Do you guys get an occasional PASM fault message from time to time?

My car has erratically started getting PASM failure every so often (once per day). Usually occurs after spirited driving and slow turns on an incline.

Is anyone else experiencing this or am I the only one?

 

I have the Damptronics and they have not caused a code as of yet. I will be going to Carmel for the weekend and have much more of a chance to go back and forth on the PASM. I will let you know if I get a fault message.

 

It could be something from when its installed. None of my customers have ever had problems so far, so I think its either from the install or something with the suspension itself.

 

No problems what-so-ever.

 

i never experienced it for the year i had my 997

 

my be default, take it to porsche dealer

 

I actually brought it in to the dealer and they couldn't figure out what the problem is. Things were working fine for the last few weeks and then all of a sudden, the PASM failure message started coming up occasionally. It's very irritating since the sport mode is lost and after "PASM failure" message shows up, the car feels like its on the PASM "on" mode, so the ride is very stiff.

The dealer tried resetting ride height and spring preload, but it looks like that hasn't solved the problem since I got a PASM failure message again today.

One quick note to make is that I have already replaced the left rear strut tower under warranty, and that seemed to stop the fault messages. This one strut was giving off some faults, and this solved the problem temporarily until now.

I'll do a few more days of driving and bring the car back in on Tuesday. I'll give another update then.

Thanks again, fellas.

 

Hi Charles,

I just installed new Damptronics on my 997S and got a PASM failure message for the rear right shock. It started right after installation and never went away. My dealer tried to reset the failure message, but it keeps coming back once the car moves. I guess I will have to ask for a replacement. Too bad, I was hoping for a trouble-free installation.

Bummer, the track season here on the East Coast is starting next month...

 

Lianhua,

Thanks for bringing this thread back to life! Just in time too since I'm getting my Bilstein's reinstalled next week. Here's an update:

Fault messages were given off at the rear (just like yours).
Bilstein just examined the parts and have concluded that a wire was pinched during "spirited" driving. The shocks are in an open series connection, so one fault, causes the others to fault.
The repaired shocks come in some time next week and I'll give them a try. I'll post another update then.

 

open series connection? what does that mean, so it's a design flaw?

 

No, its something that my service guy told me. Basically, they are connected and talk to each other so that if one faults, so does the other, and the other, etc. It was driving him crazy because he couldn't figure out why and which specific coilover. When running diagnostics, all shocks would look faulty!

 

I actually never drove the car, the fault showed up right after the installation of the new coilovers. Now I worry that they have to take off all the shocks again -- after I aligned and corner-balanced the car....

My Porsche tech claimed that he could pinpoint the right rear shock as the problem maker, the fault came from one shock only (at least that's what he claimed). Was your tech not able to identify the shock with the pinched wire?

As I understood it, one fault puts the whole PASM in limp mode, however, the code can be traced to a specific shock.

Lars

 

Lars,

Here's the summary of events for my Bilsteins after installation:

-First month post-installation=trouble free

-2nd month: occasional PASM faults after "spirited" driving, brought into dealer, diagnostics show that left rear strut is faulty. Got replacement strut, covered under warranty, car works fine for next few weeks. Zero Fault messages.

-3rd month: After continuous driving (a few hundred miles), the PASM failure message starts popping up again. Now it shows up whenever making a slow turn or if on an incline. Faults are given daily. Brought in to Dealer, and it shows 3 struts are faulty!

The dealer ends up trouble shooting this to death since they want to rule out the possbility of my car having a "faulty" PASM sensor/computer versus 3 bad Bilstein coilovers. They ultimately ended up doing a strut tower switch with a brand new Carrera S and installed the stock shocks back into my car.

Results=Brand new Carrera S gave off faults with Bilstein Coilovers. My car with stock suspension is running fine and there are no faults, therefore ruling out my car's PASM sensors/electronics as the culprit.

Resolution=Bilstein examined and repaired my faulty Bilsteins under warranty. I should get them in next week. I'll give another update once they're reinstalled in my car.

So to respond to your comments:
Yes, they will have to uninstall and send the 1 shock back to Bilstein. Try to ask the shop that originally did your corner balance/alignment to throw you a freebie given your circumstance.

The initial faulty shock was identified and replaced, but eventually started giving out faults again due to a pinched wire on another strut.

Hopefully, your car will be fixed after that initial fix and not get progressively worse like mine did.

Have your service guy call Bilstein at 1-858-386-5900. Ask for the Tech department.

For a while, I thought I was the only guy who had experienced this. Thanks for chiming in. I'm not crazy, afterall!

 

I had a similar problem last year when I had my dealer install a set of springs. The front shocks came up with a warning, and when one fails, they all came up as faulty. When they fail, they go to the stiff mode, and it is not as much fun to drive around town with a stiff suspension, and a lot of road construction.

 

Is it resolved now? What was the problem and How'd they fix it?