Four Wheel Drive System Fault

[stormcrow]

Hello fellow Pelicans. I want to post information on how I got rid of my "four Wheel Drive System Fault" on my 2006 Porsche Cayenne S.
I have been having issues with this display coming up from time to time. So, after doing some research, I replaced the battery as was suggested along with the Transfer Case motor. To my dismay, the problem never went away.
Recently I was on a trip to a local hardware store with the Cayenne S. The "four Wheel Drive System Fault" had been on for the past several weeks but the vehicle ran great.

After I finished shopping, I got back into the Cayenne and started it up. i noticed the four wheel drive system fault had not displayed and everything seemed normal.
So I decided to check and see if I could switch the transfer case to all wheel drive because I never could when the Four Wheel System Fault was on display.
Well I placed the shifter in neutral and pushed the rocker forward to lock the axles, When I did this the display on the center consol started to flash and the " Four wheel system fault display appeared again.

After I made several attempts to switch the shifter back to the normal mode, the light on the center consol kept flashing and the vehicle was not permanently locked into four wheel drive low.
So to make a long story short, I had to drive home with the car in all four wheel drive low range - top speed at 4000 RPM's was around 45-50 miles.
I finally made it home after pi$$ing some people off but that's OK.

After doing some research on the Interned about the four wheel system fault code, I couldn’t find much information. There was, however, one post from a fellow Pelican who posted the same problem and was advised to replace the battery, transfer case motor or the Transfer Case Control Module.

Well I wasn't sure that would cure the problem so back to doing research. Interestingly enough I found a post dealing with a GMC 4 wheel drive that had the same problem I had. Here is the link (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNQOt_JP78U). Now this video is for a GMC not a Porsche but the info regarding the transmission is similar. The guy in this post explains in detail what you need to do to temporarily fix the problem. I did exactly what he said about removing the transfer case motor and it worked for me. The car is now back to operating normally and there has not been the dreaded “four wheel drive system fault” pop up. Not sure how long this will last but so far, so good..

So here is what you need to do on the Cayenne. Remove the transfer case motor, place the transmission in neutral, take a pair of channel locks and turn the shaft on the transfer case counter clockwise one click.
Now, make sure the emergency brake is on and start the vehicle. Place the shift lever in park, then reverse, then drive to see if the transmission is shifting. If it isn’t then do the following.
Place the transmission back in neutral with the engine off, crawl back under the car and rotate the transfer case shaft another click.

Again, start the car, place the shift lever in park, then reverse, then drive to see if the transmission is shifting. If it does then you can put the transfer case motor back on. Your transmission should be set to the normal operation mode.
Once done, start the car again and drive it a few feet forward and reverse. This should allow the computer to recognize where the transfer case shaft is and it should clear the problem.
I did this and then went for a 20 mile drive with no "four wheel drive system fault" coming up.

Hope this helps and if you have any questions, by all means don't hesitate to post or message me.

SteveKJR

1978 911 Targa SC
1997 Porsche Boxster
1998 Porsche 911 Carerra
2006 Porsche Cayenne S
1971 Triumph TR6
1998 Jeep Wrangler
2007 Humbvee H3
2003 Ford F 250

and I do my own work on all of them.

[2.7RS]

Thank you for the detailed information!

Has happened to me but now I know how to deal with it.

Cheers

[stormcrow]

Update on Four Wheel Drive System Fault fix.

Here’s the

For the past year or so the FWD system fault light has been on on my 2006 Cayenbe S and never went off with a few exceptions. No not because of the battery, not because of the transfer case motor but an issue related to the potentiometer in the motor.
The motor was installed new when i had the FWD system fault light a few years ago. Everything was fine until last year. Then the FWDSF reared it’s ugly head.

So here is the fix. There is a ring on the front of the motor shaft. Under that ring is a disc potentiometer with about six wires going to it. There are four little fingers that measure resistance on the ring as the motor turns. If the resistance can’t be measured a FWD system fault light appears on the dash.

When I decided to investigate what was under the ring, I found several wires corroded and the resistance disc looked like it needed cleaning. So i took it apart, cleaned the disc with alcohol and cleaned the corroded wires. Put everything back together, cleared the fault and no more FWD system fault.

So before you take it to a garage to replace the battery or motor if it isn’t that old, i would check the potentiometer first to see if there is any corrosion. I did this repair three weeks ago, drove the car to Fla, put over 600 miles on sonce, and haven’t had anymore issues. I can now switch to FWD high or low without any problems. Just thought I would pass this along.

[honerboys]

nice - i love a self fix

[JPC930]

How do I clear the all wheel drive system fault on my 2016 Cayenne GTS

I’ve changed the transfer case oil with the proper Porsche factory fluid

I’ve changed the batterie

The fault says transfer case oil needs to be changed, did that, the problem is still there and I can’t find a way to acknowledge the fault. Or reset that service interval

2916 Cayenne GTS, 65,000 miles

Please help

[mezger997]

stormcrow, thanks for the info on the potentiometer I cannot figure out how to take the black disc apart to get at the resistance ring to clean. I have the potentiometer removed from the motor but it looks to be 2 pieces glued together. Thanks!

[stormcrow]

My motor has a bracket that holds the plugs in place. I removed those screws that release the plugs then you should be able to take the plastic disk off the shaft.