Great news! was your car still under warranty or did they do it as a goodwill job?

 

Good for you.. bad for my project..

I suspect Porsche is going to continue to good-will these failures. They're in a sticky place with this issue.

- They issued a service campaign in the US that covered certain VIN#'s - now engines are failing that weren't in that VIN range (which to me the right thing to do would be to expand the service campaign to cover ALL the engines with the aluminum bolts in the campaign, and get in front of the issue.)

- They also issued a recall for this failure, or one very similar to it, in China. That was an actual "recall" not a service campaign.

If I was Porsche (and I know they're reading this - hi Porsche!) I'd want to get in front of this problem and prevent a mandated NHTSA investigation and recall - and keep from getting another black eye. It would seem VW/Audi/Porsche have enough bad publicity with DieselGate, they don't really need the publicity which would go along with a forced recall for a defective engine.

But that's just me..

 

The SA that fixed my old Panamera 4S told me that they couldn't "fix" the possible camshaft bolt failure on my 2011 CTT unless it actually failed and that if it did fail it would be covered by the emissions warranty again (or so he says). He said they may have already fixed it at another dealer since I am the 3rd owner now. I have 46k miles on mine.

 

I've learned that I should take what SA's say as gospel about 50% of the time (and that's being fairly generous..) but in this case - what he was saying is that Porsche won't pay them to fix it if it hasn't broken. If you still had the Pany - be easy enough to check - you can see the bolts through the oil filler hole using a dental mirror.

The coverage under emissions warranty is somewhat of a hedge by Porsche. I'm guessing that somewhere sometime some manufacturer was told by the Federal government that valve gear has to work correctly to pass the required 8 years/80,000 miles that a vehicle has emissions warranty coverage.

Problem becomes who pays if it fails outside that warranty envelope? I'd be willing to bet the consumer. What about the potential safety hazard caused by driving a 4,500lb vehicle that is notably fast that might lose all braking and steering ability with no warning? To me - that yells recall under NHTSA rules.

http://www.nhtsa.gov/Vehicle+Safety/Recalls+&+Defects

This is what NHTSA says a "Recall" is:

Sounds like the VarioCam bolt problem qualifies. What can you do about it? Well - NHTSA says:

What can you do about it?

https://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/VehicleComplaint/

In searching the Cayenne "complaint" listings on NHTSA I found only one in reference to the VarioCam problem (*). One of the problems with the NHTSA database is giving them uniform vehicle information (Year, Make, Model) so the actual number of people experiencing the issue adds up. If there are 10 reports, but they're each submitted under a different vehicle model - then it looks like a very low frequency of problems, even if the problems are exactly the same. One other thing you might do is note the Complaint number of any existing complaints, and include them in the writeup of your complaint. Right now the NHTSA database lists:

• "Cayenne"
• "Cayenne E2" ??
• "Cayenne S Hybrid"
• "Cayenne Turbo"

Can reporting these initiate a recall?

Personal experience speaking. Yes. In the case of BMW automobiles there were several recalls that were initiated by owners who found each other on web forums and then followed up with NHTSA complaints.

In one case I'm very familiar with BMW Motorad (motorcycles) put in place an extended warranty for a fuel level sensor that fails with great frequency. In this case it was a 12 year unlimited warranty. Although the failure was quite common - luckily - no injuries could be attributed to it. BMW went through the usual stages of German denial:

1. There is no problem
2. The problem is YOU
3. The problem never happens in Germany
4. There is no problem
5. US gasoline caused the problem
6. There is no problem but because we're nice guys, we're going to do XYZ for you.

In response there was quite an active campaign on a national BMW owners club website with very specific instructions on how to report these failures to NHTSA so they'd all get reported together. I believe I may have written those instructions.. and it did work - we had a large number of reports of the issue, especially since some of us experienced multiple failures of the same component.

At the same time a BMW vendor had screwed up a suspension component on a newly introduced vehicle, and BMW issued a "DO NOT RIDE!" message to it's customers, recalled the bikes, offered vehicle refunds or exchanges, or cash settlements if you kept the vehicle and eventually made everyone "whole". They got quite a black-eye in the public forums and motorcycle magazines due to this recall. The way they handled it however eventually was recognized as a fair and equitable settlement, and most people felt they did the "right thing.." - ie - they regained public trust and respect.

I think the pressure of the NHTSA investigation that was started due to our reports, and the black eye BMW had over the other vehicles problems was enough to convince them to provide the extended warranty on the failing fuel sensor.

Should you get involved?

Certainly if you own a Cayenne where this failure occurred I think you might consider reporting it. The NHTSA doesn't reveal who reported the problems, so if you want anonymity - you've got it. You'd potentially be helping other people to avoid having the issue, and help keep them out of the dangers the problem could cause.,

As I said above - ideally Porsche would get ahead of the problem and simply fix the cars with the aluminum bolts.

FWIW - Ferrari had a similar situation with timing belts. The same requirement for emissions warranty 8 years/80,000 miles applies to the timing belts on their engines. According to a friend who knows these sort of things - they did a cost analysis and decided it was cheaper to "eat a few engines" (and pay for replacement) then to actually make a product that could reliably complete the warranty period without a problem.

Sounds to me like the bean counters at VW/Audi/Porsche did the same. And we know how well that sort of thinking has worked out for them with the diesel engines.

Plus - the opportunity is certainly there for a class-action firm to pick up the issue and go after Porsche for it. I'm actually rather surprised none has.


(*) = The one complaint currently in the NHTSA database that I could find was under "2011 Porsche Cayenne" - and it's NHTSA ID Number: 10746230.
It can be viewed at: http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/owners/...od_ids=1077770
Click on the "Complaints" tab.

You may anticipate that more may appear - so I'll add those to this thread as I spot them.

 

Local dealer Refuse to repair my Cayenne and i call the head office in Stuttgart and they send me those mails

Dear Mr. Iordanov,

Your inquiry to Porsche AG was forwarded to us, Porsche Central and Eastern Europe s.r.o.. As a regional office of Porsche AG we are taking care of our customers in Central and Eastern Europe.

First of all we apologise for the long processing time of your case and for the occurred inconvenience which was caused by the described issue.
In the meantime we have carefully investigated your case together with our Bulgarian importer, Orchid Sports Cars Bulgaria Ltd..

On expiry of the Manufacturers Warranty customers can continue protecting their investment by way of purchasing a Porsche Approved Warranty. Any risk associated with repairs needed to the vehicle remain with the customer if a Porsche Approved Warranty is not present. The warranty of your Porsche Cayenne S has expired in December 2012 and an additional Porsche Approved Warranty was not concluded.
Assistance beyond the two year manufacturer's warranty, where a Porsche Approved Warranty is not present, is offered as goodwill. Goodwill is a voluntary gesture of the manufacturer and its partners. When considering goodwill many factors are taken into consideration, including, but not limited to; the age of the vehicle, the mileage of the vehicle, whether the vehicle has a complete Porsche Service history and the usage of the vehicle.

When the goodwill decision was made in your case, the above mentioned factors have been considered. As a result the goodwill decision cannot be changed.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Kind regards,

Porsche Central and Eastern Europe s.r.o.,
Customer Commitment,
Eugen Jung

 

Dear Mr. Iordanov,

Thank you for your feedback.

We assure you that we have checked all available information and have based our decision on the factors which we have described in our email from 13 April 2016 to you.
Additionally our systems show that your Porsche Cayenne S was not affected by the recall campaign in conjunction with the camshaft adjuster.

As a result we are unable to change the existing goodwill decision.
If you have further questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Kind regards,

Porsche Central and Eastern Europe s.r.o.,
Customer Commitment,
Eugen Jung

 

Dear Mr. Iordanov,

Thank you for the detailed information which you have sent.

The available information has been checked once again.
Based on the results of the investigation we are not able to change the decision and to offer you goodwill in this matter.

If you have further questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Kind regards,

Porsche Central and Eastern Europe s.r.o.,
Customer Commitment,
Eugen Jung

 

If anyone is reading this - it's probably worth your time to also read: https://www.6speedonline.com/forums/...-camshaft.html

It's a shame the two threads weren't one..

 

Could we file reports with NHTSA as a item of concern? Or do we have to experience the issue ourselves to file the report?

I see the people that have posted on this forum with the issue haven't filed their NHTSA reports.

 

There is nothing to stop you.. I'd emphasize the concern you have when driving the vehicle, if the failure should happen and you're left with 4,500lbs of rolling steel with no steering or brakes..

 

BTW - if you're reading this thread - you might also be interested in: https://www.6speedonline.com/forums/...s-failure.html

That's the problem when two threads on the same topic get started in different subforums, hard to keep track of who said what where..

 

So , looks like only NA engines are effected ?

 

Wrong. Only the V8 (NA or turbo) are effected. The V6 and diesel don't have the issue (or performance..)

 

I have seen only v6 and v8 NA , no turbo yet . I mean here and on rennlist

 

Look at the link I posted above - it is in the TURBO subforum. And you haven't seen any V6 with this problem because they don't have it.