racerken

Yasuro-san, (I'm totally guessing on the '-san' part so don't be offended if I'm off) OK, so this month is not so good. My stupid retirement plan lost about 30k just in the last 30 days. I hate all bankers. The good news: I have my car back and it runs really new. The bad news: I paid for it. Here are the facts: I picked up my car today. The bill was $ 1986.79 at $ 119/hour(which was lower than quoted so I think they adjusted the hourly rate) Labor charge for the engine removal, engine disassembly. Failure: Intermediate shaft bearing, engine full of metal shavings. PCNA approved goodwill engine replacement. Engine reinstalled, cleaned transmission, flushed coolant, recharged AC, replaced drive belt (it was cracked). The manager was Mark Torongo. I think DFC69 had a bad experience with Mark but I saw the good side. He treated me well on all occasions especially in being on my side to convince PCNA that the car was well maintained and that PCNA should consider goodwill replacement. The mechanic was Kern Serota who I did speak with today and he does know his stuff. He mentioned that the 05's forward had larger IMS bearings and that my replacement engine had the larger bearing and housing so I should not have a repeat problem. He also mentioned that the engine swap included all hoses, all plugs, the coil(s), starter, pretty much things that were bolted to the block. I have let events settledown before I send my request to PCNA for repair reimbursement. I just have mixed feelings about having to pay for something that should not have broken down in the first place given the low miles. On the otherside of the equation, I could be out about $20k. Now off to the wine glass. Ken

Hey DFC69, Well, today someone from PCNA called to inform me that it is official in that PCNA will cover the motor, the installation and will provide 2 years warranty. My responsibility is the disassembly + fluids which is entirely up to the dealer. Cayenne feedback(my loaner car): I have a 09 Cayenne V6. It likes gas as I'm calculating 12 - 15 mpg. The handling is spectacular and so is the 'sport mode' which might explain the low mpg's. I keep banging my head as I enter the cockpit. I have no idea how someone 6' 5" would ever bend their neck enough to enter w/o banging the head. I'll keep you posted on the repair. WRT to the future... Well it's either I keep the 04 996 with new motor or get an 09. Does anyone know if the IMS problem was fixed? Or, what can you do to prevent this? Change the IMS bearing every 4 years? I've read the thread on IMS which lists a number of drivers running into this problem but none discuss the prevention.(or I missed it) How serious are you on the 09's? If I get one, it will be the last sports car for me. Ken

Hi DFC69, Mark mentioned the following: 1. repeat customer 2. low miles 3. recent warranty expiration 4. properly maintained Fingers are still crossed. He also mentioned that the 09's stick to the road like glue. Thanks for the support. ken

Hi CMiYC, Yes, I was testing your reading and comprehension skills. I have about 2 dealer invoices for oil changes. I have one invoice from sunset porsche (proves I bought multiple oil filters, o-rings, washers) I have multiple credit card statements with sunset porsche listed. I have mulitple credit card statements with Murray's (like Grand Auto in CA) for 9 or 10 quarts of Mobil 1 0-40W. I have 1 Murrays receipt showing line items for Mobil 1 0-40W (my comment on not having receipts meant that I did not have the Sunset Porsche receipts ( 6 oil filters)). I also produced a spreadsheet proving that the oil was changes once every 6 months (except for 06 when I went 10 months), air was once a year. All this was compiled today and sent to the dealer with a cover letter explaining that I do have a very strong mechanical engineering background with powertrain and I do know how to change oil. Anyway, the dealer accepted this level of diligence. Thanks, Ken

Hi DFC69, Here is my Thursday report: Faxed in my maintenance history and Mark called me within minutes to inform me that he would pursue Porsche to cover the engine replacement and that he had a car for me. I'm there in two hours. Face-to-face he informs me that Porsche agreed to replace the motor, however, I would have to pay for the labor which could be as high as $ 2,500 but that was a high number (to be conservative). I did quickly glance at the paperwork which does state that a technician (not sure if it was Kern) did mention that there were many parts floating around in the engine... As for the engine, it comes with a 2 year warranty. The engine was ordered and it is scheduled to arrive on Tuesday. I did drive away with a Cayenne and a promise. My impression of the dealership is good, better than expected. Let's see what happens next week. Thanks, Ken fingers are crossed.

Here is an update: BTW, the guy that is off this week is Kern. (referring to DFC69's post) Mark, the Service Manager at Fred Lavery called to request maintenance history on the car since they are considering calling the engine a loss. Here is my problem: I did not keep my receipts from Sunset Imports, i.e., I bought the filters, changed the oil myself, dumped the receipts. I mean why should I? I thought the car was under warranty. BTW, Jeff at Sunset Imports did manage to extract the latest oil filter purchase and faxed it over to me. (good guys!) Guys, keep your receipts. Oh yeah, still no loaner car. Ken

I'm just posting my progress (mostly lack of...): Dealer is Fred Lavery in Birmingham, Michigan, John in Service. Car drop-off: Friday, 9/19/08, 9am. Prognosis - Intermediate Shaft, will have to conduct discovery. Dealer response 1: Friday, 9/19/08, 4pm. Dealer requires authorization to proceed with discovery which includes removal of engine and/or transmission at 15 hours labor which could amount to $1950. I approve since there is nothing I can do. Dealer response 2: Friday, 9/26/08, 3pm, I actually had to call them since it was a long week. Status: engine was removed, however, no discovery conducted. Problem: the only technician that can diagnose this problem is off all week and there is no one else with such capabilities. I am placed on a waiting list to receive a loaner car. There is room for improvement as to the minimal customer contact which if not daily at the close of business, should be at a minimum, 2 days. I might have been offered a loaner car since 1 week is a long time. Porsche Financial Services: The person that wrote my lease left the company and they referred me to Porsche Cars NA since PFS has nothing to do with warranty. Porsche Cars NA: Call: 9/26/08 On hold for 1 minute to real person (which is ultra fast). He took all details on this situation and filed a case. I informed him that I felt that the warranty should be extended since I am still under Porsche Leasing and that the car is only 4+years at 36,000 miles. I also informed him that I was a 8 year Porsche Lease customer so they should treat me right. If they are as helpful as they are polite, I am a happy driver again. So at the end of 1 week, I am still paying for the usage fees at $ 1,079/month, still have a potential discovery liability of $ 1,950, no diagnosis on the problem, no car... Ken

Just so you know, I did have the Rear Main Seal replaced under warranty at about 25k miles. I am sure there is a problem with powertrain because I don't race the car, it is driven everyday at grandmother speeds because the town I live in tickets at 3+ mph over indicated. My original lease was 48 months which expired april 2008. Instead of purchasing a new car, I thought I'd request an extension which Porsche Financial Services responded with a month-to-month lease. Silly me, I did not check to see if the warranty was also extended. As soon as they complete the inspection or discovery exercise I'll know the total cost. I intend on writing a letter to David Pryor, VP, marketing of PCNA, since he keeps sending me letters about the Panamera and also about how they value their customers. Well, this is my second Porsche back-to-back. If they screw me, I'm out. But then again, my M5 screwed me (at 125k miles) so I went to Porsche Boxster which ran perfectly for 4 years then went to Carrera which just stung me at month 53 (at 36k miles). I might be back where I started. Wife approved the M3 today. One thing about the M5: Electrical failure was monthly, however, powertrain was solid as a rock.

Get the Warranty! I wish I had extended my warranty when i switched from 4 year lease to month-to-month back 5 months ago. Today I had to tow my car to the dealer because the transmission was making noises. Thus far I'm paying $1,950 just to investigate the problem... (pull the powertrain) ken

Fred Lavery, a dealer in Birmingham Michigan requested that I pre-approve 15 hours of labor so they can remove the transmission in an effort to troubleshoot the problem. This equates to $ 1,950. wife is pulling the 'i told you so...' routine. daughter is demanding that I buy a hybrid to save the world. son wants me to get the panamera. Has anyone ever had success in dealing with Porsche financial to plead extra warranty time?

The dealer thinks its the intermediate shaft and that this is a known problem. The last time they encountered this problem, Porsche paid for the parts but not the labor. This does not sound good.

Getting towed now. warranty expired 5 months ago.

I am totally bummed. I have an 04 996 with 36k miles. This evening while driving home the car started making clatter noises (so loud that my kids came out to check it out). The noise sounds like a piece of loud steel banging against some case (aluminum?) that corresponds with engine rpm. No smoke, oil if fine, no leaks, no correlation with clutch in/out. Should I call to have this towed to the dealer? Should I drive it 3 miles to the dealer? Still under lease. Thanks, Ken

thanks all. I ended up removing the passenger seat. Greased the seat adjustment drive to fix the 'growling' sound. It worked. The TSB was great. After driving around for 1 week, the carpet finally dried. I mended the crack area with epoxy, then applied aquarium silicone on top. the thinking was: Epoxy for structural fix and silicone for sealing in case the epoxy should crack over time. I did notice the substantial increase in NVH (Noise, Vibration, Harshness) with the carpet rolled-up so next time if I have a free weekend, I may stick some Dynamat to further reduce the NVH. Ken

I removed the passenger seat, pulled back the carpet to extract water from the foam backing (extracted two soaking wet towels). I've located the problem. It is a crack in the ac condensation plastic drip pan or tray. I'm probably going to use silicone to seal for now. Does anyone know how much a lower clamshell of the evaporator housing? Is it difficult to remove? Thanks, ken

Thanks Loren, Where is the drain tube located? Ken

Hi, I have a 04 Carrera and discovered that the passenger side carpet was gushing wet today. There is no smell so the problem is recent(lucky). This is definitely water. I can rule out the weather since the car has been indoors all week. I can rule out the heater since it is not coolant. I think it is the condensation from the air conditioning. There is a slight possibility that a high pressure water washer may have penetrated from the outer shell since I washed the under carriage today. (doubt it) Does anyone have any ideas? Anyone faced this issue in the past? I would like to know where the AC condensation line runs as perhaps it disconnected? Thanks, Ken

Hey guys, Thanks for all the details. The C-speed website has plenty of detail. WRT to the parts, it appears that the DMF costs $900! I'm assuming that it is impossible to resurface without disassembling the entire unit... First I have to clean out my garage with the old car (see attached), then I have to buy all the necessary parts and tools. I have one question on tools - Besides a clutch alignment tool and this 3 sq x 10mm bit, could you recommend some tool such as a flywheel wrench? I used to have a snap-on tool that hooked onto the flywheel gears back in high school. Thanks, Ken PS: Is anyone going to the Canadian GP?

Hi George, I have the same car as you with the same clutch problem. Have you decided on DIY? Has anyone posted a step by step process to replace the clutch? I have the same quote as you, $ 2,000 and the labor time was 8 hours. That's all they would share with me. Thanks, Ken

The suspension sensor does not allow any adjustment. this is a good thread: http://www.renntech.org/forums/index.php?s...hl=xenon+sensor next time you go to the dealer, might try asking them to hook-up the diag tool that adjusts the beam. Prior to my fix, the beams would always move up and down before settling at the max low position. Just made me drive slower than my lights at night. Now I think I'm blinding people as I did notice that several people (opposing direction) did flick lights at me. I guess for full-on test, you could put the car on jacks, remove the driver side tires and start messing around with the fr/rr sensors... Cheers, Ken

Fixed!!!!! :drive: I ordered the part from Sunset Imports: 996-341-371-03, sensor link, $ 2.31 Inexpensive/Fast/The right part. I did notice that the lights now aim about 20 feet further now.

I do have bi-xenon lights. I'll have to crawl under the car tonight to check on how it is mounted in the left rear. Would you recomend epoxy, mig/tig weld, or dealer??? our dealers out here in michigan are not so good on advice. Thanks much. Ken

I have a 2004 US Carerra coupe, 6sp, and I noticed something strange while changing my front driver side tire. There is a device that is mounted to the frame/body and apparently attaches to the lower arm via a rod(the component between the frame and the spindle), I think. It appears to either measure the suspension height or vibration??? The Rod-ends are allowed some freedom to rotate and the arm rotates vertically from the 'box'. Anyway, where does the other end of the rod attach and how would one fix it? I'm assuming it attaches to the aluminum lower arm. Any help would be great. Thanks, Ken