Wife says she thinks she has a right rear flat tire. When ever she accelerates the car sounds like the wheel is square or running over rumble strips. She has the wheel inspected and nothing. So I bring it down to the old Vivid Racing shop and put it on the lift. Probe around, smell the air, and grab the drive shaft. BAMMO. The center carrier bearing on the driveshaft has ripped apart from its rubber housing. I then hit google and do some research. Find some threads here, on Renntech.org, and basically see that another flaw of the 03 and 04 Cayenne is this drive shaft. Bad thing is there is no rebuild kit, you have to buy the whole damn drive shaft for $700! So peoples with the 04, check your drive shaft, get an extended warranty, and this is the problem!

Here are some pics.

The lovely model


The old drive shaft


New Drive Shaft about to be installed


My car has 88,000 miles and I bought it used with 50K. So far it has been good except the leaking coolant pipes on top of the engine and a torque converter seal. All has been fixed and still running well. I think at 100K I will replace it for a CTT.

 

I feel your pain. I just got a Cayenne S used and have probably spent about $6k repairing all the lil problems, including the driveshaft. At least now, the Cayenne S runs like a beauty now!

 

I love it and my wife is IN LOVE with it. Next one will still be a Cayenne just gonna go with like a 05 or 06 Turbo.

 

My thoughts exactly, I'm gonna drive this thing til it dies.

 

I had the same problem.
Cost me 1250,- Dollars.

 

Just had mine in for a replacement. 51k miles, but I have CPO warranty so they paid for it.

 

^^^ do you all have 04 Cayenne?

 

Drove last night and all is good. My next car will get an aftermarket warranty and then we can fix them here at the shop and make money

I think I am going to search for a 2006 CTT after the new year.

pcst - if you dont have one yet, dont get a 04. Great car, but 04 has issues.

 

Same problem ... replaced under CPO at ~45k miles.

 

Yeah no kidding. I just picked mine up in October last year and have been back 8 times for things. None of them has made me walk. Yet. I think the last thing on the list of 04 failures that I haven't had yet is the coolant piping. And that one will require towing. Thank goodness for the CPO warranty. I'm hoping with the updated parts that I can get through this stuff and it'll be more reliable. At least I haven't had to spend anything.

 

Thanks for the info, I got myself used 06 CS few months ago in March, took in for the warranty work once due to the engine oil leak from one of the oil pan bolt & oil temp/sender unit. sensor.

I still have 21 months of factory warranty

Other than that, it has been pretty good so far.

 

You don't need to change the entire drive shaft anymore! Here is the piece that always wears out on the drive shaft. Ok I found it in europe but it's still cheaper than change the entire part.

http://cgi.ebay.fr/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?...%3D3%26ps%3D33

With exchange rate it come out @ $250 shipping included!
And I'm sur you can find it even cheaper, but I haven't really
looked into it.

Alx

 

Alx, is that the bearing to the cardan shaft?

 

Sorry I'm french canadian, so I don't know the exact term in english for that part.

It's the broken part in VIVIDRACING's 2nd pick at the top, labeled as "the old drive shaft". It the same part that breaks on all Cayenne's drive shaft.

 

guys is this a "north american" thing?
i dont know of all these faults on 04 cars here in europe? im a member of the cayenne owners club, and the porsche owners club (cayenne) and the 04 does not have specific year problems??
were cayenne exports built at a different plant?