Had some recent drama with this car that may be useful to others to share. After a tire change, the car began to throw a PASM failure. But would only do it during a tight radius left turn/u-turn etc. Never upon startup or during a right hand turn. Would always reset/clear after a re-start. Just a bit of a nuisance so I didnt adress it right away.

Then about a week later it began to occur immediately when the wheels were turned even slightly left but only when the car began rolling. So was happening every time and was really annoying then. So took it to the local wrench and he scanned it for free and said it was a Front Left Damper failure. About an $1800 fix including alignment.

Had to travel for work so didnt commit to a fix then. Got back 3 weeks later and he was booked out for a few weeks. Took it to another reputable shop and they said the same thing but it was showing some symptoms of a PASM module fail also but didnt want to order one unless they knew for sure. They then connected a Bilstein damper they had and drove around and the fault never occured again. So they confirmed it was the damper and it was a 2-3 day shipment to get the parts.

I wanted the car for the weekend so decided to just pay the diag fee and pick up the car while the part came in. While driving home, the fault never occured even though I was trying every which way to make it fail. It never did and has not since so obviously cancelled the parts order and follow-up appt.

Seems that possibly the tire guys did something to tweak the connector or expose a marginal condition. By cycling the connection with the Bilstein troubleshoot, the repair shop seems to have restored the continuity. Maybe after 11 years, things get a bit dodgy in there. Anyway, it seems to be a nearly $2000 savings, so be sure to check connections before breaking out the credit card/checkbook and/or do some preventative measures with dielectric grease etc on the easily accessed connections if an older car.

 

HOLY SMOKES!!! THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT I’VE BEEN ENCOUNTERING AND HOW THE SHOP DIAGNOSED THE FAULTY FRONT LEFT DAMPER!!! I’ve got Bilstein B8’s on back order since March. I did the plug and unplug of the of the shock and it didn’t cure, but based on your comments I’ll give it one more careful try! Thanks for sharing.

Steve

 

Hope it works for you. Another thing to try if it doesn't is to check damper resistance with VOM. Mine is stable at 2.8-2.9 ohms in both corners. If you move the wire around, should obviously remain stable. If not, you have a broken wire, likely where it exits the top of the damper. I think over time, body roll/stresses at that point are a problem. Porsche should place stress relief sheathing there IMO.