2003 Cayenne S - £4k bargain or Bork bus of pain?

[TEKNOPUG]

Manual quotes upto 1.5l / 1000km Mind you, that's for every engine variant, so just arse covering (as Porsche have a stellar recent history of well built, reliable engines....)

Mine could do with a new PCV in fairness and it's been running 0-40w all it's life, will change it out to 10-40w when I get some free time.

Little fun fact, the bolts that hold on the cabin filter are not 4mm or 5mm, oh no, they're 3/16s....

[tr7v8]

Mine ran 15W/50 from the day I got it & never used a drop & was quiet. In fact I have 12 odd litres, 2 filters & 2 drain plugs & washers here if anyone wants them for some beer vouchers.

[BenjiA]

Time for a One year ownership update.

I can confirm, all is well. There's been a bit more spend - the ABS light wasn't going out despite changing the sensor twice . Took it to Elite Porsche in Belevedere a local specialist. They noticed that the surface of the sensor was scraped - new wheel bearing needed. Apparently a pig of a job, and not cheap - £932 all in (including yet another ABS sensor.)

Elite seem like decent chaps and they had some deceent metal in and what looked like a few engine rebuilds on the go for 911s. I'll use them again should the need arise.

The Aircon also stopped working and as my Icarsoft still doesn't fully talk to the Cayenne I took it to an Aircon shop - their diagnostic tool showed quite a few faults, with the blend doors and motors under the dash, but the main problem being the exterior temp sensor. With that replaced, it started pumping out cool air again. Nice cheap fix, result.

121,000 miles hit with some Autobahn/Autoroute travels to the Black forest earlier this year and a couple of trips to Scotland. Performed faultlessly.
Finally did the headlight polish, which has freshened it up nicely.




Got a second Oil analysis done when It hit 6k miles since the last change, it seems, with slightly high AL and 2% fuel dilution it's time to go again. I'll stick with Miller's 5w-40 CFS nanotech as it seemed very smooth and quiet. At idle, you can't tell the engine's turning over which is nice.



The super high Moly and Boron are due to the Ceratec I added as an offering to the gods of Bore-score, will probably go for some of that again. Fuel consumption did seem to go down ever so slighlty from 21 to 23 mpg so maybe it does something or maybe the Miller's Oil does what it claims.

Total costs for the year, excluding purchase price are £7,668, so 64p a mile, plus fuel.




Hoping for a cheaper year coming up to bring the cost per mile down.

The "Jimi fix" of fuel hose on the centre Propshaft bearing seems to have settled down a bit - there was a slight vibration probably due to my cack-hand alignment, but all is smooth now. I'm planning on getting underneath to inspect it and pack some grease in to the bearing whilst I'm under there.

The Landsails are surrisingly holding up well, but will be due for a change when the excellent winter rubber I bought from Tv7V8 on here goes back on, with the Sport Techno 19"s needing a refurb at that point too.

Have to say, although I would have preferred an estate, I do genuinely like this car - it's quiet and comfortable, and the noise it makes between 5-6,500 rpm is something else, even with the standard exhaust. I did enquire about getting the secondary cats removed, to free up a bit more noise and apparently about 10bhp (I won't be gsetting a rolling road test done to prove that)

The one thing that does constantly surprise me with the Cayenne is the sheer amount of heat it produces - the cooling system was completely refreshed when the plastic pipes went, so it doesn't overheat, but especially in this weather, when you get out you can feel the blast of hot air from under the bonnet.



After a few hours blasting through France whilkt stopping for a quick dog walk it seemed worthwhile opening the bonnet just to let some of the heat out (it was mid 30's)

Thanks for reading, the car's not going anywhere until it breaks really badly, so I'll keep updating this when something happens.

Edited by BenjiA on Tuesday 9th August 11:05

Edited by BenjiA on Tuesday 9th August 11:10

[C70R]

BenjiA said:

Thanks for reading, the car's not going anywhere until it breaks really badly, so I'll keep updating this when something happens.

I've really enjoyed the warts and all nature of this thread, and I've approached my recent Discovery purchase in a similar manner.

Presumably on the above, given how much you've 'invested' already, it would take a total engine failure to render this one beyond repair?

[Gargamel]

Nice thread, lots of interesting insights and some good applied knowledge.

As a former shed runner, I recognise the conundrum of when to walk away.

Less sheddy I bought a Nissan Pathfinder for 10k, and first thing about a month in, the clutch started slipping, was almost 1,500 for a new clutch and associated trauma.

Ran faultlessly for the next 6 years and nearly 100k miles. So you never know.

[BenjiA]

I think an Engine failure would be the end of it, agreed, a couple of grand a year for ongoing maintainance I'd be happy with. Anything more and I might get fed up.

[C70R]

BenjiA said:

I think an Engine failure would be the end of it, agreed, a couple of grand a year for ongoing maintainance I'd be happy with. Anything more and I might get fed up.

That's pretty healthy, and kind of where I'm at with the Discovery. I spent 3k-ish on it to 'recommission' before I collected, and the dealer spent 1500 quid to fix issues that arose after purchase.

Hopefully I can keep ongoing maintenance to 1.5k or so a year. Even though there are plenty of things that can (and do) go wrong, being the petrol version there's no single massive failure point (like the Cayenne engine). So, death by a thousand cuts it is...

[TEKNOPUG]

21mpg? What is this witchcraft?!

[Brother D]

This is a great thread with the real-world costs. I wish I had done that on mine : )

[Court_S]

Glad to hear that things are settling down running this OP. It’s certainly stung with a few bills, but a guess the depreciation on a newer car would probably outweigh the running costs (maybe).

218mpg doesn’t seem all that bad it’s I’m honest.

[2Btoo]

Court_S said:

218mpg doesn’t seem all that bad it’s I’m honest.

Doesn't seem at all bad to me!

[DanG355]

I really like the Cayenne and if you look at it as a £60k car then the running costs are comparable for what you would expect. If you buy one at under £10k and set another £5k to £10k aside to run it then you can have a very good premium car that still feels like a £60k car for a lot less money.

If you consider it a £7k car then have to spend another £7k+ in a year to keep in running (excluding tax, fuel, MOT and insurance) then it seems hideously expensive.

Anyone thinking about picking up one of these or any other 10+ year old premium 4x4 for under £10k needs to go into it with their eyes wide open.

This is a great thread and I enjoy the updates and like the car. I also hope the next 12 months are less expensive given you have now covered a lot of the more expensive jobs and the cost per mile should come down over time. I am looking forward to an update from PPBB on his Cayenne off road project too...

[ATM]

DanG355 said:

I am looking forward to an update from PPBB on his Cayenne off road project too...

Have you seen the thread from Escy about his Cayenne?

[Austin_Metro]

OP, thanks for the continued updates. I do hope y2 is easier on you. You’ve probably saved me 1000s as I now know not to buy one, as much as I love the idea.

Does Mrs OP know of the value for money? I’d have to stay silent …

[C70R]

DanG355 said:

Anyone thinking about picking up one of these or any other 10+ year old premium 4x4 for under £10k needs to go into it with their eyes wide open.

Absolutely, and too few people do.

I honestly believe that the majority of old SUV unreliability issues stem from penny-pinching ownership.

Apart from the Discovery. That's just rubbish.

[whytheory]

Great update, this is one of my favourite threads on here.

£900+ for a wheel bearing, that's crazy!

[Escy]

That is crazy but I wonder if there was a few hours of diagnostics done first. I did one on mine a month back, it was hard work, it all felt a bit more HGV than car, my generic wheel bearing kit wasn't large enough.

Since doing it I've got an issue with my ABS, reading this last update makes my wonder if it needs doing again. Had to hack out the old abs sensor, possibly damaged something.

[bolidemichael]

How's the bork bus getting on?

[BenjiA]

All going well in Cayenne land. Total cost (apart from fuel) in the last 7 months, £293! Fuel for 5,000 miles is only going to be £2,250 ish...





Obviously, apart from the MOT most of this was optional, not driven by catastrophic failure. £31 for the smallest bit of plastic to finish off the drivers side wiper was the ultimate in Porsche tax, but once I had realised it was missing I couldn’t unsee it and had to get it replaced.






I have literally just done the oil and filter, and whilst I had the undertrays off I thought I should do a little bit of rust proofing on the front subframe. For a 20 year old car it really does look good under there imho, but better to be safe that sorry. Gave it a rub down with a wire brush and a wire wheel on the drill, some Dinitrol RC900 rust converter and some Dintrol black wax, should be good now for a few more years.
Before




After


As Porsche east London phoned me up offering an MOT appointment I thought I would take them up on it, hoping that they’d do a proper look around it and try and sell me some extra work, which they did and It’s looking pretty good. Clean MOT with no advisories!



Did make me laugh that they recommended new wipers, given that they were new in September. Under bonnet light is hanging down and Screenwash reservoir cap has lost it’s tether. That’s probably £60 for those. Crappy rubber bellows on the shocks well perished, but to replace those is a massive job and best done when changing the Shocks or springs, as once they are off you might as well…
I think, medium term it would be good to put new shocks on, still a bit bouncy and possibly underdamped. As I really don’t fancy messing with spring compressors on the frankly enormous shocks, I’m thinking of buying a set of BC racing coilovers, which come fully assembled. Should be an easy DIY right? Bit of Plus gas and maybe a new impact wrench. I know coilovers don’t often get a good reputation, but I’ve read that these ones give a ride similar to an Air suspended Cayenne in “comfort” so might be worth a go. It doesn’t go off road that much so I might drop it a touch to reduce the comedy wheelarch gap

https://balancemotorsport.co.uk/bc-racing-br-serie...

Miller’s Oils analysis went off this morning, so I’ll know what the Al and Si values are in a week or so, just to ensure that if bore-score does start occurring that I get a bit of notice to dump it on we buy any car or do an LS swap or something.
This is a fairly long discussion on Oils and oil analysis from Porsche club of America – interestingly they mention that AluSil blocks need the Molybdenum additive to protect the bores ( I think they mention Ceratec by name here – which given they work for another Oil manufacturer is cool) and show Oil analysis from a bore-scored 911. Provided I keep getting Silicon levels around 10 after 5-6k miles then I think I can put that down to atmospheric contamination rather than a block issue.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oc4TBJPs8zQ

I have used 5W-50 oil, as recommended and sold to me by TR7V8 on here, who had some left over from his Cayenne (Hi Jim!) and confirmed by Mike at Miller’s Oils who found this thread and emailed me following my last Oil analysis. Can of Ceratec added too as usual.

Here's the beast in service position.

[url]

[BenjiA]

Next job is to fix this annoying bit of trim that came loose.


And give it a good wash!



I bought a brake fluid tester (£4 from ebay) as I don't have any service history, no idea when it was last changed. That might be fun, but the brake fluid reservoir is under one of the beauty covers, so some research due before I can check that.