PCM Faults

[Guest]

I have a 2006 Cayman S with satnav, bose and phone. Recently the system started suffering form the occasional glitch which corrected itself or was fixed by turning the ignition off and re-starting. The SatNav and audio functions have now failed completely although the phone is working.

The car is 2 years and 4 months old and the extended warranty specifically excludes the PCM module.

Has anyone experienced similar problems? I suspect my local OPC will want to replace parts at a significant cost, any advice on repairing PCM systems would be greatfully recieved!

 

[rjc]

Hi Brian What exactly is the nature of the fault(s) with your PCM? Until a couple of months ago I owned a 2005 Cayenne S which developed a fault with the PCM system after 2 years and 6 months. The fault in my case was that the display went intermittent. If you tapped the screen it would sometimes come back on but over time it got worse and worse until it was unusable. Since it was out of warranty I took the whole PCM thing to pieces to see if it was a loose connection or similar. Unfortunately it was the LCD display itself that had gone faulty. As you suspect, replacement is not cheap. About £2200 in my case! Hope you don't have to suffer the same fate. Robin

 

[Guest]

Hi Robin After the system appears tohave been trying to boot forsome time I now have the following message that appears on the screen: System Failure, Amplifier, CD Changer, Navigation Module, Phone are unavailable. With a confirm request on the lower left control knob. Once confirmed I have the time, temp and phone available but no other functions. Brian

 

[rjc]

Brian That sounds like a problem with the fibre-optic interconnections between each component i.e. the PCM is failing to identify the other components on boot-up. I got a similar message when I was installing a Dension iPod adapter on my car and messed up the fibre-optic connections. But it went away after I unplugged and replugged all the fibre connectors, disconnected and reconnected the battery and then tried again. Might be worth a try? Or you could take it to your OPC and ask for a diagnosis. If they tell you the PCM unit needs replacing I'd definitely have a go at persuading them that it should be replaced under warranty. 2 years and a few months isn't exactly a reasonable lifetime for the unit is it? If they won't budge I'd say no thanks and take it to an auto electrical specialist and see if they could do anything with it. Nothing to lose if it's going to have to be replaced anyway! Best of luck, Robin

 

[Guest]

Thanks Robin That is very helpfull (I hope!) I will let you know how I get on Brian

 

[owb1]

Hi Brian/Robin/ Anyone, I've had similar faults with my wife's Cayenne S but the problem seem to have spread to other components such as Air con (which has a delay before coming on), the petrol gauge (which shows rmpty) and the onboard computer which has aconstant flicker (like a bad earth effect). Our extended warranty has just expired and I was considering buying a new one but can you confirm that it would cover the likely cause of these problems? I'm trying to find if there's a single point of failure that would be common to these isues - has anyone any suggestions please? Thanks Mike

 

[spyderman]

ORIGINAL: owb1 Our extended warranty has just expired and I was considering buying a new one but can you confirm that it would cover the likely cause of these problems?

I believe that the new, more expensive Porsche warranty, that comes into effect from October, does indeed cover the PCM. However, unless something goes wrong during the period of warranty, it might not be covered. Lots of 'if's here I'm afraid!

 

[Guest]

Hi Mike When I looked at the extended warranty for my Cayman in January 08 it was made clear to me that the PCM module would not be covered. So far my OPC has been very helpful and I have had several partial and full software reloads, connector checks, etc but still the problems persist. I know they have sent info to Porsche GB but they have so far failed to diagnose the problem so the next step would seem to be to replace the PCM module at £1250 ish. My problem seems to have some similarities to your problem in that it is both variable and intermitant as if there is a loose connection somewhere, so it will be fingers crossed when the new unit goes in. Sorry I cannot be more helpfull Brian