cbditty

looks like my new 08 cayenne S has something strange going on

the check engine light has been on since i got the car delivered to me from up north with 130 miles on it (hence no immediate dealer to fix it), when i called my local dealer they said to tighten gas/oil caps and drive the car 30 times and if the issue was fixed it would reset itself, that never worked so today they finally got to look at it with the 1,600 miles it now has

i was hoping a simple reset would clear the fault but after waiting an hour they found an issue with the variocam and apparently a valve and valve pump (?), car still runs and they reset the light and sent me home but i have to go back in next week for a new pump/valve/variocam piece, not exactly sure what it is

does anyone have an insight/advice for me?? is variocam the equialent of a timing belt?? im worried about a lingering effect or problem

OCNYPORSCHE

Sorry to hear about your problems. I do not think it was a good idea to run the truck for about 1500 miles with the check engine light on.

Good news is that it will be fixed under warranty. Never listen to the dealer if they can diagnose something like that over the phone.

ltc

...
http://www.panix.com/clay/cayenne/variocam.html

cbditty

well after waiting a week i finally got the car back. after getting a more detailed explanation of the problem i found out they replaced the pump and the valve that controls the variocam system on cylinders 1-4. drove home, car drove great, seemed more powerful than before. but......

the next day the check engine light came on again and i gotta bring it back to check the fault code, who can give me the cliff notes version of the lemon law, im assuming this is strike two, correct?

HD2pct

Lemon laws vary by state. I don't know of any where simply having to take the vehicle in for the same problem three times, irrespective of other factors, classifies it as a "lemon".

In most cases the sititation has to substantially impair use or value. A simple light on a dash does not do that. In addition, in most states' lemon laws, the vehicle needs to be out of service, cumulatively, for a relatively long period of time.

Why don't you just take it back to them and say it isn't fixed and save the lawsuits and filings for when the situation gets serious? If every vehicle that had to go back to the dealer because they didn't fix the problem the first time were a "lemon", we would all be driving lemons or riding bicycles.

Slow Guy

While I do agree with you in principle I don't think it's too early for cbditty to start doing his research into his states lemon laws and finding out what he would need to have should it come to that. You don't want to wait until you've taken it back the 5th time for the same thing before you start collecting your documentation. One of the biggest items you would need is a service "complaint" that accurately/fully states what the problem is and what was done by the dealer to resolve it.

Back several years ago one of my stepbrothers had one of the Chrysler trucks w/ the notoriously failing transmissions. He took it back to the dealer many times complaining of transmission problems. It finally failed right after it went out of warranty. He tried to get them to cover it because of all his complaints but it turned out he couldn't prove them because none of those complaints showed up on the work orders.

ltc

mudman2

boy this popcorn tastes good tonight anyone else want some ?

ltc

Shhh, the lights are dimming and the movie is about to start......

Spoiler: I know how it ends.

HD2pct

I agree. You definitely need to formalize your complaint as you have outlined, at least when there is reason to believe that you are headed for serious problems.

Really, I commented because, on the face of it, the OP is overreacting. Lewis doesn't seem to agree and has his popcorn out, so either he is just really hungry and that is all he has in the house, or he knows something I don't know about this particular problem, which I assume is that it cannot be solved and will result in a claim under <insert state name here>'s Lemon Law.

That seems far-fetched, but I will be interested in seeing if this is indeed the case!

ltc

I never owned a Cayenne
I never returned a vehicle under "Lemon Law"
I know how PCNA handles situations like this

I love popcorn

droptop

three times back on the same problem IS the trigger point. there are two things you need to do right now. be sure you have (and get) an invoice on each time the cayenne is in (you would be AMAZED at how this stuff disappears). second, you need to check the lemon law in your state.

i would give them no slack at all. in my state, 3 tries was enough to trigger the "final repair attempt" letter. they have 10 days to respond, and porsche failed to do that. they still drug it out another 8 months or so, but they finally took the pig back. the "final repair attempt" letter will at least get their attention, and you may actually get it fixed...

good luck, Mr Phelps...

ltc

We're definitely going to need more popcorn

droptop

as a foreshadow of things to come, do a forum search on ltc and my username and "lemon law". unfortunately, larry is spot on when he makes predictions. of course "Cassandra" is his middle name...

cbditty

dropped the car back to the dealer yesterday, they got the same fault code as before except this time it had "undetermined" at the end of it, the first time the fault had something at the end that pointed them to the variocam system, service advisor says that means the computer does not know what the problem is, theyre sending the fault code to porsche for assistance

this is my fourth porsche, they are all i drive, i hate to think that this situation gets so ugly that i have to drive something else

in the meantime im putting miles on this base cayenne, white with the big cayenne sticker on the side, sticker is actually pretty sharp, thought it was ridiculous at first but its growing on me