Aaroneous

Trying to get to the bottom of a messy situation, I figured I'd open it up to the group for input. I took my '05 CTT to the dealer to fix a coolant leak because I couldn't diagnose it. Coolant pipes, tees, and reservoir have been done already, and the puddle was not in a place that offered any clues. It turns out that the thermostat housing was leaking, so the shop replaced the thermostat and housing and buttoned her back up.

When I picked the car up, I immediately noticed odd behavior while driving. Boost leak and nearly complete power loss, violent shifting both up and down, and TCU limp mode (all trans positions selected simultaneously). Scanning with Durametric showed the following issues...

• P2329 - “Air leak between maf and throttle body”
• 1314 - "DME control module - Please read out fault memory, test conditions are not completed, fault is currently active and is not causing a DTC light."

Upon opening the hood, I found that the dealer did not re-attach the charge hoses to the throttle body, so the P2329 error was actually pretty darn accurate! The service manager is aware of this issue, but I am trying to figure out if there is any potential connection between the charge hose SNAFU and the transmission issues. The symptoms don't seem to be in line with valve body from what I've read. Maybe when the tech removed the thermostat housing maybe coolant drenched some electrical connectors causing the DME fault? Searching around it seems that these two errors seem to come up in concert on occasion, but the causes seem varied (Example).

Since re-attaching the charge hoses, the boost leak and P2329 code have gone away and I am back at full boost. However, I am still experiencing hard shifts (up and down) and TCU limp mode comes back reliably after 15 minutes of driving. I replaced the trans fluid and filter this weekend hoping that would have an effect, but it did not. I've heard that some people recommend plugging the trans at 35* instead of 40* to retain more fluid, but I went with 40* per most DIYs I found.

If there is a possible connection between the dealer's error and the transmission fault I'd really like to pursue having them diagnose and fix it, but I want to be sure I have a leg to stand on before suggesting to them that there may a correlation.

Any thoughts?

deilenberger

If they forgot to connect the hoses - which are pretty damn obvious - chances are good something else isn't connected correctly. I'd be back to the dealer with the message that when Porsche calls - your car better be running correctly or Porsche Cars North America is going to get an earful.

They are very concerned with PCNA getting any bad reports on a dealership since it DOES effect their bottom line (money coming back from Porsche) heavily. One bad report can cost them..

BTW - also - I realize this is a nag - but - PLEASE give us the year/model of your vehicle when posing a question. It will help in forming an intelligent answer. And it's the right thing to do.

Aaroneous

Thanks very much for the feedback. I will definitely be asking them to diagnose it, and I agree that since their oversight was so blatant that it casts some doubt on the quality of the rest of the work that was done. They have always been very clear that anything less than a "9" on the PCNA survey is failing, so they won't be surprised when I bring it up.

I'm still curious if there maybe a link between the two issues that is obvious to another but not to me.

Re: the make & model, I figured '05 CTT was enough... '05 955 CTT felt redundant

deilenberger

Sorry - did I miss that? Entirely possible - old eyes. If you put it in the thread title - chances are better I'll spot it, and perhaps someone will open it who has something useful to add..

deilenberger

Went and looked at the thread on RennTech. Some things popped out at me:

The message from Loren explaining what the official Porsche description of the fault codes were, one line in particular: Bolded what seems significant. The disconnected hoses probably screwed up (tech-term) the throttle adaptation - and it's worth redoing that, and resetting the transmission adaptations. I believe the Durametic can do both.

The last two posts in that thread from Spooltime - describing what the actual fix was are a bit enlightening - it sounds as if a small leak was still happening on the intake and causing the error code and transmission misbehavior. Be worth mentioning that to the dealership and see if they'll smoke test the intake since it was their error leaving the hoses off in the first place.

Also - thanks for pointing to that thread. It has an interesting section in it about the leak up the TCU connecting cable - that I mentioned in another thread here, but didn't recall where I'd seen it. Now I can add that info to the other thread.

And it proves how useful it is when someone finally solves a problem if they come back and explain HOW it was solved. So few bother..

Aaroneous

Just a quick update, I ran the adaptations on the transmission (via Durametric) and the throttle body (via key), and there was no change in the behavior of the truck when I drove it this morning. I ended up dropping it off with the dealer and told them that I expect that they will take care of it. I don't think they were very happy with me, but that's not my problem.

I'll report back when I get an update from the dealer on what they find. My guess is they are going to call valve body before even looking at it, but I'm hoping they put a little more effort into it.

Thanks again for the input, very helpful to have bounced it around.

nodoors

Sorry I can't offer any help, but I am curious to hear the outcome.

docwyte

Man, good luck. That dealer sucks.

knfeparty

I once didn't seat my charge hose and it blew out- went into full limp mode like you said. Reconnected, reset with durametric, everything was fine

dpatel710

^^^I've done this too. Same result.

Aaroneous

Update from the dealer... They said that they only found the 1314 DME fault, so they cleaned the ground for the DME and it did nothing. That's all they did before telling me that "[they] see a lot of these around this mileage with transmissions that just go...". I just hit 140k miles. They said maybe it's the valve body and maybe it's the transmission and they will put together some quotes for replacing the valve body and labor to replace the transmission with a used one. The service manager was also VERY quick to point out that there's *no* way this had anything to do with the work they did on the car.

I was extremely upset with this phone-it-in diagnosis and suggested solution, so I called back and left a message after I cooled off mentioning re-flashing the software and checking to see if ATF had wicked up the pigtail into the TCU, haven't heard back yet.

Blowing the charge hose put you into transmission limp mode or engine limp mode?

docwyte

Can't say that I'm surprised. BTW, when I had my torque convertor seal replaced I also had to have the TCU harness replaced. The seals had failed and were allowing tranny oil to wick up through the harness.

The TCU itself was fine tho...

Aaroneous

The dealer took the time to check the things I asked them to: the TCU harness was dry, and they flashed a new version of the transmission software because it was out of date. No word yet on whether or not that fixed the issue.

I did get a clear refusal to go any farther with the diagnosis and repair, however. I spoke with the service manager and he was unwilling to consider that there was a link between the engine malfunctions due to the charge hoses his tech failed to replace, the violent shifting, and reliably reproducible TCU limp mode that started within 30 minutes of pickup. I told him that my criteria for satisfaction is for my truck to be returned to me in the condition that it was in when delivered to them, and he responded that's not going to happen on their dime. I said if he's not the person to get it done, maybe I need to speak to the person that can...

...an hour or so later I missed a call from the general manager who left a voicemail saying he reviewed the notes and there's nothing else they are willing to do except give a discount on the repair or help me out with a trade-in. I have to say, I'm a little disappointed that he came to that conclusion without hearing me out, but it's not surprising. It seems that I'm pretty close to having no recourse but to fill out that PCNA survey honestly and never go back to this dealer.

I will be taking the car to an indie shop for a 2nd opinion, I will report back again if I have more details.

nodoors

Yikes, please keep us posted. Which stealership is this again?

ventoGT

Time to lawyer up, or at least get a lawyer to draft a nasty-gram to that dealership. An ounce of threat in this case will do you well. The dealer clearly screwed up and is unwilling to stand behind their work. Pretty ridiculous, but there are shady shops everywhere. Consider filing a claim with the BBB, anything that will punish them for this unsavory behavior.

I'd consider keeping their name out of the forums until you have exhausted every option, dispute the credit card transaction to get your money back on the repair they botched, and if they keep cold shouldering you [and it looks like they will since the GM said F off], and then once you have exhausted every way of them making it right, smear them all over this and every board you can. Hopefully they will lose significant business from fellow RListers.

There are too many shops doing things the right way and these guys deserve to get a lot of hurt.

My $.02