Morning Panny owners!
So, I have a 2014 eHybrid that has had consistent problems since I owned it, but it hasnt been a problem until recently. If i charge the car overnight, it is ready to drive in the morning to work. It's a 20-25 mile drive, so the electric only lasts half way, then I run on the gas engine.

After work I'll come out to the car (9 hours later) and I cant start the car. The dash lights up, Hybrid Fault, Check Engine, Reduced Engine Power and finally "Fault Generator, Park Vehicle Safely"




If I turn the key off and on again, it goes away or sometimes just takes a few seconds and the car starts fine.

Now, this has been going on for a long time now, but it always starts up after 1-2 tries. If I try and remove what it could be and isolate this down, it makes sense that the eHybrid system sees that there is no battery power. It is saying there is a fault with it. But if the car can run on gas, do you think it's possible that there is a short or issue with what ever system controls the switch from hybrid to gas?

The dealer has had the car multiple times, never finding a solution. They cannot duplicate the problem, ever. They see the fault codes, but it does not identify the issue apparently. I find this ridiculous since even if they try to start it, and it does it again, its going to "fix itself" in 5 seconds and record the same faults again. So I am not sure what they are looking for. ANY HELP?

 

Make a service appointment with your dealer.
Hand them the keys.
Tell them to fix it.
Drive away in a comparable loaner car.
Do not return until they diagnose and fix the problem.

If they don't have the expertise to diagnose the issue, then demand that that escalate the matter to the Field Technical Manager. He can get the factory involved.
Don't allow this problem to linger until your warranty turns into a pumpkin and you're left with a potentially bricked car.

 

Seriously, I have tried. It's at the dealership now. I demanded a loaner, so they are dropping one off to me today. I asked him what has been done since Saturday morning when I talked to him:

His response: "Nothing. It hasnt been moved since then, and we aren't sure what to do next."

So I called Porsche North America, sho seemed VERY concerned. They saw I was a 3 Porsche owner and they saw an open case. They said they would call the dealership directly. When a dealer cannot find the problem or fix one, they request the mechanics call them for assistance. They said that had not been done yet.

When I told them that the dealer has put over 100+ miles on the car trying to diagnose an ignition / starting problem, they were not happy. AS AM I. I dont need a mechanic taking my $137k car home with them...

 

You want the Field Technical Manager involved. This is a regional PCNA employee who is there to provide support to cases such as yours.

When I had so many problems with mine during the first year, he was able to secure factory support and resolve my issues.

As has been written many times on this forum... P-car dealers don't have the skills or interest to solve complicated hybrid-related problems (generally speaking.)

 

That's suck !!! Please bring your Pan to different Porsche dealer or you can demand to speak to Service Manager. You must have a loaner car.

Good luck and update us about the progress of your car. I have 2016 Pan4 and 2014 Cay. My local Porsche dealers are excellent in SF bay area.

 

Well, they dropped off a loaner yesterday. No signs of the car being fixed. Porsche North America seems to be on the case, and I agree ace10, dealerships are at a loss when it comes to the eHybrid. Even when I bought the car, they had little knowledge of it, how it works, and the electronics.

Sad when your buying such an expensive car. They arent trained to sell them, service them or support them. Had I known, I may not have purchased our eHybrid.

BUT WE LOVE THIS DAMN CAR, haha.

Question for any technicians out there: If the computer records a log when faults happen, why does the dealership need to "replicate" the problem in order to diagnose it? Seems counter productive, as these cars record all data and if something triggers a fault, especially one as bad that you can't drive the car, I would think plugging in to the PCM would tell them.

Not sure why they need to drive the car for hundreds of miles until the light comes back, to show them the same codes...

 

I have a Hybrid System Failure message pop up this morning myself. Go in to start the car and it won't start. That message shows up instead with the dreaded double beeping sound.

It happened last year. The dealer checked it out and said they couldn't see anything. There is a service bulletin out for this but they said my car isn't included in the batch of VIN numbers so they didn't do anything last year. Now, the problem came back.

The interesting thing is this. If you leave the car for an hour, try to start it, it started. That's what happened last year.

This time, I left the car for a couple of hours, it started again. However, this time, the check engine light came on and stayed on. Not sure if it is related or not. But perhaps this is good because now they can actually diagnose something other than just some error message that goes away.

Anyhow, the car is in the dealership as you are reading this and I'll update you what we find.

 

I was forced to get Porsche NA involved, who seemed to be helpful in pushing the dealer to check more items. In a long shot, they do not believe they have solved any mystery, so they got approval from Porsche NA to replace the entire ePower system apparently. Not sure if that is a $5 part or $5000, but they said the motor has to come out of the car.

The problem you have sounds very similar, we would be able to stat the car up if we waited a little bit too. Constant check engine lights.

I would be VERY curious to hear what they find with yours.

 

How did you get Porsche NA involved?

Currently, this is my status. The hybrid tech and the service manager from Porsche Newport Beach, CA looked at the car last night. They were able to verify the faults. They said that there were multiple faults (Hybrid System Failure along with the Check Engine emissions light). Duh. We knew about that already.

What they can't say is why there were faults. They started a ticket with Germany. They are thinking that they will communicate with Germany on Friday to figure out how to proceed.

I'll keep you updated.

 

Update:

Today the Field Service Manager came to look at the car. He went through the error codes with their hybrid team and they found a direct part related to the error. The part was called the High Voltage Battery Controller. They say that this was the part that gave the Hybrid System Fault Error and also the Check Engine light.

They are replacing the part tomorrow then fully charging and fully depleting the battery.

If the error goes away, I could get the car back in a day or two.

 

Update:

Got my car back. They replaced part 13602 HV Control Unit. Stated that it was an internal short that caused a sporadic no start fault.

Hopefully this is the end of my issues.

 

Glad to hear you have your PAN back, and hope they fixed it. Otherwise, you have to switch to Porsche Beverly, it is long drive and heavy traffic if you are from OC.

 

Hi Everyone,

Got similar issue(s):
One time car went dead completely while driving on the highway "Fault Generator" and then "Hybrid failure. Park vehicle safely" with no breaks and power steering. Nothing exceptional that day just was driving to pick up kids from day care
Second case is a bit different. I left the car for 6 days on the parking lot with 50%+ hybrid battery charge. After returning to the car it was completely dead - both12v battery and hybrid. when I've connected jump started car said "hybrid fault park vehicle safely" so it seems that 12V battery has died hiding original sporadic issue with HV batter controller. Indeed HV battery was dead in spite of it was 50%+ before I left it.

Both times towed in to the dealership, both time zero results they can't find what's wrong with the car. Advisor claimed he escalated to PCNA but no results out of it. They claim I have to charge it every single day with approved porsche chargers otherwise I get what I get - the car may switch off hybrid system becoming a brick . which sounds ridiculous for me. This is a hybrid car and I expect it to operate in gas only mode as well as hybrid.

Any suggestions/recommendations? Is anyone car share phone number of PCNA Field Service Manager?

 

I can tell you that my car was at the dealership for over 30 days... Porsche ordered parts from Germany, replaced the actual electric control module 2 times, and that seemed to be it. I had to go through Porsche North America to get it done, because the dealer wasnt getting anywhere or finding the problems. The faults were there, but dealer could not duplicate.

From my personal experience, I highly recommend pushing the issue up the chain and getting them involved, even if you need to contact PCNA directly. I did, and it was fixed and have been good so far!

 

Hello I have Panamera S E-Hybrid 2014 plug in. I have same problem - on the dashboard show me warning - PARK VEHICLE SAFETLY. Cars give hand brade, electric motor stop, and cooling fan on engine begin runs. With the car can not moving. Have anyone tips how solved this problem? What is wrong?
Can anyone tell me how this problem should be solved?