Hi all, so my
cayman
has developed another problem. I don’t drive the car frequently at all, I got new disks and pads about 300 miles ago and car was running absolutely fine. After leaving the car for a month or so I went to use it last week and had a message pop up stating “reduced engine power” in red. It disappeared immediately, I then stopped when I could, checked if any fluids dripping, checked engine oil, couldn’t see a problem on my extremely basic inspection. Went to turn the car back on and the warning came on and off a few times then disappeared. I took the car home, about 5 miles away from where I was, the warning didn’t reappear. I have had issues with this car in the past that have sorted themselves out by just leaving the car for a while, the optimist in my hoped the same for this issue. Anyway this week I thought I’d take it for a spin to see if it came back, about 6 miles into my journey the error message reappeared and stayed on and the car was running limp mode. I took the car home and have left it.
Also read it may be
battery
related, I never arm the alarm and the
battery
is only about 4 months old so I’m thinking this is unlikely.
Now this is where I could do with some advice, I’ve seen online this could be the high pressure
fuel pump
, but I’ve not seen any posts for a 2.9
cayman
, mainly
cayenne
’s and 997s. Do you think this could be the case? Or any other suggestions?
I am in a bit of a rough spot financially so I was hoping for some advice on the best route for me to take? Is it worth me buying a code reader or take it to my local specialist (or so they say, they forgot to
plug
in one of my wear sensors when I got my brakes done there!) I really cannot afford to take it to
Porsche
right now (I know I shouldn’t own a car I can’t afford to run, I have a company car with fuel included which I use and the
Porsche
was an impulse buy that I cannot justify selling as it has lost almost no value since I bought 3 years ago and needs a bit of body work which again I am not in a position to have done right now to make it ready for sale)
I would love to know if any of you guys have experienced this and what rough costs were for a fix so I know how much to budget for before I book it in?
Side note: it has been serviced by
Porsche
at 58k now on 60k, they gave it a full inspection and only track rod arm bushes were slightly worn but was told nothing to worry about right now, local specialist told me the same when they did the brakes recently.
Thanks for reading and any advice would be greatly appreciated!
Do you have the car on a
battery
maintainer when it sits for long periods? Even if the
battery
is fairly new if it sits for a month the
battery
may indeed be low.
I also believe it could be a
battery
problem. Low voltage plays all kinds of havoc with the various computers and sensors.
I'd take the
battery
out and have it load checked by Autozone or a similar store.
Independent garages and even auto parts stores usually will read your codes for free. Also, to save $ in general, a good foreign car independent garage is much lighter on the wallet.
I'd bet you a beer it is the
battery
. You didn't mention
battery tender
and you left it idle for a month. Even with a new
battery
you could be down on voltage and as others have mentioned this car is sensitive to voltage. Get in and drive the car 100 miles and my guess it will be fine. Also,
battery
tenders can be had for as little as $30. I got one from Auto-zone and it works great over periods of 5 weeks in the AZ desert with temps up to 110.
I did get that message once and the car run in limp mode. It was under warranty at that time and took it to the dealer. In my case it turn out to be a bad coil. They replace it and never had a problem ever since.
+3
battery
. If you lock the doors the car will go into sleep mode in about 5 - 6 days extending your
battery
charge. However, as others have suggested invest in a
battery
charger.
