This is my first post here, I usually just search and find the answers I'm after.

Unfortunately not this time.

So I want to see if there is something else I can look at before removing the intake to get access to the starter.

Brief history on the car, its a 12/2005 build Cayenne S, with 250,000kms on it now, family owned since 80,000kms, trouble free motoring apart from having the water pipes replaced with alloy ones around 100,000kms, a few sets of coil packs and lower control arms.

So the issue now is the car just wouldn't crank, no sign of it even trying.

The battery is only a year old and is putting out 12.4V at rest, there is no secondary battery, I checked to make sure.

All the dash lights are there, key in the ignition unlocks the steering column lock, so that hopefully means its not the steering column lock computer failure I read about in one topic.

I then checked all the fuses and they appear fine, on relay 20 I bridged pins 30 and 87 with the ignition on and didn't get it to crank, or make any starter noises, spark evident when joining the two pins evident of power.

Over the last few months when starting the car, it has required a second turn of the ign key to start, the first time turns the starter for a mere second then stops, something that isn't uncommon, yet no one seems to have a definitive answer as to why.

I'm assuming the two issues are related and it is now a completely dead starter motor, and quite possibly the leaking coolant pipes 150,000kms ago might have damaged the starter, but if anyone has any other ideas or things I could check first, I'd appreciate it, even just to confirm it is the starter motor before I go removing everything for access.

Also, being in Australia and Dealership Porsche prices here are 3-4 times that of the USA, I'm probably putting in an order from the states somewhere, I'll do some research into who to use, but is there anything else you would recommend I change while I have the intake removed?

Thanks in advance.

 

Well I went and removed it, and bench tested the starter, it's inop other than throwing out the plunger.

So I stripped it down and found all the brushes worn to the ends of them, but upon closer inspection it appears that a few of the armature windings where the brushes make contact have melted/fused causing rough spots that would have worn the brushes down a lot quicker.

So the fact that i'm in Australia means that sourcing a genuine Bosch isn't easy, it has to come from overseas and will cost over $1000, didn't get an exact price, an aftermarket one will set me back $570 (trade price) and here in 2 days, so I dropped it to my local auto electrician and he seems to think he can clean it up on a lathe, replace the brushes (and solenoid too for good measure) and it should be fine.

Was a pretty painless job removing it from the car, intake setup off, and didn't even have to remove any of the alloy coolant pipes, they are bent for this particular reason, probably took all up, less than an hour from start to removal, Torx bits and E-Torx bits are a must though

 

Quick update, replaced the starter, and between that and a new battery done a year ago, there is never any issues with the car not starting on the first turn of the key anymore.

Back to how it should be

 

Nice.