Bender053

I did read the sticky.
People suggest i open a new one to reach out to more people.
Once we have some valid information we can add it.
In europe we did not get a recall.

deilenberger

That was bad advice from those people. This discussion is being moved to the STICKY..

It's quite simple - get a dental mirror and LOOK. The adjusters ending with 21 were the problem ones. But to see that you must remove the oil cap anyway, having a dental mirror along (any pharmacy will have one) would seem the best way to confirm if they are the problem bolts.

As far as there not being a recall - I think TUV in Europe might have some interest why a recall wasn't issued there since it's been done in Japan, China and now the USA. It might require someone to alert them to this problem. That could be you.

deilenberger

Hang on - thread being attached to the Variocam sticky..

deilenberger

OK - merged, moved, all is good in the forum again.

Bender - can we assume you also read the sticky on buying a 958? https://rennlist.com/forums/cayenne-...his-first.html, In particular, the 3rd posting?

Ron1319

I bought a 2011 Cayenne S on Saturday without reading enough about this issue, apparently. One of the things I signed said that a recall had been done, and Carfax said that a recall had been performed, so I assumed it was this one. I got a "Start/stop mode deactivated," "PSM failure" and "Check Engine" warning driving home today and the car was running really rough. The weird thing that when I turned it off and back on again after driving to the Mercedes dealership I bought the car from, it wasn't showing any of those messages or the CEL, and was running smooth again. They took it into the garage and said it had no stored codes. I don't know if they require a special tool to read Porsche codes?

When I got it back home, I used the mirror as advised and I for-sure have the bad bolts. I called the guy I talked to at the dealership and he tried to call Porsche and was unable to reach them today. He's going to call me back in the morning. I'm concerned that the fact that I got a rough running engine means that I already have valve damage. This was not a problem I expected to have after owning the car for two days. If they want to just do the simple stage 1 replacement, and they're able to do a leak down test and have good compression, will it be OK? Your guess is as good as mine?

deilenberger

Hi Ron, welcome to the Cayenne world..

Is there some sort of warranty on the car? Usually buying from someplace like a Mercedes dealer will get you some sort of very limited warranty.

You can go to the website posted above - punch the VIN# into the Porsche super-main-computer - and it will spit out any open recalls you have. Undoubtedly you have AH-08 open. That really isn't awful since it means Porsche will fix it for free. The fact that the car ran OK, then ran rough with CEL's, then ran OK to me indicates this is NOT the problem. Once the bolts sheer they don't magically fix themselves. Broken is broken. Broken in this case remains broken until it's repaired. And yes - to understand what the codes actually mean, you need a tool that reports what the extended manufacturer specific codes mean (codes from P1000-1999 are manufacturer specific.) Plus a good Porsche tool will read way beyond what OBD-II codes are telling you. I'd suggest looking at the iCarScan thread in the main Cayenne forum.

If the bolts haven't broken, and they replace them, it will be just as good as it is now. It won't be better aside from there being no chance of the bolts breaking. It won't run any better, won't get better mileage, won't be more fun to drive - but it will continue to drive as it is now without the worry of exploding Varicam bolts.

Tom M

Don't freak out yet as I had that happen to me before I got the recall done and it was a bad coil. Though it is odd that there was no code stored.

BTW - you can go to the Porsche site and enter the VIN to check for any open recalls.

https://recall.porsche.com/prod/pag/...f/VIN?ReadForm

Ron1319

The recall is open and there is a 90 day 3000 mile warranty through Mercedes. So there's no failure condition for lose but not broken bolts that results in that combination of dash warnings? My concern is that something slipped and bent a valve which caused the computer to shut down a cylinder. I'm fairly confident they'll fix it one way or another. It's just not what I was expecting to deal with after owning the car for two days. It sounds like the parts are still back ordered?

And yeah, I don't need it to be improved. It's great when it's not a time bomb.

Tom M

Call your dealer and tell them you need the recall done. They'll confirm the VIN and schedule you for service. If the engine were to grenade due to the bolt failure while waiting you're covered so, other than the inconvenience, there's no problem as Porsche picks up the tab.

If you search on the combination of the warnings you got you're going to find it points to a coil problem. If it were the bolt failure then turning the car off & on wouldn't clear it up with the car magically running smooth again. It's an easy DIY fix for coil replacement if you're handy with a wrench.

Ron1319

The Mercedes guy is contacting Porsche for me and will call me in the morning. He said he knows people there and was going to see how soon we could get it in.

I did valve stem seals on my X5 in my garage. I'm quite capable. I'd have to know which coil pack to replace which I can't do without a code. It looks like new coils are around $50, so that's really good.

deilenberger

If the code reader the "dealer" (I'm assuming Mercedes) used isn't Porsche capable - it can only read generic OBD-II codes, and perhaps manufacturer specific OBD-II codes. Those aren't all the info that's stored in the ECU... there is LOTS more being stored away there that can only be read with a Porsche specific reader that can access proprietary modules and see what it finds. There may be indications of what caused the rough running hidden away. Brands that work: PIWIS (Porsche - about $15k/year to rent); Durametric ($300 for the Enthusiast version, limited to 3 VIN#'s and only does Porsche); iCarScan ($185-210, will do up to 5 manufacturers, unlimited number of vehicles.)

Since you're obviously capable of DIY work - I'd suggest you consider getting an iCarScan and a DIY subscription to AllDATA (AllDataDIY.com) - these will be invaluable tools for you.

Ron1319

deilenberger

QUESTION - to those people who submitted the information for reimbursement of money spent on the problem before the recall was issued:

Has anyone heard anything from the company Porsche hired to handle this? (GCG. Dublin OH)?

I sent mine in Certified Mail on February 1st. Not having heard anything from them I called around mid March - and was told they received mine and they were working on it.

That's the last I heard.

In: https://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/recall...compendium.pdf - which I've quoted before, it clearly says (Section 2, Page 10):

It's rather obviously now in excess of 60 days since they received my claim - and as far as I can tell no action has been taken on it. I think it may be time to start gathering names of people in similar situations and notify NHTSA that Porsche is not in compliance.

UPDATE: Just off the phone with GCG. The young man whom I spoke with found my documentation and said it hadn't been reviewed yet. I pointed out the Federal law that regulates this review timeline, and his response was that their policy was 4 to 10 weeks to examine a claim. I then explained that was not satisfactory since their "policy" doesn't override Federal law. He has promised that my claim would be escalated and I would hear from them shortly. I'll report back if that happens or not. If not - I will be contacting a few people within NHTSA to inform them of non-compliance on the part of Porsche and their designated agents.

Texas993

Don, add me to the list of folks that have not heard from the recall reimbursement company. I sent mine in January. Thanks for checking into the issue and keeping us posted.

Texas993

I called GCG (the vendor handling the reimbursements) this morning and got the same response as Don - we got it, it is complete, and we haven't touched it. No ETA on reimbursement. Ridiculous response.

I then called Porsche NA ... and got the some uncaring response! I sent my form in OVER 90 DAYS ago. I've called my service director to ask for his advice on how to escalate the issue. It would seem that PCA would want to know that their vendor is not performing well!