zman86

So as the title of this post states, and not in the form of a question, let's see how far can I push a 2013 Cayenne Diesel with 195k miles. I just purchased this Cayenne two weeks ago, and so far it's been a blast to drive. With exception of some small dings and chips, the vehicle is solid, and the interior is flawless. This vehicle is serving as a bit of an experiment to me to see just how much life I can get out of it as my daily driver, and in the future some occasional towing of my 25' Airstream. My intent is to document a pretty good list of things that I intend to spruce up, bringing this vehicle to a more current state. I will say that the previous two owners meticulously maintained the vehicle through their local Porsche dealers. It somewhat pains me to be the one to deviate from their previous efforts, but my local Porsche dealer is over an hour and a half away, and I consider myself quite competent mechanically, so there is much I hope I'll still be able to address on my own.

Immediate plans for my daily driver are going to be fluid changes with Liqui Moly, to include engine, 5W-30 oil and then throw in a can of Ceratec. I'll change all filters to include fuel, cabin, and air. I'll also be doing the transfer case fluid change with Revenol DTF-1, as I believe that is good insurance on the drivetrain. Once I've done done a rebase on the periodicity for oil and fluids, I'll be looking for some new tires, leaning toward Michelin Pilot All Season 4 to get ready for the winter. As for the creature comforts, the interior is flawless and really perfect the way that it is, so the only immediate plan I have right now is adding Android Auto/Car Play.

I want to thank everyone on this forum who has posted in the DIY, Picture Thread, and What did you do for your 958 today? These posts served as an inspiration on what was really possible with this SUV. This is my first Porsche, but not my first German auto. I've owned many vehicles over the years from S2000, TL, A4, Denali, MDX, Yukon, and spattering of things in between, and now this. I believe the Cayenne, although a Diesel, is going to give me a great amount of joy and fun. The utility and practicality that it'll serve in my daily life will likely lead to enjoyable ownership if I can continue to make her run for many more miles.


Clean from the front driver side, driver DRL, signal light on driver side needs replacement. DRL on driver side does not illuminate.

Some road rash, sizable ding in drivers door hopefully paint-less dent removal can address.

Clean from the front. Passenger static steering light was out, so changed both out to LED 6000k.

Clean interior, no CELs, leather is in remarkable condition

Clean back seat, no rips or tears, driver side is missing floor mat. All mats will soon be replaced with all-weather.

Current mileage. I've put a little over 400 miles on so far.

Spec sheet.

996C438

It's ironic you posted this as I am currently in a conversation with someone selling a 2013 diesel pepper with 175k miles . My diesel experience is with my 2001 Duramax GMC pickup . I am at 192,000 and counting . With routine maintenance I see no reason that 300k or more can be achieved .

zman86

I hope the negotiations go well for you if it's a solid vehicle with everything to your liking. I bought mine sight unseen, which isn't completely unheard of these days but still enough to cause some anxiousness. In all my research, I was sold on the fact it was impeccably maintained, and the excellent reputation that this 3.0 has. This is now my 3rd diesel, still have one other in the fleet currently. We'll see how this works out, but I'm very optimistic!

garrett376

Where do you hear that from? This forum seems to be chock full of constant Diesel issues.

zman86

I haven't found anything troubling, more good reviews than bad, especially maintainability compared to the non-diesel. Again, I'm just begining this adventure. Going to see where it leads me, but so far, I'm impressed.

lml999

People that don't have issues don't generally post, so the perception is skewed...

SSDVC

Yes, there are several known issues related to the diesels, but most are concerning the .1's and addressed with the .2's. There most definitely maintenance items, across the platform, that will need to be addressed, but our CD's are no different than any other higher end SUV. If you are proactive in your maintenance approach, you are likely (but not guaranteed) to avoid a lot of those breakdown headaches and horror stories you read about. At least I hope that's the case with my CD (LOL)!

Gforce1108

Most of the reliability issues are emissions related. Good and bad.... easy to just remove it all and greatly improve reliability, but sucks that you have to resort to that (prohibitively expensive to replace any of those items and keep emissions intact). If you're stuck in a state that does emissions testing, it can become a big hassle. There are still ways around it - but none are "legal". I bought my 13 CD at 138k miles. It has a slight coolant leak in the vee even after having the EGR cooler replaced. It's all going away shortly.

zman86

Emissions is more along the line of what I've been hearing about. My suspension is steel, so there is ease in maintaining that as far as I'm concerned- although it seems like everyone enjoys the air suspension. My intent at some point will be to do a Malone Stage 2 with the deletes.

Gforce1108

Same here - waiting on the black friday sale like I did with my A7 TDI. I have the full upper intake reseal kit with the EGR bypass already from sustdi (Dimitri on the 3.0 TDI forums). Looking like rawtek for the pipes (I have Buzzken on the A7). Oakes performance has been gaining a great reputation on the forums. More customizable than Malone and cheaper, but I know exactly what I'm getting with Malone (assuming the CD/Q7/TReg tune is similar to the A6/A7/Q5). I need to contact James Oakes with some questions on that.

zman86

Definitely something I may be looking into sooner rather. Where did you source the complete reseal kit, or did you go for each individual seal separately. This is something I may have to tackle soon, recently had low oil and coolant, topped off with 1qt oil, and just a few ounces to the coolant and all was fine. I'm awaiting a borescope so I can try and get under the intake manifold and determine if this is all indicative of the oil cooler and EGR valve that everyone seems to experience. Unfortunate situation, but I am not mad or frustrated as I anticipated some work going into this from the start.

Gforce1108

Gen2 FULL Valley (Intake, EGR, & Oil Cooler) Reseal Kit (3.0 TDI Gen2 2013-2016) – SUS TDI

I ordered his EGR delete kit along with this reseal kit.

UNYboater

Nicely optioned! I was looking for a Turbo with specific options and they were scarce; you hit 3 out of 4! E&D, LCA, ACC and pano roof were our 'must haves'.

zman86

Thanks for the source! Out of stock for now, but I'll keep an eye on it. I'm not completely sure this is the cause of the leak, hope to know more tomorrow. If it ends up all checks out tomorrow, I'll keep this in mind for EGR delete and tune when other maintenance items are addressed first. On the issue of the potential leak, I called the Porsche dealer that the previous owner consistently went to over the last 5 years for some info. Although they couldn't give me copies of service records, they did disclose the previous owner had spent about $6k this past June on various seals, oil change, battery, and coolant system servicing, to include a pressure test. Unfortunately, the technicians notes didn't address all locations of seals.

Some of what was rattled off was, shaft seal, hex flange, gasket lid joint, o-rings, water hoses, vent line. Only recommended service they had at that time beyond the aforementioned, which were declined, tires, dynamic cornering bulb, engine air filter, diesel filter, front brakes, and water drain clean out.

I already did the cornering bulbs to LED 6000k, I have all filters and fluids sitting here at the house now ready to go soon. I'll look into brakes soon along with what the water drain cleanout is for.
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Thank you! I'm quite impressed with the options. I just had to accept the risk of high miles and buying sight unseen. The service reports via CarFax looked promising, and other than the issues aforementioned, it seems to be solid so far.

Gforce1108

Dimitri James restocks pretty frequently. If you check the 3.0TDI north america facebook He's very active and easy to get in contact with.
Mine also had a bunch of recent upper valley work that the dealer paid to have performed at a euro shop. New OE EGR cooler and a pile of gaskets - still a small leak. I'm comparing Malone and James Oakes tuning to see which way I'm going to go - I have malone on my Audi A7 TDI. James does custom work and is a little cheaper - I just need to compare how the readiness monitors react with each tune.