PASM failure 997 GTS

Berin · Jul 13, 2023

Halfway through my holiday to the Vosges, I got a PASM fail light on, and the suspension then seemed to be very hard - I wonder if it switched to PASM Sport mode?

Dropped in at the OPC at Mulhouse, who were very helpful and put the car straight on the diagnostic, which showed a fault in the front left strut. They advised that it was a "non immobilising failure" - i.e. I could carry on, and no point in calling Porsche Assist since none of the replacement car/onward travel applied. We carried on the trip and everything was fine apart from the fillings in our teeth being shaken out!

Back home, the car went into OPC Reading. Diagnosis confirmed as a PASM valve in the front left strut. Now, the strut is not covered by warranty, but the valve is. Since it's one assembly though, they agreed to replace the strut and do the work under warranty. The part (of course) is not in stock and is a 5 day wait from Germany, but at least I don't have to pay for it.

Now, I do wonder, should the other strut be replaced as well? Is it OK to replace use one side?

Porschekit · Jul 13, 2023

As with most things like springs, dampers, brakes, etc, if you're doing one side it's best to do the other side at the same time.
Murphy's law says if you only do one side the other goes two weeks later....

Berin · Jul 13, 2023

I might call them tomorrow and see what that would cost. Doing both sides seems to make sense. And since it's on the Classic programme, I think that gets me 15% off the parts cost.

malarcy · Jul 15, 2023

Berin said:
Halfway through my holiday to the Vosges, I got a PASM fail light on, and the suspension then seemed to be very hard - I wonder if it switched to PASM Sport mode?

Dropped in at the OPC at Mulhouse, who were very helpful and put the car straight on the diagnostic, which showed a fault in the front left strut. They advised that it was a "non immobilising failure" - i.e. I could carry on, and no point in calling Porsche Assist since none of the replacement car/onward travel applied. We carried on the trip and everything was fine apart from the fillings in our teeth being shaken out!

Back home, the car went into OPC Reading. Diagnosis confirmed as a PASM valve in the front left strut. Now, the strut is not covered by warranty, but the valve is. Since it's one assembly though, they agreed to replace the strut and do the work under warranty. The part (of course) is not in stock and is a 5 day wait from Germany, but at least I don't have to pay for it.

Now, I do wonder, should the other strut be replaced as well? Is it OK to replace use one side?

fwiw The failure "state” for pasm is as you say, it defaults to full on sport mode - like if you had pressed the button since it’s deemed to be safer than faulty active mode.

Surprised that Porsche don’t mandate that they struts are changed in pairs To be honest They get twitchy about a tread depth difference on more than. 4mm left to right so half a suspension change seems at odds.

if it was me I would ask that question but be prepared to pay to have the other side done at the same time.