Just took delivery of my Cayman S last Wednesday night. On my way home, with less than 100 miles on the clock, the ABS, PSM and Check Engine lights came on along with the audible ding. Restarting the car temporarily cleared all but the check engine light, but the other warning indicators came back on a short time later. So I visited the "workshop" as instructed by the computer, and they found a bad wheel sensor which is apparently not sending any data to the ECM. This must be a rare problem because there are no replacement wheel sensors to be found anywhere in the USA. They apparently come from the motherland or someplace else overseas. So they have one ordered and it should be here Monday. So now I am stuck with a somewhat crippled crock for the first weekend of ownership
. What I am wondering is when the check engine light is on, does the ECM put the car into some type of safe mode which retards engine performance? The workshop could not tell me what the effect of this might be either. It feels a bit sluggish (not much low RPM torque) but I really have nothing to compare it to and am also being mindful of the break-in period so have not tried any high RPM blasts to test things out.
cayveetsman,
I'm very sorry to hear about your car's malfunction. I can relate, since I lost control of my 2006 SLK's hardtop while it was OPEN, right after I drove it 350 Miles home from my dealer.
These things can really spoil the pleasure of new ownership!!! On the other hand, yours is a real minor issue, after it has been fixed, it will be nothing more than a good story to tell amongst friends.
You write "It feels a bit sluggish (not much low RPM torque)". I don't believe that the ECM would retard the engine due to a bad wheel sensor. This is a Porsche, nothing much happens below 2500 RPM and things really only start to get interesting above 4200, which is the RPM range that Porsche doesn't like us to play in for the first 2000 Miles -
darn
. I have 800 on mine so far and I only '"had to" push her to approx. 5000 RPM two or three times due to the traffic. What starts to happen at that range is definitely a pleasure, and I can't wait to repeat it on a more regular basis...
By the way, I had a three Lexus SC's over the past ten years, and it took only 7 to 10 days to get some parts by air from Japan that were not available in the US. I can't see why this would be much different for parts from Germany. The dealer just has to push the issue.
Also, if your wheels are stock, have you considered asking your dealer for a whole new wheel from another Cayman S? I don't think that would be unreasonable if the acquisition of the replacement part would take a long time.
Greetings Rainer
Thanks for the response and encouragement Rainer. I actually did ask the dealer to swap the sensor with one from another new Cayman. They were willing to do this but told me it might not work because the sensor is supposedly VIN coded to discourage theft and might not properly register with my ECM. So I decided just to wait a few more days for the proper replacement part. Thanks also for reminding me that the problem is a simple one which will be long forgotten in a few weeks.
