My symptoms were the engine turning over slow, so what is slow, slower enough for you to think, "hey I better get my battery checked" and occasionally having to turn the ignition switch a second time because of the starter would not work at all!

The first place I started was with a battery check, so I replaced the battery and there was a slight improvement, then I decided to visit ecs.com and check on starter prices, affordable and I bought one. Installed it this weekend and PRESTO, PROBLEM SOLVED! Turns over notably quicker and fires right up because of the increase in rpms during the starting process. I have not dissected the old starter to determine root cause and I will, once I have the rest of my tasks completed.

Replacement was a task, about 4 hours, 4.5 if you want to include a beer break or two and lunch. Well worth it for me, couldn't afford the vehicle otherwise.

Thanks

 

I have already replaced my battery to try to solve this issue on my 07 CTT, looks like I should look at the starter now as well, thanks for the info.

 

Starters are a common problem on these older v8 cayennes! Our dealer probably does about 1 or 2 every month.

 

flee, what kind of coin will that set you back?

 

Cash time, the dealer would charge 5 hours

 

I think a lot of the 4.5 starter problems came from the coolant bath they eventually got.

 

Unless you were able to change em out before they blew.

 

True

 

I had the exact same problem when I first purchased the Cayenne and ordered a BOSCH starter from ECS which fixed the issue. When I crank the car it sounded like low power and barely turn over. Sometimes I had to try 2 to 3 times to start. So I decided to change the starter. Voila it was beautiful. Honestly it wasn't that hard. Just time consuming.

Here are some photos.

I suggest while you're at it with everything out.

Change the coolant pipes as the starter is under them. I changed mine to aluminum one.

Also changed the thermostat and the housing (had prior issues from previous owner), water pump and gaskets, plastic coolant breather tube, coolant flush and renewed.

Clean the intake valves (they get dirty and will cause problems down the road, power and MPG)

Intake manifold gaskets, engine belt etc.



Dirty Intake valves 138,000 miles




Cleaning the dirty intake valve




Pulled the starters, thermostat housing, upgraded the plastic coolant tube to aluminum




Starter in




Reassembled




New Thermostat, Housing and aluminum coolant tube, starter, intake manifold gasket etc.




Cleaned intake valve

 

How did you get the valves so clean??? Did you clean them without further disassembly? Seems like all the crust would've gone down into the cylinder...

 

The valves are closed, so nothing goes down into cylinder.

No further disassembly done.

I used purple power degreaser and let it soak over night then hit it with copper brushes, air suction to get the fluid out and air gun to blast any chunks out.

There was one cylinder where the valve wasn't 100% closed, next day the degreaser made it through. I pulled the spark plug, sucked out all the fluid the best I can, the little left used air gun blasted until dried and sprayed WD-40 to give it slight lubrication.

Started up fine afterwards and car's nice and happy

The best route is using crushed walnut shell blast. But didn't want to invest in a system like that, dealers should have that in their shop to blast clean the valves.

After 10,000 miles I checked back and the valves are coated with a thin layer of carbon even with oil catch can and new air oil separator diaphragm. Just a problematic design for direct fuel injection and nothing cleaning the valves.