unrelated but I wanted to add. I got a Cayenne S as a loaner for the first time and there is a notable difference between the 6 and 8 cylinder. I know the 6 is more powerful but it certainly doesn't feel that, especially of the line where there is a notable lag. I was thinking about trading in my 12 for a new S but I'm not sure if I can come to terms with letting go of my 8 cylinder.

 

I would gladly pitch in for the cost of a new qrt of fluid. I trust Don to handle this if others are interested in kicking in .
-Scott

 

In this case - it might be worth your while to go directly to Porsche Cars NA.. bypass the dealer. Can't hurt, might get them to cover some of the expense. Just the fact that you're considering a newer Cayenne means you're the ideal repeat customer for them.

 

I plan on giving them a call next week. Thank you for all of your help! I just picked up the car and everything is back to normal. Certainly, I am less than pleased that this happened at 18K on a car that has been babied and been regularly maintained. Hopefully we can raise some awareness and Porsche can step up to address this for others.

 

I went with the GTS and it is peppier than the S. But the $30k leap up to the Turbo (or $50k for the Turbo S) just wasn't going to happen.

 

For the folks spending out of pocket, is there a core charge on the transfer case? Because if not then it might be worth having someone other than Porsche taking a look at it.

What other vehicles are using this transfer case?

 

​​​​Yes. Core charge was $400 shown on my invoice as a credit...So they listed the TC at $3500 - 400...Net cost was right around $3100 for TC if I remember correctly

 

If we could get our hands on one, I motion we elect deilenberger to tear it down 😎. ...

 

I picked up a '13 GTS a little more than a week ago, 13k on the odometer. Test drive was totally fine, and then 3 days later I started getting the shudder. Took it in yesterday and Porsche is going to replace the TC free of charge (I'm 5 weeks out of warranty). Said they replaced 4 just last week.

 

'12 V6 just passed 40K miles.

So I finally got a chance to bring it to local indy shop and have the fluid replaced with Porsche fluid part number ending in 36. It totally fixed the shudder problem! Plus the gear grinding noise at low speed turning is gone as well! Tech told me the oil that came out was black. Sorry wasn't able to get a sample.

So I am like the 6th person that had the problem corrected with fluid change?

 

Hello all, have been active on the sister renntech forum thread with the same issue.

Long story short, wife's '12 V6 6MT cayenne with 105k miles had the hesitation/bucking at speed (particularly between 3rd and 4th) as well as binding and noise at sharp steering angles and low speed.

First fluid swap with Ravenol TF 0870 eliminated 90% of the symptoms; removed oil was opaque black and burnt.



I waited 2 weeks and changed all the fluids again, including xfer case (I had noticed slightly more hesitation that immediately after the first change). Lo and behold, the oil removed was again nearly black with suspended friction material. After the 2nd change, I again noticed essentially zero symptoms. I assume that the removal of built up clutch friction material is essential to proper xfer case operation. I may attempt some sort of flush if any symptoms return.

 

I think so. Question is if this results in a lasting "fix".. My independent mechanic felt that a second change sometime in the near future might be a good idea considering what the oil looked like that came out.

I'll probably wait for at least 1,000 miles to do it. I might get ambitious and do the differentials at the same time.

 

Great images and documentation. The 6 speed manual transmission oil is interesting - since there isn't a clutch in the transmission to cause the darkening you have - it makes me wonder what did.

The fluid from the XFer case is also interesting. It appears almost as dark as the stuff you took out the first time. That means to me that there was a good deal of residue left in the case, and probably in the clutch assembly.

Not a huge surprise actually. Back when I used to take motorcycle wet clutches apart - what often fixed them was two things: (1) completely cleaning the clutch plates in the parts cleaner, then soaking them in some fresh oil before reassembly (2) smoothing off the edges of the plates and the housing where they were "driven" - there would typically be a bit of wear on the housing so the plates didn't release as far or smoothly as they should. Those clutch housings were aluminum, I suspect the ones in our xfer cases are steel (from seeing one rebuild video I found for the 955/957 cases.)

I think most of the higher mileage cases probably have a good buildup of worn clutch lining trapped in the clutch housing, and it may take a while to get it all out. Motorcycle clutch cases normally were open-sided with slots open to the world where the teeth on the clutch plates engaged the case - that would let clutch lining material out of the clutch. Ours appear to have solid sides (probably for strength, along with being steel), so it will take longer for the old lining material to wash out.

Keep the reports coming! They make great reading. So far our record appears to be somewhere like 6 cases are now working better to much better after an oil change. One case ended up still being replaced - it was a low mileage failure (18,000 miles) - which makes me think something else was going on with that one.

 

After seeing those photos I think I will be replacing my fluid again soon to flush out all the remaining residue.

I will try to do the replacement myself next round. Dumb question, with the fill hole on vertical side of transfer case, do you guys use a funnel or some sort of tool to fill the fluid?

 

Steph, a fluid pump is really needed. No way to pour it in. There are hand operated ones. One is a cylinder you dump the oil into, screw on the top and push a plunger that forces the oil down a tube (stuck into the fill hole) - the other type - a pump that goes into the oil bottle, with a tube coming out also works quite well.

Here is a Harbor Freight offering: http://www.harborfreight.com/gear-oi...ump-61746.html