out) and B) with an engine code 9PA AI1 it scares the bejeezus out of me. Granted I'm at 122k on the clock, and do not drive too dangerously, but it does remind me of the IMS bearing concerns (though to be honest the failure rate there is, by far, less than it is for the Cayenne.) I've been thinking about coils and plugs of late, think I'm going to put the order in. I can shine my new/notsohightech boroscope in each plug hole and see what's what. Thankfully Porsche had the sense to mount the packs/plugs somewhere reasonable as opposed to say, Ford, who loves to mount them horizontally on their older inline six motors (pulling plugs on an explorer through the wheel well sucked.)

Davebrossi

Out of curiosity; outside the factory spec build sheet (which is where the Engine number normally is found) Is there anywhere on the motor itself that has the same number? Not that it's likely, but I wouldn't put it past a P/O to actually have swapped motors at some point.

ian158

am I right in thinking it happened most in colder climates where block temps would affect the bores from start up.

Petza914

Yes, and in 2008 models more than the others.

ekstroemtj

Just got mine back after engine job.
The company who did the job has Cayennes every week there with the very same problem. Different years, different models.

TRINITONY

Did you take it to the Christian fellah? Bet she's like new again....