I have a 2011 Cayenne w/6sp manual (231780 miles). I had the transfer case replaced a couple years ago and now I’m out of the extended warranty period. In the past month or so, I started experiencing all the things that point to the transfer case having issues (jerking during low speed turning, shuddering, or rumbling while accelerating). I decided to take a chance on changing the transfer case fluid myself to address the issue. Based on the feedback in this forum, Ravenol transfer case fluid is the preferred choice outside of the Porsche OEM, but I couldn’t get this shipped to me in the desired timeframe. I decided to go with Triax DTF-1 fluid from Amazon ( ), and so far, it has cleared up the transfer case performance issues. Thanks to all the shared knowledge made available here. This process was much easier than I anticipated.

 

https://rennlist.com/forums/cayenne-...-tomorrow.html

Bought the white '13 CTT in this thread almost three months to the day ago, and have loved every single day with it. It's so much more refined, smooth, and powerful than the '04 CTT I had before that it still blows my mind and puts a smile on my face every time i drive it.

I do have what I would call some fairly minor Transfer Case symptoms, but the car runs and drives so incredibly well in all other ways, that if I wasn't already so well acquainted with these symptoms I could have easily missed them.

The symptoms I have right now are a little bit of a jerk or hesitation when going from 2nd to 3rd and less often but sometimes 3rd to 4th, a similar feeling sometimes when going from 3rd-2nd (this is a completely different feeling than the hard engine braking the car likes to do when braking hard in sport mode), and occasionally something that I would describe as a slipping feeling when getting back on the gas coming out of a slow corner. This last symptom seems to only happen when I have to slow down enough to be in 2nd for the corner, and it sometimes feels in those moments like the car can't decide between 2nd and 3rd.

I'm still within the 10 year extended warranty and am about to schedule an appointment to diagnose and address this.

However, a new symptom popped up about a week ago for the first time since i've owned the car. I babied it a little at first but for the last couple months I've been driving it in Sport Mode with PSM off and the dampening in Normal 95% of the time. I definitely don't drive it super hard or aggressively anywhere close to all of the time, I just prefer the throttle response and transmission behavior in Sport Mode.

So a week or so ago I was driving along, probably in 3rd or 4th, in Sport Mode not accelerating hard but just cruising. All of a sudden the car started upshifting between 1200-1400 RPM instead of the usual 2200-2400 or so when driving moderately fast in Sport Mode.

It felt like the car didn't want to be over 1400 RPM no matter what, and turning Sport Mode and PSM off and on again a couple times did nothing to change it. I was on a road where I couldn't pull over right away, but was able to find a spot a couple km down the road. I was going to pull over and turn the car off and on again, but as soon as I turned onto the side street the car went seemingly back to normal.

Then it happened again a couple nights later. Again it was only for 30 seconds to a minute and I wasn't able to get it on video.

A couple nights ago it happened for the third time and I caught some of it on video including it returning to normal without me doing anything except turning and continuing to drive.

The first time it happened I believe the car was pretty warmed up but perhaps not fully. The second time it was fully warmed up and had just been driven for a little over an hour, and the third time it was started cold and driven half an hour and then parked for half an hour and the behavior happened when starting it up again, pulling out and driving down the road I was on.

The attached video is fairly mild acceleration in Sport Mode. This is seconds after starting the car and pulling out of a driveway. It shifts normally at first but starting at :08 it goes from 4th to 6th in about three seconds. I let off and coast for a few seconds, then give a little more gas before gradually slowing down to turn. The downshifts in this part of the video seem irregular too. Even though I was slowing down for a corner and it was a gradual slowdown, it seems strange that the rpm never jumped above 1000 at any point while going from 6th to 1st. After I complete the turn I gently accelerate again and the shifting seems normal again.

I'm not sure if this could be related to the Transfer Case and will post this in my original vehicle thread as well, but its the first seriously weird thing I've experienced in this vehicle and I kind of hope it is the TC so I'm not dealing with another separate problem.

Thanks for reading and watching!

 

The simple answer is to get your car to the dealer to have them check the TC. If they agree that it needs a rebuild, ask them if they will change the trans fluid while it is in the shop. I don't know much about the TC's in a Cayenne, but what you describe sounds more like a transmission problem, possibly related to sensors, solenoids, etc. That will at least remove "old fluid" from the "potential cause" list. Also, when they test drive the car before and after the TC rebuild, they might experience what you have experienced, and know what is causing your second problem. I'm sure others may chime in with better answers...good luck

 

Definitely get the TC taken care of first and see if anything changes after. Might be surprised. I would then change the transmission fluid on a different occasion just to know for myself what actually fixed the problem. That would help to know whether to point the finger at the transmission or the TC.

 

That does not sound like a transfer case issue, and would perhaps deserve creating it's own thread to discuss it.

I find the combo of throttle and transmission shift points for Sport mode to be annoying for daily driving.

There is bit of a 'dead spot' on the low end of the throttle curve. I worked around this by putting a Sprint Booster module on the pedal. It does nothing other than change the pedal curve, and has various selectable modes. Some like it, some don't. I found it eliminated the low-end lag, but do note that it carries that same curve regardless of road speed and that can be more aggressive at higher speeds.

 

I would unplug the TC and drive , to figure out if the TC is the culprit them symptoms will go away .
that is how the technicians at the dealer validate the TC replacement or not.

 

Where's the plug? On the unit?

I'm at a test site for work and there is a 958 S which just had it's TC done. Holy **** I didn't realize how bad mine was as it was the only one I'd driven until now, this thing is smooth which is double impressive as it spent the first half of its life as a test car.

I changed the fluid in my TC but not much improvement. As mine is a 2011 unless people have had luck with a nice letter to Porsche in the past, I guess it's time to buy a new one

 

I've been battling a "slightly sloppy" transfer case for over 2 years now. Finally, after the 4th trip to the dealer I rode with the shop foreman and got them to agree to cover it under warranty. 2016 GTS with 107k miles. Original transfer case, with just one fluid change at 80k miles. Based on this thread, 107k miles on the original TC is looking like a record!

 

Sorry, I've got a 2012 V6 with 120,807 miles on the original transfer case and zero signs of issues!

 

We took our Turbo to NHP and they called the next day to come and get it. I asked what the problem was and they said the transfer case but don’t worry, you have a new one on us. NHP is the best.

 

Bastard

On an unrelated note, does anyone know why Porsche discontinued the transfer cases altogether? As far as I can tell, they are exclusively only available as a rebuilt part. Fairly strange between the fact that these cars haven't been out of production very long, and there's obviously signficant demand for replacement units.
Given the cachet associated with the brand, it's a bit surprising to see them resorting to exclusively putting remanufactured parts in customer cars.

 

Yes... and I did the first fluid change at this 120k mark preventively. The wear integrator was at 138 kWh ... not even at the 145 limit yet. Highest wear integrator value I've seen so far.

So you can get a rebuilt transfer case from OEM suppliers for $2K which is nice:
https://www.autohausaz.com/pn/OE-958341010HX

And Porsche has done remanufactured stuff for a long time, like with the M96 engine program.

 

Yes, there is an electrical connector to the transfer case stepper motor. You'll get a yellow error message on the dash but you'll be able to tell immediately if there is a difference.

I left the connector unhooked on mine for weeks before my first transfer case rebuild some years ago. No issues. Plug it back in if you want the error message to go away.

 

How much experience do you have with the M96? I had some serious bore score and took the opportunity to build an LNE 4.0 liter.

 

You might as well check the plug seal per the attached TB , let us know your findings .