Tl* the contact owns a 2008 porsche cayenne s. While driving various speeds, the engine warning indicator illuminated. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic who diagnosed that the fuel, high pressure, and pressure pumps failed and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired by a dealer due to the cost. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and informed the contact that the VIN was not included in a recall. The contact was referred to the federal safety agency. The approximate failure mileage was 120,000.
The worst 2008 Porsche Cayenne S problems
Ranked by number of owner complaints. Mileage and cost come from what owners wrote.
- Engine4
- Fuel system1
- Transmission1
Problems by type
Tap a problem to see which part fails, at what mileage and in which other years.
- Engine4
- Fuel system1
- Transmission1
Recalls 1
Exterior lighting: headlights
- What is wrong
- Porsche Cars North America, Inc. (Porsche) is recalling certain 2003-2020 Porsche Macan, Cayenne, Panamera, and Cayman S, 2001-2004 Boxster, Boxster S, 2004 Boxster 50 JAHRE SPYDER 550 vehicles. Please see the recall report for a complete list of all affected models and model years. The caps that cover the low-beam headlight horizontal adjustment screws are missing, which can allow the headlights to be improperly adjusted. As such, these vehicles fail to comply with the requirements of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard number 108, "Lamps, Reflective Devices, and Associated Equipment."
- Risk
- Improperly adjusted headlights may not illuminate the road properly, or cause a glare to oncoming drivers, which can increase the risk of a crash.
- Remedy
- Dealers will inspect the headlights for sealing caps and install missing caps as necessary, free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed October 28, 2022. Owners may contact Porsche's customer service at 1‑800‑767‑7243. Porsche's number for this recall is ANB4.
Recall number 22V656000 · Recall details
Technical service bulletins for the 2008 Porsche Cayenne S 380
Bulletins tell dealers how to fix known problems. A warranty extension means the manufacturer pays for that repair for longer.
- Parts Information for Parts Withdrawal
- Parts Information for Parts Withdrawal
- Parts Information for Parts Withdrawal
- Parts Information for Parts Withdrawal
- Parts Information for Parts Withdrawal
- Manufacturer's Certificate for Overview of Approved Porsche A40 Engine Oils
- Manufacturer's Certificate for Overview of Approved Porsche C30 Engine Oils
- Manufacturer's Certificate for Overview of Approved Porsche C20 Engine Oils
- Manufacturer's Certificate for Overview of Approved Porsche C40 Engine Oils
- Special Tools and Equipment Information for alignment machines
2008 Porsche Cayenne S fuel economy
Official EPA estimates in miles per gallon (MPGe for electric). Ranges cover trims that share the same engine.
| Engine | Drive | City | Highway | Combined |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4.8L 8‑cyl | 4WD | 13 | 19 | 15 |
What 2008 Porsche Cayenne S owners say
Most recent owner complaints, unedited.
Coolant distributor bolted to the back of engine block has a glued -in pipe that connects to a hose. The glued-in pipe is leaking and half way pushed out of the distributor. The imminent failure of this part could have caused immediate overheat and fire due to catastrophic coolant system failure. The repair is extremely expensive. Porsche has a new part that has the pipe threaded in instead of glued. Porsche should recall this and pay for the repair. This is an obvious design flaw and safety issue. Imagine 8 gallons of hot coolant discharging all over, say a motorcyclist going 70 MPH. This issue was noticed while doing other coolant system maintenance that was also necessitated by poor design of the vehicle.
I was driving on the highway. Accelerating as I was merging into the highway. I saw smoke coming out the back. Check coolant light came on. When I stopped I saw coolant everywhere underneath the car. The dealership determined the glue from the coolant tubes failed and needs to install new coolant pipes.
The distributor collector coolant systems including the pipes has failed. However, I have been informed by the porsche corporate office there are no complaints or recalls on file. Unfortunately, they were unable to provide the number of complaints for this make/model/year. On the date of the incident I was driving the vehicle and the coolant light appeared (no other symptoms), I did not hit a bump, it was all of a sudden when my vehicle began to smoke as if it was on fire.
On my 2008 porsche cayenne s ( purchased in march 2007) I have at least 3 times experienced a incorrect downshift initiated by the automobile in all cases the car/computer obviously wanted to shift down to a lower gear ( going up a steep hill at highway speed, traversing a steep parking lot at low speed) etc rather than shifting one gear the car seems to have shifted 2 or 3 gears at one time the engine revved to about 5000 RPM within the red line limits- very noisy and disconcerting I exited the problem by manually shifting to neutral which cleared the problem then back to drive I reported the issue to my dealer who obviously could not reproduce the very intermittent problem, he also says he checked the computer log and could not find any report and that there no service bulletins relating I think that this could be a serious safety issue being potentially a major driver distraction.
Compare the 2008 Porsche Cayenne S
Other model years
Questions about the 2008 Porsche Cayenne S
Is the 2008 Porsche Cayenne S reliable?
Owners have filed 5 complaints about the 2008 Porsche Cayenne S, fewer than a typical Cayenne S model year.
What is the most common problem with the 2008 Porsche Cayenne S?
Engine and cooling, with 4 complaints. Next is fuel system (1).
How many recalls does the 2008 Porsche Cayenne S have?
1 recall, covering exterior lighting.
What year does the Porsche Cayenne S have bad engine?
The Porsche Cayenne S model years with the most engine complaints are 2004 (17 complaints) and 2011 (12 complaints).
What gas mileage does the 2008 Porsche Cayenne S get?
Official estimates for the 2008 Porsche Cayenne S range from 15 mpg combined. The most efficient version (4.8L 8-cyl, 4WD) gets 13 city and 19 highway.
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