981 PCM3.1 Hard Drive Failure? Repairs anybody?

BrianJ · May 1, 2021

During the latest lockdown I stored my 2013 981 for a few months on the CTEK in my garage. Before storing the PCM was turned off completely. On restart everything works except neither Navi nor Maps will load (just says "Navi loading" or "Maps loading" then reboots after a few mins) and the jukebox is no longer listed under "Sources". I've tried the PCM Handover and Factory reset processes to no avail. My strong suspicion is that the PCM hard drive has failed. Googling reveals that this is quite a common fault on 981s and 991s and OPCs just replace the whole lot, which sounds expensive (no warranty on my car). Although replacing with a non-Porsche unit is an option, I actually quite like the way the PCM navi works (zoom on the right knob and route display in the dials). Another option appears to be repair - does anyone have any experience of using the postal service from https://www.pcmrepairs.co.uk/ (Cartronics in Byfleet) in similar circumstances please, ir indeed any other repairer?

laura · May 3, 2021

Hi Brian

I have a similar problem with my 981S PCM3.1 but it is, I think, the CD drive which has failed. It didn't like doing the map update - by disc 4 the player was making clunky noises and I had to disconnect the battery before I could remove the disc! Everything else works ok - just not the cd player or, of course, the maps. I spoke to PCM repairs last week and booked the car in for them to remove the system and look at it. Which will cost me £140 +VAT. I would suggest giving them a call - they seem very approachable but until they have done the work I can't comment on their skills. I did get a quote for an exchange unit from Porsche which was about £1500 +VAT - then there is the fitting cost including the coding.

BrianJ · May 3, 2021

Hi Laura, many thanks. Congrats on your very well-deserved new job by the way.

I had some emails with Cartronics (PCM Repairs) before removing the unit myself yesterday, with the aid of my assistant to balance it on knees etc. Reasonably straightforward in principle but getting the 6 different connectors off the back when you can't see very easily, the cables are all pretty short and most terminals seem to require a simultaneous press with a screwdriver and pull with pliers is tricky. All packed up and ready for UPS to Cartronics (PCM Repair) tomorrow. The only detail they haven't yet supplied is what they mean by "latest maps" being installed as part of their repair. Mine was updated by OPC (long story) to the 2018 MY maps a couple of years ago; I see the 2019 MY are now the latest available from Porsche. It will be interesting to see what Cartronics say on this - have you any idea? From your post it sounds as if you were updating the maps yourself - is this correct, and if so, what was your source please?

AnthonyM · May 7, 2021

Hi Laura - Brian

I will be interested to see how you get on as l have the exact same issue with my 2014 981. Keeps shutting down and rebooting- not able to use CD and no Sat NAV. Radio is great for 10-20 minutes.

I have spoken to local dealer and new unit £2k-3k including fitting but is apparently, a like for like replacement using a Hard Disk and not SD card so can fail again being such old technology. Can you let me know how things go with PCMrepairs as l have looked at using them but living in the midlands long way to go and l had heard PCM unit is a pain to remove.

Anyone out there have information on alternative's or retrofitted a different make of unit?

BrianJ · May 7, 2021

Hi Anthony, I had a shock. Couriered it to PCM Repairs, they called me shortly after arrival, said it had a main logic board failure not hard drive as I thought. Quoted £1050 plus VAT to fix, including (after discussion) latest maps. Much more than I anticipated. Found it difficult to get them to break out parts and labour, but they appear to know about Porsches and PCM functionality. OPC Sheffield quoted about £1400 plus VAT for replacement (after PCGB discount) plus £300 incl VAT for latest maps (2019MY). I know I could get a non-Porsche replacement for a lot less than this with CarPlay etc, but a I use mainly Satnav and radio, I like a lot of the PCM operation and integration (easy zooming, display in dash etc) and my car has Sport Chrono which would be compromised too. So after considering all this I bit the bullet and told PCM Repairs (aka Cartronics) to go ahead. They indicated about 7 days to obtain the parts then ship back as a plug and play item (no coding). I’ll report further when I get it back.

There are several videos etc on the Internet about removing PCM 3.1 from 991 and 981, including on boxa.net in the 981 forum (including mine). I am not a car electronics guy, but with care and with an assistant to help hold the unit whilst we removed the connections (essential in my view) it was reasonably straightforward. It will be easier to put it back. PM me if you have any queries.

AnthonyM · May 7, 2021

Brian

Appreciate the additional information, prices are about what l had expected. I would be interested to hear how things go when you get the unit back.

BrianJ · May 18, 2021

Just to conclude on this from my perspective, I received the PCM back from Cartronics today. Not possible to inspect the interior because all the covers have Cartronics own "don't tamper with this or you void the warranty" labels over them. However, it took about 5 mins to reinstall the PCM in the car and it all appears to work. Before I sent it to them it had V4.52 of the system software, which a couple of years ago when updating the maps my OPC told me was the latest that would run on that unit, even though V4.76 was available. It now has V4.76 on it and although hard to tell until I drive to somewhere with some recent road improvements or POI changes, the maps look a bit different to me. All the integration with the rest of the Porsche instruments appears to work fine. So my conclusion is that without a forensic inspection, the system board and system software have been changed and the maps replaced with the latest version. Expensive but desired result and they seem to know what they are doing. And as they promised, no coding required at OPC to make it all work again.

John Studd · May 19, 2021

I had the same problem with my Panamera - total failure of the PCM - for no reason. Porsche said they had never herd of this problem and quoted £2-3,000. I found Cartronics on line and they were most helpful and cured the problem at similar price as mentioned above. Thoroughly recommend them who are based in Byfleet.

bentley3 · May 19, 2021

Hi Brian,

Had my PCM back from Cartronics following logic board failure and fitted it myself yesterday as OPC too busy until May 27th.

Delighted to say all working though no update installed. Most difficult part fitting nearside trim panel !

Chris Baughan.

BrianJ · May 20, 2021

The Nav on mine now offers 3 different routes when selecting a destination which it definitely didn't do before. It also "AUX Bluetooth" as a music source in addition to "AUX" (ie wired), which I am fairly certain it didn't do before. So a useful upgrade in functionality as well as the fix. It also offers "off-road" as an option when setting up the route; I've been on some dubious roads in my Boxster but I won't be choosing them deliberately.

AnthonyM · May 20, 2021

Hi Brian

Thanks so much for the update on the PCM replacement/fix. Sounds like this was certainly better value for money if they have updated Maps and you have new functionality. I agree not sure my 981 would be heading off road, unless it includes race circuits.

Will strip my unit out over next couple of weeks when the weather warms up and take a look with my brother who likes to dabble in electronics before deciding what to do next. It is however great to know l have options.

.

fasterthanlight · May 20, 2021

Bluetooth AUX is one of those things that you sometimes need to enable if you don't see it when you select SOURCE. I had to do it on my current car: SOURCE > AUX > OPTION, and there's a check box next to AUX Bluetooth that you can tick. Not sure my NAV gives 3 routes though, but guess that there's a setting under NAVI somewhere.

andymort · Jun 22, 2021

Yes indeed I am midway through the diy fix process. I had PCM 3.1 v4.63 and everything would work, except Navi showing Loading Navi and Maps similar. Then a reboot every few minutes. The reboot I believe is a bug in the older versions. I obtained an ISO for 4.76 from some other forum and burned it to dvd. I bought a 120GB 2.5 inch SATA ssd drive for just over £20 and a Unitek Aluminum USB 3.0 to SATA Dual Bay External Hard Drive Docking Station with UASP for 2.5/3.5-inch HDD SSD, Hard Drive Duplicator for £35, which is a bit of a mouthful for something in which you can plug two hard discs and clone one to the other. I took out the original hard drive from the PCM, lots of helpful videos on that online, it took about 10 mins to take it out, very easy. Cloning the hard drive was more problematic. I used Clonezilla Live USB stick, but there were so many bad sectors on the hard drive that I couldn't get it to succeed no matter what options I tried. So we know at least that the hard drive was kernackered. I had to use ddrescue which is much better at copying one hard disc to another no matter what the state of it. That succeeded. For those that want to know I had to shell out to command line inside clonezilla, then ran

sudo ddrescue -f -n /dev/sda /dev/sdb

(where /dev/sda and /dev/sdb indicate source and target discs, sudo fdisk -l can identify them for you)

I put the ssd back in the PCM and turned it on, same issue, Loading Navi and reboot, no surprise there. I put in the 4.76 disc and started it up, but I mustn't have had the ignition key turned properly because when I came back to it the car was off. Turned it on and it was at a a Emergency update screen, I put the disc back in and let it emergency update. Then I put the disk in again and let it complete the 4.76 update with ignition on (I did have car connected to battery charger too). When I turn it on now, it is in the same state where it is stuck Loading Navi, I'm hoping because the maps were corrupt and we haven't updated them yet. But the good news is it doesn't reboot anymore so its bearable to use. I haven't checked all other functionality yet. So I guess I'm looking to procure a map update disc, I hear you can buy a Usb key with the activation code for the maps on a usb stick too, but I haven't located one yet.

You did ask ;-)

JohnCRS · May 22, 2022

I have just had a query from a Cayman register member suffering from this issue.

"Navigation dead (says loading but never loads) Radio 95% dead…….defaults to R3 whatever station you set and switches itself on and off every 3/4 minutes"

The porsche network offer a software reload or a new unit. I wondered if there was any additional experience or updates out there a year after this thread was started.

Thanks, John

BrianJ · May 22, 2022

My Cartronics repair worked faultlessly but I have recently sold that 981 and bought another. In the intervening period I also came across these guys in Bradford https://www.revtronic.com/product/porsche-cayennepanamara-navigation-repair-pcm-3-1/ who appear to offer a similar service to Cartronics/PCM Repair. I know nothing about them but Bradford might be a more convenient option for some people than West Byfleet if they want to visit personally. Since then I have also updated the maps myself to the 2021/22 version using https://www.satnavishop.co.uk/porsche-pcm31-sat-nav-map-update-europe-2022-846-p.asp. That went well. There is an extensive discussion about PCM map updates at https://www.boxa.net/topi...2013-981-satnav-maps/.