Who had their engine replaced or repaired?

[TomBelgium]

Hello, 
I recently bought a Cayenne S 4.8 from 2008. After a month the HPFP went down so I repaired that (900 euro), no problem if it is just a standalone incident but it seems to be very common for the 4.8 engines. Mine was already replaced with the former owner in 2010 and 2011.
My engine was replaced in 2010 by Porsche and now this engine has around 100k kms (so the second HPFP failed just after a couple of thousand miles). This made me thinking about the build quality of the Porsche engines. The HPFP is not Porsche made I guess (Continental is written on it) but if "I would be" Porsche, I would look for another manufacturer for these parts. So I already got the impression that they are not as typically German as I thought. Then I got in touch with other Cayenne owners over the internet/facebook etc. And the first 10 owners (with a 4.8 engine) warned me for cylinder scoring because they all had their engine replaced or sold their car because of this problem. I knew the 4.5 had this problem but I remember calling a Porsche dealer a couple of months ago to ask if the 4.8 was better build and they said it didn't have any issues like the 4.5 had with the cylinder walls. So I checked again why my car had a new engine and indeed, also mine had scored cylinder walls at the time.
Some people say it happens because of starting the car in freezing conditions but in Belgium, it doesn't get that cold like in Alaska or Scandinavia. I suspect just a bad build engine or the wrong use of materials for the cylinder walls. 
It would be nice to know how common this is on the 4.8. I am very interested in how a car works and why an engine can fail so I would like to know who has or had an Cayenne 4.8 (S, GTS or Turbo) and if you ever encountered this problem. 

Edited July 28, 2017 by TomBelgium

[ekstroemtj]

Study these posts. Somewhere close to the end you will find a pretty good explanation what and why it happens:

 

https://rennlist.com/forums/porsche-cayenne-forum/1001275-pretty-forged-piston-pics-2.html

[TomBelgium]

1 hour ago, ekstroemtj said:

Study these posts. Somewhere close to the end you will find a pretty good explanation what and why it happens:

 

https://rennlist.com/forums/porsche-cayenne-forum/1001275-pretty-forged-piston-pics-2.html

So Porsche sold/built bad engines for years? 

Edited July 29, 2017 by TomBelgium

[ekstroemtj]

I wouldnt say this. 

My first Cayenne also suffered from this "illness "

i even remember the moment when it happens. 

[TomBelgium]

37 minutes ago, ekstroemtj said:

I wouldnt say this. 

My first Cayenne also suffered from this "illness "

i even remember the moment when it happens. 

I used to work for a second hand (exclusive) cars dealer. I remember we sold a quite new Panamera with a 4.8 engine after a month it came back with cylinder scoring. And i talked to a few people who owned a Porsche, also 911's, and about 9 on 10 people told me their engine was replaced by Porsche before it even reached 100k kms. Some of them were happy about it and told how good their service is because of receiving a new engine. Of course it is the least they can do, but i do not understand how they have the exact same issue with multiple engine models for almost 2 decades now. 

[ekstroemtj]

Yep, there are some guys out here who know better than me.  I am living in Germany.  People here have almost the same opinion. What I hear from experienced mechanics, some of them even member of the crew which went to 24h LeMans as a racing mechanic, Porsche had to face a major task, when they changed their entire engine technology about 20 years ago. The problems which we see today are still some kind of aftermes. But in total I believe, there are more happy Porsche owners out there than unhappy ones.

 

 

[TomBelgium]

1 hour ago, ekstroemtj said:

Yep, there are some guys out here who know better than me.  I am living in Germany.  People here have almost the same opinion. What I hear from experienced mechanics, some of them even member of the crew which went to 24h LeMans as a racing mechanic, Porsche had to face a major task, when they changed their entire engine technology about 20 years ago. The problems which we see today are still some kind of aftermes. But in total I believe, there are more happy Porsche owners out there than unhappy ones.

 

 

I hope so, i found some companies on the internet that delivers stronger pistons and cylinder walls. It seems like a simple fix (for a manufacturer like Porsche), i just don't get it why they didn't changed the cylinder wall material after the first failures back in 2003-2004. BTW my engine was also replaced before i bought it at 40k kms for the same known cylinder issue.

[ekstroemtj]

Dont want to make you worry but a usual replacement means they changed your engine with a new block. But the so called new block is made in the same way like your old one. The entire problem remains. 

[TomBelgium]

On 29-7-2017 at 0:13 PM, ekstroemtj said:

Dont want to make you worry but a usual replacement means they changed your engine with a new block. But the so called new block is made in the same way like your old one. The entire problem remains. 

I know, i meant that it is easy for Porsche to replace the cilinder walls in their new engines during the building process. 

If you want to repair your existing problem (forever) with better walls and pistons prices are about 5 to 6k euros. But that excludes removing and rebuilding the block in the car. It makes me think completely different about the Porsche brand then a month ago before i knew all this. So sad for such a financial healty brand...

[lewisweller]

8 hours ago, TomBelgium said:

I know, i meant that it is easy for Porsche to replace the cilinder walls in their new engines during the building process. 

If you want to repair your existing problem (forever) with better walls and pistons prices are about 5 to 6k euros. But that excludes removing and rebuilding the block in the car. It makes me think completely different about the Porsche brand then a month ago before i knew all this. So sad for such a financial healty brand...

I know the feelings your having, I was chuffed to get a Porsche and had high hopes of fun and reliable motoring with my family. My son loves it because it's big and high up, calls it the monster truck. Little does he know the reason we hardly have used it is because it's always broke. And I'm broke too. 

The lucky few that have little to no problems with their cayenne will be true to the brand, some will be in denial that it's not quite what they expected and the rest of us have the reality that we got screwed with substandard. 

 

If I listed what I have gone through and spent since March 2016 I and anybody reading would be horrified.