Am I right to be angry about this?

[robrobc]

I am fairly new to Porsche Ownership so I thought I may benefit from your experience and advice in the following matter relating to my 05 Cayenne.

Approx 2 weeks ago during a heavy rain shower one of the rear parking sensors failed. A common occurence I am told, relatively straightforward to fix, so no worries. I went to the back of the car to open the swing arm spare wheel carrier and ................nothing.
Groaned about it a bit but since late, left for morning.

Went out next morning and the rear sensors worked and the swing arm opened. Great I thought.
2 days later after more rain, sensors failed and swing arm stopped working......not so great.............
So, I took my Cayenne in to an independent who ran a diagnostic and identified the parking sensor at fault but could find nothing relating to the swing arm carrier.................and when I mean nothing, it was not registered as being there!!!!

So after that thought best to go to an OPC, get a fuller diagnostic and a road map to sort things out.

So, booked in and went in and car was checked over and following reported.

1. Parking Sensor.............already knew that.
2. Issues with Swing Arm would need strip down and investigation.

So, talked through my observations about a possible connection between the parking sensors and the swing arm. OPC was a bit dismissive and I thought, "Hey Ho.......OPC must know what it is doing so go with it"
Car booked back in for work.

Car taken back and work commenced.
Phone call 3 hours later to be advised, parking sensor to be fitted and the issue with the swing arm was the motor which was broken/busted/not working. Will need a new motor ......cost £900 or so. Swallowed hard and said yes. .........better order one...............back order from Germany.

Picks car up, sensor done whilst I wait.............and I think you can guess what is coming

Next Day the Rear Swing Arm works perfectly and has done for the last 3 days.........so I nip out and blast the b*****y out the back of the car with the pressure washer (taking care with sensitive bits) in an attempt to cause the problem of water ingress, which I am told has damaged beyond repair this motor that is now working!!!! and despite my efforts I cannot get it to stop working.

So I am currently trying to resist going and shouting at the OPC but I would like to clarify a few things.

1. My physics is fairly basic, but I understand that electricity flows through closed circuits, if a motor(which is a closed circuit) does not work it is because either there is no electricity getting to it OR something inside the motor is broken. Given the OPC states that the motor needs replacing is it fair to assume that they tested the existing motor and found it faulty/broken? So how has it started working again?

2. An electric motor either works or it does not...........the control equipment leading up to the motor may be intermittent, Am I correct in this thinking?

3. If this is an issue connecting parking sensors to the swing arm, what would you do?
I am inclined to leave it well alone and should another sensor fail causing the swing arm to stop working then just go and get another sensor replaced.

4. Would you talk this through with the OPC or just cancel the back order parts and walk away?

5. Since the swing of the arm is not motorised I am perplexed as to exactly what this electric motor does as the release catch is controlled by a solenoid actuator. Any ideas?

Many thanks for the help and sorry it is a bit long winded

Rob

[telford_mike]

If it's working, leave it be.

[Slippydiff]

robrobc said:

4. Would you talk this through with the OPC or just cancel the back order parts and walk away?

Sorry to hear you're having these issues.
Their diagnosis sounds questionable at best. If you've not paid a deposit for the motor that's on order, I'd cancel it and walk away then I'd find an Porsche independant that you're confident in (ask on here you'll get plenty of responses !) and ask them to diagnose the issue properly. If it's the motor, try and find a second hand item from one of the decent Porsche breakers.

HTH

[_gez_]

robrobc said:

5. Since the swing of the arm is not motorised I am perplexed as to exactly what this electric motor does as the release catch is controlled by a solenoid actuator. Any ideas?

I don't know much about Cayennes - is it meant to be motorised and therefore the OPC has got it right? £900 sounds step for something that just realeses a catch, even by Porsche standards.

[christer]

Be respectful and cancel the order asap and see how you go imho.

[redback911]

As others have mentioned, no contract or deposit on the part ordered? Then definitely cancel it, especially if it looks like original OPC diagnosis is dodgy.

Also I am constantly amazed at the OPC mark-ups mentioned in various PH stories. I think its well worth getting a second opinion from another non-OPC Porsche dealer. When will OPC realise we are in a depression and they need to adjust their pricing and service accordingly.

[Thom987]

Most dealerships, not just Porsche, seem to use trial and error when fixing cars. Sadly its the customer who usually pays for this approach. Cancel the new part and explain to the service manager what has happened.

[robrobc]

I appreciate all your thoughts and advice.

Looking at the common theme running through your responses, I think I am going to talk to the OPC (nicely) explain my predicament regarding the diagnosis, as I have not paid a deposit I will cancel with them go and find a good independent specialist and go from there.

Regarding the actual purpose of the motor, I am still stumped as to what it does. I have google'd extensively and can find no mention of an electric motor. If I find out I will post up.


Thanks again.

[robrobc]

_gez_ said:

I don't know much about Cayennes - is it meant to be motorised and therefore the OPC has got it right? £900 sounds step for something that just realeses a catch, even by Porsche standards.

This is where I am struggling..............the locking mechanism is actuated by a solenoid with a micro switch mounted on the release button on the frame. The solenoid has already been replaced by my local garage (cost £90 for the VAG part as opposed to £400 some odd for the same part from Porsche.I personally saw the solenoid tested and it was utterly dead)
After the new solenoid was fitted it worked perfectly until the sensor failed.
Having spoken to my local garage they are scratching their heads as when they stripped down the entire swing arm there was no trace of an electric motor.

If and when I get to the bottom of this I will report back.

Attached some photos to hopefully aid the description

Rob

[robrobc]

[robrobc]

[thegoose]

Here's 2 further suggestions:

1) if you go to www.porsche.com/uk and look around you should find the parts catalogue.
I just looked and this seems to be the link http://www.porsche.com/all/media/pdf/originalparts...


You can then look to see if there is a motor on there, or alternatively ask the OPC of the part number for the motor, then look for this in the catalogue

ETA - just looked: Page 8 of the pdf seems correct, and item 43 is shown on the next page as "...motor"

2) it should be possible to disconnect parking sensors individually to try and replicate the fault, although I don't know whether you can access the connectors yourself or you'll need your local place to do it for you. If the swingarm still works regardless of which/how many sensors are disconnected then it is perhaps a coincidence that the swingarm failed when it did.

[David W.]

No sure what the whole system cost new but I'm sure it would pay for many emergency call-outs to a tire Co, and, they would do the dirty work for you. My 4x4s do many miles off road on rough tracks and I can't remember when I last had a puncture (tempting fate I know).

[robrobc]

thegoose said:

Here's 2 further suggestions:

1) if you go to www.porsche.com/uk and look around you should find the parts catalogue.
I just looked and this seems to be the link http://www.porsche.com/all/media/pdf/originalparts...


You can then look to see if there is a motor on there, or alternatively ask the OPC of the part number for the motor, then look for this in the catalogue

ETA - just looked: Page 8 of the pdf seems correct, and item 43 is shown on the next page as "...motor"

2) it should be possible to disconnect parking sensors individually to try and replicate the fault, although I don't know whether you can access the connectors yourself or you'll need your local place to do it for you. If the swingarm still works regardless of which/how many sensors are disconnected then it is perhaps a coincidence that the swingarm failed when it did.

Many thanks for this.......it seems that the part in question is 955 624 524 00, and this is clearly a small motor in the larger Locking Device (955 722 031 01) so I am guessing the £900 or so is for this completet part.

I am going to go with your suggestion and get my local garage to disconnect and test.

Many thanks to all for your help.

Rob