AnAlbumCover

When my TC was bad, oddly enough, it was the opposite for me. In the morning, TC felt fine-ish. Once warmed up it felt awful.

For what its worth, I have a 2011 CS. TC replaced at 55k (I purchased Oct 2020, TC done in November 2020 under warranty). I'm at 100k now and the TC still feels great. Car has lived in Scottsdale and Denver across the past 3 years. So temps have been all over but both places are relatively dry.]

I drive pretty aggressively and have been towing a lot recently (building a deck, hauled a few tons of rock last week). BUT, I change my TC fluid every 5k miles when I change my oil. I've actually put ball valves on the TC to make draining and filling a 5 minute job.

leftlane

All of the above. Plenty of long distance driving on highways, and plenty of in town driving too. Even occasionally tow a 23 ft 6500 lb boat - never any issues. I’ve put on 115k miles in 6 1/2 years and this is my daily driver in all weather and wherever I need to go. Never any off-roading though. Overall this has been one of the most reliable cars I’ve owned.

I wasn’t having any issues at 100k when I changed the fluid, but I had all fluids changed at the same time. Every 5k miles? Total overkill and 32x more frequent than Porsche recommends 🤪

RhinoComp

Regarding your road trip where your Cayenne was nearly undriveable after exiting the highway... are you in a TT V6 958.2? And have you had the oversensitive knock sensor TSB addressed if so? I ask because I'm dropping off my 958.2 CS this Friday for this issue as well as potentially my transfer case, right at 75K miles. Other major notable issues regarding the knock sensors were that my car can't hold speed on the highway with cruise control because it can't build boost.

skinnytirez

Mind sharing the part number and maybe a couple pictures of your quick change setup?

AnAlbumCover

No part numbers, this is a home depot special. The TC plugs (drain and fill) are 3/8 NPT. I picked up an aluminum 3/8 NPT ball valve (the TC body is some version of an aluminum alloy so I wanted to keep the metal similar). Then I put two plugs on the open ends of the ball valves finger tight and she's been good for the past 40k miles. Changing the fluid is as easy as undoing the caps, turning the valve. Refilling is even easier as I put a female 3/8 NPT to 1/2 ID hose barb and hook up fluid pump/pressure thing (I use a home depot garden sprayer with the spray tip removed and 1/2 ID hose attached but you can use the dedicated oil pump tools, ). Refills in a like a minute, unhook, close the valves, finger tighten the caps and you're done. I don't even lift the car for any of this as I can reach under with 1 hand (I'm on steel, not air).

NOTE: NPT fittings and the factory TC plugs are TAPERED THREADS, DO NOT overtighten, you WILL crack the transfer case housing. The original plugs and/or anything else you decide to thread into the holes WILL NOT BOTTOM OUT/SIT FLUSH with the TC, DO NOT continue to tighten. I know the yelling here is a little obnoxious but I'm hoping I save at least 1 person from cracking the TC.

wyowolf

I don't know how anyone can defend this... this is Ram territory bad... hell maybe Yugo.

PFDGSB

Yah. And probably the worst part is the number of attempts Porsche has taken to fix this. First it was water, now it's a coating. Coatings wear off, no? I'd love to see some documentation specifically calling out exactly what the problem is. After this amount of time, Porsche should know 100% what is causing these failures. I'm not convinced a coating is a long-lastong fix. I hope I'm wrong.

mafpolo

This TC issue will be probably be the next the next big Porsche class action thing. These TC issues seem ridiculous. One would think that the engineers would have figured out the cause of failure and fixed the issue. Maybe the data hasn't told them the root cause yet.

RhinoComp

For what it’s worth, it really just seems like Porsche has decided to keep replacing them instead of digging into the issue since they’re not going to have to deal with it much longer. My 2015 is already not covered anymore.

On a separate note, has anyone actually had the transfer case fail? I’ve seen a couple of instances where someone found clutch pieces which is no bueno, but it seems like 99% of cases are replaced for the symptoms. My transfer case felt absolutely awful when I took it in last Friday. Ended up just changing the fluid for $240, and it drives like new. We’ll see how long that lasts I suppose, but it does beg the question of if it’s just something that’s life can be extended indefinitely by semi-frequent fluid changes.

wyowolf

I now change mine every other oil change, its relatively cheap and super easy to do

drdantheman1

Ours had definitely failed, we didn’t even have the typical stutter type symptoms prior. After 2-3 minutes of driving, the transfer case fault would flash up, we’d feel a small kick, and you could immediately notice you were in rear wheel drive only.

GTS_Jay

Well since I bought my Cayenne used in January with 63k on it. How do know if a transfer case is going bad? What signs does it show?

PFDGSB

Do a search and you'll find some descriptions, however my best description: it feels like your car is bucking or hesitating at low speeds, especially turns.