I have a 1984 928s which sometimes has trouble shifting gears. I need to have the transmission serviced but do not know any reliable or experienced 928 porcshe mechanics. I reside in Northern Virginia, any suggestions>???

 

What's wrong with it? Check the fluid? Performing your own service as far as fluid fill/change goes is pretty easy on these cars. Filter and pan change isn't bad either so as long as you have a level ground and can jack up the car to a workable height.

There's a bunch of VA owners that may be willing to lend a hand or look it over. If you want to go to a shop for a service, I'd suggest the guys at Autosport Systems Group http://www.autosportsystems.net/

Great guys. They just did extensive transmission work on another owner's car....turned out well though I don't know if they'll be scared to take on another 928

 

As Avar928 said, check the condition and level of your fluid (owner's manual tells you how...if you don't have the manual there are posts here on slightly different methods of doing so)...ASG got a thorough education on the car Avar is speaking of. More importantly, the shop demonstrated they very much cared about solving the problem and getting it right.

 

I am the owner of the car they are referring to. The guys there know their porsches. My car was unusually difficult to diagnose but since they now have techs with very fresh memories of it, I'm sure they will help you get it sorted quickly. Transmission work is sent over to HITECH transmission and they too know their stuff and will make sure you are taken care of.

 

All the fluids are fine and I do not want to DIY on this car. I would rather take it to a professional porches mechanic. Thanks for the leads I will look into them

 

Any Mercedes guy can do it. It does not have to be a Porsche guy. It is a Mercedes transmission. The 928 actually has a very common transmission. Just about all Mercs from that era have the same transmission, just a different case. I rebuilt mine. Surprised at how easy it was. I am also willing to bet the porsche guys hardly ever see one of these transmissions. Any good transmission shop can fix you up.

 

I wish this was true.

I spend hours and hours ironing out what the generic transmission shops screw up. Most of the "Mercedes guys" that knew how to do these transmissions are no longer actively working on cars.....and even the guys that did know the transmissions just removed the entire differential section, cleaned it, and bolted it back on. When they though this part was going to be rebuilt/resealed is a mystery to me.

I order parts, on a daily basis, which Mercedes has absolutely no recent sales history on, except for me buying those parts....and most of these pieces have to come from Germany.....how does everyone else do these transmissions without those pieces?

Well, they put worn crap back in...almost every part with even significant wear will last past their warranty period.....but don't plan on it working for another 40,000 miles.

Maybe these transmissions could be taken apart and just have a gasket set and clutch discs put in them, when they had 80,000 miles on them, but on a transmission with 125,000+ miles on it....that simply isn't going to work, for very many miles.

These transmissions are literally turning into the "poster child" for "you get what you pay for" unless you get quoted a flat price to do the transmission....then you get a gasket set and new Chinese clutches, with a $200 "rebuilt" convertor. Huge profit. Very poor longevity.

 

WHat parts would those be, generally speaking?

 

I would contact Chapman Auto Werks in Sterling. Taylor and his mechanics are outstanding and have been working on Porsches for decades. Good luck.
http://www.taylorchapman.com/

 

In that case, you need an experienced Mercedes transmission tech.

Read through the New Visitor...FAQ thread posted at the top of this forum for information - it's in there.

 

And make sure they service/reseal the differential section....including rebuilding the limited slip, if so equipped. When the automatic section of the transmission is being rebuilt, this is the only time the differential can be inspected, worked on, and all the seals replaced. Not doing it is like replacing 6 spark plugs or changing 5 quarts of oil, in your engine.

 

They don't even have "simple" parts like the steel plates that go between the clutches. These transmissions are so far past their "life expectancy" and have had both worn clutches and rock hard rubber seals (resulting in fluid pressure loss) for so long, that almost every one of these transmissions have terrible hot spots on these steel plates. The factory tells you to replace these plates, when they get hot spots, because they know that these hot spots penetrate deep into the steel of the plate, ruining the plates, forever. Of course, the "flat price" rebuilders don't want to replace these plates, since that reduces their profit margin, so they "hit" the hot spots with a sanding disc on a 90 degree die grinder. This "lowers" the hot spot...and also reduces the surface area that the clutch disc has to make contact....creating bigger, new hot spots....within just a few miles.

I, literally, have 15K worth of parts inventory for these transmissions, so that I can rebuild them properly, set them up properly, and not have to wait for weeks for parts to arrive, from Germany. Even with that, I'll get one that is such a mess that I have to wait for some obscure piece that is either wrong or left out.

I'm doing one, right now, that was rebuilt by the "old Rennlist automatic transmission expert"......but never installed into a vehicle. Seriously, this thing is such a giant mess, that it would have been better to just have thrown the entire thing into the dumpster and gone over and gotten a "virgin" core, from 928 International. It's unbelievable. Looks like Stevie Wonder put it together. I couldn't screw one up this bad, if I sat down and intentionally tried!

I'm just finishing another one that was rebuilt a few thousand miles ago, by a local "Mercedes transmission expert". It cost way more to "redo" than it could have ever cost to do it correctly, the first time. From the junk rebuilt convertor, to the valve body and separator plate from a 1980 model Mercedes, to the Chinese clutches and bands, installed on "burned" steel plates and drums......it's was just a total mess.

 

Taylor Chapman is outstanding. He worked on my previous 86.5. I was extremely impressed with his attention to detail and actually wanting me to drop by and go under the lift so he could explain things. I got the impression that he's learned from decades of experience that owners are more likely to let him fix it "right" (more expensive) if he has shown and explained everything to the owner (a sort of Socratic method where what needs to be done becomes obvious to the owner). The thing I remember most was receiving almost daily emails with photos attached. One of the investors who helped Taylor have his own shop owns a "93 GTS. He works on a lot of 928s.

 

So how did this work out?