Since I bought my 2006 Cayman S, I have tried to perform the required repairs and maintenance myself to various degrees of success. My last repair involved non-working left and right driving lights. First, the right light went out. Replacing the bulb did not fix the issue, and as the fog light assembly (987-631-094-01) had a crack, I replaced that, and again, there was no solution. I drove for a few months with the warning light, and then the left parking light failed. Replacing the left bulb did not fix that issue. After research, I felt it was the front control module (997-618-511-01). The internet contained information stating that the module would require PIWIS programming. The cost for this new part was around $465. Because of the programming issue, I bought a used part on eBay for a price with shipping of under $70. I disconnected the battery and replaced the part. However, now none of the lights worked. At this point, I called a couple of local independent shops. I was informed that the minimum cost would be approximately $1,000 (split between labor and materials), but probably more to fix the issues I had caused. The high end of the estimate was up to $2,500. When I reinstalled the original module, none of the lights worked, and I realized the issue was that I had not connected the plugs completely. With the plugs properly connected, the old module worked as it had. I put the used eBay unit in, properly made the connections, and all the lights worked. The unit I bought worked without any programming required: Success! However, the dash now showed PASM and PSM nonfunctioning messages at startup and a steering angle sensor issue after each full steering wheel turn. These warnings did not appear before the replacement of the front control module. As difficult as it was to believe, I replaced the battery, and the PASM, PSM, and steering issues disappeared. My lesson here is that there is some good and some wrong information on the internet concerning how to repair your car. Be patient and persistent. This repair took me months from start to finish, but only a couple of hours to perform the task multiple times.
Not sure if it applies in your case, but I had disconnected my
battery
and removed my gauge cluster to replace the face plate and upon reconnecting everything I too had errors in the PSM. I found out that some of those modules need you to drive it for awhile after the
battery
is disconnected to recalibrate. And IIRC, the steering needs to be turned fully left, and fully right, (maybe once, maybe more) to reset the sensors and modules. Just as the windows need to be recalibrated by raising fully, hold the button for a few seconds, then lowered fully, holding the button for a few seconds to bring them back to one-touch operation. Your issue may be different but you may want to try those first. Those attempts at a fix are free, instead of paying someone to diagnose it. If they don’t work, then you go the expensive route.
Thanks, Chuck. Yes, the
PASM
and PSM errors would appear and disappear. But not like when the
battery
is disconnected. I used my Durametric to recalibrate the steering angle sensor a few times., Durametric requires the wheel to be turned. After recalibration, the steering angle sensor error would reappear with every complete turn of the steering wheel. Small turns of the wheel did not create an error. It makes sense that these error issues were related. The steering angle sensor was messing up the PSM and the
PASM
, and the oldish
battery
was causing these issues. But why did these errors appear after the installation of the new module?
Because you disconnected the
battery
.
PSM needs the steering angle to be known in order to modulate the brakes in corners for optimal braking. That is forgotten every time the
battery
is disconnected. The fix - on the
987.2
and 958 cars - I back out of my driveway. About half-way out the light goes out.
PASM
probably needs something similar.
BTW -
@BiffStevens
- please use some paragraph breaks when posting here. It's hard to read when a wall of text appears. A lot of us are umm.. mature... and we need help that way. Thanks!
Don
I have disconnected the
battery
many times and had the PSM message for a few minutes while driving until it cleared, but I have never had the steering angle sensor issues, which is what confused me.
It is interesting that PSM needs to know the steering angle to modulate the brakes in corners for optimal braking. Thanks for the information.
For what it is worth, I found photographs of the fault codes on my phone. The codes were 4444, steering-angle sensor not initialized, and 4420, rate-of-turn sensor fault. The old me would have believed there was a real issue with the SAS and rabbit-holed that issue, which would have been bad. This forum helped me. There have been so many posts about a weak
battery
causing issues, and it seemed crazy to me. But the
battery
replacement fixed the issue. I tested the
battery
voltage cold, with the car running, and consulted with an electrical engineer friend. Ultimately, I figured the
battery
would die in a year anyway, so I replaced it.
My post will now include mature assistance paragraphs. Thanks for the tip.
Biff
Biff - the PSM code is telling you the PSM is unhappy - the reason it's unhappy is it doesn't know the rotational angle of the steering wheel - ie - when it's going straight - it forgets it when the batteries disconnected. That's why it resets it backing out of my driveway, which is about 2.5 car lengths long + the garage - so 3.5 car lengths in all - and that seems to be enough to teach the PSM system when the wheel is centered and straight.
The battery voltage in these cars IS really critical - I can tell when I've ignored my Cayenne for too long (like a week or two of not driving it) - when I get into it it will BONG at me and an error message will briefly appear on the screen "Relieve steering" - even though the steering lock has already released. It's strictly voltage caused.. if the car sits for a week or two - it will drop down to around 12.4V or so - and that's when that message is announced. If I use it more frequently and drive it long enough to actually charge the battery a bit - no BONG, no message. It does it a good deal less often now since I replaced the battery about 3 months ago..
And your paragraphs are quite handsome! Congratulations!
