My new DD, 2015 Cayenne Diesel, the Anti-Porsche

Well shortly after I filled it with DEF, it threw the AdBlue light again, this time with a check engine light.  Uh oh.  Off to the dealer it went, since it still has 1200 miles of diesel gate warranty left.  They ended up replacing the DEF injector, the catalytic convertor and both NOx sensors.  I wanted them to also replace the DPF (diesel particulate filter) because then all three of the big diesel emissions parts would be new, but sadly the DPF was fine. 

They also noted that the radiator shutter motor was bad.  They tried to get Porsche to help out with a goodwill gesture but apparently that only happens on cars with less than 100k miles on them.  Who knew?  Anyways, the dealer wanted $3300 to replace that.  $420 part, you need to remove the front bumper to replace it.  Um, I can remove the front bumper in no more than an hour.  So, no, I'll do that myself, thank you.

Really happy it was still under warranty, this was probably at least $6000 parts/labor.  No oil leaks still, it's all sealed up.  Hopefully it runs well for a little while longer, I usually sell my wife's cars before 100k miles and this one has almost 120k.  She really likes it and wants to keep it, but if it starts to break down more it'll have to go...

60k maintenance done since it has a little over 120k miles on it now.  So another serpentine belt (T60 to turn the tensioner.  Had to find it!), engine air filter, cabin air filter, fuel filter, oil change.  Should be good to go for awhile, next up is putting the snow wheels/tires on and cleaning out the cowl drains.

A coworker bought a diesel Cayenne - must be a 2015 or so, as it's still (barely) under the warranty. He's had it for just about a year. So far, it's received a new turbo and is currently sitting engineless for a reseal job. He seems pretty blase about the warranty running out but I've gotta say it would have me a little concerned.

In reply to Keith Tanner :

I'd say he hit it right, the engine reseal job is a big one and he's fortunate it's still under warranty.  A new turbo is unusual, most of the issues with these center around the emissions equipment.  I was hoping to get the dealer to a reseal on ours while it was still under warranty, but all the oil on the engine was residual, it wasn't actually leaking.  Which I guess is a good thing?  An engine out job will trigger me getting rid of this if it happens now.

It's out of warranty now, has 120,6xx miles on it.  My wife loves it and doesn't want to replace it with anything, so I guess I'll keep doing maintenance on it until something really large pops up, then we'll trade it in.  I imagine the same thing will happen with my Touareg TDI too.  Hopefully both get to at least 150k miles before that happens.

He does love the truck so he's planning to keep it. I just have my doubts the vehicle has managed to time all of its big dollar failures for the last year of the warranty. He's running out of time on the warranty, I think he's at 80k-ish.

His theory on the turbo failure is that it's a diesel with a variable vane turbo, and they don't like short hops like city driving. So it was the type of use by the PO that killed it. That's a reasonable train of thought, I hope he's right.

It's certainly needed a lot more attention in the past year than my Dodge 2500 diesel has in the past 11 with slightly higher total mileage. That truck has needed a new PCV filter and a PS line. Different kind of vehicle, of course, but both six cylinder turbo diesels. I keep threatening to put a Cummins badge on the Porsche :)

Wife told me the check engine light was on a few weeks ago, read the code, #3 glow plug.  Cleared it, crossed my fingers and of course it came back.  Ordered one from FCP Euro, cheap at $13, ordered the glow plug harness pliers from Amazon, $14.  Not the easiest one to get to, but thankfully it didn't break when I removed the old one. 

Here's the location, very back passenger side

And old vs new glow plug

Cleared the check engine light, swapped the snow wheels/tires on, drove around the neighborhood to set the tpms.  Hopefully good to go now...