Steering Lock engaged, transmission locked - HELP PLEASE

[dc981]

I was driving around this week and kept getting an intermittant message "Four Wheel Drive System is Faulty"....but only occasionally. Then the other day it came on again, on my way home. I parked up and left the car. On return, I opened the car and got a "STEERING FAULT" message on the dashboard and everything was locked. I cannot start the ignition, although the seats etc still work, the steering wheel is locked and the transmission is stuck in PARK. I tried jumping the car, but this did not help....please help somebody.....the Porsche dealership cannot send anyone for another 2 weeks....!!!!

[Loren]

:welcome:

Cayenne's do so very unusual things when battery is low or bad. If your battery is more than 4 years old I would replace it now.

[wvicary]

It does sound like a battery fault. Depending on your model year and option codes you might have two batteries, one to run the accessories and one dedicated to starting the vehicle so be sure to test them both if so equipped.

[odix]

As Loren and wvicary note, change your battery. Also, be sure to become a contributing member -- you can download useful files.

Below is from the 2004 owner's manual (I have an '04 Cayenne S) -- it describes how to get your vehicle out of park if it's stuck in park.

Let us know how it works out.

I was driving around this week and kept getting an intermittant message "Four Wheel Drive System is Faulty"....but only occasionally. Then the other day it came on again, on my way home. I parked up and left the car. On return, I opened the car and got a "STEERING FAULT" message on the dashboard and everything was locked. I cannot start the ignition, although the seats etc still work, the steering wheel is locked and the transmission is stuck in PARK. I tried jumping the car, but this did not help....please help somebody.....the Porsche dealership cannot send anyone for another 2 weeks....!!!!