LARacer

I know there are a thousand threads on this (I'm still googling and will continue to as much as possible), but I have a specific time-sensitive question.

I'm about to leave (tomorrow) on a road-trip vacation from New Mexico to California for a week. The trip has been planned for 6 months, and I can't cancel the VRBO. Just my luck, I get the red "Warning Chassis Fault" yesterday. The questions I have are:
1) Should I drive the CTT from NM to CA? (The only other option is my wife's convertible Mini - a fun car but small for a road trip, and my teenage son is coming with us; 3 people total.)
2) Is there something I can do to 'disable' the air suspension to make it safer to drive? (Pull the compressor fuse or relay?). When I say 'safer', I mean literally safer so that the car won't kill us, but also less likely to damage anything else on the car.

Some more info on the problem:
- I have the Durametric software/cable. It's pretty useless, but it does show that the LR wants to be higher than it should, and also the LF, but to a lesser extent.
- Visually, the rear seems to be too high, and the FR too low.
- I hear the compressor kicking in sometimes.
- When I park, I hear air coming from the FL as the FL settles.
- If I set the height to 'normal', the error seems to go away, but I don't think the problem is gone; just that the computer is not detecting things as being so far out of wack in this mode.

This is all pretty sudden, and I'm very busy with work (typing this while teleconferencing), so I haven't done much else. Nearest dealer or independent (or rental car company) is 2 hours from me.

Any help much appreciated. I will continue to google...

dporsche74

If it goes up and down with the buttons still it safe to drive.
If your shocks have a bad leaks the compressor will blow at some point cause it will just run to death .
these trucks are easy to work on . just nobody wants to crawl underneath to see what broken. which gives the pig a bad rep .
All cayenne super easy and cheap to work on and easy to fix with basic tools. Just have to wait at the hotel for a extra week to wait for parts to come.

Ford and chevy every napa autozone etc has the bits on the shelf in every town.
Have a fun trip .

LARacer

Thanks for the advice dporsche74. I agree, these cars are not bad to work on most of the time. Just need time, which I don't have much of these days.

Extra week of vacation sounds great; I wish life were that easy!

I have ordered a set of strut valves. Seems to be a very common cause, and is cheap/easy to do. Will do that when I return. Meanwhile, I'm worried about the compressor and maybe the air springs failing, so we'll take the Mini this time.

So far, I have found many useful discussions, so I'll post them below for posterity (in no particular order):

Chassis System Faulty - Suspension failure - Page 2 - Rennlist - Porsche Discussion Forums

Chassis System Fault vs. Chassis System Failure? - Page 2 - 6SpeedOnline - Porsche Forum and Luxury Car Resource

Fuse Box Diagram Porsche Cayenne (9PA/E1; 2003-2010) (fuse-box.info)

No voltage for the air suspension compressor - Rennlist - Porsche Discussion Forums

Where the hell is the J403 Relay box located? - AudiWorld Forums

The Definitive Guide To First-Generation Porsche Cayenne Suspension (955/957) (fcpeuro.com)

Air suspension problems - Page 2 - Rennlist - Porsche Discussion Forums

Panamera Air Suspension Info - ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW - InsaneGarage.com

Air suspension rear pressure holding valve replacement question - Rennlist - Porsche Discussion Forums

dporsche74

you put in jacked mode and spray soapy water on all the 4 corner fittings under the wheel covering. when you see bubbles thats the leak .. should be very very oblivious.
If the durametric isn't pulling any sensor codes nothing is broken just leaking out of a little tube some where that might just fell off ... then its a free fix..

A new compressor is only 300/400 bucks and like 5 bolts fyi and rebuild kits are just a few bucks worth of o rings too same has VW and Audi too
ypu go to the dealer and say fix it.. 6K bill at least

Quadcammer

I pretty much disagree with all of this

RPMulli

+1

Just get a rental car.

LARacer

Appreciate everyone's comments. Would get a rental car, but nearest is 2 hours away, and I don't want to add 4 hours to the trip. We are squeezing in the Mini now

RPMulli

oh goodness.. my family hates it when we have to cram in the mini to go ANYWHERE. It’s hilarious