air in system....clogged dirty fins on radiator,,pressure test??thermostat not opening fully?? right coolant mixture? coolant smell on exhaust pipe??? have you tried turning the heater on when the temp gauge is at its highest?? or revving it past 2 g's and watching the needle drop??

 

Filed! Got a case number. Requested to speak with an engineer in Germany.

On a positive note, the dealer called me right after I got off the phone. The folks at Lyle Pearson Porsche of Boise have been doing their best for me.

I believe the problems lies with corporate. Their policies for warranty coverage seems to be overly rigged: If the car doesn't throw a code, we don't fix it.

Thanks for the support 6-speed is the best.

 

Thanks for the prompting. I forgot that I observed excessive water coming off the tail pipes, perhaps in Kalispell.

I have not tried turning the heater on when she heats up. I shall do that. I get the car back in the hour.

The temperature did not drop when I revved her mildly. I will try that again when it occurs.

Thanks for your support and tips.

 

On Friday, I went for somewhat spirited drive for 20 minutes. Nothing very difficult but probably annoyed some other drivers. Never WOT and nothing approaching triple digits. I was late for an important meeting and lost. It was pretty warm that day, maybe 96 F.

Mind you, this is without the trailer!

During the first 10 minutes she was great. Radiator temp never got off the TDC 160 F mark.

Then 10 mintues into the drive she started going hot. Needle got way off the mark. And stayed up for most of the following 10 minutes! Almost to the next mark--220 F!

I turned on the heater and it had not effect on that temperature reading.

She read hot again when I started her up after my 20 minute meeting.

But cooled down when I started driving. I have been taking it very easy since then, babying her. Got to get her fixed! Before I lose my motor!

She never ran like this before Calgary when my A/C blower went out. BTW, the A/C seems to be working properly. They replaced the blower motor and charged the system with more freon.

My PCA Alaska club's president suggested I call Vu at PCA headquarters and ask for the Cayenne advocate. I'm waiting for a return call.

I called PCNA and Tammy understood this was happening without the trailer; nevertheless, she said it had to be replicated. She wants me to take Lyle Pearson's mechanic for a ride.

I hate having to stress my engine any further!

SUV goes in Wednesday.

Thanks for your support.

 

I wouldn't worry about stressing the engine if it is a means of resolving this once and for all (after all you did already tow with an overheating engine).

Secondly, this vindicates my perspective that this was an issue regardless of you towing within specs. Anyone suggesting that was the problem with the same information posted, was looking to "explain-away" the symptoms. Which of course would be infuriating to me.

Finally, I would also not worry about your warranty closing soon. I know a few people who got warranty work completed just outside of their warranty period just because they could prove that the issue existed BEFORE their warranty was supposed to end.

That places the liability on the dealer's end for not repairing it in a timely fashion.

Good luck and keep us posted.

 

I am p!$$ed!

I took my car in again. Their mechanic rode with me and the radiator temperature gauge went up abmormally BUT not in the opinion of the mechanic. The dealership refuses to help me.

Porsche Cars North America refuses to help me; MOREOVER,

P stands for PATRONZING!

PCNA leans on ANY and ALL excuses NOT to service my car under warranty!

So, I had to help myself. I have ordered and am paying for out of my own pocket while the SUV is UNDER WARRANTY:

-Replace the two "t" fittings in the cooling system on the back of the engine.

-Replace the thermostat while in there.

-Replace the water pump.

NEVER WILL I BUY ANOTHER PORSCHE UNDER A PORSCHE WARRANTY! They are NO GOOD! I may buy another Porsche but not under warranty.

Here's why:

Porsche will never take as good care as I will of my own car. They cut corners and avoid sensible Preventative measures.

The other day I received a consult with a Porsche Club of America Cayenne Specialist, a mechanic. The consultant heard the history and when it came to the cooling pipe upgrade, he said he thinks a small piece of plastic broke off the pipes and got inside the cooling system and is floating around. And that it probably had taken out some of the plastic fins on the water pump.

The mechanic working on it thinks the fact the thermostat was dry for several days while the engine was apart waiting on parts, may have caused the thermostat to go bad. He also thinks that some plastic pipe dust particles may have gotten inside the cooling system.

I elected to have them do all of it AT MY EXPENSE. I already paid $2,400 in preventative maintainence on the alumin pipe upgrade. Now, I am paying another $2,000 OUT OF POCKET.

All I can say is p!$$ on Porsche. I'll never buy another. Certainly not a new one and not a CPO'd one under their HORRID WARRANTY SYSTEM.

 

This morning, the dealership e-mailed me and is balking on doing the work. They don't think there is a problem; I KNOW there is a problem.

This morning I called PCNA to speak to a vice president. They informed me that they DON'T have to access to vice presidents because they are in Massachusetts. Land of PATRONIZATION!

I asked for and recieved the number to corporate in Atlanta. A call into them went nicely. At least it seemed to. I asked for something in writing that they would cover my engine if it blows when I drive off. I asked for a consult with an engineer in Germany and assistance getting my car fixed. I was told I should get a call today or tomorow.

 

A. Just received a call from the Senior Porsche Customer Care Specialist, Area West. While he verbalizes support and claims support, he us unwilling to issue a letter assuring coverage should my engine blow when I leave here.

B. Just received an e-mail from Lyle Pearson. They are unwilling to work on my car. period.

Therefore, I have e-mailed the dealer pleading with him for his mechanic to call my mechanic in Alaska and at least do a simple consult.

 

Hate to say it - but I suspect part of the problem may have been your approach to the dealership. Earlier you said "The folks at Lyle Pearson Porsche of Boise have been doing their best for me. " - now they won't touch the car. That sounds like a dealership that has decided it's in their best interest to not have you as a customer.

Some hints on warranty procedures - general - not specific to Porsche (but I know a bit about how this works on the BMW bike/car side):

1. Warranties are a marketing tool. They cost the dealer money to put in place (there is a CPO fee) - and that money is supposed to be recovered when the customer buys the car at a higher price. They are not there to "protect" the customer - despite it sounding like they are. The CPO warranty is a contract between Porsche NA and the customer - but:

2. The dealer is the "decider": The dealer is the key link in honoring the warranty. IF you have a good relationship with your dealer's service department (at least on BMWs and several other brands where I know the policy) - if the service department says something is covered, the manufacturer honors the claim. If the service department say there is no problem, or it isn't covered - the manufacturer denies the claim. There may be some very rare exceptions to this - but this IS the general rule. It's very much in your best interest to stay in the good graces of your chosen service department, and if you have problems with a dealer - don't fight them - go find another one.

General: You mentioned sending lots of emails, and making multiple phone calls. This is undoubtedly why the dealer no longer wants your business. Porsche Corporate is likely calling the dealer and saying "What the hell?..." and the dealer is saying "Dunno - crackpot..."

Email is a not a good way to approach this sort of warranty problem.

If you want your problem looked at, take the time and effort to use a word processor - write a formal POLITE letter and MAIL it. Email is much too easy to delete. If you're worried about them throwing the letter away - send it, and a copy to yourself (which you don't open) via registered mail so someone has to sign for it. Writing a letter also helps avoid the off-the-cuff or inopportune remarks that seem to creep into email, and gives you time to reflect on what you're saying and what you want to achieve.

At this point if I was you (and I'm not..) here is what I'd do:

1. Find a new dealer and hope the old one hasn't talked to the new one. Make nice with them. Bring the service department a fine case of German beer.. Don't make demands like a letter that you're covered if everything blows up later on..

2. WRITE and MAIL a letter to PNA - with your concern about overheating clearly and simply stated. Don't elaborate - just tell them you've observed what appears to be overheating on numerous occasions and dealers have said it isn't a problem. State that you want this concern to be ON RECORD before the CPO warranty expires.

That's it - send a copy registered mail to PNA and to yourself (and don't open yours..) Then if your engine does blow up due to overheating sometime in the future when you're out of CPO, you can approach an attorney and see if they see enough meat there to go after PNA.

That's my advice - please feel free to totally ignore it, make fun of it, get pissed off at it - whatever.. it's just based on lots of incidents like this, where "experience teaches you things you don't want to know.." applies.

Good luck!

 

Indeed, I have alienated this dealer.

They are sending me away.

Perhaps I wasn't polite enough. This is a desperate situation.

CPO expired yesterday.

 

Update:

I spoke with the owner Lyle Pearson himself of Porsche of Boise. This dealership really sucks! AVOID AT ALL COST!

You're not going to believe this:

Both Lyle Pearson and his service manager Dave Allen tell me the Porsche factory rep for the region was in their shop yesterday and they claim the factory rep advised against replacing those two "T" joints in the back of the engine that are known to fail!

Dave Allen refused to tell me the Porsche rep's name. He said he would call the Porsche rep and ask him to call me. He called me back and said the Porsche rep said he would not be calling me and that I was to call Porsche Customer Service only.

Now, it is well known that the coolant pipes and "T" joints fail causing damage to the transmission seals and starters. Excellence magazine recommends changing these out because sooner or later every one of them will fail.

Porsche Cars North America has abandoned me as well. Their Senior Cutomer Satisfaction Representative Austin Latchaw (770) 290-3643 in their Atlanta offices told me that Porsche would cover my engine if it blew BUT he refused to provide me a written letter to that effect!

Now, would you trust them?

It appears PCNA wants my engine to blow; however, since CPO warrantee expired last night, I bet they'd fight me all the way on this.

Moreover, Austin Latchaw said I could call him. I left two messagtes for him this morning and he has not returned my calls.

Porsche has several people in PCA local clubs angry over this. Local folks in Boise tell me Lyle Pearson is not a good dealer.

Lyle Pearson refuses to work with me. What do I want? The two "T" joints replaced. I already have the parts; my mechanic in Anchorage gave them to me. And I want the thermostat replaced because I suspect it is the culprit and their mechanic Mike recommended we change that thermost out while doing the "T" joints. Mike said when thermostats are left dry for a period of time they can go bad. Mine was dry almost a week waiting for the correct parts.

AND I will pay for this out of my own pocket!

But what do these crazy phocs do? They refuse the job. They're nuts. This incident will discourage a whole lot of people from buying cars from Lyle Pearson. Their sales department has a better reputation than the service department. Gee, I wonder why?

 

Sorry to hear of your ongoing woes! It would be a cold day in hell when I have to kiss the dealers *** just to get my vehicle that has an obvious fault repaired under warranty! Hell I'd probably park it back in the showroom for them and move on to another brand! The more I hear stories about these and the difficulty in getting reputable dealers to service them I'm wondering about owning one! I've run into problems myself already, and mine goes in for some work next week, this will ultimately decide the future of Porsche ownership...

 

Okay. I speed read the tread so give me a little leeway here if I missed something.

Sounds to me like you have a stuck/improperly installed thermostat or possibly a piece of the plastic coolant pipes stuck in the coolant system blocking flow.

You say the coolant pipes were changed right before this problem occurred. The plastic pipes don't just come out, they must be cut/broken out. Entirely possible to have dropped a piece of the old pipe in the coolant hole.

The thermostat is also part of this repair.

The symptoms you describe, including the AC failure kinda lean toward a coolant system flow issue. With the exception of the actual air flow from the AC.

It's possible that a stuck valve between the heater core and the rest of the coolant system is part of the issue. I'm not familiar with this part of the system. I most cars there is some sort of heater control valve to direct coolant flow to the heater core under the dash. This is usually tied in with the flaps to operate the AC. This could be controlled by vacuum or electronically. If it we an electric or vacuum problem the ECU would probably pick it up and notify you of some issue. This would lead me to believe it's a mechanical issue.

There are several coolant hoses at the back of the motor, and also part of the coolant pipe system. If one of those is blocked it could potentially cause the issue you are having.

My first suggestion would be to look very closely around the back of the engine for anything disconnected. The next step is probably to pull thaw intake back off and have a look at the coolant pipes, it may all need to come back apart unfortunately.


Joel that helps. Sorry to hear about the issue. If I were closer I'd help with diagnosing it in person.

 

Did the factory rep know you were willing to pay to have this done? I'm sure the policy for warranty repairs is - they won't fix what isn't broken (remember - a warranty is MARKETING, only incidentally protecting the consumer). If he didn't know that - he was passing along the company warranty policy which undoubtably comes from the marketing department legal people.
I haven't seen the Excellence article - but I believe it only mentioned the plastic cooling pipes. The turbo-T's seem to be something that came to light via forum posts fairly recently.

If PCNA replaced yours proactively under warranty - they'd be admitting there IS a problem with them. Since they're facing one class-action lawsuit for the cooling pipes they would naturally be hesitant about triggering another one by admitting to a weakness in the T's. Think about the legal department at Porsche having some input into this decision.
I'm sure you realize that ALL automakers now have entire departments that monitor forums such as this.. so you've telegraphed them what your intentions are. That usually doesn't lead to a desireable end result.
Lyle Pearson sees no gain in continuing to service your car.

They do have the right to refuse service to whoever they want. I'm sure that they, and PCNA are following this thread rather closely, and so far - Pearson Porsche is being portraited in a manner that is likely to cost them sales and money, so it's no surprise to me that they are washing their hands of your business.

At this point - I suspect you might have to give up on Porsche assistance and try to find a good independent who you can pay (as you offered to do with Porsche) to do the work you feel is necessary.

A friend used to say "Experience teaches us things we'd rather not know.." sounds like one of those cases.

 

The President of my local PCA club was treated poorly by the Porsche Dealership in Wichita while on the way to parade. They were horrible and lied to him about anybody else in the area working on Porsches. The "guy who didn't exist" fixed it almost overnight while Porsche of Witchita (sic) told him they couldn't get him in for five days.

Porsche today sells "image" more than cars. I miss the dealer in Anchorage and the senior mechanic who now is independent--he did the pipes.

Porsche of Boise service is not telling me something. It may be that they already know there is more to my car's problem than they want to get involved in.