Hi Gents , this is my first visit here. I have an 07 997 Targa 4s which i bought in 2010 oct. I've done 1000 miles on the car since owning it. My warrant expires in Aug , so i'll be bringing it in for service at the end of June.

Should I specify anything to the dealer in order that they check everything possible before warranty expires?

The only items I have so far for them to look at is the following.

-3rd brake light - condensation
- sunroof - very minor leak - only when massive massive downpour
- starting vehicle - seems to take slightly more effort than i feel it should [ my opinion]

Perhaps you may have some other items that you know need to be looked at or suggestions.

MAny thx for you input.

Cheers

 

First, I'd drive it as much as possible to get mileage and usage on the engine.

If the Targa roof has a leak, have that fixed. My Targa (2009) had a roof leak because the roof seal was installed with a defect in it.. so the seal had to be replaced under warranty. The task is labor intensive, but is doable and well understood.

 

Well, just an update. They changed the 3rd brake light and adjusted the sunroof. these are now fixed.

For the starting issue , the said the battery level was slightly low. I accepted the response but knew the moment I started the car that nothing had changed.

I returned a week later stating that I was not at all satisfiied. I left them the vehicle for the week { iwas travelling out of the country} . I told them that if when I return they had no better news for me , then I would require them to allow me to start several 997's on the lot so as to see for myself.

Upon my return , the had changed the starter and the wiring harness. Problem solved.

I'm glad I was persistant. In my opinion, terrible service ! Thank god I went back. I'm not a car expert, but I certainly believe that any of the techs at Porsche could certainly tell that when starting my vehicle, it sounded way off!!

 

Sounds like they were being a little lazy, or perhaps at first thought you had an unrealistic complaint. At any rate, glad she's in tip top shape for ya!

 

It probably was the wiring harness that they eventually replaced. It has happened to other cars, so it isn't a shocking diagnosis. Eventually. I wouldn't assume it was bad service that required you to go back. I don't know that this is the case with your particular problem, but in general the industry has to have some way to distinguish the automotive equivalent of a hypochondriac from a person with a real problem. The dealers are usually more than willing to change things under warranty but obviously the manufacturers need some way to make sure they're paying for real repairs. Everyone will recognize this as being the same problem that health insurers have.

For cars, the usual procedure for responsible manufacturers is to issue a service bulletin when they discover a particular problem. Let's take a real problem with a different German car that shall remain nameless: "Front suspension bushings from some lots allow excessive free play and permit a shimmy."

An owner shows up saying: "I can't get the wheels to balance right." The service manager might be tempted to simply swap out the front suspension members for ones with the new bushings, but the problem is not universal and the manufacturer isn't going to toss a hundred million dollars at fictitious problems that just sound like they might be the known problem. So they impose a procedure something like this.

• First complaint, first visit. Check and document tire wear. If uneven tire wear is not evident, then balance wheel/tire combination.
  
• Second complaint, at least one hundred miles driven with problem still reported. Mechanic to drive car and confirm problem. If road-force balance was not available the first time, send wheel and tires to a specialty shop for that type of balance. Perform wheel alignment, returning settings to factory specification as amended on page four of this notice.
  
• Third complaint. At least 1,000 miles driven since first report with no satisfaction from previous steps. Change the front suspension members. Send removed components to address on page four.

Clearly, that's a pain in the *** for all concerned and the nuisance of coming back three times will separate the real complaints from auto-hypochondriacs. Not to mention that "wheel out of balance" is a routine occurrence in the life of any car and the simple occasions have to be given simple treatment. When you hear hoof beats, your first diagnosis has to be horses, not zebras. This does not indicate unwillingness to live up to the warranty and a good customer of the brand may be able to shortcut the validation steps (at least the imposed delays) by dealing with the manufacturer's field rep for the region. Not being a service department and with no reward for authorizing the work, a field rep usually has more discretion. That doesn't mean a new engine will be installed when you complain of "too little power in the morning" or something silly. It just means that if the field rep is convinced your problem is the problem the service bulletin addresses, then he can shorten the painful process.

In my experience, Porsche and other manufacturers of very expensive cars give more thought to technical means of verifying a problem, so they don't have to rely so much on a persistent owner to validate each problem. Nevertheless, some ungodly expensive problems hide behind very common routine maintenance issues and the routine solutions must be attempted before you go spending a couple of thousand per unit. The bottom line is that warranty repairs are a large fraction of the cost roll-up for any product. Except when some clear technical validation exists, your willingness to persist is all the manufacturer has to separate the honest claims from spurious work that might be performed by a dealer service department a little short of real work.

When a dealer first tries something simple and you don't feel the problem was solved, don't assume it was laziness, just go back and help the service people document the problem to justify further work.

Gary

 

Very well-said and informative. Thanks for taking the time to write this up. Gives me a little more insight into the process.

 

Yes, well stated.
When I first bought my current car (used with CPO), it had some glitches in some of the PCM functions (such as being unable to properly tune AM stations, set DRL functions, etc.). It took at least 3 trips to my local dealer to get the issues resolved. At one point they were prepared to replace the PCM head unit, but then found that the problem was in the rear electronic module. These cars are complicated, and the fix isn't always a slam dunk, especially in the electronics. As mentioned above, if things aren't fixed right the first (or second or third) time, keep going back to get it done right.

 

I agree with this when it comes some items , but not when it comes to my specific item.

The car started very very sluggishly. any Porsche tech would have noticed it , heck , I noticed it and I have zero experience with Porsche.

For them to tell me on the first visit that they topped up the battery fluid and found nothing else , to me, is direct attempt to pull the wool over my eyes.

just my 2 cents.

 

Had a similar problem, and it turned out the battery was an issue since the previous owner barely drove the car. The sluggish starts are usually a sign of a battery going. I do not think they were trying to pull a fast one on you.