Cuba

So it's been a while, quite a while, since I've been on here or had my 05 turbo registered. It's been sitting for three and a half years now I think. I've used every excuse on the wife for not getting rid of it, I did in fact lose the title during our move which has been helping, but now I need to do something about it. I've had a guy show up trying to buy it for $4K as is, which I felt was a bit low, so I jump started it last night and took it around the neighborhood to see how bad it is.

It's still a beast. I did have the secondary cats removed, billet diverter valves and tune but otherwise stock and 117K miles. It ran pretty darn good. I got the surface rust off the rotors pretty quick and otherwise nothing noticeably wrong with it other than some lights. It now it has a brake booster and 4wd fault but nothing else lighting up so far. Could be dead battery related perhaps, could be the old vacuum leak I sorta fixed years ago, who knows. Looks like the rear air ride is sagging when sitting but pops back up when starterd. Air blows cold. Regardless, I'm pretty sure I want to keep it now.

I'm working on getting the duplicate title either way, but I'm thinking I'll install a new battery and try to diagnose everything in the meantime and see what I'm dealing with here.

For those of you still masochistic enough to be maintaining this vintage how has it been going? I've survived the coolant pipes, ignition coils, transmission valve body/tcu replacements. I've readied the Jimi fix although my cardan shaft is still fine. I know the car well, not afraid to DIY, and have a good indy shop near my office. I think I can do this.

I need to verify whether these faults are real or voltage driven which is easy, likely not too much to fix them even if real. The rear air bags are an unknown to me which I'll have to research. What do you think, should I get back into the money pit or fix it up and sell? There are very few on autotrader around here and I'm seeing around $9500 for higher mileage examples, I figure it would go for a bit less if polished up and driven regularly for a bit.

ScootCherHienie

I hope it wasn't run on the old oil and gas that was in it... that stuff is pretty terrible after it sits for 3 years. Ditto the brake fluid, I wouldn't consider the braking system safe until it has been fully bled... some vehicles need a second "bleed" operation that removes air from the ABS system, not sure if that applies to the Cayenne or not. The battery is unlikely to be reliable after sitting 3 years (presumably, not on a charger since it required a jump start). And if it was my vehicle, I'd also change the transmission fluid and filter and the lube in both differentials. And the coolant.

Petza914

Why has it been parked for 3.5 years?

Lots of deferred maintenance to do after that long. In addition to the previous list from Scoot, get that gasoline out of there and fresh fuel installed before running the car any further or you could gum up and damage multiple components of the fuel system which will make the decision for you on whether to keep it or not.

If it turns out you have an air suspension issue, a company called Arnott sells parts and complete struts for our cars.

Good luck.

hatchetf15

For the trans filter/flush, oil change, brake fluid replace/bleed, coolant replace, battery plan to spend some $800 (you provide) on consumables and 6 hrs labor for shop. I have no idea what fuel purge would cost or entail. That can get you a safely running vehicle that will fetch you double what you put in it should you sell it. Suspension issue is a wildcard. A ‘very good’ condition ‘05 Turbo with your miles should get north of $10k.

Cuba

Thanks all. To clarify I did run it every once in a while to keep things moving and go through heat cycles so I'm not overly worried in the immediate short term, the gas isn't that old and oil was fresh before parking, but yes it definitely will need some fresh fluids and TLC as soon as I can and before it sees any real miles or revs.

I had issues with interstate registration, lack of and then lost title, but mainly heavy procrastination. I always planned on getting the pig back on the road but with work, marriage, new baby it was something I ignored for too long.

I'll hopefully have the title duplicate figured out and in process this week and put together my plan for servicing starting with the battery while I wait for the title to arrive. It is insured so I need the title and inspection to get it fully back. Inspection may involve some more fun being discovered but one step at a time.

Cuba

Already a year later, where does the time go? Fighting the DMV for the duplicate title for months on end, baby stuff, work stuff, global pandemic stuff, but mainly my laziness.

So I now HAVE the title after the DMV finally gave up the fight, and I am actually TAKING IT TO THE SHOP tomorrow morning. It will be getting an oil change, checking other fluids, checking drains, and trying to diagnose the electrical short issue which I am assuming is coming from the floor bundles due to the water intrusion. It started up after jumping it this weekend and I have the same lights as before and now a nice check engine light as well. It idles great but running slightly rough as you might expect. I cleaned the interior up and drove it around the neighborhood for a while which was very fun. Air ride is sluggish but working, AC is ice cold, all lights work, it shifts fine, brakes worked fine after scraping the surface rust off, windows, radio, mirrors all good. No evidence of any fluids in the driveway either.

I'm pretty excited to see what they say at the shop, it's like a Hoovie's video. I have a good local indy shop and if I'm lucky we'll be able to address enough of these issues to get it to pass inspection, and if so, register the pig and actually drive it enough to keep it healthy. Wish me luck!!!

nodoors

Good luck! Keep us posted. Keeping these things running in top condition is no easy task.

Cuba

So far not too bad, I approved somewhere around $1800 for the oil change, fuel system cleaner, replacing a bunch of the vacuum lines, clearing out all of the drains, new battery, inspection, and something else I'm forgetting. Looks like the plugs are fine, tires will need to be replaced at some point but probably pass inspection, and they did NOT find a short anywhere which is hopefully good news. It may just be that the battery committed suicide while sitting and now doesn't hold a charge.

That leaves two faults they still need to diagnose for the air ride and 4wd system I believe. It would be a miraculous stroke of luck if the battery replacement sorts those out, running my scanner previously showed voltage issues... there had been the 4wd system light from time to time before it was sitting which was very intermittent and would go away on it's own. I think that was voltage related and why I replaced the battery in the first place a few years ago. If I remember correctly it was eliminated by a fresh battery several years ago.

For the air ride there's definitely something leaking and I hope it's not too hard to address. It will sag when sitting starting in the rear and lifts back up when running, but slowly. Must be a slow leak somewhere probably in the rear. I saw a post on here or maybe youtube on a leak coming from the valve area on top of the bag that sounded like not too bad of a fix. I assume that would put a lot more wear and tear on the compressor.

The saga continues. If I can get this pig in shape and passing inspection then I move on to navigating the Virginia DMV to figure out how to actually register it. Also a proper full interior detailing is in order and I've gotten some pointers from the community on some of this. The melted finish on ashtray lids, etc. that I will address before taking to a professional detailer.

One other thing I'm really annoyed with and hadn't noticed before is the headliner which has drooped in the rear. And I'll need to replace the trunk shocks too. The list goes on.

cordsig79

I am starting back on my PIG too.........need to get the purge valve fixed and hunt down any other leaks. Looking at doing an overall refresh and some light blue accent stripes down the front or red hood/red rear paint for a little flair...

Shawn Stanford

Good to see you're still around, Cord. Was it you who had the ranch P!g with the 32" tires?

cordsig79

Yes I had a 2006 BaSer with mudterrain 17 on steel. Sold it too a buddy with a body shop who used it as a loaner. Then some kids ran a stop sign and destroyed it about 2 months back.

I’ve had a 2004 Arctic Silver CTT since 2016. I drive for fun but the headliner, headlamps, purge valve, are all nagging me. I’m knee deep in kids to 3/5 that eat up any spare time. And they get into anything I try to do, so a project would have an element of danger with them.

I’m next to J, who built the 7163 EFR Deathstar Cayenne as I refer to it. I will follow in his footsteps when life presents a little extra money or time to safely pursue improvements.

Cuba

Good luck, I'm still waiting on updates from the shop nothing else has come up yet. I told them I was in no rush. I'll ask them about cost to address the headliner when I get a chance.

Cuba

MAJOR UPDATE! They have just informed me that the pig is ready to go, with a passed inspection! No electrical shorts whatsoever, they were monitoring after the fresh battery and saw no drain at all after letting it sit for the long weekend. They reset the codes and everything has stayed clean, no warnings, no nothing. I'm not certain about the air ride leak but from the sound of it... might be gone?!? This is exciting, miraculous, and I can't wait to drive it around a bit.

Now all that being said there very well may be things that shake out as I put some miles on it, and there are several things it still needs like a solid detailing, trunk hatch struts, fixing the drooping headliner, eventually new tires etc. but I'll bask in the good news for now.

nodoors

Congrats. Enjoy it to the max while that list is short!!! haha