ahayvi

Just heard from a buddy with a 997 blown pdk at 80k miles who was declined goodwill. That’s semi-understandable (but still questionable) considering the mileage and age but Porsche needs to cover the majority of your vehicle no questions asked.

wesley_willis

No warning signs - smooth/quick shifts until total failure! Which leads me to believe it's something small/electrical in the gearbox which makes total replacement even more ridiculous.

As for auto stop/start, I kept it off because to me it just seems like something that would cause unnecessary wear and tear on the car; not to mention keeping it on just made the car feel way more sluggish.

Sucks for your buddy's car I mean, I'd expect more of these issues to start popping up at 75-80K, but even then it just sounds so unreasonable to me especially when there are so many cars these days that go hundreds of thousands of miles without a transmission blowing up. And many cars these days are putting down a ton of power; there are plenty of sedans out there that are putting down way more HP than my base 991! How absurd.

Joec500

To clarify, my failure was some sort of switch internal to the transmission failed, so my reverse lights wouldn't activate LOL. The transmission was 100% solid other than that. But to fix my reverse lights they swapped the entire tranny! LOL

Meh, in my case I got a new transmission at 60k miles

Bemo

I remember this story and it's the most egregious example of "replacing rather than repairing" problems. Totally good for you but had you been out of warranty, we would have another disastrous failure thread. Then we all come along and issue well intentioned platitudes yet the core issue remains, which is the dealer does not repair, nor offers, access to independent repair facilities, as a way of avoiding OEM replacements and controlling overall maintenance costs.

Most of us, myself included, can absorb a $16k replacement job but it's not the point...

kuma1416

It's the uncertainty in this whole case that worries me- even if the OP gets a new transmission, the whole process of having to fight an uphill battle with PCNA, calling them out on Twiitter and waiting anxiously for their "generosity" is ridiculous. Will I have to go through the same thing in 20, 30, 50 K miles? Sure, things break, but we shouldn't have to worry about this on a 100K car, no matter what the mileage. Unless Porsche puts out a fix or extends the warranty on the PDK to say 10 yrs (both highly unlikely) , my first 911 will probably be my last. Now I wish Porsche had followed the lead of BMW's M5 and gone from a DCT to the ZF 8 speed with a torque converter, which has been a very reliable transmission .

Joec500

Another idea is to call a place like LA Dismantler http://www.ladismantler.com/porsche-...placement-cg1/

And see if they can recommend a shop in California that either has or can do a transmission swap? I am sure they have a list of customers who have bought PDK transmissions. And then perhaps those indy shops might be able to point you in a better direction than going straight to the dealer.

Joec500

If I were out of warranty I would have just not had reverse lights LOL. Or somehow wired a switch to manually activate my reverse lights when my shift **** is in the reverse gate.

Que

maybe a an odd suggestions, but would this be the time to do a pdk to manual swap say with a 6 speed from a 997.2 if it could fit?

sessionstu

I'm certainly not a licensed mechanic, but no 7th gear and reverse gear does not sound like a gear box failure. It sounds more electrical than mechanical. There is also a change over value that controls the PDK transmission. It might be that. I would have a shop with the Porsche PIWIIS tool perform a complete diagnostics test. Dealerships cannot be trusted.

If it does end up being a gear box issue, why not have your existing gear box repaired. It would cost a third of the price. Porsche gear boxes (for the most part) are, and always have been, bulletproof. I would rather have my own gear box repaired than put a used one from a dismantler (which was probably crashed) put in.

neanicu

How do you repair something for which no replacement parts are available? I understand not even Porsche opens these failed transmissions,they just send them back to ZF so they can themselves be able to recover the cost.
From my understanding,the only " repair " performed on these gearboxes is the replacement of the temperature sensor. And even in that case,the sensor was hardwired into the the PDK valve body harness and they had to splice and cut the wires. Then proceed to install a new sensor that comes with pigtail wires and it would be solder back into the harness.
They make these units not serviceable intentionally to collect all the money. Interesting times we live in...

sessionstu

This shop in LA can repair/rebuild a PDK transmission.

https://www.westsidetransmission.com...e-transmission

CSK 911 C4S

Not to thread jack this discussion.

Is the PDK transmission any different if it's in a 4/4S car?

thebrit86

I have a 2013 991 C4 PDK with about 34K miles on it. Hearing these failure stories really concerns me, also it seems like most of the failed transmissions come from 2013? I think it will be incredibly important to document these failures collective in case we need to protect ourselves through legal actions.

cclcal

well written article.
thank you for all the details.

I too have a 13 S w 21K miles.

Been thinking about Fidelity warranty, just havent pulled the trigger.
maybe i should now.
or maybe i'll sell car and get a reliable toyota camry, haha

keep us posted on how the twitter exchange goes.

Ive brought my car to carlsbad and they were able to goodwill the vacuum lines that disconnected.

but transmission is a much bigger issue, and lots more $$$

but definitely not an isolated issue.

snake eyes

No, its the same