Chassis Error - Driving possible with adjustments

[tchavei]

Hi all

Well I started to talk about this in another thread but it isn't really elegant to mix issues in foreign threads and hijack the conversation so I'm opening a new one.

Last Friday I was picking up my kids. While en route, the car displayed a yellow error on the dashboard stating "Chassis Error - Driving modes unavailable" and I could see the icon to lift the car flashing (I was driving in sport mode, lower chassis setting). At first I assumed it was the car's software glitching once more so I didn't pay too much attention. While grabbing the kids, I turned the vehicle off and on, flipped it into sport again and everything seemed fine.

While I was arriving home, the car threw the chassis Error again but this time it said "driving with adjustments is possible" while it turned off any lifting capabilities.

After stopping the car, I checked the height and it sat at the lowest setting possible aka I could only fit 1 finger or so between the wheel and the wheel cover. Too low for Portuguese roads and speed bumps.

I called my local Porsche Dealer. Unfortunately they didn't have a vacancy before the 22nd so the advisor told me that the best was to contact porsche assistance on Monday (today) to have the car towed to them, get a replacement car (which they don't have) and skip the "queue". At the time I thought that was pretty extreme because... Well the car says "driving possible" right? Anyway, I decided to follow her advice and proceed as instructed to check out the system and learn how porsche service works (oh boy).

I checked the car multiple times during the weekend and the error persisted. Car won't lift at all. Just stuck in the lowest position.

So this morning I decided to call Porsche assistance. Lesson #1 the emergency button on the roof by the headlights isn't for contacting porsche. Not here in Portugal/Spain at least. It transmits your location and dials the equivalent of 911 for American people or 112 for European emergency services. They definitely are not interested in my Taycan problems.

So I called the free Porsche assistance number. Got asked about the license plate, chassis number and what the issue was. I briefly explained the problem to which the assistant replied they would send out a truck to tow the car to the dealership and provide means to get me a replacement car through the dealership (lol yeah right) or through a rentacar (I started to have flashes of Fiat 500 and Citroën cactus).

The operator said the tow would be there between 30-45 min.

One hour later, no tow was to be seen but I had gotten a text message indicating the tow company, case number and phone in case of any problem. So I decided to call them to know what was up with the tow.

Nice lady picked up and upon checking my license plate she says "Oh but we rejected the request as we currently don't have any tow available that can deal with that weight"... What? Well, I'm waiting for a tow for like 1h30m already. That's not really acceptable. I'll call my assistance again. She replied she would contact them herself. Another 30 min passes by and my patience level started to drop fast.

I decided to call Porsche assistance again and was ready to tell them to nevermind that would drag the car myself to the shop and send them the bill. The operator was quite apologising but that the tow was already enroute.

15 min later or so (this ordeal was hitting 3h from first call) a tow finally appears.

The tow guy looks at the car and can't say anything besides "oh man". The car barely fits on the flatbed (1 inch spare on the left side) and the truck sinks 3 inches as it lifts the Taycan. Heavy indeed.

Arrived at the shop, lowered car. Went to speak with the advisor who tells me they never saw this problem before (oh great. Means nobody will know what to do).

She tells me they're going to try their best to fit my car in the queue for and will contact me as soon as they know something.

I left and went to the rent-a-car to pick up my replacement car. Funny enough, there was a white fiat 500 parked right in front of the office. I was ready to make a scandal if that was the equivalent they were giving me but luckily it was BMW 520d. Diesel hybrid. A Van (cof cof) but at least I can haul the kids a long.

Now comes the waiting time. Let's see what this is all about. I didn't hit any pothole nor curbed anything in the last months so I have no clue what it could be. It's definitely not a leak or puncture because the car didn't fully sunk. It's stuck at the lowest setting but retains suspension travel / shock absorption.

I'll report when I get some news

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[tchavei]

Update...

So today the Porsche engineer called me in the morning to tell me that there was some electrical error on the compressor but a software reset cleared it and they tested the car and it was fine. They couldn't guarantee it wouldn't pop up again because it was a software thing. If it would happen again, they'll probably would have to change a 'part' (what part? Probably the compressor, I suspect). They said I could pick it up after lunch.

I went to the dealership with my rental (I was tempted to give the rental back before going to the dealership but a little voice on my shoulder told me: trust but verify).

PE engineer said everything was fine and I could take the car from the charger. Great. They gave it a good wash and charged it up! So I unlock the car, unplug from the 350kW charger and enter the vehicle. I'm greeted with a "bing" and the yellow chassis error message appears... again

So here I am, in my trusty old rental, heading to a class while my Taycan will stay at the shop for god knows how much more...


Stay tuned for the next episode.

 

[McgR]

Good luck. I hope everything gets fixed.

this is what we unfortunately read all the time and I have experienced my self.

getting a phone call for collection confirming everything is fixed and finding out my self at collection the it isn’t. I wonder if they even checked. Happened to me three times. Feels like they just don’t care.

just not acceptable for such an expensive car.

I understand EV have problems, it is a complicated and new product. But fix them within a reasonable time frame and supply an equivalent alternative car. Dealerships are probably just to small to cover all repairs.


this is why they earned the quote of least reliable EV on the current market. Congrats Porsche.

 

[McgR]

Ps did you take it to the close dealership where you didn’t buy the car?

 

[allroadusa]

Yeah... Unfortunately, such an experience is not a privilege from Porsche. I had last year a similar journey with Citroen. The car has been immobilized at the dealer 5 times for a total of 11 weeks for a bad A/C regulation... Each time I drove the car for one our before being able to reproduce the defect and ... back to the dealer...

Long story short, it turned out the cause was an air flap actuator angle shifted... 20 min job...properly done at another workshop.
I wish you a much better luck.

 

[tchavei]

Ps did you take it to the close dealership where you didn’t buy the car?

Yes

 

[tchavei]

Update (hopefully the final one)

So yesterday, at closing time, the Porsche Engineer called me. He told me he had about 90% certainty it was indeed the compressor. Apparently the compressor itself wasn't throwing any error but "other" systems on the car were complaining about it (high voltage at compressor). So either it was the compressor or the valve box (?) connected to it.

He had ordered a new one that should arrive tomorrow (today), at 9 am. In the meanwhile, he had already stripped out the old compressor and left the car on the lift so he could install the new one as soon as it arrives.

Today, in the afternoon, he called me again to inform that he made the change and tested the car and everything was now fine. He also said that now his confidence level rose to 99% because he benchtested the compressor and it wouldn't even power on anymore. The new one was working fine. In any case, he had also received the full compressor kit (including the valve box) so they would keep that in stock for the future. He said it was the first taycan ever he had to service with this issue so it took him a bit longer to figure out stuff. Compressor failure wasn't uncommon on other models though so it is what it is.

I picked up the car late afternoon and can confirm it seems to be fixed. I purposefully tapped the lift button on every single speed bump I could find (which I normally don't bother) and it didn't glitch.

Curiously the "pffff" sound I was getting when going over speedbumps (like bottoming out suspension) seemed to have vanished too.

Hopefully that's the last time I need to think about suspension issues.

Cheers

 

[Tooney]

Update (hopefully the final one)

Hopefully that's the last time I need to think about suspension issues.

Cheers

Glad the problem is resolved. Thanks for sharing problem and details on forum. Your car may be the first to have this error but it won't be the last one. Your experience and resolution may help the rest of us.
Your fix for no remote access from app that you shared in another thread has helped many others.

 

[tchavei]

Glad the problem is resolved. Thanks for sharing problem and details on forum. Your car may be the first to have this error but it won't be the last one. Your experience and resolution may help the rest of us.
Your fix for no remote access from app that you shared in another thread has helped many others.

Appreciate the comment.

Only thing I have to add is that it behaves quite better than before. I'm starting to believe the compressor might have been "slowly" failing for months because one reason that made me customise individual mode to "sport" was the fact that I could "hear" the suspension bottom out on speed bumps (heared like a cushion deflating... The "pfff") in normal mode. In sport mode it was much less noticeable because of the stiffer damper setting.

Since the compressor replacement, the sound is completely gone and I literally "dove" at moderate speed into an underground parking lot today. Didn't hear anything as I hit the lower ramp.

 

[Fish Fingers]

The thing with all of this is......

Owning a modern, new, premium car should not feel like a 'project'.

You should just get in it and drive it. Take it in for service and tyres and that's it.

I often wonder how Taycan owners who aren't on forums like this are getting along?

You really need a working knowledge of the many errors and glitches to keep hobbling along with the thing.

I love my Taycan, but it will be my first and last Porsche.

 

[tchavei]

The thing with all of this is......

Owning a modern, new, premium car should not feel like a 'project'.

You should just get in it and drive it. Take it in for service and tyres and that's it.

I often wonder how Taycan owners while aren't on forums like this are getting along?

You really need a working knowledge of the many errors and glitches to keep hobbling along with the thing.

I love my Taycan, but it will be my first and last Porsche.

It shouldn't... I agree but I've had similar experiences with other brands.

I still remember my MB c220 cdi from 2009 with the injector fiasco (ended receiving 5 injector sets over the years) or the stupid key lock pcb shorting out twice (1k € repair each time). That's just an example.

Bottom line, the more tech we have, the worse it is to keep it all running. There's a reason we send spaceships and probes with computers that could barely run a game from the 90s. They have to be reliable (and even so they aren't always).

This suspension issue is the perfect example. Had I've not optioned air suspension, this thread wouldn't have existed and I'd be happily driving during the last week because simple(ier) designs just work. There's not much to break (albeit sometimes they still can, of course).

 

[Hirschaj]

The thing with all of this is......

Owning a modern, new, premium car should not feel like a 'project'.

You should just get in it and drive it. Take it in for service and tyres and that's it.

I often wonder how Taycan owners who aren't on forums like this are getting along?

You really need a working knowledge of the many errors and glitches to keep hobbling along with the thing.

I love my Taycan, but it will be my first and last Porsche.

Single data point here, but if I was not on this forum I’d be getting along just fine. My car just works. The few times that I’ve gotten a spinning circle on the PCM it has cleared after I made my stop for whatever errand I was running. Hopefully this pattern of my car working as expected holds up.

 

[Tooney]

The thing with all of this is......
Owning a modern, new, premium car should not feel like a 'project'.
You should just get in it and drive it. Take it in for service and tyres and that's it.
I often wonder how Taycan owners who aren't on forums like this are getting along?
You really need a working knowledge of the many errors and glitches to keep hobbling along with the thing.

I strongly agree with you, but looks like it's been this way for a long time - without the forums.

https://www.caranddriver.com/features/g15376936/how-cars-started/

 

[DavidG]

I had been getting the chassis fault message every now and again since begining of January and it just cleared, then last week it showed every time I got in the car and then the car sank to the lowest suspension level and wouldn’t change, I took car to dealer last Friday and it was diagnosed as a compressor failure, hoping to get back today.

 

[Silverback]

I have the chassis fault now. Will get it booked in and let you know the outcome.
I can no longer use sport mode.

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