GT3 992.1 (MY 2022) Wiring Damage Caused by Rodent
Discussion
I bought a GT3 992.1 four weeks ago from a Porsche Approved garage. On a TrackDay last week, on my first lap, the car developed an 'Engine Fault' -'Driving Permitted' - 'Visit Workshop' alert. I called out Porsche Assist who reset but it appeared again immediately - day over. The car is now in a Porsche garage under investigation and racking up a bill - initial cause said to be a mouse has chewed wires in the engine compartment somewhere, and if so, warranty may not cover. Remedial action is not yet clear. Has anyone come across before?
Sorry to hear about your bad news.
There is a guy from the New Forest area that had the same thing happen to his 991 GT3. It was out of action for months and the final bill was well into the five figures. He's a Youtuber and did a video on it. You can search for him under "The Car Guys".
There is a guy from the New Forest area that had the same thing happen to his 991 GT3. It was out of action for months and the final bill was well into the five figures. He's a Youtuber and did a video on it. You can search for him under "The Car Guys".
Many thanks for the advice re insurance and ‘The Car Guys’ and will definitely check it out. Investigations continue and several areas of damaged wiring discovered plus a blown fuse. I’m just waiting on advice re next steps from the Porsche garage. Difficult to say when damage was caused as I only bought car three weeks before Engine Fault emerged.
Assuming you're in the UK, the consumer protection laws are pretty strong. I'm not giving legal advice so worth looking into for yourself but I believe that you can reject the car for any major faults in the first 30 days. And within the first 6 months it should be the selling dealer's problem to fix unless they can prove that the damage occurred in your ownership.
Thanks, Consumer advice much appreciated. My problem is various areas of wires chewed, blown fuse…Getting confidence that problems have been fixed and won’t become an ongoing saga are not easy. Garage even mentioned today to fully check everything would require engine to come out. Proving when wires were first chewed not easy but as I bought car 3 weeks before perhaps burden of proof on the selling garage?
GT4Ian said:
Thanks, Consumer advice much appreciated. My problem is various areas of wires chewed, blown fuse Getting confidence that problems have been fixed and won t become an ongoing saga are not easy. Garage even mentioned today to fully check everything would require engine to come out. Proving when wires were first chewed not easy but as I bought car 3 weeks before perhaps burden of proof on the selling garage?
The burden is on them to prove the damage wasn’t there…. That’s the case for 6 months after sale, so 3 weeks should be in your favour.I had issues with rodents and wires on my 991 GT3 - only became apparent when the axle lift stopped working and got stuck in 'lift' mode. Thankfully the OPC were able to rewire the part that the rat / mouse had got through rather than replace the whole lift mechanism. Stll cost me the best part of £2k all in given time taken to diagnose, rebuild etc.
When I got pest control to visit they said it's common with German cars as apparently the wires are coated with some sort of soy based coating, which is better for the environment but turns out is also tasty for rodents...
If your car is garage (like mine), make sure you have got weather strips blocking any entry holes and get a few traps down just in case.
Hope you get it sorted with minimal fuss and cost - so frustrating.
When I got pest control to visit they said it's common with German cars as apparently the wires are coated with some sort of soy based coating, which is better for the environment but turns out is also tasty for rodents...
If your car is garage (like mine), make sure you have got weather strips blocking any entry holes and get a few traps down just in case.
Hope you get it sorted with minimal fuss and cost - so frustrating.
My garage is very tight / secure. So weird to hear of inbuilt attraction via soy covered wiring. As I’ve only had the car for 3 weeks before this trouble, it is likely this all happened with previous owner. My Macan S has sat outside for 4 years with no issues. Maybe mice like GT cars!
Given the good weather it’s unlikely rodents caused the damage in your short ownership…rodents tend to venture inside in Autumn, so it’s very unlikely given the good weather.
Obviously we don’t know where you live, if it’s a built up area you may have quite a few furry friends about too.
I’m a grain farmer, so have too much experience of the little feckers.
Numbers were huge last winter….
Obviously we don’t know where you live, if it’s a built up area you may have quite a few furry friends about too.
I’m a grain farmer, so have too much experience of the little feckers.
Numbers were huge last winter….
Hose this stuff on the engine bay/components regularly :
https://www.liqui-moly.com/en/marten-spray-p001051...
https://www.liqui-moly.com/en/marten-spray-p001051...
GT4Ian said:
I bought a GT3 992.1 four weeks ago from a Porsche Approved garage. On a TrackDay last week, on my first lap, the car developed an 'Engine Fault' -'Driving Permitted' - 'Visit Workshop' alert. I called out Porsche Assist who reset but it appeared again immediately - day over. The car is now in a Porsche garage under investigation and racking up a bill - initial cause said to be a mouse has chewed wires in the engine compartment somewhere, and if so, warranty may not cover. Remedial action is not yet clear. Has anyone come across before?
I feel for you on this. On balance the mice quite probably got stuck in before you bought it. I’d therefore talk to a solicitor, and also think about getting an engineer’s report. Not sure if the latter might help but definitely worth exploring in my view. Either way, very best of luckMany thanks for all of the guidance and suggestions - very much appreciated. Hopefully I don’t have to go down the legal route and the Porsche garage does the right thing. My concern is that they might try and force a quick fix and not accept responsibility for making things right, so that we avoid ongoing issues in the future. An independent engineers report sounds like
a good idea.
a good idea.
Here is an update on the rodent damage issue. As a reminder, I bought the car on the 22 July and the engine fault warning appeared three weeks later on a Bedford Autodrome TrackDay, first lap. After initial investigation at the nearest Porsche Centre to me, they found a blown 15A fuse that protects about 7 different circuits including the 'exhaust flap actuator' and others. After three hours work to remove the rear bumper for investigation, they couldn't find damaged wiring but found a chewed coolant overflow pipe and observed evidence of rodents nesting and considerable debris. The fault didn't reappear on an extended test drive by the technician.
The Porsche Centre suggested that if the fault reoccurred, then advice would be to remove the engine to inspect the wiring harnesses at the rear of the engine. I was unwilling to accept the car back when the root cause of the 15A fuse failure remained unknown.
After contacting the selling Porsche Centre, they collected the car a week or so later for their own investigation. The technicians there found chewed wiring for one of the 'exhaust flap actuators, so likely cause of the blown fuse. The Porsche Centre wanted to repair the damaged wiring, replace the coolant pipe / expansion tank and return the car. However, by this time I had lost complete confidence in the car and told them so. They reluctantly agreed to remove the engine for a complete investigation, which did not find further damage, including none to the wiring harnesses behind the engine. The car was returned to me on the 25th September, so the car had been in a garage for six weeks in total. During this time I missed further TrackDays.
The total time spent working on the car was about 20 hours, hourly rate £300, so £6,000. There was also the cost of £1,800 for parts associated with the repair, plus engine removal. The selling Porsche Centre picked up the bill, at no cost to me.
The whole situation was stressful and frustrating, plus missing TrackDays. Though I did receive a bottle of wine as a consolation - lucky me! Let's hope I can finally enjoy the car and not look back. A sobering experience in deed!
The Porsche Centre suggested that if the fault reoccurred, then advice would be to remove the engine to inspect the wiring harnesses at the rear of the engine. I was unwilling to accept the car back when the root cause of the 15A fuse failure remained unknown.
After contacting the selling Porsche Centre, they collected the car a week or so later for their own investigation. The technicians there found chewed wiring for one of the 'exhaust flap actuators, so likely cause of the blown fuse. The Porsche Centre wanted to repair the damaged wiring, replace the coolant pipe / expansion tank and return the car. However, by this time I had lost complete confidence in the car and told them so. They reluctantly agreed to remove the engine for a complete investigation, which did not find further damage, including none to the wiring harnesses behind the engine. The car was returned to me on the 25th September, so the car had been in a garage for six weeks in total. During this time I missed further TrackDays.
The total time spent working on the car was about 20 hours, hourly rate £300, so £6,000. There was also the cost of £1,800 for parts associated with the repair, plus engine removal. The selling Porsche Centre picked up the bill, at no cost to me.
The whole situation was stressful and frustrating, plus missing TrackDays. Though I did receive a bottle of wine as a consolation - lucky me! Let's hope I can finally enjoy the car and not look back. A sobering experience in deed!
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