ciaka

<bitching>So after my recent move to California (SV Bay area), I am happy to report that their roads are some of the crappiest roads I have ever driven on.

Way worse than some of the trenches you experience up North after a good freezing winter.

Their city repair crews must surely be blind the way they repair the roads

</bitching>

Recently, I have noticed (and seems to get aggravated with colder temperatures too), that in the passenger front wheel area, I can hear squeaking when going over sharp bumps.  Sometimes, when the bumps are sudden, I can also hear some kind of clunking.

Have looked through some forums and get advice/see info about lower control arms replace, etc.

Wanted to see what you fine folks on here can advise me on this.

I inspected the wheel by lifting off the ground and trying to jiggle it sideways (holding tire at 3pm and 9pm to try move toward either direction).  I also tried to hold at 12 and 6pm, trying to move tire towards either of those points.

There was no movement in either direction.

Greatly appreciate your input in trying to get this quantified and ultimately resolved.

So I had the airbag light turn on one day and it stayed on even after clearing with durametric.

I read the forums and thought it may be something more serious. But then my wife drives the car and comes in to tell me that the driver seat belt does not sound alarm if you forget to buckle it up. Typically if you drive without buckling up, the alarm would go off. She noticed it did not and I confirmed.

Could this mean the airbag light is off because of something to do with the seat belt sensor?

I lifted driver seat up, followed the wire from seat belt clip to the connector (front of seat, yellow 2 wire connection).

Seemed solid enough ( used DMM to check continuity and it was there).

However issue still there (airbag light on).

What domyounthink about this and do you have recommendations on how to proceed from here?

Thanks.

Did this today. It took about 6 quarts, and I wonder if I should be worried. I will not be putting the plastics back on til done for sure. My plan, take it to work tomorrow, and after return check fluid again to see if it takes any more.

Hope somebody can chime in on this post with advice. Thanks.

is there anything I can do to help narrow down things?

Resets, connections, etc?  Any relearn processes?

anyone can help here?

Just got the following errors and wanted to see if you fine folks can help narrow down where the issue is at specifically.

Codes were pulled with Durametric SW.

They are:

ME:

P1627

CAN timeout - airbag - Implausible signal, test conditions are not-completed, fault is currently active and is not causing a DTC light

KESSY

Given it appears easy to get to, you may be well served to do this yourself. There are 3 gaskets involved, valve cover, the spark plug gasket and variocam solenoid gaskets. I will be doing these soon as i get settled (moving across country).

How much labor involved in replacing the valve cover gasket...?

did you make sure no floor mats get in the way or anything else? Just checking for obvious stuff first.

Ive been noticing on my CTT that after changing my exhaust to Leistung SR1 (modified), removing secondary cats (change to Leistung straight pipe set), changing intake filters to BMC, that my street mainly is at about 14mpg, and highway mostly at about 22mpg. Mix of street and highway gives me about 15-16mpg.

got the sucker.

Located fuse in manual for secondary air pumps.
They are located in engine compartment (next to brake fluid reservoir).
Open the lid, and look for:
Fuse 3 - sec. air pump bank 1 (pass side)
Fuse 4 - sec. air pump bank 2 (driver side)

Mine was bank 2 (driver). Pulled out and seemed OK until I looked very closely and observed black residue on inside of plastic cover.
Checked with ohmmeter and confirmed lack of continuity. Fuse blown.
Checked fuse 3 and confirmed it is OK with Ohmmeter (near zero resistance).

So now I will have to hunt down a 40A fuse for this sucker to confirm the final fix.

Moral of the story - check your fuse too.

Replaced the pump bank 2 with new OEM one. Cleaned out the valve and hose.

Reset the car to clear the CEL.

That was about 5 days ago. Today, CEL back on.

Checked and same error was on - P0492.

Rechecked hose connection, clear.

Rechecked electrical connection and cleaned with contact cleaner and blew dry. Check.

Reset system again.

Any ideas on what could be going on here? Is there a fuse for air pumps that could be bad from when blades were all broken up?

Help is needed and greatly appreciated.

Is this the diy that is done when there:-) is a leak on driver side of car, with oil dripping onto the under carriage plastics?

I have a slow leak in that area and have not taken the thing apart yet. Trying to understand the symptoms here.

Thanks.

Looking for info and tips for valve cover gasket replacement for the CTT.

Info on parts to get (other than the valve cover gaskets themselves), other parts that are 'might as well do while you are there', where to seal with sealant so leaks do not come back, etc, etc.

Pics would be great. Thinking of doing this but would love more info first.

Thanks.

...per info from other people's posts, replacing bearing requires cutting off the mount and opening the joint to replace/lube all internals....much more precision involved process, and requires one to be careful during the closing process, as sloppy job will introduce debris to area and cause to fail again, and again, etc....this is not a 1 hour job, and if you do it, should do it right the first time.

Yes, you can mark the shaft to make sure you retain balancing, but I am not sure if the replaced components inside joint would require re-balancing.

Not a job for the average Joe, IMO. I went the way of replacing shaft for time purposes. Cost was about 400 for parts plus time on my side...was good enough to do it, with 100% confidence in entire job done right the first time.

Can someone please explain why replacing the cardan shaft is such a common repair? Why not just replace the intermediate bearing by itself if it fails? I realize this requires splitting the driveshaft to replace, but if you scribe both parts of the driveshaft, the driveshaft should not need re-balanced. Or are there other failure points in the cardan shaft?

Also, while the Vertex solution seems interesting, you are still using an old bearing. Many times, center driveshaft bearings themselves fail or freeze up, then take out the surrounding rubber.

...I know there is a vid for doing this, and saw it, contemplated, but since the shaft joint opening introduces possibilities of further fail later down the road, I chose different method.

If you did this, great. Good choice too.

I replaced just the centre brng assembly.

Just like last month, satellite radio in your cayenne is free til Feb 10. Just passing the info on.

I had this question a while back and my thread on this is located HERE.

Located in anoher forum...6speed....

If you do not have access to it, here is the text.

Bottom line, was really easy. I chose to wipe the plastic covers by hand after removing them all, and washed entire engine as written below. Ended up being really nice and shiny.

Text from other forum:

Other contributor response:

I have just done mine:
1: remove all the plastic trim covers
2: cover as much of the electrical sockets as possible
3: use Gunk to get the worst of the grime off, agitate if stubborn grime
4: gently rinse off the gunk, do not use a power washer!!!
5: use APC at 4:1 ratio and again agitate
6: again rinse
7: pat dry with microfibre cloth
8: spray with 303, gently wipe for matt finish, or leave for 6 hours for gloss finish
9: do the same for the plastic trim covers
It takes time to do, but well worth it, nothing like an engine that you can eat your dinner off!!
When the rain stops I will take some shots of my engine bay.
There are plenty of detaling forums that will show what can be achieved.

Contributor #2 response:

1. Wash car.

2. Lift hood
3. Spray clean
4.Close hood
5. Drive off.

I wash (with a power washer even) the engine of ALL my cars EVERYTIME I wash the cars.
I know several engineers at car manufacturers. The engine bay is considered a "wet compartment" Things in the engine bay, including all the plugs, are designed to get "wet"
If you have a running issue after washing your engine, you have a bad part that isn't sealing correctly.
Dirt and oil eat away at seals and trap heat in engine components. I've run several cars upwards of 300K miles and one of the best ways to get it there is to keep it clean!

This should give you a good idea on the process.

I ended up buying:

- Degreaser (regular, or you can get the eco friendly one at Wally world too - i got the eco one so I can do in driveway without messing things up).

- Engine shine (same make as degreaser)

Removed all plastic covers (to clean by hand).

Warmed up engine decent (not running hot, just enough to be warm to touch - you risk it bursting into flames if sprayed onto super heated surfaces)

Sprayed generously all over the engine bay, even under lid if needed.

Waited a few minutes to soak in.

using water hose with spray attachment (stayed away from pressure washer - can damage stuff if you are not careful), sprayed all over bay to clean off spray.

Used web towel to wipe off excess water.

Idled car (i drove for a few minutes) to make all water evaporate.

Waited til engine cool.

Sprayed engine shine on all parts I wanted to shine, and left it at that.

Cleaned all plastic covers by hand and installed back into engine bay.

Came out super nice. No need to cover any part in particular when rinsing, just do not have high pressure water jet to rinse with and you will be OK.

as in the write up, I found it very easy to pull out once you separate the exhaust pipe. It should be in the DYI I put up.

Well, time has come for me to depart from Vredestein Sessanta tires.

WHAT AWESOME TIRES THEY ARE - WOW!!!!!

I will post up my summary for historical purposes, including new tread mileage, and replace time mileage, along with my reviews/opinions, what I liked, what I did not, etc.

The only reason I changed is because I just wanted to try something different, but if not improved, will be coming back to these for sure.

Hope to update today with my info.

you are welcome.

..." I have never seen a vehicle with so many covers and panels to get in your way for maintenance" - but is sure looks nice thought, right? lol

Thanks from me too ciaka, your post was a great help in tracking down the P1455 error code to the split plastic hose problem. In my case I gave two turns of electrical tape then used two layers of heat shrink tubing (shrink the first on with a suitable soldering iron working around it) then repeated the process over it to reinforce the connection. I hope the problem is now OK until I source the correct replacement hoses for the Aussie model. I have to find out if the dummy firewall come shielding comes away readily to give access to the booster, I have never seen a vehicle with so many covers and panels to get in your way for maintenance.

A little while back I noticed some small amt of oil under the valve cover gasket area (under the cover and below gasket area). Also saw some oil spot near the valve cover gasket (when looking from front of car into Engine compartment, where the gasket is facing front of car).

So looks like the valve cover aging.

I am interested in replacing and want to know if anyone has one this, how hard is it to replace valve cover gaskets, etc.

Thanks for any help you can give.

If I were in your situation, I would not bother trying to do before it fails. The car will still work, you will get engine error code and CEL light on (not critical). Will have to try a few times to start after you fill up the car.

However, for all you know, your part may never fail, so why go through the hassle. Again, this is IMO only. Thanks.

Purge valve: it is a part of the car's emission control system. It monitors the fuel vapors that get recycled into the engine for combustion. Some call it evap canister, or evap valve, etc.

Great information. Thank you. Maybe i will do it in advance. Just one stupid question. What is this part doing? What is it for?Thank you