schmidty

Has anyone come up with an answer to this problem? I have an 02 tt which is behaving similarly. Drives fine at slow speeds, drives fine when pushed a bit, but just cruising along on a long left hand turn the abs activates on what feels like the left front tire unsettling the car and the driver. The speeds are not at all high typically 50 ish ( happened while following a 80s Toyota pickup through the corner once- his car worked fine :) ) and it doesn't happen every time just a fairly high percentage on specific corners and always a left hand turn. If you push the car a bit in the same corner it's fine, which is what makes it so frightening. It happens when you are just relaxed driving. No codes are visible with either durametric or and Indy shops program. An independent Porsche shop owner drove the car and had it happen to him, his words were to the effect that it scared the snot out of him an that it is not normal. I have replaced and swapped wheel speed sensors and the problem never changed. I have inspected the wiring harness into the body and there are no signs of damage. Car has never been in an accident. Steering wheel sensor has been recalibrated with no effect. Suspension is factory, car has less than 25k miles. The car has oem wheels and tires in the correct sizes. Rears have less than 3000 miles on them fronts have nearly the same tread depth. Tires are contisportcontact 2s. The only snafu is that the fronts are not N-Rated. The rears are nspec. Rolling diameters are matched and there is no evidence of damage to any wheel or tire. Tire wear is even. I called The dealer who told me that no codes means unlikely to find a fix as replicating the problem in their suburban location is nearly impossible-hmmmph Anyone with any thoughts on what to check next or any experience? Yaw sensor is over a grand and I dont want to willy nilly replace parts unless they are needed. Love the car but am getting tired of looking at the trees on a left hand corner and wondering... Thanks, Schmidty

Bravo, great post, love the pics. Nice to see another Cayenne out playing in the snow.

I'm going to agree with the above that all manufactures have transmission failures. My grandparents' Honda accord (literally driven by an 85 year old woman) with perfect service history and less than 70k on the clock, had the transmission die earlier this year. Honda agreed to split the replacement transmission cost, but not the labor cost, since it was a known problem. Very disapointing given the extremely light use and low mileage on the vehicle and the widely held perception that Japanese equals reliable. But then again Toyota is having a rough go right now as well...

I dont have a transsiberria but do have a Cayenne S with the air suspension option and the only time the compressor cycles on is if it has been sitting for a very long time (weeks+) and I first fire it up, I am changing the ride height frequently(going from deepish snow to ice covered roads ect), or if I am going over very uneven terrain. Sounds like a leak somewhere to me. Semi's trucks that rely on air for brakes and have lines strung over fifty feet of trailer are notorious for this and a frequently charging compressor means there is a leak, but theirs is a simple system. On the Cayenne it could be other sensors telling it to build pressure as well. Long answer to say No, my compressor rarely cycles, and is relatively quiet when it does so. Sorry.

Tires that are not snow specific are not a great idea. The M & S designation is pretty vague as a number of tires have them that have no business on anything other than pavement or a gravel road. I have used chains on the CS once and they can work but I dont reccomend it. I was lucky and VERY careful but there are some expensive pieces in the wheel well and if the chains arent properly fitted they could potentially bind up somethings you dont want to have to fix. I have seen this happens to other people, albeit not on Cayennes. I drive in the Oregon Cascades and the heavy snow easily overwhelms tires that are not designed for it. Even snow specific tires are easily overwhelmed if their tread is too far down.(The manual gives specs on this and dont ask how I personally know it :rolleyes: ) Driving style is important in the CS as well. Put good shoes on it, lock the diffs, drive it like a rally car and it is a hell of a machine that is immensely impressive in the snow. I love it. But you are limited by your tires and if I were in your shoes with no experience in the snow, and it sounds like no other reason to buy snow tires, I'd rent a Tahoe with the insurance option and have alot less to worry about. Just my two cents.

My 04 S averages around 16.5-18.5 mixed use, never slow. The only problems I've had is a nav unit that went out and a water pump which was showing early signs of failure both replaced under warranty. That being said it is still quirky: the parking brake light is a bit fussy ( a gentle tap backwith your toe is at times needed to make the light go away even with the brake off) and the PCM has mysteriously lost connection to the amp a time or two while driving. Also these things really are best out away from cities. I looked at a job in SF and would have sold it if I moved there. Out on the open road they are an amazing vehicle. I drove from Seattle to Denver with a very short rest stop in the middle and felt great when I arrived. I can't say the same for the either the x5 or the land rover I had before this. I have had it in 14 inches of snow out in the woods and it just flew through it like a (albeit very heavy) rally car. Just be aware that they do require some work, and (for an SUV) are really a drivers set of wheels with all the inherrent wear items (breaks tires) that go with that. And change the oil more than it asks for. My local dealer has had 3 engine failures despite servicing "well over 300" v8's-common factor: all were driven as shopping trip vehicles (aka very lightly, stop and go city traffic) and the oil was not even looked at until the next service at 20k miles was called for by the vehicle. When they took it out it was sludge.

I live in rural Oregon and have an 04 CS with 18's and the pirreli scorpions for winter. Last year I blasted through 14 inches of fresh snow, uphill, on untracked roads, on several occasions without even a hint of slowing down or disapointment. I was very pleasantly amazed at how capable this thing can be. I also took it on roads that were basically ice with some snow on top and it similarily did well. My passenger even commented on how well it stuck to the road given such limited traction. If you want to play you have to turn off the PSM but with it on it was nearly impossible to kick out the back end on the snow and it responded well on the ice. I will agree that tire selection is a big deal though. On my previous x5 if I left the diamarris on below 40 degrees it was quite slippery, even in the dry.