2013 Cayenne Base – 29,000 Miles & A Few Ongoing Issues
12-01-2020 | 06:47 PM
#1
Thread Starter
2nd Gear
Joined: Dec 2020
Posts: 2
Likes: 0
2013 Cayenne Base – 29,000 Miles & A Few Ongoing Issues
Hi All-
I have been browsing Rennlist for quite a while and am glad to meet you. In May of this year, I purchased a 2013 Cayenne base with 22,000 miles (I am the second owner). Over the past six months, I have grown to love the car and try to keep her in the best shape I can through my independent shop in Anaheim, CA. Since purchasing, I have replaced the transfer case (hoping for a reimbursement here!), front and rear differential fluid, front brakes, and brake fluid. I also performed an alignment.
There is one ongoing issue which my independent believes is normal but drives me nuts. Simply as possible, whenever I engage the throttle (however softly) between 45 MPH and 70 MPH, I get a loud humming noise (almost like a tea kettle noise, if you will). The noise immediately dissipates whenever I let off the accelerator and occurs almost without fail in the 45-70 MPH zone. I am not sure I would describe it as "whining," though I must admit I am not knowledgeable enough to rule out that descriptive phrasing.
Secondarily, and far less importantly, I get a crunching noise sometimes from the rear suspension (coming from the frame around the rear suspension/some other non-internal place) when making turns at low speeds. This issue is not consistent–it seems to come and go–and it is difficult to reproduce for my mechanic.
I have searched these forums and elsewhere, though I cannot seem to find a relevant thread for either issue. Please forgive me if I have overlooked a previous discussion. If anyone is willing to offer some insight, I would be most grateful! Please let me know if there is any other info I can provide to assist.
All the best,
Nic
I have been browsing Rennlist for quite a while and am glad to meet you. In May of this year, I purchased a 2013 Cayenne base with 22,000 miles (I am the second owner). Over the past six months, I have grown to love the car and try to keep her in the best shape I can through my independent shop in Anaheim, CA. Since purchasing, I have replaced the transfer case (hoping for a reimbursement here!), front and rear differential fluid, front brakes, and brake fluid. I also performed an alignment.
There is one ongoing issue which my independent believes is normal but drives me nuts. Simply as possible, whenever I engage the throttle (however softly) between 45 MPH and 70 MPH, I get a loud humming noise (almost like a tea kettle noise, if you will). The noise immediately dissipates whenever I let off the accelerator and occurs almost without fail in the 45-70 MPH zone. I am not sure I would describe it as "whining," though I must admit I am not knowledgeable enough to rule out that descriptive phrasing.
Secondarily, and far less importantly, I get a crunching noise sometimes from the rear suspension (coming from the frame around the rear suspension/some other non-internal place) when making turns at low speeds. This issue is not consistent–it seems to come and go–and it is difficult to reproduce for my mechanic.
I have searched these forums and elsewhere, though I cannot seem to find a relevant thread for either issue. Please forgive me if I have overlooked a previous discussion. If anyone is willing to offer some insight, I would be most grateful! Please let me know if there is any other info I can provide to assist.
All the best,
Nic
12-01-2020 | 10:18 PM
#2
Banned
Joined: Mar 2011
Posts: 10,085
Likes: 1,164
From: Spring Lake, NJ, US of A
Welcome to the forums Nic..
Can't answer your first problem, would probably have to hear it. The second - the crunching noise from the rear sounds like a limited-slip differential with the wrong oil in it (or no slip additive.) Thing is - I think it would be quite rare for a base model to have the limited slip rear, that was mostly a GTS or CTTS sort of option. You might ask your shop to check, it's simple to do when it's up in the air. (Turn a wheel while keeping the driveshaft from rotating, if the opposite wheel turns the other way it's not limited slip. If the other wheel turns the same direction it's limited slip.)
Can't answer your first problem, would probably have to hear it. The second - the crunching noise from the rear sounds like a limited-slip differential with the wrong oil in it (or no slip additive.) Thing is - I think it would be quite rare for a base model to have the limited slip rear, that was mostly a GTS or CTTS sort of option. You might ask your shop to check, it's simple to do when it's up in the air. (Turn a wheel while keeping the driveshaft from rotating, if the opposite wheel turns the other way it's not limited slip. If the other wheel turns the same direction it's limited slip.)
12-06-2020 | 11:15 PM
#5
Burning Brakes
Joined: Aug 2016
Posts: 862
Likes: 153
The first sound you describe sounds like "gear lash" to me... I had a Nissan Xterra that used to have it really bad. It's basically a hum or resonating vibration caused by the small amount of play between gears somewhere in the drivetrain. Usually only occurs in specific situations, and for me it was any sort of acceleration at HW speeds. The independent probably knows things like that are more of a nuisance than anything, are hard to diagnose, and require replacing parts of your drivetrain that contains gears - so the TC (which you say you have done, but could still be part of the issue), or either of the Diffs.
