Cayenne Transfer Box Failure

deMort · 15 Sep 2019

We have started to see several of these recently , this is a 2012 model .

Kinda figured we might as well have a look inside and see what's going on and i'm sure there will be someone on the forum that likes to see things in bits

Various images of it apart and then partially stripped.

New clutch pack , in depth cleaning of parts then a forced regen to recalibrate the control unit / motor seems to have fixed this one .

Right click any image and select view in new tab ( chrome ) for a larger picture .

baldguy · 15 Sep 2019

Had mine done at 42k miles last year... disgusting that these let go even at this mileage... it has full OPC history...

Pops · 16 Sep 2019

Interesting post Iain, thanks for the pictures and it is good to hear that you can repair these rather than replace!

What was the mileage of that vehicle and the condition of the transfer fluid which you drained?

911TEL · 16 Sep 2019

This is quite a common failure .....Mine was changed at 30000 on my 2015 958......
I was told it's a design fault of a badly routed breather pipe which allows water ingress in certain conditions ...
Mine was carried out under warranty but if not it's a 4.5k job if it's an OPC replacement....worrying costs but a good reason to keep the warranty going ...it may not be the only time it gets changed ...
I suspect it's also due to uneven wear on tyres back to front re the rolling circumferences and the transfer box is the unit that synchronises the front / rear drive split ?

I'm prepared to see mine changed again ..

There are stories of vehicles in the US of A having 4 or 5 changes in the life of a Vehicle!

Frightening on a Porsche .....

deMort · 16 Sep 2019

This car had done approx 60K miles ..

It had a modified breather which was a problem on cars without this .. water ingress and oil don't mix well .

Circa £1500 - £2K for the above .. diagnosis of this fault isn't easy .. it feels similar to an engine running fault .

This seems to be more of a fault on the later cayennes than the earlier ones .

Incorrect tyres will have a significant impact on damage to diff / transfer box on a cayenne than a sports car ... no transfer box but you get what i mean .

N rated tyres .. must be the same per axle .

Oil was no where near due a change and was fine .

EGTE · 30 Dec 2019

This is becoming yet another Porsche engineering plague.

Transfer box oils need replacing every 20K at most.

easternjets · 30 Dec 2019

I've got a V6 TDi Touareg and after reading this I got a bit worried as my car has done 45k miles and never had the box fluid changed. My car went in for a service and also needed a replacement drivers side door wiring loom.
I asked if I could have the fluid in the box changed and I was told that the oil is good for the lifetime of the car but I told them I wanted it done regardless.
At first they couldn't get the oil so I bought some off fleabay that was genuine VW and they changed it for me and included it in the service.
I can't see why they can't just change it as part of a major service, the oil is only £30 and it takes minutes to do if you've got the underside stripped.

deMort · 30 Dec 2019

It depends to a degree which type of transfer box you have fitted .. this is more the " clever " type that seems to be affected although i have seen gen 1 boxes fail..

Different symptoms though .

With this type fitted then with a tester you can see the wear life of the oil and wear ( calculated as i understand it ) to the clutch pack and oil.

This check should be done with a tester on a service .

The unusual point is that none of the ones i've seen , only a few , have reached the interval that an oil change is warranted .

I can also say that a calibration done when the box is already showing driving faults does not work.

The one we have in atm .. the box is not a viable repair as it needs all bearings , clutch , chain and unfortunately one of the bearings has spun in the casing .. possible to repair but with the added items it's not realistic .

Porkaholic · 30 Dec 2019

Bit worrying if it the oil is fine, already has a breather pipe fitted and still getting failures. Inclined to keep warranty going, mine went after only about
14,000 miles and I've never used it for towing, ploughing or offroading!
Would be interesting to know the failure rate as a percentage so you can take a more balanced view of the risk.

deMort · 30 Dec 2019

well .. i posted this as a thread were people could see what these look like in bits and to point out we have started to see them as being a possible problem ..

What for me is a lot is not so in the real world i guess ..

Never seen a problem before but 4 in less than 6 months had me thinking i'd mention it .

More so due to the fact you can check the degradation on a tester and none of these should have had a fault or needed an oil change .

I can't say the reason for the failure , logically a calibration should fix this fault .. but it doesn't .

In short i have limited info so all i can suggest is change the oil early on these .

If you have the full off road package then the car is horrendous to drive when the transfer box starts messing about .. scared the crap out of me i can tell you !

I point out what i see .. i leave it upto you lot to make what you want out of the info

An oil change without telling the car its been done strikes me as the way forward .. but i'm afraid i can't condone that .. it's just a hunch .

owilliams1 · 25 Feb 2020

DIY Oil change

Hi,

After some advice, I'm looking to purchase a 2012 model with 105k on the clock.

And by the looks of it the first thing i need to do is the Transfer Box oil change, it does look simple enough, so il probably DIY, I'm not sure what oil is should use.

Is it, Shell TF0870, or Burmah BOT850 or anything else?

And would it be worth doing all the rest, ATF, rear diff, final drive etc, the 160k items?

Thanks.

deMort · 25 Feb 2020

It's best if no history to change all the axle oils/ box oils .. im afraid im unsure of which oil but an OPC can either tell you or supply the oil so perhaps give your closest one a call .

owilliams1 · 25 Feb 2020

Thanks for the reply sound advice. I found another post after posting here, someone who has done the oil replacement. Recommended which oil,

I'll probably do the transfer box and diff myself. But I'm a little unsure on the autobix as never done one before. So maybe get a specialist to do that.

Thanks again.

easternjets · 26 Feb 2020

I run a Touareg and I changed my oil at the last service, had a hell of a job getting the oil from V.W. but did get it from an ebay seller. The V.W. part no is
G052536A2 and you only need a litre, £18.95 off ebay.

One of my friends transfer box has just shown issues on his Cayenne and it's only done 30,000 miles. He's changed the oil and what came out was black, new oil has helped but not cured the issues.

PDK fluid, Design 911 do a Castrol oil.

Cayenne Transfer Box Failure

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