2015 Porsche Macan S

[Mikewire]

Hey all, new car in the garage! Just picked up a 2015 S with 68K, PP Plus, Sport Chrono, Leather, PASM, Park Assist, LCA. Traded in the MKVII GTI, sad to see it go, but it was time to upgrade. I kept the Fifteen52 wheels so I can get some better wheels for the Macan.

Clean Carfax, and I'm the 4th owner. I don't mind the slightly higher mileage as it was serviced at a Porsche dealership (Aristocrat Motors out of KS) for 57K miles by the first two owners, so I'm certain the service was done properly and on time. The service dept. even provided me with the full service records upon my request, so that was awesome. Plus my first call was to Ian and Quinn to make sure I wasn't missing anything

You know it...my first Porsche...but as you guys also know this is not my first Euro. I really love how this Macan S looks and drives, it's really nice, nicer than our 2015 Q5 we traded in a while back. I can see both the similarities and differences in the VAG family DNA with this Porsche.

Usual issues with the Macan: checked out the TCC and it's clean, had the master tech pull the belly pan so I could latch my peepers right on it...it's clean and dry. Also read up on the TC issues, and so far I seem to have no symptoms when trying to reproduce the issue (slow left hand turns), and nothing unusual there either. But I will be watching...

It is now my daily driver, about 50 miles round trip, so I'm sure issues will pop up. Although I usually work on my own vehicles, I did purchase a 3yr extended premium warranty for those potential large cost/repair items...verified that warranty should cover any issues including the TCC and TC (post 7 years).



Things on my list to do:

• Tint the windows
• Front plate mount (dealership will provide)
• Floor mats (dealership will provide)
• Replace the drivers window switch assembly (ordered) -- how do I remove this? Does it simply pop up and out?
• Upgrade infotainment PCM3.1 (add on the Carplay "kit" most likely)
• Different wheels - don't like the 19" gloss black OEM, prefer something in gunmetal or silver, 20"

Switches work, but buttons are a bit busted up so it's getting replaced:




That's it for now, consider me a fan and a new Porsche enthusiast!



-Mike

[Mikewire]

Things on my list to do:

• Tint the windows
• Front plate mount (dealership will provide)
• Floor mats (dealership will provide)
• Replace the drivers window switch assembly (ordered) -- how do I remove this? Does it simply pop up and out?
• Upgrade infotainment PCM3.1 (add on the Carplay "kit" most likely)
• Different wheels - don't like the 19" gloss black OEM, prefer something in gunmetal or silver, 20"

Tint, done.
Front plate, done.
Floor mats - all weather Porsche OEM, done.
Drivers window switch, done.
PCM3.1 upgraded with Carplay Isudar kit , done.
Wheels, still looking!
I had a door dent removed via PDR, done
There's a couple of minor paint scratches and rock chips I have an appointment to get repaired tomorrow.
Oh, I ended up having to replace the rear brake pads, and flushed with new DOT3 fluid...no big deal there, that's done.
.
.
So what else? Maybe thinking about getting a Cobb tuner to see what I could do there for performance.

I have an appointment in June with Porsche to go over any outstanding warranty or TSB items.

Until then I'm gonna drive it!

[201motels]

Congrats on your new car. It looks real nice. Cool to see that cobb makes an accessport for your car. The price seems crazy compared to other models but I assume they think you can afford it since you own a Porsche!

[MT-Getto]

Oh wow, I totally missed this! Nice whip!

[Mikewire]

Oh wow, I totally missed this! Nice whip!

Thank you Sir, here's more updates:

One of those annoying issues, and VERY common with the Macan (with the Porsche 3.0 motor, not the VW/Audi EA888) is the timing cover leaking oil. I noticed at my first oil change I had some drippage, very slightly, but I wanted it taken care of. So I scheduled an appointment at Porsche of San Antonio and had that repaired. I had the easy fix, where the tech was able to reach the two broken timing bolts and that solved the issue. They had it for a week or so and ran through it looking for any other issues and there were no other things they could resolve so I picked it up and was on my way for the warranty deductible cost of $100.

Since then I've put about 10K miles on it driving around SATX and up to Dallas for work a few times. It's such a nice vehicle to drive and road trip in...even when driving through a pretty bad spring thunderstorm it handled flawlessly.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

One issue I came up on was the volume button on the steering wheel. The PO has mashed it and had apparently broken it to a point where the roller ball began to not function, so I figured I would go ahead and pull it, and find the issue.

Anyone with the same or similar issue and looking for the answer, here's how I solved my problem.

I ended up pulling the wheel, wanting to just take a look and get a visual on what the problem was so I could order a new part or whatever I needed.



The wheel needs to come off and you'll need to fully disassemble the inner controls that sit in the inner chrome assembly. Then take the back off the volume controls and buttons.



After getting the wheel off and disassembling it down to the controls, I found the issue. It appears the PO smashed the roller down so hard it broke the cup in the roller assembly.



Remove the control assembly from the wheel, it's easier to access the inside with it out.

Taking off the back I found that there's a small cup that cradles the roller ball, and mine was apparently cracked, which was causing the issues I was having.





The little white nub is the "rivet" of the outer cover, it's also broken. Easy enough, I simply used a little bit of the super glue and set it back in place



Gently, I was able to remove the roller ball and all the rest of the controls. They are plastic, so I was very careful...so, with that discovery, I figured I would at least give a repair a shot.

I found the best product to try was a super glue, this one I used the Loctite Pro Series super glue, just picked it up from Lowes.

Basically I simply glued the two pieces back together, waited for a few minutes until the glue dried and reassembled.



Put it all pack together and it works like it should!

[Mikewire]

Ok one other update.

So...I decided I wanted to try installing a set of door puddle lights. These are the lights installed on the bottom of the door, that shine down on the ground at night to help illuminate the ground area. My Macan S has every other package EXCEPT for the lighting package that would include these lights, plus footwell lights, and I think there's some very small other interior lights, etc. that provide some "ambiance". Anyway...I like the door puddle lights, have them on my other cars so I figured it was pretty easy to add. Don't really care too much about the rest of the lights, but I suppose after figuring out this process it could be easy enough to add.

On a difficulty scale of 1-10, I'd give this a 7. It wasn't hard but it did take a few very specific things, and PIWIS is required for changing the programming.

I will give the typical disclaimer...this is what I did - it's not a tutorial or a DIY but simply a guide on how I accomplished doing this activity.

Parts required:

1. Door puddle lights - I went with a non-OEM custom version: https://www.addcarlights.com/product/po ... oor-lights (I chose Style B but any style will work)
2. OEM harness/wiring and connectors - Find these on eBay: DOOR LIGHT CABLE HARNESS PLUG FITS VW GOLF JETTA PASSAT | link: https://www.ebay.com/itm/225335793504
3. PIWIS
4. Tesa tape - https://a.co/d/0Ox9x6q
5. 16-18 gauge wiring (red & black or brown)

Note: this is a package of two lights, only one is showing here.





First I removed the door panel and set is aside where it was possible to work on it in an upright position



I found the connector for the main door harness, it's the blue connector here in this picture:



I removed the shell of the connector by first cutting the zip tie, then finding the tab on the end of the connector and and bent it outward slightly, and the white connector slides out of the blue shell.

From there, I found the numbers on the connector - #16 is the pin for the door puddle lights. I added the red wired and connector with the red wire into the connector until it clicked and locked into place.



Then I tied the ground wire for the light harness into main ground for the the door harness. I simply cut the ground and used a butt connector to add in the ground wire for the light harness, then used some heat shrink to make it weatherproof



Once both wires were in the connector, I reinstalled the blue shell and used a new zip tie to secure the wiring, plus I used some cloth Tesa harness tape to wrap and secure the new wiring harness along the existing harness, installing the wires into the now-used wiring clips along the inner armrest area, and then routed it down to the area where the light will be installed.

Oh, I also had to extend the wiring harness by adding 18 inches of wire to both the power and ground.



I wrapped the wires in Tesa tape, and then routed the wiring along the door and down to the location of the door puddle light, plugging in the connector and letting the light hang free.

I didn't get a picture of it, but it ended up being nice and clean/tidy install, similar to what the factory routing would have been.



Then I reinstalled the door padding into the panel, then reinstalled the door panel in the car.

Now it was time to change the programming so the Macan would apply power to the pins/wiring I just installed.

For that I fired up mt PIWIS (If you don't have it, find a friend or buy/procure your own) and made the change for each door.

Easy enough, I simply went into the module of the door I wanted to change - in this case it was the passengers door, selected coding/programming, and found the interior lighting option. Changing it from '9MA - INTERIOR LIGHTING BASIC' to '9MB - COMFORT + DIMMABLE INTERIOR LIGHTING' activated the lighting and the puddle light lit up





Final result:

[Mikewire]