They are telling me that, "All manual transmission Porsches arrive at the dealership and go through a pre-delivery inspection. Sometimes there are 'burrs on a shaft that is part of the clutch mechanism that catch on a sleeve'. Usually they catch this before the car goes out the door. It simply requires ' working it in a bit' to solve the issue."
That is what they said when they thought they had coached the driver into fixing it on the road. Then it happened again and he was stranded...again.
Does this sound familiar to anyone?
All of my searching here leads me to the slave cylinder issue, which the dealer has not yet acknowledged. They already claimed that it was not the "pressure plate bolts" issue...before even examining the car.
I want a written explanation of their claim along with a penalty if the problem happens again in the next 12 months. They keep saying "it won't happen again" and it keeps happening. The good news is that it hasn't happened to ME because they can't get the car to my house.
*laugh*
In this situation, I don't think there's much alternative to giving them enough rope to hang themselves. If they're wrong about the pressure plate negative diagnosis it'll be engine out city, all on them. It's an '06 right? Loose pressure plate comes standard (n/c
) on 06's whereas in 07 they transitioned to bad slave cylinders (also n/c
), and for 08 they have fully transitioned to that and are experimenting with bad master cylinders (n/c...). What free features does 09 hold? Only time will tell.
Forgot to add: don't freak out; remember that many people have been through this and AFAIK there's always a satisfactory outcome.
Guys, these are isolated problems through a large population of Caymans. Any new model will have some issues that aren't caught for release. And the numbers weren't high enough for any type of recall.
Most of us have had zero defects with many miles logged.
If you can't get your car home, that would be pretty frustrating. I doubt the dealer is going to agree to some penalty for not having it right. Would you be willing to pay them double if it didn't break again for some period of time?
How often is it OK for your clutch to fail during the first 100 miles of ownership? How much should I have to pay to avoid that problem?
Your comment is ridiculous. Recording these issues so that other members can avoid problems in the future is a huge value.
By the way, they have given me $250 for my trouble thus far.
*********
Day 2 "owning" an "S"
They said they fixed the problem and it would never happen again. They lubricated some pivot points and flushed the hydraulic fluid out. I told them about the shared wisdom and experience of the board. The service manager mentioned this info to Porsche. They have chosen to ignore it.
"LUBERCATED CLUTCH PEDAL PIVOT AS PER TECH LINE. BLEED HYD CLUTCH SYSTEM."
It didn't fail AGAIN until I was almost home. This time the car jerked forward and stalled as I let out the clutch and it immediately caught into gear. Then stuck to the floor when I put it back in and wouldn't come back up. I pulled it up with my hand. I managed to limp home, but it did the lurch thing again as I pulled into the garage and stuck to the floor. To add insult to injury, I noticed a previously un noticed "ding" in the car worse than anything I have sustained driving on and OFF TRACK.
Porsche Roadside will be picking it up and taking it back to the dealer in the AM. I will be driving the flawless 2.7 at Thunderhill.
This is attempt 2 at fixing a problem that I believe a reasonable person would consider to be a dangerous defect. I need to start my documentation now.
"Your comment is ridiculous."
Well, be that as it may, the point of making that ridiculous comment was to emphasize how ridiculous requesting a penalty was. They may have given you an amount of $250 for your pain. But , remember this, Porsche made the car, not the dealership. Porsche is feeling no pain from your misfortune. In fact, they have made far more money on your purchase than the dealer did.
When customers "demand", they generally find themselves much lower in the respect line, and are less likely to get favorable treatment on other occasions.
If I had a customer "demanding" a penalty if I didn't get something right, they would be real lucky if I even chose to work on their car. And I'd be happy to arrange towing to another place of their choosing. YMMV.
Quick update to my saga.
The car they took back after refusing to apply the slave cylinder fix 3 times "based upon internet gossip" is still on the lot as a used car almost 6 months later. 112 miles on the odometer and they can't discount it enough to make up for the difference between new and used car financing for folks who might want to buy the car. As a 2007, it isn't increasing in value each day.
So in the end, they put their money where their mouth was and stood firm on the position that the slave cylinder was not the problem.
My 2008 has the slave cylinder fix (pre- campaign letter) and I couldn't be happier with the car.
My car is sitting at the dealer in Atlanta now for a paint related problem (could be a future post depending on how it is handled) but the dealer did call me and say my car was under a "service action" to replace the slave cylinder. I had no clutch problems but apparently the car was in the replacement range and came up automatically in the system. It is a late 2007 CS.
