Having purchased my 07 911tt CPO last monday, I took it in yesterday (To a different, closer dealer) for a "post purchase inspection". Probably should have done it before I bought but, you know how it goes sometimes!

The service advisor just called me and, agreed with me the car is currently running well, but it has two problems.

1) fault code with turbocharger -- driver's side -- I don't remember the exact issue (am not a mechanical type guy to be honest) but whatever the problem is, if left unaddressed, it may eventually stop spinning and be a more major problem. He said they may be able to fix it quickly or it may require taking the turbocharger off / apart.

2) oil leaks -- there are two of them and one of them is near the transmission. potentially means the (tip) transmission must come out.

I confirmed with him that the car does have a CPO and he said he would check, and get back to me today, whether there is approval for CPO work on these issues from Porsche.

Anyone have advice / experience on this type of situation? I said "since the issues seem mechanical in nature and not wear and tear, what grounds would porsche have to potentially deny a CPO warranty claim?" He said "well really none" although he is still checking with them... is that normal?

 

Not normal for a CPO vehicle. He should be able to tell if is a CPOed car in seconds by putting the vin in the system.

 

It may have been a false alarm. Apparently for 07's and earlier, CPO's need all work 'called in' prior to being performed. Anyway the adviser for some reason wasn't aware I had purchased the car from an official P dealer and when I explained I had he said he was sure the warranty would be honored.

 

But why was the car sold in this condition to begin with? My CPO car had 7k of parts thrown at it to be CPO...

 

I'm going to translate...

Service Dept: Hey, look at this car - just came in out of warranty. I think we've got a code, right Mr Tech?

Mr Tech: Yup, something weird in the turbo... I think I see a leak also, looks pretty bad, may have to drop the transmission, and then when we drop it, might have to replace it - just to be sure...

Mr Service rep: Sorry, sir, everything looks pretty good, but we found a code, and a couple oil leaks (read: you need to pay us $$$$$$$).

Customer: It should be taken care of.

Mr Service rep (inner monologue): Really? I mean, really????? I'm trying to bring in revenue, and you just shot me down... I think we should just hold on to the car, make it look like we did something, then return in a couple days, and put some stuff down on a receipt to make it look legit.

(sorry... I have ZERO faith in any dealership)

 

Well I just got back from the dealership. Apparently this will all be covered by the CPO warranty but still need to clear some "red tape" that will take another day or two.

1. Tiptronic transmission -- leaking oil in both the front and rear -- slow leaks but leaking.

In the first of these two transmission pics you can see where there was a plug taken out -- when the plug was taken out, oil splattered all over the tech's shirt.

They are still trying to determine if a part or new seal can fix the issue but most likely it is going to require a brand new Tiptronic transmission from Germany -- $17,000 just for the transmission not including labor -- thank goodness it is under warranty.





2. Driver side turbocharger -- some sort of rod underneath is supposed to move vertically and is now stuck & not operating correctly. He said they never would have caught it except the computer gave them a 'boost fault' code, and they only even checked the computer, because I asked them to check to see if the ECU had been flashed. I only thought to ask to check that, because the car had a Fabspeed exhaust on it (which I love BTW) and I know how guys "like you" (6speeders and probably the prior owner) think!

Apparently this turbo still could spin but might have only been working "at 70%" or something rather than correctly / entirely.



The car has 44,000 miles and has never had the "40,000 mile service". As they will be taking the engine out anyway to fix the turbocharger, I can save about half off on that service because so much of the labor 'overlaps' so I'm going to go ahead and do that too. The whole process, if requiring the new transmission, will take 2 to 3 weeks to get my car back. It already drove just fine before, so curious how it will drive after all this....

 

Err. They don't need to pull the motor to replace the turbo. The actuator rod was covered under a TSB that requires lubing... sounds like it was never done (which sucks, because it's a 15 minute thing with spray lube)

http://www.awe-tuning.com/media/pdf/...e%20action.pdf

Anyway, the motor will have to come out to replace the transmission (so maybe that is what he meant)

But, the 40k service is not a motor out service. No idea where you got that. The maintenance schedule calls for spark plugs, though, which are indeed easier (trivial) with the motor out.

 

kitw,

I am sure you are correct on both points, thanks for the response! I never claimed to be anything but a dummy in mechanical matters.

Re: actuator rods -- how often do they need lubing? Is this something done at interval service? (i.e., the advisor didn't mention it as part of the 40k service) or is this something the owner would normally do himself or?

 

How in the world did the dealer CPO the car to begin with I guess give the dealers service department a new meaning

The competency level of most of the Porsche service departments is just amazing.

 

dealers suck, plain and simple. Luckily your covered for the work!

 

just to put things in perspective, standard rebuild kit for mercedes transmission (the very same internal parts which are in your tiptronic) are on sale everywhere for a little less than 17.000 us$. (sarcasm intended, see link below)

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=...&_osacat=46103

I definitively feel comforted that automotive dealers do not hesitate to spend huge amounts of money to honor their warranties :-)

 

Yes, odd the dealer I bought it from did not catch it. The CPO however was not a "new" CPO -- it was put on the car some years back, I believe... I don't think the dealer "re-CPO's" the car to sell it to me again, it just keeps its original CPO? I could be mistaken about that.

One other annoying thing, I had this dealer who did the inspection, call the dealer I bought it from -- the latter told us the car needed the 40,000 mile service (normally close to 3k I think) and did recommend all the fluid changes (brake , power steering, etc). I guess I can understand why they wouldn't want to spend 2 or 3k on a used car to then resell it when their margins are pretty thin and I'm glad they at least told us what it needed NOW so I can take care of it ... but a little bit annoying!

 

You kidding me.

 

Well so far, this dealer who did the inspection, and Porsche 'corporate' (pending red tape approval tomorrow), seem to be doing right by me...

 

Yes Quick, I was ;-)

David