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I should have reported this here earlier. My trusty 1989 S4's trans began to fail last year at about 280K miles. A rebuild was certainly long overdue, but in my current living situation I had no way to leave the car on blocks while the trans was out and away being rebuilt. I tried a few repairs on my own, but the ultimate solution came when Roger announced that he had purchased several NOS 1989 auto trans (located by Don Carter). I inquired about them and managed to get one from Roger for a remarkably reasonable price, a small fraction of Porsche's $17K list price. In August, not long after I placed the order with Roger, it showed up. A tag on the trans indicated it was assembled in July 1989. The crate was clearly original and untouched after all these years. My longtime local 928 buddy, George Suennen, stored the trans in his garage until we could do the swap there over 2 days in October, with assistance by another local 928 buddy, Mark Gang. The limited slip diff was full of fluid while the trans had been drained. We removed the diff cover to inspect it (pristine!), filled it with Fresh Mobil 1, replaced the torque converter seal, pan gasket, filter and trans fluid with Dexron VI and completed the swap. After we got the fluid level adjusted, we went for a test ride. FLAWLESS! So, after sitting for many months while I pondered how to deal with my failing trans, the old 89 is back on the road. I'm still chasing a few other niggling problems, but the trans issue is history.
BTW, I had an 83 (8-disk) LSD installed in the original trans for the last 40K miles. I have put it up for sale in the marketplace area.
Again, thanks to Roger, Don Carter and my good buddies George Suennen and Mark Gang for coming to the rescue.
The irony is that Porsche probably didn't even know they had them. Somewhere in the deep dark corner of a warehouse were these huge and heavy crates...... no one cared because they had probably been scrubbed from inventory. Until some curious soul decided to dig them out. probably looking for something more interesting.
The irony is that Porsche probably didn't even know they had them. Somewhere in the deep dark corner of a warehouse were these huge and heavy crates...... no one cared because they had probably been scrubbed from inventory. Until some curious soul decided to dig them out. probably looking for something more interesting.
Yes, it's likely Porsche sold next to none of this $17K "spare part" as the auto trans very rarely fails during the usual mileage accumulated by 928 owners, and even then, the far more likely solution would be a rebuild.
Congrats on nabbing one of those rare jewels Bill. Couldn't happen to a better guy! And glad to hear you out and about again. The forum isn't as much fun without you.
Finding these NOS pieces is fun because the dealers never talk to each other to see who has what in stock so you can sometimes get lucky and get NLA parts for cheap.
It's the reason I wound up with an oil filter built in West Germany I bought at my local dealer about 3 years ago. Sometimes things just sit on a shelf and get forgotten.
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NOS 1989 S4 Auto Trans installed!
