CPT Obvious

Add mine to the list of "Gonna need a new Tranny!

Is the PDK the 997.2's IMS?

ltcjmramos

Ouch! What are the symptoms, problems? Is there another thread on issues?

CPT Obvious

Small world.... I grew up in Half Moon Bay but back to my PDK woes. It's a similar story to most here, I got the dreaded "Transmission Emergency Run" warning, shut it down, checked the fuses and started it back up. It went around the block, shifted fine and as i pulled back into the garage it gave me the warning and then no matter what, it wouldn't go into gear. Flatbed to the dealer and they tried putting a tranny control unit in it with no success. It's obviously software/sensor but Porsche says it needs the whole unit. To their credit, they are working with me even though it's outside the warranty. I'll know more next week.

malexgcab

Good luck

ADias

You should see this post - LINK.

And yes, it would not surprise me if the dealer missed an unplugged cable.

stronbl

Did you get the "transmission emergency run" warning first in white letters or straight to red letters? White letters still allows the car to be driven and switched on/off; red letters lets the car be driven, but once switched off, it won't switch on and must be flat bedded to a workshop. The reason I ask, is I have had the white letters come up several times in the last few years - never at the track, always on the highway or just after exiting the highway. To clear the warning, I stop and cycle the ignition system / ECU off/on and restart the car. All is ok and I continue on my merry way.

A couple weeks ago, I had it happen again (first time in over a year, again white letters in the warning only), so I did the same procedure. Cleared it out and ran fine, but when I would switch to Sport+, it would now almost always trigger the transmission emergency run warning, still in white letters. At home I hooked up my Durametric and scanned the PDK and had 3 codes, two on transmission temp and one on PDK temp sensor. The PDK temp sensor is a known failure and originally when it failed back in 2009-2011, Porsche required a complete PDK replacement. Now, after they have investigated the cause of the temp sensor failure, they will allow a one-time fix by the dealer to install a new temp sensor and re-crimp the connectors. It is a very precise operation and interesting to note that PAG only allows one of the specialty crimping tools per dealer/service department. I was told if the temp sensor fails again, I must replace the entire PDK. I just went through this process and all seems fine now. I'll test it out on the track in a week and see how the PDK temps react. Fingers crossed.

Keep us up to date on your progress and remedy, I for one am quite interested.

Robocop305

A year ago I was having the red emergency transmission light come on often. I changed the factory battery to a wall mart Battery and problem solved! I think these PDK transmissions are very electrical dependent. Good luck and keep us posted.

CPT Obvious

Thanks for the info Stronbl, I'll check with the dealership to see if they've checked that first. Also checking the battery, the dealership (not Porsche) where I bought it put a VW battery in it. Maybe that could have caused the fault. Anything to not have to replace the entire PDK. I'll post more info as I have it.

sandwedge

Sounds similar to my PDK failure on the -09 C4S except I got the red warning right away and was dead in the water. Dealer said the fault codes indicated failure of some electronic component as opposed to mechanical. My extended warranty covered the $14,000 replacement with little to no discussion.

Not sure if this can be called the IMS issue of the .2 cars but there are similarities. Both are components that fail unrelated to high miles, abuse and/or poor maintenance and the repair is very expensive. How rare these failures are can be debated. My SA told me PCNA keeps at least 40 PDK replacement units in an Atlanta warehouse at any given time so it doesn't seem to be completely unheard of.

ADias

40 parts in stock... A few tens of thousand PDKS out there in the US... maybe 0.1% failure.

CPT Obvious

Just after it happened I read your report of failure and had a feeling that I was looking at a complete replacement of the transmission as they sounded the same. I'm glad to hear yours is taken care of. Porsche has been very gracious considering mine is outside of warranty. My arguement being why are we replacing an entire tranny due to an electrical/software problem? More later.

sandwedge

Good question. For now I think the answer is that dealership shops aren't allowed/trained to take the PDK's apart and repair. Actually I think they're allowed to replace 4 external components but if that doesn't do it they crate it and ship it to Germany. So they probably and rightly figured that replacement is the only option since most customers wouldn't be happy waiting 2-3 months, maybe more for a tranny repair job.

The downside of course is that those out of warranty may be forced to pay 14K for a new transmission when the only issue may be a $200 electronic component.

SpeedyD

Not a huge surprise, and I am guessing later versions will get better. Ferrari F1 transmission on its release in the F355 was plagued with issues IIRC. 40 units in inventory, with perhaps about 20,000 units outstanding indicates it is common enough that they want to hold inventory in North America (question is how often they are replenishing this inventory...)

I don't think this amounts to IMS type situation given PDK system is new tech and bound to have teething issues (Ferrari, BMW and others experienced similar...)

Mumbles

Please let us know what date of manufacture your car is.

9114Scab

I don't think 40 units of PDK parts implies Porsche is aware of anything associated with the PDK. (anything extraordinary ,that is). imho