Power Steering Problem - Help!

Right, deep breath... Some of you may remember me, I am the ex-Top Gear director who bought a '55 Cayman S (after much ribbing from Jeremy Clarkson about 'Cocksters'). Unfortunately the car had a fault with the PASM system. Even more unfortunately Porsche would not accept that the car had a fault and, as I couldn't prove it, I was eventually forced to trade it back to the dealer I'd bought it from and order a new one. Losing seven grand on the deal was very annoying, but I couldn't see another way out and at least I'd be getting a younger car - and surely it would be perfect, wouldn't it? Well, no actually. The new car (an '07) rides beautifully (kind of proving my point about the old one, as this one has exactly the same PASM /wheel/tyre combination). BUT, there is a problem with the steering! The old car's steering was perfect, but the new one's is stodgy and heavy, as if the power steering isn't working properly. This time, at least, the dealer has conceeded that there is a fault. So far they've replaced the steering rack, then the power steering pump , then the steering rack again. The third new steering rack did seem to cure the problem, but after about 150 miles the steering weighed up again. It's going back to the dealer next weekend, but I'd love a heads up if anyone else has any ideas about the possible cause of the problem, because the dealer has admitted that they're totally at a loss to know what to do. There are no strange sounds coming from the rack, no leaks that I can see and the handling is perfect. It is simply that the steering feels heavy and lifeless (and I know from experience that it shouldn't). I haven't tracked the car and, even with 'Global Warming', England can't really be described as a hot climate. Please help! Cheers, Richard.

Quite amazed that you should be so unlucky ( and I'm not referring to working with Mr Cockson! ). Having had three Porsche 's over the years I have not even has as much as a single miss-fire. Anyhow, that's hardly any help to you, but I really don't believe its your problem to solve mate. Hope your main steeler gets it sorted sooner rather than later, regards Kez

Do they have "Lemon Laws" in G.B. ?

you mean 55 grand? OK I think I can help you out. It's your karma subsystem. It's actually operating correctly, you see. C.f. Jeremy's Ford GT. Seriously. Were there any telltale signs of wrongness in the removed racks and pump? Has the PS fluid level been policed well (requiring popping the engine cover alas)? I have a feeling the actual explanation is painfully simple. I mean, the fact that the steering worked for a while after one of the fixes, then stopped working, sounds like you're losing fluid. Guys who track their Caymen without putting underdrive pulleys on them find that the PS system blows up pretty quickly from the extended high revs, and leaking PS fluid is one of the early symptoms (blown pump is the final symptom).

What a bummer.. No, the steering is definitely not stodgy, heavy or lifeless. My 06 bmw 330xi has heavier steering. Sounds like a disfunctioning pump. From what I can see (and my experience of 11k miles), it is quite a reliable, robust car. There has been a lot of discussion about rack failure on heavily tracked cars (due to a line getting too warm). Various levels of solution exist for that problem, even a simple wrapping of the lines that get close to hot bits (which I may do as I come out of warranty). However, this doesn't sound like your issue at all. Keep us updated and best of luck..

Did the dealer replace any of the power steering hoses or lines? Since the dealer has already replaced the pump and the rack (twice!), the problem is most likely somewhere else. There might be a pinhole leak or a bad connection/seal somewhere that is squirting out power steering fluid while you're driving, but not at idle, which would be why the dealer can't find the leak. Try popping the engine cover and checking your power steering fluid level. If it's empty, then you have a leak somewhere. The problem is finding the leak, though. My suggestion for finding it: refill the power steering fluid. spread clean cardboard or heavy paper under the car (needs to be heavy enough to not blow away. Or, you could tape newspaper to the floor). Start the car, hold the engine at 2500 RPMs, and turn the steering wheel lock-to-lock five or six times. Turn off the car, and look for leaks underneath. If there is a leak, you should see drips or puddles in the vicinity of the leak. If there are no drips or puddles, check the power steering fluid level, and repeat steps 1-4 if the reservoir is empty. That will at least confirm if there is a leak or not, and its general location. Pass this on to the dealer, and get them to replace the hoses/lines in that area. Please keep in mind that sometimes leaks "travel", and show up quite a ways away from the actual leak -- the puddle(s) might not be under the leak, but the location will give the dealer a place to start looking. Also, the undertray may be holding the leaking fluid, so it would help if you were to remove the undertray first. Good Luck!

I've been down this road twice with my Boxster S & once with my CS and consider myself somewhat of an expert on p/s problems. The first time they did the Boxster they said they replaced everything - rack, pump, lines, resovior, etc. It lasted one weekend. Second go around the replacement of everything now had 3-4 new parts listed so they didn't in fact replace everything the first time. The other possibity is they need to properly flush the system of air. Kind of like bleeding your brakes. Problem that Porsce refuses to admit is that the system is poorly design and still has problems after their modification of the lines in 2003. Plastic lines and seals melt under high rpm and the heat that brings. There also is no external moniter of the p/s level. Unless you check it regularily and especially after each track day, you are going to burn it up. It cooks a few ounces of fluid. If it's not refilled it overheats and melts the plastics seals and/or lines. See my other post for info on fixing & avoiding this problem in the future. http://www.planet-9.com/cayman-competition/19400-power-steering-fixes-without-big-bucks.html

Thanks for all this advice - I will pass it all on to my dealer. If there were any noticeable problems with the replaced/removed parts, the dealer didn't say so. The fluid loss sounds like a possible explanation, although there's nothing on my garage floor. Incidentally '55 simply refers to the British registration plate system where '55 represents a registration date in the second half of 2005.

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Thanks Augie. I guess checking the fluid level should quickly reveal whether there's a leak or not. I'll report back when I know. Richard.

OK, it wasn't the power steering fluid. Nor the rack, the pump or any of the pipework in between (all have been replaced) - according to the OPC it was the front PASM struts that were faulty. I'll be picking it up next weekend with brand new struts and hopefully you won't hear from me again! Thanks for everyone's suggestions.

Richard, Sorry to hear about your continued trials and tribulations with Porsche GB - good to hear that they have agreed to fix your PASM now............ (Wasn't it a bit silly of them not to fix your first one? - Considering what you do for a job? - surely now they should also reimburese the £7,000 lost?) On another track - any chance of You/Clarkson/Stig testing out my Modified Cayman and declaring that it really is what Porsche should have made? LSD , Lowered Suspension with Stronger Anti-Roll bars, Improved Geometry, Upper and Lower Strut Braces/Stress Bars, Solid Transmission Mounts, Lowered/Baffled Sump, Milltek Exhaust system, De-Snorked/ BMC air filter / Softronic plenum & ECU Tuning, Uprated Braking system, Underdrive Pulley, Central radiator installed, Short Shifter, Toyo R888 tyres, 345 BHP........! http://www.planet-9.com/gallery/showimage.php?i=6418&catid=member&imageuser=1601 It should beat a GT3 RS around your track (has done at Silverstone, Bedford and Brands) ...................... Maybe Give Porsche a Bloody Nose as you slag them off for not doing this in the first place..... Confirm Cockson's initial thoughts......... Surprise Hammond? I know that you only seem to highlight new/stock cars - but how about expanding themes to indicate that with a few aftermarket extras at modest cost (My Base CS with mods is still cheaper than yours) added by someone with medium experience, you can have a real racer???? I live in Camberley and can pop down to Dunsfold at any time, Also I have a Colleague 'terrytommason' on this site, who lives in Woking, we have jointly modified our cars (a bit by trial and error) to get to the state that they are in now - some mods did not improve performance! Any Chance?

ex-director? what happened? I was still waiting for Jeremy to take me up on my head to head challenge his Ford GT vs. my Cayman S !

I did seven series on TG - that's enough Clarkson for anyone. Now working on Watchdog... ! Richard.

lol, I was gonna say that but again, think some useful advise that I read on this forum somewhere I dun remember, and I dont quite remember the details of it, but I'm sure someone can explain that more or link to the topic to find the leak if there is any, is to use some sort of glowing fluid that can be detected with black light or something, that can make finding the leak easier! ________________________ "Sir! We're surrounded!" - "Excellent! We can shoot in any direction!" A good car will get you from point A to point B. A great car... will just get you into trouble!

What is Watchdog? Do you know if there are still plans to do a Top Gear show hosted in the U.S.? One of my producers for my radio show has been looking at doing something like that and I thought I might link him up with the Top Gear folks if that was still in the works? Feel free to PM me the info. As for your power steering, if the fluid isn't leaking (thus a pressure loss in the system) then aside from replacing the pump and steering mechanisms I'm not sure what else you could replace other than lines in case a line had something lodged in it, or was flexing/expanding under load where it shouldn't be or something odd like that. My first recommendation though would be to GET MORE DATA POINTS ! By that I mean find another car at your dealer (or another dealer) that is as nearly identical as it can be and take it for back to back test drives with yours, hopefully at your dealer where you can have the mechanics do the same so they can experience the same problem you are. Let me know if you need assistance escalating with Porsche at some point and I can get you in touch with someone in the UK to help. Best of luck and looking forward to your PM.

BBC - Consumer - TV and radio Wathdog is a consumer program on the BBC Richard is very unlucky to have had two Cayman S cars and both to have different but PASM related issues

Apparently the problem has finally been traced to faulty front PASM struts which were binding internally on rotational movement causing the problem with heavy steering. These have now been replaced and I'm picking the car up on Saturday. OPC is confident that everything is fine now... We'll see!