I have 2004 Porsche Cayenne which sometimes makes a thumping noise when moving from a full stop or slowly moving in a bumper to bumper traffic. My mechanic cannot diagnose the failing part cause of frequency of the problem and with a vehicle on the lift there is no problem cause there is no load which is needed to reproduce the problem. He does not want to go through a costly elimination process and advised me to keep driving until the problem becomes obvious and easy to identify. Has anyone out there had a similar problem and what was the cause of it? How much was the repair?

 

it's your driveshaft. Needs replacing. This is a known issue with '04 Cayennes. Got mine done last month. Should be covered.

 

Flintworks, thanks, I think you nailed it. There is actually two sources of the noise:
1) under the center console - very rare though, but it seems like I will have to have drive shaft done soon
2) front right - bigger problem, always after brakes are applied, when moving again, one thump or multiple when moving in bumper-to-bumper traffic, sometimes the noise seems like a hanging, rocking metal hitting a metal. How would you troubleshoot this to make sure that this is a loose brake caliper? Everything seems to be pretty tight?

Paf

 

My cayenne have those same symptoms, and I have to replace the drive shaft $689 then and $720 now from Suncoast. Tell them you are a 6speed member and maybe they can get you an 10 % discount. Work for me . Also have to replace both front control arms because there is no way to only change the bearings.

 

I had similar problems with my CS. Mine would occur when I was in reverse. I would step on the brake and right before it stopped, the left rear would clunk. Drive forward and no problems. The rear brakes needed replacing. Once I put on the new brakes the problem went away. Now the right front brake caliper is starting to do the clunk.

When I replaced the rear brakes, I noticed that the pads, calipers and the pad guides on the caliper had heavy deposits of brake dust. I attributed these deposits to the problem. The deposits prevented the the pads from moving properly. You would apply the brakes and the pad would move closer to the rotor. The pad would bind on the deposits. Apply more brake pressure and the pad would break free from the deposits and hit and grab the rotor. Hence, the clunk. That's my theory anyways. Ever since I replaced that brake pads, the problem went away.

 

Vertex Auto have the Cayenne Driveshafts for $389.00. with a $150.00 core. They claim to fit the Drive Shaft with a "beefier, more robust bearing" that is made to last longer then the factory original that retails for $750.00

 

I have a 06 Cayenne S that had the notorious thumping noise. I replaced the driveshaft and my wife said yesterday she heard a faint sound that was similar.. Any thoughts? I thought the driveshaft would put this to rest. I am going to drive the car a little tonight and see if I can hear anything.

Thanks,

Brian

 

Had a similar encounter, and had a 4 wheel alignment and balance done, it fixed my problem, maybe it will fix yours. Best of luck.

 

Thanks for the feedback. I haven't driven it so hopefully it is something simple. I thought I was doing good by replacing the driveshaft!

 

Cardan shaft if you feel a bumping like a thick branch under the arm console passenger seat......few solutions.

1. go to an offroad shop and ask them to inspect the bearing and rubber housing....should be obvious......repack it and replace....150.

2. Do the core replacement for 389 but it requires your car sit with no driveshaft from my assumptions.

3. suncoast has the OEM replacement...........expensive once labor hits.

 

Funny part is that I already replaced it. I haven't heard any noises so maybe my wife was hearing things.

 

Sorry I did not post the problem resolution to the thread that I started.
It took months of troubleshooting to figure out what was causing the noise and surprisingly, there was no defect at all. My Cayenne ended up at Porsche dealership's service dept puzzling everyone for three days until one mechanic suggested changing ... the tires. They had a set of wheels with brand new tires ready for another customer and when they put them on my Cayenne, the problem went away.
The problem was with a set of front tires being more worn out then the rear set.
Due to a difference in radius of the wheels, the traction and all wheel drive controllers that monitor a revolving speed of each wheel, "thought" that the difference of speed between front and rear due to the smaller radius of front wheels was caused by a slippage and tried to componsate for that by adding more power to the front wheels. And because of the load, this additional boost to the wheels hit a resistance and overloaded the driveshaft causing a thumping noise.
Got myself a set of new tires 8 months ago and have had no problems since then.
This functionality is always on and only turnes itself off when a low tire pressure is detected. This makes sense since, a low tire pressure is most likely to change a radius of the tire/wheel.
So, next time if you hear a thumping noise, you might want lower a tire pressure until is detected by an oboard computer and test this scenario potentially saving yourself a lot in unnecessary and costly repairs.
Cheers

 

I had a similar sound from center console and it cost me $960 total, the paperwork says cardan shaft. 955-421-020-15

 

sorry to did up the old post.
could this noise be the wheel bearing? mine gets pretty annoying now and seems the noise is related to the speed of the car. i ordered the bearing already and will replace them next week. will see...

 

I am having this same issue, is it worth the repacking for 150, and are the rebuilt ones any good? Seems way cheaper than the OEM ones.