£750* of Beige Porsche Cayenne
Discussion
eth2190 said:
RustyNissanPrairie said:
I beat you by £250! 
(but you have cruise and pano roof!)
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
Great cars - love mine but it's a bit thirsty for knocking about/commuting to work.
I did have a good read of your thread before making my mind up on getting one. It was useful perspective on the DIY upkeep side of things. (but you have cruise and pano roof!)https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
Great cars - love mine but it's a bit thirsty for knocking about/commuting to work.
The job for this evening was setting up this Airvidox odour eliminator to get rid of any residual smells. It's pretty potent stuff.
Various parts should start to arrive in the next few days, so more to come.
The parts ID manual is also available in PDF but you are better off going on Eurospares.co.uk website where the same manual is categorised (and has prices).
OEM service parts are normal prices from Autodoc, 9Apart Porsche breakers were good for Porsche specific parts (and are local to me!)
Tinkering wise - mine has been fine, fasteners have come undone without issue. Make sure you change the diff and gearbox/transfer box oils if they haven't been done - the service schedule is 160k miles which is way to long.
I've used Mannol 3390 in the gearbox (and in my Volvo's for years), Ravenol in the transfer and standard GL5 in the diffs.
If you are thinking of off-roading it then Eurowise & Berg Performance in the US are leading in modifications. I have seen Estonian copies of Eurowise coil lift kits on eBay for sensible prices. Darkside do a few bits for the 955.
As you've read - in a year of ownership mine has done the NC500, towed a caravan, and been to Prague and back without issue - good motoring for £500. Hopefully yours is as good!
Edited by RustyNissanPrairie on Tuesday 11th March 15:20
Edited by RustyNissanPrairie on Tuesday 11th March 15:22
RustyNissanPrairie said:
In preparation for servicing the Cayenne I picked up some beefier ramps on marketplace for £30. My old ones were only rated to 2 tonne and I never had much faith in them. These should be more than strong enough.
I took the car to a local mot place to get it on the lift for an inspection. I find it worthwhile as it's often hard to get a full picture while laying on your back.
Other than some corrosion on the rear subframe they couldn't find fault with it. Even the notorious prop shaft centre bearing was fine. It looks like it has been replaced not too long ago.
The car does exhibit a vibration that increases with speed, so it's not clear what's causing this. It could be that the prop is out of balance. I can live with it for now.
Some service bits arrived also. Keen to get started I went ahead and replaced the original coil packs as it's very easy on this engine. The plugs have plenty of life left in them.
One spark plug well had quite a bit of oil in it. It looks like the gasket might be pinched, so will tackle this at a later date.
I installed the shim to correct the driver's door sag. Before it would need to be slammed but now its latching nicely with a gentle push. The gaps look decent as well.
After speaking to a body shop its looking like fixing the dull paintwork on the driver's side would set me back about £1k. As an alternative I'm going to look for a replacement wing in the correct colour. The wing is the most obvious from how it contrasts with the rest of the front end. The doors might be somewhat passable with some polishing work, and I can still get it painted later down the line.
Next step will be fresh fluids.
SAS Tom said:
I have a new love for Cayennes. My friend lent me his to do a trial in. In a field of Land Rovers, Jeeps and Jimny’s it did surprisingly well!
955/957 Cayennes are awesome! Very few realise how capable they are. Here's mine leading some Patrols and Landcruisers through a Morrocan river crossing:
Spinakerr said:
Congratulations, that is a very smart buy. Just goes to show, again, how many perfectly useable cars get written off and sink in value.
Thanks for posting up Airivox, keen to hear ypur experiebce as I need to extricate dog smells from my latest purchase!
Thanks. The Airvidox has definitely done the trick in terms of removing the musty smell. I expect it'll smell faintly of chlorine for a few weeks though. Thanks for posting up Airivox, keen to hear ypur experiebce as I need to extricate dog smells from my latest purchase!
eth2190 said:
Spinakerr said:
Congratulations, that is a very smart buy. Just goes to show, again, how many perfectly useable cars get written off and sink in value.
Thanks for posting up Airivox, keen to hear ypur experiebce as I need to extricate dog smells from my latest purchase!
Thanks. The Airvidox has definitely done the trick in terms of removing the musty smell. I expect it'll smell faintly of chlorine for a few weeks though. Thanks for posting up Airivox, keen to hear ypur experiebce as I need to extricate dog smells from my latest purchase!
Completed the engine oil service today along with the serpentine belt.
The android head unit arrived so I was able to get that installed as well. Everything seems to integrate well with the steering wheel controls etc.
The touch screen is pretty iffy, hopefully I wont need to use it much beyond initial setup.
The android head unit arrived so I was able to get that installed as well. Everything seems to integrate well with the steering wheel controls etc.
The touch screen is pretty iffy, hopefully I wont need to use it much beyond initial setup.
Ex-V8S owner here, that's a pretty rare colour, mine was dark olive green & I only ever saw 1 other. Most are black, silver or grey.
The V8S and the V6 are pretty similar fuel consumption, its a big old lump to haul around with only 3.2 L & 250BHP.
Pano rooves are a pain. Mine didn't leak but died after a couple of years, Ray Northway told me that fixing them is a very expensive pain. DO NOT OIL IT! Apparently that kills them PDQ.
A lot of your options were standard on the V8S, cruise is good, as is multifunction steering wheels. I'd only had mine 3 weeks & the wife took it into East London. When she came back to it someone had tried to nick the NS mirror. A phone call to my local OPC & he asked me to sit down. Just the glass was £480!!! Hence a probable write off.
One essential bit that no one will tell you about, is remove the drain plugs that are behind the front wheel arch liners. These block & eventually flood the front of the car with foul smelling water. There is a ton of wiring under the carpets, the water corrodes through then gives lots of electrical issues. Unless you can fix it yourself (difficult) then this will instantly write it off.
Worth getting an iCarSoft 960 as you'll have error codes at some point.
Electrical faults killed mine with weird fuel pump issues. £1K worth of bits didn't fix it & I gave up in the end & chopped it.
19" wheels ruin the ride, mine had 19" with Vredestein Vortis for summer & 18" with Dunlop winters. It rode much better on the winters & my god are the 19" wheels heavy to change twice a year.
When you change the tyres get the geomettry checked, mine was much nicer to drive after a full Hunter alignment.
The V8S and the V6 are pretty similar fuel consumption, its a big old lump to haul around with only 3.2 L & 250BHP.
Pano rooves are a pain. Mine didn't leak but died after a couple of years, Ray Northway told me that fixing them is a very expensive pain. DO NOT OIL IT! Apparently that kills them PDQ.
A lot of your options were standard on the V8S, cruise is good, as is multifunction steering wheels. I'd only had mine 3 weeks & the wife took it into East London. When she came back to it someone had tried to nick the NS mirror. A phone call to my local OPC & he asked me to sit down. Just the glass was £480!!! Hence a probable write off.
One essential bit that no one will tell you about, is remove the drain plugs that are behind the front wheel arch liners. These block & eventually flood the front of the car with foul smelling water. There is a ton of wiring under the carpets, the water corrodes through then gives lots of electrical issues. Unless you can fix it yourself (difficult) then this will instantly write it off.
Worth getting an iCarSoft 960 as you'll have error codes at some point.
Electrical faults killed mine with weird fuel pump issues. £1K worth of bits didn't fix it & I gave up in the end & chopped it.
19" wheels ruin the ride, mine had 19" with Vredestein Vortis for summer & 18" with Dunlop winters. It rode much better on the winters & my god are the 19" wheels heavy to change twice a year.
When you change the tyres get the geomettry checked, mine was much nicer to drive after a full Hunter alignment.
The Cayenne had it's first proper test in the form of a weekend trip to Betws-y-Coed, North Wales. Around 300 miles in total.
I took a couple of scenic diversions, via the B4407 heading there, and ticking off the Evo triangle on the return trip. Beautiful roads and barely another car around. Pics below.
Overall a very pleasant drive. I haven't found the VR6 to be hugely lacking in terms of power, it moves along fairly well. The handling is amazing compared to any SUV I've experienced, and I'm blown away by how it responds to being chucked around corners.
I suppose this links in with the compliance over bumps, which is pretty bad at the moment. On poor roads it feels like a car slammed on to the bump stops. Obviously the easiest way to try to remedy this would be to go to smaller wheels. I may try 17s, even if they do look a little odd on such a big car.
In the meantime, the next jobs on the list are going to be new front & rear lower control arms and an alignment.
I took a couple of scenic diversions, via the B4407 heading there, and ticking off the Evo triangle on the return trip. Beautiful roads and barely another car around. Pics below.
Overall a very pleasant drive. I haven't found the VR6 to be hugely lacking in terms of power, it moves along fairly well. The handling is amazing compared to any SUV I've experienced, and I'm blown away by how it responds to being chucked around corners.
I suppose this links in with the compliance over bumps, which is pretty bad at the moment. On poor roads it feels like a car slammed on to the bump stops. Obviously the easiest way to try to remedy this would be to go to smaller wheels. I may try 17s, even if they do look a little odd on such a big car.
In the meantime, the next jobs on the list are going to be new front & rear lower control arms and an alignment.
I changed my stock 19's for 958 18's - the tyre rolling diameter was the same but obviously the sidewall was bigger. Ride comfort is still hard but it's taken the edge off sharp edge potholes etc. 17's would be better still but they are fairly rare as they only came on really low poverty spec Cayennes and I gave up looking for a set on eBay.
Regarding changing the aux belt - there's a tapped hole (IIRC M8 on the upper side of the tensioner). Screw a bolt in and it forces the tensioner back making belt changes easier.
Regarding changing the aux belt - there's a tapped hole (IIRC M8 on the upper side of the tensioner). Screw a bolt in and it forces the tensioner back making belt changes easier.
Edited by RustyNissanPrairie on Monday 24th March 21:50
RustyNissanPrairie said:
I changed my stock 19's for 958 18's - the tyre rolling diameter was the same but obviously the sidewall was bigger. Ride comfort is still hard but it's taken the edge off sharp edge potholes etc. 17's would be better still but they are fairly rare as they only came on really low poverty spec Cayennes and I gave up looking for a set on eBay.
If it has S Brakes then 17" won't fit over the brakes. I'm curious about the suspension differences between these and the Touareg in terms of comfort. Apparently the Touareg rides much softer, and sits about an inch taller.
I haven't been able to find specs on the OEM coil springs but Eibach have a lowering kit for both models, and their specs corroborate with this.
Cayenne Front - Wire diameter 16.5mm, length 314mm
Cayenne Rear - Wire diameter 15.2mm, length 296mm
Touareg Front - Wire diameter 15.5mm, length 347mm
Touareg Rear - Wire diameter 14.5mm, length 330mm
Assuming Eibach have specified each to be close to the stock spring rates, I wonder whether the Touareg lowering springs could give me the ride quality I'm after. These would in theory keep ride height very close to existing, and keep some of the sporty feel.
When I get time I'll take some measurements of the Cayenne coils to see how they compare.
Update:
Changing coils is a little drastic all things considered. I will leave it alone for now.
The 19s have grown on me, so I'm leaning towards keeping them and moving to a 255/55r19 all season after the summer. There's plenty of options available as its a standard size for Disco 4s, Range Rovers etc. I may get the wheels refurbed at the same time.
I haven't been able to find specs on the OEM coil springs but Eibach have a lowering kit for both models, and their specs corroborate with this.
Cayenne Front - Wire diameter 16.5mm, length 314mm
Cayenne Rear - Wire diameter 15.2mm, length 296mm
Touareg Front - Wire diameter 15.5mm, length 347mm
Touareg Rear - Wire diameter 14.5mm, length 330mm
Assuming Eibach have specified each to be close to the stock spring rates, I wonder whether the Touareg lowering springs could give me the ride quality I'm after. These would in theory keep ride height very close to existing, and keep some of the sporty feel.
When I get time I'll take some measurements of the Cayenne coils to see how they compare.
Edited by eth2190 on Monday 24th March 23:46
Update:
Changing coils is a little drastic all things considered. I will leave it alone for now.
The 19s have grown on me, so I'm leaning towards keeping them and moving to a 255/55r19 all season after the summer. There's plenty of options available as its a standard size for Disco 4s, Range Rovers etc. I may get the wheels refurbed at the same time.
Edited by eth2190 on Thursday 27th March 10:47
The Cayenne is plugging along nicely, and recently hit 140k miles. I've continued with progress on a few improvements.
The headlights got a refresh using the Meguiar's two step headlight restoration kit. This turned out pretty well. I went a little extra by machine polishing after the coating had cured for a few days.
The bumper alignment bothered me a little. It turns out the bracket was completely missing, so I found a replacement on eBay.
Before:
After:
It still has a misfire/ rough idle when cold. Research pointed to vacuum leaks being a possible cause, and potentially the PCV oil separator diaphragm. I started with the PCV as the original had very brittle hoses, and as I suspected, the diaphragm was looking worse for wear. Not sure if it's completely solved the issue but it's definitely good to replace the knackered part.
Testing for vacuum leaks using a smoke machine may be something I look at in future.
New unit installed:
Next was to upgrade to auto headlights. All it needed was the switch, which I found for around £50 on eBay. A bit pricey but they don't appear to be very common.
Finishing off with a gratuitous shot in the nice weather:
The headlights got a refresh using the Meguiar's two step headlight restoration kit. This turned out pretty well. I went a little extra by machine polishing after the coating had cured for a few days.
The bumper alignment bothered me a little. It turns out the bracket was completely missing, so I found a replacement on eBay.
Before:
After:
It still has a misfire/ rough idle when cold. Research pointed to vacuum leaks being a possible cause, and potentially the PCV oil separator diaphragm. I started with the PCV as the original had very brittle hoses, and as I suspected, the diaphragm was looking worse for wear. Not sure if it's completely solved the issue but it's definitely good to replace the knackered part.
Testing for vacuum leaks using a smoke machine may be something I look at in future.
New unit installed:
Next was to upgrade to auto headlights. All it needed was the switch, which I found for around £50 on eBay. A bit pricey but they don't appear to be very common.
Finishing off with a gratuitous shot in the nice weather:
eth2190 said:
RustyNissanPrairie said:
Oooh! That's interesting about the auto headlight switch retrofit - I didn't know about that!
The part number is 7L5941531C if you want to give it a try.But...... Last night I ended up down a wormhole of VW/Porsche headlight switches after reading your post.
I've gone with a similar era Jetta switch for £12 which appears to be the same as the Cayenne switch but has very slightly different font/pictograms hence the lack of Porsche tax.
eth2190 said:
The Cayenne is plugging along nicely, and recently hit 140k miles. I've continued with progress on a few improvements.
The headlights got a refresh using the Meguiar's two step headlight restoration kit. This turned out pretty well. I went a little extra by machine polishing after the coating had cured for a few days.
The bumper alignment bothered me a little. It turns out the bracket was completely missing, so I found a replacement on eBay.
Before:
After:
That now looks as if it is fully ready to take on the Sahara with Poppopbangabang The headlights got a refresh using the Meguiar's two step headlight restoration kit. This turned out pretty well. I went a little extra by machine polishing after the coating had cured for a few days.
The bumper alignment bothered me a little. It turns out the bracket was completely missing, so I found a replacement on eBay.
Before:
After:
RustyNissanPrairie said:
Thanks!
But...... Last night I ended up down a wormhole of VW/Porsche headlight switches after reading your post.
I've gone with a similar era Jetta switch for £12 which appears to be the same as the Cayenne switch but has very slightly different font/pictograms hence the lack of Porsche tax.
Nice, sounds like a good find But...... Last night I ended up down a wormhole of VW/Porsche headlight switches after reading your post.
I've gone with a similar era Jetta switch for £12 which appears to be the same as the Cayenne switch but has very slightly different font/pictograms hence the lack of Porsche tax.
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