Re-posting as my first post disappeared? - Mods -Please let me know if this is not in the right area / if i am breaking any rules by posting .

Hello to all,

First off i wanted to thank you all on this forum for the wealth of knowledge and information - You have already helped me immensely and look forward to more learning & some giving back to the community (Which is why i wanted to start this thread)

By way of introduction (Being new to the forum) im an Aerospace manufacturing engineer living in VA and decided it was about time i treated myself to a "project car" - Something that would keep my mind focused in the evenings and also something to learn new skills with.

Background
After much deliberation i settled on a wrecked (Salvage title) 2012 Porsche Cayenne S - I wanted something that my 3 Pups (and i guess, my Fiancé) would all fit into once it was working so could turn my Toyota GT86 into a weekend car!

So, long story long- I ended up buying a wrecked 2012 Cayenne S - sight unseen - from that infamous salvage auction having only seen the info & Pictures provided by them. (A small amount of insanity may have taken hold).

I knew the car needed some work on the rear end to replace the bumper, impact bar, lift gate and exhaust tips as a minimum but also the car had no electrical power at all (Odometer could not be read) so i knew there was an electrical element to this challenge as well.


Delivery & Emergency Gear Release
I took delivery of the car a week ago as it was flat-bedded to my house - The first challenge was getting the car off the flat bed.
There is plenty of info on this for the Cayenne 955 / 957 but the Porsche manual was not the best for the 958. The direction you need to push "Against" the spring force is not defined and i found this to mean you literally have to "push" the screwdriver down into the yellow hole opening for the release to work:
http://www.porscheownersmanuals.com/...rgency-Release.

Once this was done i was able to shift the car into neutral and roll the car off the flatbed and into my garage.


Initial Inspection:
The Impact damage was no worse than anticipated - The frame etc all look to be in great shape and the damage had not reached anything critical. Only the plastic bumper, crash bar, lift gate and the right exhaust tip were damaged. everything else, from initial inspection looks promising.


Getting the P!G Started:
The last few evenings i have, thanks to this forum:

• Replaced Battery (It was dead - wont hold a charge at all) - Huge thanks to @CAVU for the write up here: https://rennlist.com/forums/cayenne-...-access-3.html
  • One thing to note: If your battery is 100% dead and you have no way of moving the seat, you can still gain access to the battery compartment using the those instructions but instead of removing the Triple-square bolts (on the seat rails) you can remove the T50 TORX bolts which connect the seat rails to the seat itself it is a PITA to subsequently reinstall the seat, but when you have no choice....this helps someone int he future.
• Replaced Pyro fuse: Thank you @Nixer https://rennlist.com/forums/cayenne-...art-power.html
• Changed Oil: Thank you @Mike in CA : https://rennlist.com/forums/cayenne-...-pictures.htm

And that brings us to yesterday evening where the car fired back into life for the first time with a V8 Roar! �� (And a few hundred error warnings) - However, the shifter is stuck in park with the error message "Emergency Gearbox Operation" on the dash as well as a CEL- The only way to get the car into gear is to use the Emergency override to physically bypass the shifter interlock.


Error Messages & "Emergency Gearbox Operation":
After 20 minutes or so with the ICarsoft PORII (purchased thanks to the recommendations of this forum) i managed to clear all but a few error codes (Most of which were residual codes left over due to low voltage and / or missing lights on the lift gate).

As of right now the car starts up perfectly and the engine runs smooth but the car is stuck in park.
THe ICarsoft PORII reads the following codes:

• P070900 - Transmission range sensor, open circuit
• C12082 - Check Transmiss. control unit fault memory content
• 000125 - PSM Activation by PTM
• U0414 - Check Transmiss. control unit fault memory content
• U0402- Check Transmiss. control unit fault memory content

Im wondering if when i was trying to engage the emergency shifter override, if i managed to tweak a sensor of some kind which now means the car doesn't know the position of the shifter?


First Drive
after clearing as many codes as possible and giving the car a thorough checking over - i used the emergency shifter override to take the car for a quick drive around the block to listen for any strange noises.
Having read about all the transfer case issues feared the worst - But to my surprise, the car runs smoothly - There are no funny noises and the car is smoothly shifting through gears at all - This gives me hope that the "Emergency gearbox operation" is not a real problem with the gearbox, but rather some sensor or safety interlock on the fritz?

Help Needed:
And this is where i will start looking for help - Have any of you come across this fault in the past or is there any recommendations for what to check? Im currently tearing into the shifter assembly to see if there are any sensors or switches that need adjusting, but wanted to ask if you had any advice on what to check?

To add to the symptoms, when the drivers side door is open I get the error “Put Gear to P” (even though it is) and that the gear select light (Little red one below the speedo) only shows up when the car is off – otherwise it disappears entirely (Even with the override).


Sorry about the long post everyone and i will upload some progress pictures shortly

 

Your original thread was not removed but because you are new it was moderated and had to be approved before it could be viewed. You should have been alerted to that fact.

 

Car delivered and finally off the tow truck


Emergency Gear release - You need to push inside the yellow hole.


Assessing the damage





Accessing the battery - Note how the rails are still on the car as i did not have access to the rearward tri-square bolts.


Battery Dead


New battery installed & Signs of life!


Gearbox Emergency Operation error

 

A quick request for anyone with a 958 (auto transmission) to assist with mi diagnostics please.

could someone let me know what happens if:

• car is ON, in neutral and drivers door is open
• car is OFF, in neutral and drivers door is open

I’m trying to verify that the “shift to position p” error is due to the door being open and the car not knowing which gear it is in or not.
I’m guessing im getting this specific error because the TCU doesn’t know what gear is selected and therefore telling me to be in park- I imagine this is also why there is no indicator light on the dash telling me what gear I’m in.

thank you all
Scrotius.

 

Quick Update - Gearbox related codes have been fixed. There was sections of wiring damaged leading to the TCM underneath the passenger seat.
Wiring repaired and codes cleared.

Now on to the next phase of rebuilding - Seat belt replacement!

 

Hi, I have a 2012 CS and love it. Hope you get yours going. I don't have any info on the gear box error. However I will be following your thread just to see how you do and how to remove the front seats. Keep up the good work.

 

Thanks OcMacman!

appreciate the support.

the gearbox error turned out to be due to some damaged wiring under the passenger side seat. Once that was fixed the errors went away!


The seats are really easy to remove. There are 4 size 10 “triple square” bolts which need to be removed. Each bolt is underneath a plastic cover which bolts the seat rail to the car frame. Once those are unscrewed you want to gently lean the seat backwards to give you access to all the electrical connectors underneath the seat and disconnect those and that’s pretty much it...

I won’t be working on the car for another two weeks over the holidays but when I get a free weekend I can write up a mini guide.

-Scrotius

 

A quick update - She's almost back together!

Repair list so far includes:

• Replaced Pyro Fuse
• Replaced battery
• Repaired wiring to TCU
• Replaced rear crash bar
• Seat belts professionally rebuilt & reinstalled.
• Bent original rear hatch back into shape (temporary fix until the new one is painted)
• Replaced rear bumper cover
• + Numerous brackets, filler pieces etc.

All in all everything lines up pretty well and the car drives really well.

At this point, before i invest any more money into the car (Re-paint, replace rear hatch, replace mangled muffler) i want to get some miles on her to make sure there isn't any other issues

So at this point I've submitted paperwork to get her back on the road and figured this would be a good time to take care of some general maintenance - Starting with spark plugs, coils and air filters...



All 8 coils were split (Possibly originals?) so need to get these on order - Any recommendations?



Also all 8 spark plugs looked like they had a similar level of fouling on the tips.
I'm not sure how many miles were on the car since the last plug change (If ever?) but wanted to ask the forum how these look (No oil or wetness on any of them).




Thanks all for the continued support.
-Scrotius

 

Thanks, that really helped. Oh, while you are in there make sure you clean out those drains. one on each side of the front wheels and one under the dash inside the car. I didn't and now I have to buy a new passenger side carpet for over 1k (they cost retail 1325.00).

 

Those plugs look bad. Probably originals. Easy fix. Good there is no fluid on them though. I thought they had fixed the coil pack issue ? I had that issue in my old 2004 Cayenne.

 

Got a new set of plugs, air filters and coil packs on the way from FCP! Should be here by Thursday

 

Looks good man! You’ll enjoy your Cayenne S. 3 years into ownership of my 2011 and I still love her like it was day 1. Keeping up with the maintenance is definitely key.

 

Thank you TJ!

Really looking forward to it. Havent had a lot of time to work on it recently but planning to catch up on all the maintenance before i turn the car into my DD.
The to-do list is ever growing but she's coming together well

 

Good luck man! Hit us up if you have any questions. This community is pretty awesome and really goes above and beyond to help folks like me!

 

Any up dates?