Temperature climbs to 245, 255 and high-speed fan comes on. Car smells hot. Coolant tank full to the brim (2 inches past the “ max” level. Have to stop & let it cool down. Then it goes to a steady 200F.

We’ve only had this car 200 miles, and the dealer can’t find the problem and -_says_ they can’t take it back either.
Is this reasonable? We bought the 7 year warranty but we’re not interested in relying on it. Car has 22k miles.

And they couldn’t find us a service loaner either, which is stated in our sales contract. This is a lot of trouble starting on Day4 (5,6,7,8,9 was in their shop, where they “replaced the coolant tank”.... which doesn’t make sense as it wasn’t leaking even under pressure).

We want a different car. We don’t want to be “premium automobile fault testers”.

Does anybody know what might cause temperature spikes and the coolant tank to fill to the brim? Dealer says they’ve never seen this problem and wants us to “drive it and see if it happens again”.

 

https://rennlist.com/forums/cayenne-...g-coolant.html

 

Water pump or thermostat.

On another note, is the dealer you're speaking of a Porsche Dealer?

 

Thanks dvb1 for that link to the similar 2011 problem. Ours is a 2017 with 22k miles, unlikely to have an aftermarket water pump. But the behavior is similar. The dead-nuts 200F normal suggests servo-control, not a standard thermostat.

Also puzzled why the coolant tank would be full to the brim, 2 inches above the max. That suggests the “bubble” is combustion gases (to me).

This happened twice (in 200miles), both times the coolant level rose to the top, its right there at the threads. My wife hears “bubbling/boiling”. What calls her attention to it is the high-speed fans kicking on. And then looking at the guage. She has a video.

Dealer is (Larsens) Tacoma Porsche. They’re pretty adamant that they can’t take the car back even with just 200 miles and they’ve had it for longer than we’ve had it.

Car is a lease-return from NY. We think Tacoma Porsche should take it on as their problem - not their new customer’s problem. I wanted assurance (to see records ! ) that the previous owner had never overheated it, but they won’t show me the car’s records. This is starting out weird.

 

Sounds like a sticky thermostat. I'm surprised the dealer didn't just replace it already. You might check in your state if there is any recourse for a used car if not purchased "As-Is".

The cooling system is servo-controlled, there is a heater in the thermostat itself that is used to adjust the cooling temperature. The gauge is nothing but a glorified idiot light. It's designed to sit at 180-200F over a wide range of actual engine temperatures, and only starts climbing when something catastrophic happens.

My WAG - thermostat sticks and doesn't open. Engine overheats. You/wife notices and shut it down. The heat build-up in the engine continues to rise toward the top of the engine finally the thermostat notices and pops free. Car then runs normally. Fix is a new thermostat (and perhaps a water pump if you have a V8 since they have to remove it anyway to replace the thermostat.)

 

I mean this in the most honest nicest way possible. Welcome to the Porsche F Fest. They manage customers and vehicles about as well as Trump/Pence handles Covid and Biden handles taxes.

 

I wouldn't go all political here dude. No matter Biden or Trump.

As far as the dealer goes, sounds like a sh1tty dealer.

 

Yeah, first thing came to mind, honest mistake.

Unfortunately, aren’t they all? I have been BLESSED to be near multiple. Blessed being silent.

 

Sticky thermostats are usually stuck on open which results in a car that takes a long time to heat up. Just saying.

Edit: my dealer is saying the failing solenoid that controls the vacuum to the water pump is most frequently the cause of all of this. Id start there.

 

For now, do what they say. Definitely try a different dealer. It’s nice to have 2 or 3 in the rotation or having a 1 caring service advisor makes a world of difference. But paying out of pocket at a Indy shop should be a last resort. Do your research on here first then mention to them what you think the problems problem might be. Good luck.

 

As far as I can see we STILL don't know what engine this 2017 has. The V8 engines do not have a vacuum controlled water pump. TMCAYN - can you fill us in on what model this is? And I agree DBV1 - thermostats usually fail open - I've had enough fail closed to know that "usually" is not to be used for diagnostic purposes.

 

Thank very much for the attention!!
Base model Cayenne V6.
The car is a lease return from NY, it came to the dealer via Porsche.
Totally love the car, can’t imagine driving anything else. Just have the ******* about this huge purchase.

What’s most important to us right now, is whether or not the car’s detailed dealer service history is available. CarFax lists a brake rotor change, thats all.

I want to know if this phantom temp spike has “history”. We’ve only had the car 200 miles, half of which is driving to/from the dealer. Timewise, about 12 days, half of it in Tacoma Porsche service department. Obviously the problem was already there. The question is whether the dealer knew it was there.

We have a “lemon law” in the state of WA. We paid $5500 for a 7-year service contract but we want to run that out without a single claim. We don’t drive that much, like 10k per year. The last thing I want to do is start paying attorneys right out of the gate.

I’m always up for diagnostics etc on older cars, squeaking out more miles etc, but NOT on this car. This is my wifes car, its not my hobby. Now for a hobby..... a diesel with a Torsen etc.... for me... I probably should have tried that first.

It goes back into service dept Monday (tomorrow). As before, they have no loaner car for us even though specified when we bought it. Service loaner is phantom too.

But for now, can anyone tell me if even Porsche North America has this info?
I assume they would have a file for every time it was plugged in. Can Porsche techs see the detail history? Every time it was plugged in?

And i wanna know if the previous owner drove it while overheated.

Thanks!!

 

Just got a call from my wife, she’s out for a walk around a lake with sis, 20 miles from home.

Temp spike again.

So she noted it was rising, but this time instead of stopping, kept driving until the warning came, which said Stop. She stopped. Cool down. Drove again, vehicle said to stop again. She stopped. Opened hood, felt heat heat heat. Hear gurgling and theres a red puddle on the ground.

She’s calling a tow (to Tacoma Porsche) now. So I guess the car will be there early, ready for the Monday AM appointment. And with (more) iPhone videos, the tech barely has to test drive it himself.

We’re going to tell the dealer that if we set foot in that dealer again it will depend on how they handle our customer experience. It will be their choice, how they want to address our purchase. Our part has been pretty simple, as premium vehicle fault testers. And now problem customers, whining about no loaners etc, which is totally opposite of our expectations.

Still wanna know if the tech can see the entire fault code history from mile1. Or can Porsche NA see the entire history. And can we ever see the whole service /fault history?

 

Fault codes are normally cleared when repairs are made so they can test if the code returns. SOP, and there are only a few things with permanent memory on the cars (mileage and engine over-revs on the flat-engine cars.) As far as Porsche having a complete history - they only have a history/records of every warranty claim made against the car. In your case that might be enough - and ANY dealer can pull that up and print it out. All other service records (oil changes, brakes, etc..) are only kept at the dealer level.

I question why this car wasn't sold as a CPO car? It should still be under factory warranty at 3 years old and 22,000 miles. The dealer should have CPO'd it and sold it as a CPO vehicle. The fact they didn't is waving a huge red flag IMHO.

You might want to talk to an attorney (know a friendly one?) about "fitness for use" which is the expectation that you bought a car to drive it, and due to the condition of this vehicle you can't meaning the contract of sale isn't good.

BTW - if it is still under warranty - you may want to get Porsche Cars America involved sooner rather than later. While the usual song is "Dealers are independent companies we have no control over.." - the promised loaner cars failing to be available is not something they'll like, and the failure to fix the problem under warranty might just get them involved in unwinding this transaction.

BTW - if you've been talking to "Service Advisors" at this point you want to start climbing the management ladder - Service MANAGER would be next, then the dealership General Manager, and finally the principal of the dealership (owner.) It might be time to start getting LOUD at the dealership, but wait until there are some prospective customers there.

BTW-II: Something else you said was curious. That the car came from Porsche to this dealership. If it was a lease turn-in at a dealership Porsche financial would be the one selling it, and they sell a lot of cars at auction. Usually, if it's a "good" car - the dealership that it's turned into has the opportunity to buy it for the residual and put it on their lot. The fact they didn't seems to raise another flag. That and the fact that it wasn't CPO'd makes me wonder if it was a lemon-law car. One that had a problem Porsche was given an opportunity to repair X number of times and couldn't. Porsche then eats the car, but I do know they release them again on the public... the lemon-law designation is supposed to "brand" the title, but apparently in some states that doesn't happen and it goes unrecorded.

Good luck. Let us know how it goes at the dealership tomorrow.

 

OK here's where we're at.

(history)
Wife was driving. High-speed radiator fans came on just driving around town.
She noticed and stopped (and facetimed the coolant guages video to me showing 255°F.)
Coolant reservoir at very top (2 inches above max level)
We told Dealer about it, towed car to dealer 40miles away.
We had owned it 4 days, 200 miles.

Dealer saw no codes because my wife stopped due to noticing high guage readings.
Dealer ordered a new coolant tank and replaced it.
In my simple mind (I understand cars very well....) there are more straightforward ways to correct coolant level and tanks don't cause temperature control problems but I'm not a dealer tech.
This took about 5 days and they had no service loaner available - not what they said at time of sale.

Got the car back, and it overheated immediately, wife noticed, this time called me.
We concluded to keep driving until the car tells her to stop.
Which it told her to "Park the car and stop engine" while we talked.
Coolant again 2 inches past max fill, and even dripping on the ground. Unknown where from though.
Had it towed to the dealer and had my daughter came to pick her up.

Dealer now concludes it needs a thermostat replacement, so they ordered one.
Several days in the shop, as before. But this time they got us a service loaner.
Whoopedoo, a 2020 with 1,000 miles!
Then on "pickup day" dealer says they want to change the thermostat housing, and need to order one, so it will be several more days.

Since our purchase Nov 4th, we've driven this car about 220 miles, where 120 miles is to/from the dealer service (and two tows).
Some of these miles were absolutely wonderful, Cayenne is a wonderful car and we are totally set on the Cayenne, but a little worried about the dealer.

The dealer told us that this car was not CPO'd because it was such low miles (22k).
I want to know if it was not CPO'd because Porsche declined to CPO this car.

I want the Dealer to either CPO our car, or unwind this purchase and I'll go look for a different Cayenne that has CPO.

Dealer is saying my __only option__ is to trade it in on a different car?
I haven't even asked how much of a loss that will be, as it's a total gain for the dealer that they do not deserve, nor do we.
And I have not entertained the notion of continuing business with this dealer.

We have barely even used this car since Nov 4th and cannot imagine the worry of going on a trip or something.
Buying a premium car that you can't leave town in, is no fun.
A different Cayenne is the answer for us.
Does anyone have tips how I can unwind this deal?
Is the only way to get out of this, to start talking to an attorney?