Well, my mom's birthday is Sep 3rd so my daughter and I planned to head up to Carson City NV to visit with her. Started out Friday afternoon and loaded up the Cayenne with 3 days of cloths and our dog for the trip. Everything went well as we headed to Hwy 88 over the Sierra's.

So, about 170 miles out I get the infamous "coolant level warning" on the dash. Now I know about the coolant pipe issue and even had my system pressure checked by my local dealer earlier this summer with no issues. I looked for steam or the smell of coolant and did not have either, so I continued driving keeping my eye out for signs of issues... a few minutes later is when I started to see my coolant temp climb. Knowing I was doomed I pulled over to a turnout on this two lane highway out of the way of traffic. Now mind you, it was about 8:30pm at night and we were on a very isolated freeway in the middle of the Sierra's. Thankfully my cell phone was able to get a signal holding it at arms length and pointed north (otherwise no signal at all!) and I made a call to my step dad to come rescue us.

Fast forward 3 hours and a CHP car finally drives by and stops to check on us. I explained the issue and he asked if we needed help. I said my step dad was on the way and we should be fine. He mentioned however that he was on his last run of the night and no further emergency vehicles would be on this road till tomorrow. He seemed a little worried about just leaving us in the wilderness...

Just then my step dad drives up and we transfer all of our stuff including the dog into his Rav 4 and make our way home...



I then have the fun task the next day of finding a way to get my truck fixed and home safe. I had roadside assistance through my car insurance but could not find any tow company that would pick up the Cayenne due to the remote location. My other issue is that having it towed back to San Jose would cost $1000's of dollars which my insurance was not happy about approving. The nearest Porsche dealer was over 100 miles away regardless...

So, knowing this was a problem and wanting to get my Cayenne back to the bay area for repair I came up with a great solution that not only enabled me to get myself, my daughter, our stuff, and the dog back home but also the Cayenne to my local dealer. Not only that but it was cheap enough that my insurance company was willing to cover it under my roadside assistance clause. My brilliant solution is below...
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.


I have never seen a Porsche sales guy run so quick until today when I pulled up in that rig! They had several customers in the main showroom watching me pull up. Of course, he asked me to pull up in back to drop it off and they would open the service gate for me (Service was closed today).

So after all this fun, tomorrow I get to see how expensive this wonderful plastic pipe replacement will run me. I hope everyone else had a better weekend than me!

 

that is a classic return to "Rome"

 

Priceless!

 

man that sucks, had mine replaced under warranty. great peace of mind.

 

awesome...thanks for sharing.

 

LOL - Sanford and Son towing.

 

wow, well I thought my weekend was bad (had to babysit my wifes little sister and friend) but yours was definitely worse. Glad you got home safe and sound.

 

Sorry to hear of your troubles, mine left me stranded at the mall with the whole family last week.. not nearly as bad as the sierra's.. Stll waiting for the fix, ad to order the coolant pipes. funny thing is when I bought the car they said the pipes were replaced??!. Thankfully I'm still under cpo.

 

I almost did the same thing when my coolant pipes let go at the top of Loveland Pass. I called all the tow companies. Then after falling to the floor in shock at what they wanted to tow a Cayenne. I called Uhaul.

I got lucky and a friend with a body shop sent a tow truck to get my Cayenne for less then the Uhaul would have cost.

....but the Uhaul truck and trailer would have been cheaper than any of the tow companies.

 

Okay, one more fun update.... just found out that the third party warranty I bought with the Cayenne from the dealer (Great Lakes Warranty) just went out of business two months ago. I still have 2 years of coverage left. Not sure I have any options to get my money back... murphy's law strikes again! LOL

 

That is so funny. I wonder if the people in the showroom were given a "story" as to the reason a cayenne was on a uhaul trailer

 

What's your mileage? My indy had confirmed my CTT still have the plastic pipes. Since we do not have a Porsche dealer in my area, I have to order it. I plan to do so next month from Suncoast and have the kit shipped over together with some OEM coolant. I am set to have them replaced this December when my family goes out on an overseas trip. Thanks for sharing your story. Kinda makes me worried about mine though.

 

Damn dude...

Where on 88? I drive through there all the time.

At least you didn't lose your lone Audi key at Kirkwood during a blizzard last year. Had to leave it overnight and get it towed to Reno so they could make me a key. That was a $500 ski day and I'm a passholder

 

My Cayenne has about 95k miles on it... and was pressure tested by Porsche a few months ago. No warning on this...

As for where, it was the the 55.5 mile marker on Hwy 88 a few miles west of Morman Emigrant Trail. Way in the middle of now where! LOL

 

lol, i love how you kept a positive outlook on things. Nice job keeping your cool! Hope it gets fixed properly!