deilenberger

Started getting the thumping under the console on hard acceleration, and rather lumpy acceleration at all times. Talked to my mechanic, we didn't even bother putting it on the lift.. the current shaft has 83,000 miles on it, which seems to be better than most people experience. Ordered a new shaft from Vertex. Mechanic likes their shafts, said he's installed 3 of them and had no comebacks. So - the P!G gets to sit in the driveway until I get the shaft (pun intentional) - guess I just have to ride the real BMW until then (which I've been doing anyway.. the bike gets way more miles put on it than all the cars combined.)

Actually there are a range of prices for the Philips D1S bulbs on Amazon. Some are undoubtedly fakes - even with what appear to be Philips boxes and the correct printing on the igniters. Two things I looked for - (1) the bulbs I bought were being sold directly by Amazon, meaning if they were fakes or I had any problems with them - Amazon stands behind them, and Amazon is very good about standing behind what they sell. Many of the bulbs are sold by secondary companies in the Amazon "marketplace" many of the secondary companies may be selling fakes. (2) Reading the reviews is usually a clue to this being a problem. There are lots of reports of bulb failures on bulbs from the secondary companies. It's a big enough problem that Philips has a holographic numeric tag on each of their genuine bulbs boxes - and a scannable code that lets you go to a Philips website where you can enter the holographic number - where it's matched up with the printed barcode and authenticated (or rejected.) Apparently Chinese rip-off "reproductions" are quite common, and of variable quality. I think it's especially easy to spot them when they are listed as 10,000 kelvin.. I doubt if Philips would ever make a bulb with purple light coming out of it. What's interesting is visiting the Philips USA website - they only list one D1S bulb, the 4200K, 3350 Lumens bulb, which makes me suspect of any bulb labeled Philips that has a different output color (I see a lot of 6,000K ones listed on aftermarket sites.) - From the Philps USA website: http://www.usa.philips.com/c-p/85415C1/xenon-standard-automotive-headlight/specifications Interesting discussion on the fakes: http://www.hidbulbsrus.com/identifying-counterfeits/ - and a PDF link of info to help ID them. Note that the newer boxes from Philips are no longer like the ones shown in the PDF - the new ones have the holographic label on them with the unique ID number.

Also posted on Rennlist.. Resolution.. I tried acetic acid (happened to be what I had kicking around in the darkroom..) It had no effect on the coating. So - I decided mechanical means were needed. Used some 3M Perfect-It Rubbing Compound (actually a very fine polishing compound) rubbed on with a paper towel, then careful rinsing with plain water. It took a few tries - but it cleaned off the coating. A before: An after: Side by side - left one polished, right one untouched: Good as new? Probably not since there is still a bit of hazing/deposits on the inside of the sphere where the arc takes place.. but bet it's about double the light output of what the bulb provided before, and much less diffuse (ie - better beam quality.) If you're hesitant about spending $150-200 for HID replacement bulbs (that's what good ones that aren't counterfeit cost) this would seem a viable option. Before use - the bulb has to be carefully cleaned of any finger-oil that has gotten on it (the oil will char and burn into the quartz, possibly causing it to fracture.) I usually use pure ethanol (200 proof stuff) to clean bulbs before installing them. Probably some MAF cleaner would be equally as effective (and won't leave deposits.) The question of what causes this - since it seems unique to Porsche HID headlights is still up for debate, but my WAG is - if you look at the photos where the headlight is disassembled - there is what appears to be a vent in the bottom of the headlight housing, with some sort of filter material. I'm betting that the filter material has a layer of silica-gel to keep moisture out of the headlights. I'd bet this eventually gets saturated and outgases fumes that then deposit on the hot spot on the HID bulb. You can see the filter in Navaro911's picture from his thread (on Rennlist) on disassembling and painting headlight housings: It's the white thing in the right corner of the housing bottom. On the other side it sticks out of the housing about 1/2".. At least I now have a useable spare bulb to put on the shelf instead of just throwing them away. Note - on Rennlist several other people reported seeing the deposits that I had - and one even provided photos of them, and for comparison an HID bulb from an Audi, which had no deposits. It's something specific to the 955/Cayenne housing for sure (and perhaps other models of Porsche) - and I'd bet money on the desiccant used to keep the headlights from fogging up.

Given your symptom I'd be much more suspicious of the switch. They used the laptop and something like Durametric (which can do this) to activate the motor to raise the wheel - meaning the motor is OK. The motor reverses direction by switching the polarity of the volts going to the motor, likely done with the control switch. Chances are there is a relay - that is also a possible suspect. The Durametic may be activating the relay.. or it may all be done via the body module - pointing to the switch again. Either of those would be a world easier and cheaper to replace than the motor itself (and replacing the motor likely isn't going to fix anything.)

I'd suggest spending some time with search - it was documented and photographed some time ago..

A clue as to year and model might help garner an intelligent answer.. but a few guesses: There have been reports of the magnet that is used to switch the PRND21 display falling off inside the console. It has to be glued back in place. That's likely the cause of your "P" problem. The other codes all look heat/AC related, and some of them refer to the flapper/doors that direct and mix air behind the dash. The motors on these flappers can fail, and are a moderate PITA to replace. Since you're not a mechanic (or mechanically inclined,) I'd suggest looking for one. At least you have some clues as to where the faults are.

I would agree to that - except the hazy coating is on the outside of the envelope. A darkening of the inside of the envelope (actually - the inside of the sphere where the two electrodes are) might be expected as the electrodes burn down a bit, but this is different, the coating is on the outside of the quartz tube that covers the quartz sphere where the actual arc/discharge takes place. If you look closely at the pics - you can see the sphere where the two electrodes are and where the discharge takes place. That's sealed, then there is an additional sealed quartz envelope that the sphere is contained in. While HID lamps/burners do have a finite life - the usual cause of failure is the gap getting too wide and the discharge failing to start. As the gap gets wider there may be some deposited electrode material on the inside of the quartz sphere. Photo (from AdvancedAutoParts) of an Osram Xenarc bulb/burner: The inner sphere and outer envelope are fairly easy to see in this photo..

Recently I'd noticed the output from my HID factory headlights didn't seem to be what it used to be. SWMBO's Lexus RX350 had better lighting, and that just isn't right. After refinishing the front surface of the headlight (by polishing it out then coating it with a Dupli-Color clear coat made for headlights) - there wasn't much improvement. I had one of the small parking lights crap out - so I had to remove one of the headlights and open it up. Curiosity prompted me to pull out the HID "burner" to see if I could find any reason for the lower output. I rather expected at 82,000 miles that I might see some darkening of the glass envelope.. but to my surprise, this is what I found: Both bulbs had these deposits on them. I've never had any condensation problems with the headlights, and it appears that the '06 headlights have an air filter of some sort on the bottom of the housing, and the rubber tube on the rear cover for the housing (which isn't really an "open" tube - it has a sort of nozzle on the end so stuff can go out, and not go in.) Both bulbs were the same, both had this coating on it. The coating didn't come off with gentle fingernail picking, so I ordered two new Philips bulbs from Amazon (about $116 for the pair - and they were genuine Philips - authenticated on Philips webside with the codes on the packaging.) Obviously the new bulbs didn't have this coating/film on them. Things are now back to the expected brightness. As to what caused the crap on the burners - I'm puzzled. I know at one point with the early P!G there were condensation problems, and Porsche addressed this by putting packets of desiccant (silica gel) inside the headlight housing. I couldn't find any packets of desiccant - but I wonder if Porsche put the desiccant into the filter looking thing in the bottom of the housing.. If a desiccant salt was used I could see it being absorbed by moisture inside the housing, then deposited out at the hot spot on the HID burner. The burners were the original ones installed by Porsche at the factory (Osram Xenarc.) Puzzle.. anyone else seen this? Anyone else want to look at theirs? I may try a bit of acid on a Q-Tip to see if I can dissolve the crap without damaging the quartz envelope/bulb. More on silica gel: http://science.howstuffworks.com/innovation/science-questions/question206.htm Update: I can update this - after driving for an hour tonight after dark it really became evident what was missing.. light. The lights are now as good as or superior to the Lexus HID servo-controlled projectors..

Coolant isn't "used" - ie - consumed in a normal system. The level shouldn't change. If it drops (and 2 liters in 500 miles is a LOT) then there is a leak. With the complexity of the cooling systems on these beasts tracking down the leak is often a tedious and difficult thing. If you have a friendly mechanic - putting it up on a lift and taking all the belly pans off is a good first step. Look in the pans for any signs of leaking - wetness or dried coolant (Porsche coolant dries into a white/reddish sort of hard crud.) Then looking upward with a Maglite and going over the entire underside of the engine compartment.. look for trails of white crud, follow them upward and you're likely to find the source of the leak. My persistent leak (and it was only ounces per 1,000 miles or so) finally was tracked down, after pipe replacement, after being at the dealer multiple times - to a defective casting on the rear of the engine. It was the casting that connects the two cylinder banks.. and it had a tiny crack in it where it had a blind plug (in a tapped hole that wasn't used on my P!G.) Somehow the mechanic managed to replace it without engine removal - but this was under CPO. I'm sure if I'd been paying for it the engine would have to come out.. With 2 liters/500 miles the trail should be quite evident.

The PSM is detecting slippage or illogical rotation differences between the wheels and decreasing power in an attempt to keep you going down the road. Your tires are likely way past toast.. this doesn't cause the PSM to store any faults since it's behaving just like it should.

I don't believe the door handle trim is textured. I'd have to go look at mine (in the driveway - and it's 11PM so that's not happening) but from memory - that part is smooth silver just like what you show.

Sounds like a very fair price. My fronts were $360 labor.. my mechanic spent 2 hours getting one of the pad retaining bolts out. Turns out whoever did it last time (Porsche when they CPO'd it) didn't use antiseize and electrolytic corrosion took place welding the bolt in place. Rather than breaking the caliper getting it out - he worried it out, which takes quite a while. His total time on the job (and he doesn't waste time) was around 4 hours.

+1 on the Conti DWS.. great tire at a reasonable price. I have not been disappointed in them, they outhandle and out-ride the Michelin Latitude at a fraction of the price - and seem to last longer.

Thanks. Pricey little devil isn't it.. It's the sort of thing people should do a group buy on one package, since it looks like 1LB (the amount it comes in) would be enough to do a LOT of the mount bushings.

I really like this idea.. any suggestion on what to use? Would RTV work?

I hate to say it - but asking about committing fraud on the Interwebz when Porsche can easily track you down doesn't seem to be the wisest thing in the world.

I had one of those "lucky" buys - shortly after I got the P!G is started watching Craig's List for snow tires. Spotted an ad for brand new tires on brand new Porsche rims (the 19" sport rims - identical to the ones on my Titanium edition, with Pirelli Scorpion snows) from someone who had bought a GTS - with the new rims/tires - kept it for a month and decided a Volvo SUV was more his style. The rims and tires were taking up space in his garage that he wanted back. New price from Porsche - about $4,000 (really!) - paid him $600 cash. We met in a NJ Turnpike parking lot and swapped cash for the rims/tires. You just gotta be persistent with Craig's List.. The snows were basically unused last year in NJ - and have been a God-send this year in NJ..

One thought - a cheap Cayenne may be the most expensive car you'll ever own. These aren't known to be trouble-free, and buying one where the common failures have been addressed might cost a bit more initially, but will cost a bunch less down the road.

Dan - assuming you are using a Windows based PC - you might look into the free program "irfanView" (Google it) - and use it to resize your photos. If you set them for 1024 pixels wide - the file size will be reasonable and they won't cause a horizontal scroll bar for the viewer of the image. If you're using a MAC - dunno - you're on your own. Most Android phones come with image editing software that allows for resizing of images, and for the option of taking images at different resolutions. Again - 1024 pixels is pretty much a standard.

I faced the same decision when my CPO ran out over a year ago.. and thought about what I could buy that would make me forget the Cayenne. About all I could come up with is a new Cayenne. Figure even leasing one is about $10,000/year - it makes a lot more sense to just keep what I have as long as the expenses come in under a payment/month. So far - it's worked out fine. I had lots of stuff addressed under CPO (good dealer experience) - and since then, I've replaced one brake caliper (found a brand new one on Ebay for $200), and just had normal maintenance. I had done the cooling pipes back when I bought the beast (at my expense since we were leaving on a coast-to-coast-to-coast trip) so about all I'm expecting now is the center-bearing problem on the driveshaft. The rest of the driveline isn't known to be troublesome, and I suspect on the later years, if you keep the interior of the vehicle dry (keep those sunroof drains clear folks!) the electronics aren't a big issue. From what I've seen watching three different Cayenne forums - they are much less troublesome > 100k miles than the BMW 5-Touring that got replaced by a Lexus for SWMBO not too long ago. The BMW was becoming a monthly repair payment that was higher than the cost of a payment on an RX350, so it was a no-brainer (and the RX350 is reported to be the most reliable vehicle being made, so lots less complaints from SWMBO.)

IIRC - you will need double-square drive bits to loosen the bolts on the support. There are kits available for not serious money..

It uses an overflow tube - that sticks up in the sump. As the oil heats and expands the excess that rises above the tube drains out. At least that's how I understood the manual explaining it..

There are quite a few vendors selling a complete kit (pipes, gaskets, replacement hoses, etc.) to do the job for less than $500. Some even include the antifreeze. If your dealer is charging $1,000 for just the pipes, I'd RUN-AWAY, RUN-AWAY.. Of course you can always exclude yourself from the class-settlement - directions on doing that are right there on the forms, then go after Porsche yourself..

Almost all modern injection systems will turn off the injector if a misfire is detected. My WAG - you either have bad coils on 4 and 8 (you can determine that by moving them around to different cylinders and see if the fault follows the coil..) or - some bad wiring going to them. The injector/open-circuit message seems definitive..

Figure if there is no record of it being done - it hasn't been done.