VVG

Only 17000 miles and in near flawless condition. Everything feels just fine but was wondering if there is anything I should watch out for. I've been hearing about coil pack issues. Is this an obvious thing? Will I get a check engine light?

ltc

You should have bought a 2007 Cayenne, they are the only ones that do not suffer from cracked coils.....but they are very hard to find.

Your 'misfires' will be stored and can be read out by your dealer/mechanic via PIWIS. The spark plugs SHOULD be inspected when cracked coils are found as well.

No, you don't get a message on the display that says 'Cracked Coils Detected....please input your credit card number via the PCM keypad'......at least not until MY 2010

VVG

Will the coil pack issue be something obvious that I will feel while driving or is it just something that will silently damage the engine?

mudman2

Yes if they fail, but its not that big an issue. Go to your dealer and ask them to replace them in accordance with the Coils TSB

Cannoli

Now, now, ltc ... take it easy on the new meat!

Yes, he's a newbie - for model year 2007 no Cayennes were produced.

VVG - drive it like you stole it and get to know your local Porsche dealer.

ltc

Slow Guy

On mine it ran a little rough in the AM esp. when we were out of town and it was parked outside (damp conditions) overnight, cleared up after about 1 - 2 min. On some (I've read) it has run rough when very warm and affected fuel mileage but I suspect that was after they had been bad for a little while.

It's not a big issue and can be an easy DIY but you won't need to worry about that for a very long time.

If you suspect you have a problem (Just a guess here, depends on your dealer I bet) but I think it would take them less than 15 min to put the tester on to read codes to see if you have any mis-fire codes. If so it's less than a 3 hr. job for them to replace the coil packs.

Don't let it worry you. Worry more about Larry's squirrels... Fear the squirrels!

VVG

Thanks for the info. My other ride is an Audi RS4, and a few of them had some ignition issues also. Mine, fortunately, has not had any such issues to date.

Dennis C

Who does make a car with good coils these days?

I've heard that this is a problem with many newer cars, including BMW, Audi and Saab.

ltc

Diesels?

Dennis C

Is it a problem with diesels?

I'm actually very interested in them. We need to buy a car for my wife fairly soon, and she wants a sedan. We've been considering a BluTec Mercedes E-series.

The other alternative (my evil plan) is to let her take the Cayenne and put a smaller Porsche in the garage for me...

ltc

Diesels don't have spark plugs, hence no coils/coil packs, hence no problem.
Diesels are big stupid engines that simply run forever. They are usually just broken in at 50K miles and 250K miles is a good useful life. More efficient thermodynamically as well.

Europeans have been making the best diesels for years....I doubt diesels will ever 'catch on' here in the US, since the infrastructure is based on gasoline; the simple reality is that the US can NOT support a large scale shift to diesels.

Dennis C

Ah... they have "glow plugs" or something like that, right?

We had a diesel Oldsmobile station wagon back in the '70s during the fuel crisis... what a dog! I know lots of GM diesels back in those days left a sour impression on many Americans.

ltc

Correct.

GM diesels were simply (poorly) converted gas engines....a mistake from the start.
Modern US diesels (PowerStroke with Ford, Duramax with Chevy, Cummins with Dodge) are great motors.

wilfred

Hmmm, mine does idle a tad rough for a min or so whenever it hasnt been driven for days too. I was under the impression bad coils had a much more serious effect so I though the car just needed to be warmed up a bit....