Active drivetrain mount failure x 3 in 6000 miles

Active drivetrain mount failure x 3 in 6000 miles

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James McScotty

Original Poster:

457 posts

144 months

Thursday 15th April 2021
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Hi all,

Just over two years ago (so it's out of warranty) the offside mount failed. About 6 months later, the other one failed. Now the first one has failed again. I've covered a smidge over 6000 miles in that time.

Each replacement is costing around £1200, so that's £3600 in 6000 miles spent on drivetrain mounts.

Car is a 2014 Cayman 981 GTS, FWIW. It's used only on the road, and not tracked.

Is this a known recurrent problem?

James McScotty

Original Poster:

457 posts

144 months

Thursday 15th April 2021
quotequote all
It's reached the point where I'm seriously considering selling it. A shame, because otherwise it's pretty perfect for me.

James McScotty

Original Poster:

457 posts

144 months

Thursday 15th April 2021
quotequote all
matrignano said:
Porsche won't cover the mount that failed twice, out of goodwill?
Nope.

They quoted £1700 (parts & labour have gone up in the past 2 years). They've knocked off about £400 as "goodwill", so it's still north of £1200. The part is 26 months old, and as I say, only 6000 miles in that time.

I'm expecting the other one to fail in around six months, so that will be just out of its warranty also.

James McScotty

Original Poster:

457 posts

144 months

Thursday 15th April 2021
quotequote all
Orangecurry said:
You must be able to source the part separately and get a proper mechanic to fit, for reasonable cost?
Local P specialist quoted a smidge under £1200. A large chunk is labour, it's engine out time. Since it's already at the OPC, I might as well get them to do it, for a £60 difference after the goodwill.

I'm pretty P-ed off.

James McScotty

Original Poster:

457 posts

144 months

Thursday 15th April 2021
quotequote all
SFO said:
Or just replace with standard non active mounts ?
I'm led to believe that if you do that, you will get a constant dashboard message about them having failed. Which might be a tad irritating, and would rule-out resale.

James McScotty

Original Poster:

457 posts

144 months

Thursday 15th April 2021
quotequote all
Yes, I believe so. Also late-ish 911s w/ sport chrono.

Two grenades in your chassis.

James McScotty

Original Poster:

457 posts

144 months

Thursday 15th April 2021
quotequote all
Orangecurry said:
Wouldn't it aid resale?

'I've replaced the poorly designed and executed active mounts with solid ones, thus saving you, the new owner, 3000 GBP, on a regular basis.'
LOL, I guess that would be worth a try!

I'd wager that on the road, these things would make b*gger-all discernible difference unless you are regularly driving at the ragged edge on the limit of adhesion. They are really for track use.

James McScotty

Original Poster:

457 posts

144 months

Thursday 15th April 2021
quotequote all
Caddyshack said:
It is terrible that a £100k car should have a part the fails on such a regular basis....to me it says that the design is at fault and should have a replacement solution.

If you go non active someone could delete out the fault code...I had my Boxster done as the 2nd lambdas kept throwing codes, nothing wrong with the cats so had the code perm deleted. Hendy performance did it for me using a MSD (blackpool) remap.

My full fat Range Rover is on about its 4th set of anti roll bar bushes.
I couldn't agree more. If this is a common problem, and it appears that it is, after another chat with the guys at the local specialist, it screams "design fault" to me.

My car is nearly at it's 7th birthday, so I suspect this goes back to at least that time with similarly-equipped 911s also, unless that's a different design.

James McScotty

Original Poster:

457 posts

144 months

Thursday 15th April 2021
quotequote all
Orangecurry said:
That's exactly why I would NOT use the OPC. Tell them to feck off.
I figured that they might knock a lot more off for goodwill, or even offer to replace it for nothing, but no. I'm going to have a long talk with them when I collect. They were pretty cagey about whether this is a common fault, but the local specialist said he has seen quite a few.

They are trying to sell me a new 4.0 GTS, btw. That, I assume, has the same chassis flaw. Hmmmm.

James McScotty

Original Poster:

457 posts

144 months

Thursday 15th April 2021
quotequote all
Twinfan said:
Yes it will, my 718 GT4 had one replaced a couple of weeks ago. Faults occur on 991 and 992 911s as well, as I said in my post earlier.

When the parts fail, they default to to the stiffer setting. I guess, in theory, if one goes in the future you could unplug them both and code out the fault light?
I put that to the chap at the OPC, he thought it wasn't an option.

I've requested a frank, open and honest discussion with someone about the reliability of this technology when I collect tomorrow a.m.

James McScotty

Original Poster:

457 posts

144 months

Saturday 17th April 2021
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Two of my three active mount failures were short-circuits, the other was "undetermined".

The OPC did not acknowledge that this is a common fault. They said they'd contact Porsche GB again to see what more, if anything, they could chip-in toward the cost.

They claim the part has been redesigned, and I was told that 718s are not affected. They are trying to sell me a 718 4.0L.

James McScotty

Original Poster:

457 posts

144 months

Sunday 18th April 2021
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Pope said:
718 have active mounts too; but again, on the transmission. The 'engine mounts' are different to 981 (mounted either side to the cam cover/heads) rather than centrally and have a vacuum control element to them. So it really depends what question you are asking.

If the question is transmission mount related - they are the same.

There have been revisions to the part - the majority of issues I have seen have been sensor related within the mount; going open circuit. Later mounts seem to be better. Water ingress into the part was a cause mentioned at some point.

3 mounts in <6k seems excessive - or have I misunderstood? I just reread and can't work it out - what is the total mileage of the car?

Can you associate the failure to your particular use of the car? Thinking extremes - I don't mean does it fail when you drive it; rather, does every journey start and end with a particularly rough bit of road/do you live in a particularly wet area; drive through a ford even? Do you live by the coast? Is the car in a dehumidified garage where the other extreme could occur? It is a very unlucky situation is all I'm thinking - some goodwill from the dealer could be likely if they assessed the whole case.

Plenty of cars out there with the option that aren't failing (or as often). Genuinely interested in 'why' for what it's worth. Hope it works out.
Hi, and thanks for the good wishes.

Total mileage is now a smidge over 40,300 miles.

The first mount (offside) failed just over two years ago (26 months, with a 24 month warranty) at about 34,000, the second (nearside) a few months later, and the third (offside) about a fortnight ago.

The car has not been tracked by me, it's a road car. I live in a relatively dry part of the UK (East midlands bordering almost on the Fens) and the car is parked offroad on my level driveway. It's not been in any collisions. Two of the failures were electrical in nature.