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Good news is that it was a camshaft adjuster failure and everything will be covered under warranty, if you can call that good news. They are still investigating with an ETA of 2 more weeks. They received the replacement cylinder head from germany but it arrived damaged, go figure. So they had to order another, plus still need to do some more digging around to see what else was damaged. I'm kind of concerned now about this motor b/c of sharp little pieces of metal were probably going all inside the engine. How would you guys feel about this? The car only has 4500 miles and is a dedicated track car. Would you want a brand new engine, or would you be satisfied with just replacement parts? I don't have a good feeling about this anymore.
Also, this failure appears to be a common theme lately. I was speaking with one of the mechanics when the head foreman comes up and starts telling me about all the failures they have been seeing lately. Some of the makes have been, cayman, gt4, gt3, cayenne, panamera, basically everything. In fact, the car next to mine is a lady that goes to the same shop as me! The SAME EXACT THING happened to her car (PDK) at the same exact time as mine, go figure! This cannot be a coincidence. i asked the head foreman if this could happen again, and he said, "absolutely, until porsche changes the metal/design from aluminum to maybe titanium or steel, this could happen again."
I hope porsche does something soon to address this! :banged: Does anyone know If i can get compensated in someway like being offered extra couple years of warranty? What about for the fact that I have been unable to drive the car for at least a month? Just wondering.......no big deal about the latter.
I'm not very technical when it comes to these types of things, so please forgive anything I have left out.
I think the fact that you had this happen on track and the fact that the warranty is going to cover it is better than one would usually expect and shows how far we've come. Without going into a huge debate about how the track doesn't affect the warranty, we need to be happy that we have gotten to a point where a factory will in fact warranty a failure inspired by "heavy" driving in extreme conditions. The GT4 target market is a track enthusiast's one and Porsche is standing by their product and supporting those for whom they build it. You might be able to get a cooler than normal loaner car for the time being but i think that's about it. Maybe if you relied on your GT4 to coach people at the track as income you would have a case but i think that's probably an extreme example.
Sorry to hear this happened. It's actually the first i have seen on this generation 9A1 DFI motor. It's not a known failure item but maybe there was a bad batch of parts made. You can see it in the consistency across the models. I bet if you look, you may find some similarities in the build dates on these cars. Sorry to hear about your GT4 but I'm happy to hear Porsche is standing behind the product.
The big data point is that you're not the 1st, 2nd or 3rd person to have reported engine misfires at COTA. that track is probably the most abusive when it comes to heat. The corners are tight and twisty and even when you can stretch your legs on the straights, the air your car is digesting is dusty, humid and HOT.
I think the fact that you had this happen on track and the fact that the warranty is going to cover it is better than one would usually expect. Without going into a huge debate about how the track doesn't affect the warranty, we need to be happy that we have gotten to a point where a factory will in fact warranty a failure related to excessive driving. This is the target market and Porsche is standing by their product. You might be able to get a cool loaner for free? Sorry to hear this happened. It's actually the first i have seen on this generation motor. It's not a known failure item but maybe there was a bad batch of parts made. You can see it in the consistency across the models. I bet if you look, you may find some similarities in the build dates on these cars. Sorry to hear about your GT4 but I'm happy to hear Porsche is standing behind the product.
Good news is that it was a camshaft adjuster failure and everything will be covered under warranty, if you can call that good news. They are still investigating with an ETA of 2 more weeks. They received the replacement cylinder head from germany but it arrived damaged, go figure. So they had to order another, plus still need to do some more digging around to see what else was damaged. I'm kind of concerned now about this motor b/c of sharp little pieces of metal were probably going all inside the engine. How would you guys feel about this? The car only has 4500 miles and is a dedicated track car. Would you want a brand new engine, or would you be satisfied with just replacement parts? I don't have a good feeling about this anymore.
Also, this failure appears to be a common theme lately. I was speaking with one of the mechanics when the head foreman comes up and starts telling me about all the failures they have been seeing lately. Some of the makes have been, cayman, gt4, gt3, cayenne, panamera, basically everything. In fact, the car next to mine is a lady that goes to the same shop as me! The SAME EXACT THING happened to her car (PDK) at the same exact time as mine, go figure! This cannot be a coincidence. i asked the head foreman if this could happen again, and he said, "absolutely, until porsche changes the metal/design from aluminum to maybe titanium or steel, this could happen again."
I hope porsche does something soon to address this! :banged: Does anyone know If i can get compensated in someway like being offered extra couple years of warranty? What about for the fact that I have been unable to drive the car for at least a month? Just wondering.......no big deal about the latter.
I'm not very technical when it comes to these types of things, so please forgive anything I have left out.
I think the fact that you had this happen on track and the fact that the warranty is going to cover it is better than one would usually expect and shows how far we've come. Without going into a huge debate about how the track doesn't affect the warranty, we need to be happy that we have gotten to a point where a factory will in fact warranty a failure inspired by "heavy" driving in extreme conditions. The GT4 target market is a track enthusiast's one and Porsche is standing by their product and supporting those for whom they build it. You might be able to get a cooler than normal loaner car for the time being but i think that's about it. Maybe if you relied on your GT4 to coach people at the track as income you would have a case but i think that's probably an extreme example.
Sorry to hear this happened. It's actually the first i have seen on this generation 9A1 DFI motor. It's not a known failure item but maybe there was a bad batch of parts made. You can see it in the consistency across the models. I bet if you look, you may find some similarities in the build dates on these cars. Sorry to hear about your GT4 but I'm happy to hear Porsche is standing behind the product.
The big data point is that you're not the 1st, 2nd or 3rd person to have reported engine misfires at COTA. that track is probably the most abusive when it comes to heat. The corners are tight and twisty and even when you can stretch your legs on the straights, the air your car is digesting is dusty, humid and HOT.
I was speaking with one of the mechanics when the head foreman comes up and starts telling me about all the failures they have been seeing lately. Some of the makes have been, cayman, gt4, gt3, cayenne, panamera, basically everything. In fact, the car next to mine is a lady that goes to the same shop as me! The SAME EXACT THING happened to her car (PDK) at the same exact time as mine, go figure!
Interesting.
Any additional model info... is this since 981 generations, back to 987.2 generations, etc?
The 9A1 DFI engine families have been known to be very reliable, and I haven't heard of any "common" failure points.
yes, you know who i'm talking about She has several caymans now!
Yep. I pushed her car into the garage. The durametric didn't make it sound that bad...but would not start. It's a sweet car, real suspension on it. She is a great driver with serious focus (and a few toys)
Do the 3.4 liter 987.2 models from 2011 have the 9A1 motors in them? Are all DFI motors considered 9A1? Mine is a 2011 Spyder.... TIA
yes. this engine was introduced for MY 09 across the sporstcar range (except GT/turbos). Porsche do make running updates but don't normally announce them. Have not heard of common problems like this before.
jslee225- do you know if the failure is the cam chain guide or tensioner? (16, 17, 35,36)
Would be interesting to sum up time at full-throttle above 7K per hour at COTA and compare to other track. COTA is a car killer for some reason. More cars blow up there than any other track in texas.
There is no flow. It's made for F1... large runs of acceleration, large amounts of braking, long periods of sustained g-forces. LOTS of stress on a vehicle, which more easily brings to light any weak points.
A weekend at CotA compared to a weekend at TWS, and you'll use 2-4x consumables.
Add in the fact that it's a tourist track... many vehicles out there aren't maintained for regular track duty, and many come with little experience and a healthy dose of ego. Large runoffs mean people are a little more comfortable pushing the edge. A lot of curbs to play with. Texas is hot. And everyone knows it was built over a haunted Indian burial ground. Somewhere towards the north end of the track is the hidden grave of Chief Broken Horses.
07-08-2016, 03:35 PM
:banged: Does anyone know If i can get compensated in someway like being offered extra couple years of warranty? What about for the fact that I have been unable to drive the car for at least a month? Just wondering.......no big deal about the latter. 
