You do have "TUV" or something similar in Switzerland right? A small campaign on some German Porsche/Cayenne forums might get the attention of the agency that regulates safety issues.. They might be especially interested now that recalls have happened in at least 3 countries so far.

 

I was thinking to start my own little "campaign" against Porsche Switzerland to see their response. I might need some help from you guys to collect some data. However most of the data needed to build a proper case is already in the 2 forums.

My initial plan is to have enough correspondence with them, showing them the proof of failures around the world, and the fact that our car actually have the bad bolts, that "should" something happen, its all in their laps.
The liability after an accident will of course be the big pusher, the total engine damage the second.

Will be interesting to see their response on national level. Locally, the immediate cold shoulder was kind of amazing. He knew exactly what I was talking about, but our car was not affected.
If Porsche Switzerland can underline that the engine and bolts we have is in no way affected, I would like to have that in writing. Then it can be used against them in the future.
My hope is that they might cut through the crap and just get the bolts changed to get rid of me.

Im not holding my breath though.

 

No, Porsche only lists 2011 on both the info at the recall at the NHTSA page link below, & in the official recall document pdf, which you can download from the same recall page (noted thereon as "2011-2011" - not 2011-2012 as on the Panameras). IMHO it's an attempt at stop loss tactics.

Actually, if you open the official AH08 recall document at the link below, as well as at the expanding info frame there, they only include 2011 Cayenne V8s - not 2012.

However, in my search to buy Cayennes, I have seen some come up with the AH08 showing up on either the CarFax &/or AutoChek reports - but not consistently & sometimes only at one or the other.

I also know of one FS personally who knows he has the xxx.21 cam adjuster & defective bolts (using pix per the instructions in this topic), who was told by his SoCal dealership that his CayS was not covered.

So when it comes to the 2012 CS, CT, CTS, GTS? - Porsche is still jerking owners around.

FYI All - there is now a 3rd downloadable pdf document at the NHTSA link below, which is Porsche's explanation as to why they knew about it since 2012, had recalls elsewhere, but delayed in the US/Canada until 2017, which is worth a read ... especially if you enjoy fiction!

https://www.nhtsa.gov/recalls?nhtsaId=17V368#vehicle

They do admit that China forced them to recall due to the similarity with the BMW version of the part from their mutual OEM supplier (Heilite ?), & go on to claim that they only know of 1 failure without prior checklight notice in 2017 - which of course is complete & utter BS lies, just on the failures noted at this topic which were reported to Porsche via the owners taking their Cayennes/Panameras to their dealers!

I'm REALLY losing faith in Porsche as a reputable & quality manufacturer, & am seriously considering giving up on getting a CS for us!!!! .... due to prior handling of IMS-gate, 955-cooling-pipes-gate, Diesel-gate & now Porsche's Variocam-gate BS!

Cheers!
Tom
///////

 

Here it is so you don't have to dig out and DL the PDF:

 

BTW - there is another PDF on the NHTSA website that lists the models and VIN#'s of vehicles covered by the recall:
https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/rcl/201...7V368-6172.PDF

They appear to be (Cayenne's only):

2011-2011 Porsche Cayenne S - VIN Range 1 : Begin : WP1AB2A22BLA40378 End : WP1AB2A21BLA56278

2011-2011 Porsche Cayenne S - VIN Range 1 : Begin : WP1AB2922BLA43771 End : WP1ZZZ92ZBLA49011

2011-2011 Porsche Cayenne Turbo - VIN Range 1 : Begin : WP1AC2A28BLA80350 End : WP1AC2A23BLA88405

2011-2011 Porsche Cayenne Turbo VIN Range 1 : Begin : WP1AC2922BLA86200 End : WP1AC2922BLA86200

I'm guessing (WAG) that it's the last 5 numbers that are significant. My VIN: WP1AC2A26BLA875## (# to prevent ID'ing it too closely on the web) has the "A26BLA in it - I note that none of the range above match that part of the VIN#. But the last 5 numbers are included in the next to last turbo listing. And I've received the recall notice from Porsche.

 

So I read through much of this and it is pretty interesting. My wife just purchased a 2011 Cayenne S with 60k miles on it out of Chicago. We drove it home to Minneapolis with no issue, and it sat in the garage for the past 2 weeks due to being out of town. Day 1 of bringing the vehicle home we contacted the local Porsche dealer about the recall, as it came up on the car fax. They told us no parts were available and we will receive a letter when they are. Well today, after putting only a few hundred miles on the car, it suddenly flashed PSM FAULT on the dash, when into limp mode and the CEL began flashing. A quick code scan came up with P0305, P0306, P0307, P0308 and P0021. All code correlating with a likely hood of the bank 2 cam bolts failing. Even worse, there is an audible drop of compression on at least one cylinder when cranking. Now it is possible that the compression loss that is audible is simply because of the out of time camshaft, however I am not optimistic. It luckily happened about 2 blocks from home and at low speeds, so we were able to make it home without in incident.

After reading this thread, and the number of internal engine failures that arose from the failure of these bolts, I can not believe that Porsche would have told us to continue driving. Since this is now a national US recall, they are on the hook for progressive damages (Which I hope this doesn't end up being a fight, cause my wife and I just don't need that right now.) Why would they EVER have told us to keep driving it. I've worked as a technician for Ford for 20 years now, and the last they they would ever do is tell you to "just keep driving" if it was going to potentially cost them more in extensive repairs.

We are calling the dealer tomorrow to have it towed in. I hope the repairs are nothing more than the bolts, and we can all move on. Even with our short time with the car, we love driving it. Its a shame it couldn't even make it 1000 miles....

 

So I am dealing with the same issues. My car has the recall on it as well. I was advised that the bolts needed to be replaced and to keep driving the car. However, the car is throwing all kinds of codes, only running in limp mode, and reduced engine power. The car runs and idles horribly like it wants to cut off or is out of timing.

The tech at the local dealership has advised me that it is the high pressure fuel pump that needs to be replaced ($2200 job from the dealer).

Here's where the fun starts. So I replaced the high pressure fuel pump at a local indy and the car still ran the same. Ended up replacing the in tank fuel pump and HPFP sensor as well. Still no change in the car. Runs like crap.

After doing more research I have found that the HPFP is controlled by the drivers side of the camshaft. This recall could effect the drivers side cam if the bolts are broken or loose to my understanding. This in turn could lead to the HPFP code being generated on the car if there is an issue with these bolts, the timing chain is loose, or worse one of them are broken off. Am I correct in these assumptions?

The dealership (stealership at this point) is suggesting to replace the HPFP again (of course at my cost) and this should resolve the issue. I am using a geniune Porsche part which the dealership out of state that I purchased it from was so confident that his part is correct, he's sending me another one for free.

Does anyone have any experience with this or think that this recall could be the reason for the issues I experiencing.

I have also reached out to PCNA to let them know I am unhappy with this level of service my dealership is providing and the recommendation to just drive the car until the parts get in. With my car already stalling and running incorrectly, it is a major safety hazard not to mention if the bolts arent already broken off, when they do it would be much more expensive to repair. My dealer is simply looking at codes from the scan and not taking the time to inspect the bolts to see if this is the issue.

Any suggestions would be much appreciated

 

Just an FYI, I have a 2012 Cayenne S and just received a letter from Porsche NA notifying me of the recall and to schedule an appt for the fix. Called and parts aren't available yet.

 

Is it making clattery noises? If so - chances are it might well have some broken bolts. You are correct that the camshaft drives the HPFP - so if the camshaft isn't turning - the HPFP is going to show an error.

The diagnosis - without disassembly of the engine - would be to look at the "expected cam angle" and the "actual cam angle" - a tool like the iCarScan can give you this data - and you can even plot it graphically (useful to see what happens when you rev the engine.)

If the actual cam angle isn't what the ECU is telling the engine to do (expected cam angle) - chances are - the Variocam adjuster is doing something bad.

I'd look for a new dealer.

 

The recall lookup started working for me today so they must be getting close to actually having parts available.

 

Well here is an update on my situation that I posted above.

8/13- Failure of vehicle. Based on my diagnosis, of P0305, P0306, p0307, p0308, P0021, and engine loss of compression. I was fairly confident that the cam bolts had completely failed on bank 2 causing no movement of the camshaft what so ever.

8/14 - Contacted Porsche Of St Paul (in Minnesota). They were very helpful and together we setup to have the vehicle towed to them. They did initial diagnosis of vehicle and verified that there was indeed a fault on left bank of engine timing related. They were going to proceed with a compression test and then pull the valve cover and inspect. During this time they never asked me to authorize any work, or give me any $$ to expect to pay. This leads me to believe that they suspected the same situation I came to with my own diagnosis.

8/15-Spoke with the service adviser (a very nice guy), he expressed confidence that it was the bolts that failed and they are going to continue with that assumption. He said it is taking additional time to perform every piece of diagnosis in accordance to Porsche procedure to ensure there are no questions to what will be repaired. He expressed to me that he had never seen a Cayenne of this generation (2011) have these bolts snap, and that this will be the first one. (Take that with a grain of salt, as Cayennes for some reason are not very common in Minnesota.)

8/16- Spoke with adviser again. Went over that all of bank 2 had no or extremely low compression. They were in process of pulling valve cover, and I am waiting to hear back what they find. He suspects they will see 4 bolt heads gone. At this point in time they have no idea what Porche's procedure will be for the repair especially seeing at the potential for internal engine damage at this point is very likely.

All and all I am very happy with Porsche of St Paul so far. They have been very helpful and understanding of the stress this put me and my wife under with a vehicle we just purchased less than 1000 miles ago. They continued to reassure us that what ever damage has occurred from these bolts breaking will be covered as progressive damage from the recalled bolts. They were happy to set us up with a loaner vehicle, which I told them to wait on until we verify with 100% certainty that it is the recall bolts which failed.

I will keep this thread up to date with the events and what repairs are made.

 

8/17- Contacted by service advisor today. Indeed all 4 bolts snapped off of the bank 2 camshaft. They did recover all 4 bolt heads. Currently they are in contact with Porsche to determine the next step/likely hood of internal engine damage.

 

At a minimum - there are bent valves on that bank. I'd press them to redo both banks at the same time. The intakes of the other bank undoubtedly have some carbon buildup on them that can only be removed by scraping them (or soda-blasting..) At the very least they should explain how they'll clean the other side off so both intake tracks are the same.

 

So I had this exact issue prior to Porsche recently issuing the AH08 recall. Here's where I am at: After the issue happened, I went to a buddy mechanic of mine and we found the problem, snapped camshaft bolts. after replacing them, we were able to get the car to start and for the codes to clear, problem is that now the car smokes like a steam engine.

When I recently learned about the recall, I got in touch with Porsche Cars North America, but they are not interested in helping me out too much because I didn't take the car to the dealer....

Dealer wants to charge me over $10,000 to do an engine tear down.

And after this if they can determine that the damage has been caused by the bolts snapping off, they will determine if the issue will be covered.

A lot of uncertainty, and the potential to have a torn down engine, a $10,000 bill, and no guarantee that the issue will indeed be fixed...

Any suggestions or advice?

 

I would think the mechanic buddy that did the work would be the place to start. What did they do that causes it to smoke?

Have you had a simple compression test done?

AFAIK - there is no risk of piston/valve collision, at least on the turbo engines. But there is always a risk of valve to valve collision - which results in bent valves, poor running due to that and the possibility of damaging the valve-guides in the head. That might account for your oil burning - or it could be something relatively simple like a problem with the PVC system. If the air/oil separator is damaged (and it's part of the port side valve cover - so it would be disturbed if the bolts were replaced on the Variocam on that side) - it can account for a smoking problem and excessive oil use.

I'm also curious how your mechanic buddy sourced the special bolts that are used (and were not available via Porsche), and if he replaced the bolts on both banks in the VarioCam adjusters?

I think a compression test, along with a plug-read (visually inspect the plugs) and perhaps a boroscope of the cylinders (depending on what's found from the other two tests) might go a long way at not much expense in narrowing down what your problem is. As might someone carefully inspecting the myriad of PCV hoses that are frequently broken when removed and replaced.

Don't jump in the pond before checking the depth.. (me)