[deilenberger]

I found those. It could be painted - there is the place that custom mixes matching paint in a spray can and supplies clear-coat too.. When you say the "front facing trim" - is that the part that has the button in it? I could see destroying the new button by trying to prep the part for painting. ECS tuning apparently has them for new for 1/3rd the Porsche price: https://www.ecstuning.com/b-genuine-porsche-parts/door-handle/95853120501g2x/ - but I bet like the one from Porsche it's in primer.

 

[shaheenis]

I have just been getting this relieve steering message in last month or so. It is increasing to almost every time I enter the vehicle. As soon as you open the door you get the bong noise. 9 times out of 10 I just start the car fine. The other time I need to switch off the ignition and turn it on again to start the vehicle. Watched some you tubes of some dude fixing them by replacing a circuit board in the module with second hand parts. He didn’t mention recoding. So it sounds like I am up for a repair bill on this one?

 

[Twodollardoug]

Can you point us to the video?

 

[deilenberger]

I have just been getting this relieve steering message in last month or so. It is increasing to almost every time I enter the vehicle. As soon as you open the door you get the bong noise. 9 times out of 10 I just start the car fine. The other time I need to switch off the ignition and turn it on again to start the vehicle. Watched some you tubes of some dude fixing them by replacing a circuit board in the module with second hand parts. He didn’t mention recoding. So it sounds like I am up for a repair bill on this one?

Was the video applicable to the 958 series? The 955/957 series Cayennes had a board that went bad (relay in it went bad) in the steering column that when it went bad immobilized the car. There was a video or two on repairing that one DIY. The 958 isn't using that system.

 

[kvec]

I found those. It could be painted - there is the place that custom mixes matching paint in a spray can and supplies clear-coat too.. When you say the "front facing trim" - is that the part that has the button in it? I could see destroying the new button by trying to prep the part for painting. ECS tuning apparently has them for new for 1/3rd the Porsche price: https://www.ecstuning.com/b-genuine-porsche-parts/door-handle/95853120501g2x/ - but I bet like the one from Porsche it's in primer.

The handle has two plastic pieces that are painted. The outside that faces you and the inside that mostly your hand touches.

If you take off the handle you'll see two small Torx screws. Something like a T-8 or T-10. Those hold on the outside piece. It does surround the button. Taking it off is not easy but not rocket science, just requires trim removers, a little care, and maybe some tape to keep the handle from scuffing. Once it's off, you can cover the button fully for paint prep. Should be doable.

 

[shaheenis]

Was the video applicable to the 958 series? The 955/957 series Cayennes had a board that went bad (relay in it went bad) in the steering column that when it went bad immobilized the car. There was a video or two on repairing that one DIY. The 958 isn't using that system.

I believe that is the video I watched and assumed the same.

 

[deilenberger]

The handle has two plastic pieces that are painted. The outside that faces you and the inside that mostly your hand touches.

If you take off the handle you'll see two small Torx screws. Something like a T-8 or T-10. Those hold on the outside piece. It does surround the button. Taking it off is not easy but not rocket science, just requires trim removers, a little care, and maybe some tape to keep the handle from scuffing. Once it's off, you can cover the button fully for paint prep. Should be doable.

I should be able to reuse the already painted cover from my old handle right? So all I'd have to paint is the inner portion - not as critical for exact color and finish match.

Hmm....

 

[kvec]

I should be able to reuse the already painted cover from my old handle right? So all I'd have to paint is the inner portion - not as critical for exact color and finish match.

Hmm....

Exactly. The handles I bought were flat black and my CTT is metallic. I'm just swapping the exterior and leaving the interior section as the original flat black because you can't see it in practice.

 

[kvec]

I swapped out the trim on the handles over the weekend and have 4 new (used) handles on the CTT with the proper paint color on the outside.

It turns out the handles are actually three parts! After you take off the outer section (bottom, in the pic below), you can get to another Torx, which will let you pull off the upper-inner section (middle in the pic). All that cannot be removed is the bottom-inner section (top in the pic). The top piece in the pic below is upside-down and is what has all the electronics in it.

So, Don, you might be able to get away with swapping for the silver handles and not painting at all. It would take some serious contortion + inspection to notice the bottom-inner section painted silver when everything your eye sees is white.

On another note, after swapping all 4, I haven't had "Relieve Steering" AT ALL. It had gotten to be almost constant and it was starting to take a few cycles to clear, so I'm pretty stoked.

 

[deilenberger]

@kvec - thanks MUCH. I'm going to wait a month and check back with you to make sure it's still behaving itself. If it is- I'll be buying some used handles and going at it. I'm rather tempted to try spraying some WD40 around the rubber button (WD = water displacement) - thinking that might get any trapped water out of mine, or it might just screw the entire thing up..

Thanks again!

 

[kvec]

@kvec - thanks MUCH. I'm going to wait a month and check back with you to make sure it's still behaving itself. If it is- I'll be buying some used handles and going at it. I'm rather tempted to try spraying some WD40 around the rubber button (WD = water displacement) - thinking that might get any trapped water out of mine, or it might just screw the entire thing up..

Thanks again!

Tried WD-40 as one of the very first things back in 2019 when the issue first popped up, thinking the same thing. No dice. Doesn't seem to do much of anything.

 

[deilenberger]

@kvec was absolutely correct in his diagnosis.. I did replace the door handle with a new used one (all of the painted plastic coverings moved over fine, I used some stretch-wrap to cover the one piece that was painted and part of the handle structure.. it looks fine, you can't tell it wasn't always white..)

Since then - and it's been about 2-3 months, I heard a bong once when opening the door but by the time I looked at the dash, any message which may have been there had already disappeared so I can't say it was a "Relieve Steering" message.

This is a really odd one that dealers and mechanics are very likely to misdiagnose as the actual lock module on the steering column. That will be an expensive misdiagnosis. In studying the handle, there are 3 wires going into the handle - two are used for the push-button. The other appears to go to an embedded antenna in the actual handle casting and if I had to guess that's where the issue is. That antenna is probably used for the key recognition function, and if it misbehaves the locking system throws the odd error message "Relieve steering" accompanied by some bongs.

 

[Zuffen]

Don,
Did you replace only driver handle or all of them? Curious if I can just move my rear driver side handle to the front and see if it will alleviate the problem for the driver door. Thoughts?
Also should I disconnect the battery prior or not?
Thank you and @kvec for you findings!

 

[deilenberger]

Don,
Did you replace only driver handle or all of them? Curious if I can just move my rear driver side handle to the front and see if it will alleviate the problem for the driver door. Thoughts?
Also should I disconnect the battery prior or not?
Thank you and @kvec for you findings!

I replaced the driver door handle only. I imagine they might be swappable. They're surprisingly easy to remove and install.

One also shouldn't ignore the possibility that the act of replacing the handle may fix the issue even if there isn't anything wrong with the handle. The connection to the handle is somewhat exposed to weather that might get in around where the handle goes into the door. If that connector was acting up due to water or corrosion, then the act of R&R of the handle might just be enough to clean it so it works again. To test that idea only requires R&R of the handle in question, if it doesn't help, then the next step would be (IMHO) replacing the handle assembly.