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I have a 2005 Cayenne S with 120,000 miles and recently had my vehicle serviced for an issue with it starting slow, and the starter was replaced which fixed this issue.
The mechanic told me that the lower, larger coolant pipe is metal, and that the set of 3 upper pipes are plastic and look to be in good condition. Even though I discussed changing the coolant pipes if they were plastic in advance with the mechanic, he did not inform me that the upper pipes were plastic until after the repair was complete and the car was back together.
Now my dilemma is, since I have confirmed that I have plastic upper pipes, whether to go ahead with the replacement of the upper coolant pipes.
Therefore, some questions to help me with this decision are:
Thanks in advance for any answers, advice, or experiences...
No, someone has replaced the lower pipe at some point.
All replacements since late 2006/early 2007 were aluminum.
Both pipes are susceptible to cracking or bursting.
If you want to make it a relatively easy install, buy a new thermostat housing as well. Then you won't have to deal with cleaning the remains of the plastic pipes out of your old thermostat housing.
Part ES#: 2771200 $165 plus the installation accessories as required
I just spoke with the guys at ECS and ordered the upper pipes, and intake & thermostat gaskets. Great tip dugahole55 on this part number as it is the least expensive I have seen the upgraded pipes.
If you want to make it a relatively easy install, buy a new thermostat housing as well. Then you won't have to deal with cleaning the remains of the plastic pipes out of your old thermostat housing.
Thanks for all of your information and responses to my questions XR4Tim. As far as the thermostat housing, while I like the idea of easy install, at $160 for the housing I will take on the chore of cleaning any plastic pipe remains out.
You had mentioned in your first post that your car was starting slow. I'm curious as to what the exact symptoms were and why the starter was deemed defective.
You had mentioned in your first post that your car was starting slow. I'm curious as to what the exact symptoms were and why the starter was deemed defective.
It was slow cranking from the time I purchased it used. Usually it would only turn over about a half crank on the first attempt to start, and then slowly crank and start on the second. The symptoms very closely resembled a weak battery or too low of a gauge starter cable or bad ground. The battery also seemed to drain very quickly.
I took it to the mechanic and he hooked up a battery pack to the jump start connections and it started fine so he told me it was not the starter, but more likely a weak connection.
I tested on my own by running jumper cables from the battery to the jump start connections and it did not help the issue, therefore I had him replace the starter even though he did not believe that the starter was the problem. Now it turns over great and always starts on the first try! I believe that the starter was weak and using significantly greater current than it was supposed to in order to turn over (a starter current test could have diagnosed this). This would explain why jumping it with the battery pack caused the starter to seem ok, since it then was able to utilize current from both batteries simultaneously. It would also explain why the battery seemed to always need charged more than the alternator could do as every attempt to start it drained too much current. I don't know when the starter issue began since I bought the vehicle used, but if I had to guess I would think that since the large coolant pipe had been replaced that it likely burst at some point soaking the starter in coolant.
It was slow cranking from the time I purchased it used. Usually it would only turn over about a half crank on the first attempt to start, and then slowly crank and start on the second. The symptoms very closely resembled a weak battery or too low of a gauge starter cable or bad ground. The battery also seemed to drain very quickly. I took it to the mechanic and he hooked up a battery pack to the jump start connections and it started fine so he told me it was not the starter, but more likely a weak connection. I tested on my own by running jumper cables from the battery to the jump start connections and it did not help the issue, therefore I had him replace the starter even though he did not believe that the starter was the problem. Now it turns over great and always starts on the first try! I believe that the starter was weak and using significantly greater current than it was supposed to in order to turn over (a starter current test could have diagnosed this). This would explain why jumping it with the battery pack caused the starter to seem ok, since it then was able to utilize current from both batteries simultaneously. It would also explain why the battery seemed to always need charged more than the alternator could do as every attempt to start it drained too much current. I don't know when the starter issue began since I bought the vehicle used, but if I had to guess I would think that since the large coolant pipe had been replaced that it likely burst at some point soaking the starter in coolant.
I have an 04 CTT and had the exact same symptoms as you describe. Starter rebuild and all is good 😁
01-21-2015, 03:32 PM
Top Coolant Pipes are Plastic, Lower one is Metal
