I have a 2009 997.2 C4S with 12,000 miles and I just experienced my first problem. Drove the car for about 40-minutes, parked for about an hour, and then when I started it up again (warm start, outside temp about 85 degrees) it was difficult to start, starter engaged for about 3-seconds before it fired-up (it has never done that before - always started up immediately), and it ran rough for about 5-seconds and then settled out with reduced throttle response, max attainable RPM of 4000 RPM, with a Check Engine light and a "Reduced Engine Power" readout on the PCM. It was Saturday and my Porsche dealer service dept was closed so I drove home (rather "limped" home) with very reduced throttle response with revs limited to 4000 RPM - it sucked!! There was no smoke coming from the car when I was driving and there has been no fluid loss, just a severe reduction in available power, I am assuming commanded by the ECU in order to protect the engine. I parked it when I got home last night and tried to start it this morning. Again, it cranked a long time before it fired up, then it ran rough for about 2-seconds and died. I tried it one more time and the same result. The Owners Manual didn't give me much info but the Check Engine light was steady and I verified that the Fuel Cap was on and tightened. At that point I shut it off and called PORSCHE, set up a flatbed pick-up early Monday AM and will get it to the dealer service dept.

Any similar experiences out there with 997.2 DFI cars? I tried the Forum Search here and didn't get any results. Might it be the High Pressure Fuel Pumps? I heard that was a problem with some of the early 2009 997.2 cars (mine was a January 2009 build) and I figured it would have gone bad before 12,000 miles. Anyone out there with any ideas? Just wanted to get some sort of idea before I get to the dealer tomorrow. I will give an update when I get more info

 

I am not a certified mechanic but the symptoms you describe are very similar to what people have experienced with HPFP failure.

I would be interested to know what the diagnostic is as I also have an early production DFI car and I am keepings very close tabs on the HPFP. We do not have a lot of dealers here and I travel to remote areas so an HPFP failure would not be fun at all.

Good luck,

T.

 

Update on my "broken" P-car. Diagnostics showed that my problem was indeed a High Pressure Fuel Pump (HPFP) failure. Luckily it worked long enough in the "limp home" mode to get me home before it failed completely in my garage when I tried to start it the next day. The dealer service dept agreed that it was very unusual to see it fail at 12,000 miles. Most of the HPFP failures of the early MY2009 DFI cars were with much less mileage. I should get it back tomorrow and will be back up to speed. Cheers.

 

Thanks for reporting back. Glad to see it was a well known problem and solution - makes things pretty straightforward.

Regards,

T.