YYC991.2

Brand new 2023 with 3,000kms on it/3 months old

I was headed out for a lunch today backing out of my parking spot at the office and was having trouble finding reverse. Finally it went in and I backed up to put it into first gear and I couldn't find it nor second gear. I can get it into 3rd and avoid not stalling it and make the decision to get the vehicle home vs dying on the road so am able to limp it home in 3rd and 4th gear. While the gear box is usually very tight - when in 3rd gear, the gear shift was completely mobile and able to move anywhere with the exception of 1st and 2nd of course.

I call Roadside Assistance and they dispatch a flatbed which arrives a couple of hours later. I inform the driver what the issue was and he continues to try and drive the vehicle on to the flat bed (I have PASM and aerokit) so lower front lip which he continues to scrape (I have multiple videos) I'm wondering why he just isn't using the toe hook on the front, but I am by no means a tow truck expert. He states that there is nowhere to hook onto underneath which is why he is driving it on to the flat bed. Given this is a contractor for Porsche Canada Roadside, I assume this isn't their first rodeo. After using multiple pieces of wood, he is on the last stretch and is literally burning out my clutch in 3rd gear trying to get it on. The amount of smoke - one would have thought the vehicle was on fire and the clutch burning smell was super strong. By this point, I am lost for words and drive over to the dealership and explain the whole predicament. The SA indicates that they have had issues with this towing company over the last few weeks - why are they still using them? Luckily I have multiple videos to support what actually happened.

I was beyond pissed at this point and didn't bother waiting for the tow truck to show up, but the SA documented everything and I went on my way in my Cayenne loaner. My biggest concern is with respect to the clutch. For sure that fool put some serious wear on there that could significantly diminish the life of the clutch - how do I go about proving this. With respect to the initial issue - they had never heard of this happening before, granted the 7MTs are few and far between these days.

Fingers crossed,this all of this works out - Happy Wednesday!

shrimp money

They can measure it most likely to see how much material is left.

Quadcammer

would be tough to do without removing the transmission, no?

also, that much slipping might have created hot spots on the flywheel and pressure plate that may cause issues even if there is sufficient material on the disk.

tna3

Was reverse working? Why couldn’t he have used reverse to back it in to the tow truck? I probably wouldn’t have let him continue to burn the clutch. And yes, have the dealer inspect the clutch in the repair process, it’s likely all coming out anyway.

AlterZgo

Just try to get a concession like a 100K mile no year limit warranty on the clutch.

Quadcammer

will never happen

Quikag

That’s ridiculous. I’d have them measure the clutch and replace when the transmission is pulled most likely.

rdv

“My biggest concern is with respect to the clutch.”?????

Dude, you don’t have 1st or 2nd gear. My biggest concern would be the gearbox itself. Just saying……..

Quadcammer

Do these cars still have cable shifters? If so, the cable may have just came off.

eagle1960

Having had my own bad experience with Porsche roadside, I will never call a tow through them again. They just use a list of local tow companies and I guarantee they are not vetted in any way. In your case, if the guy had any experience he would have known as should you, that there is a tow hook in the tool kit to screw into the receptacle in the front or rear bumper if the car needs to be winched.

DC911S

Its all cables and connectors on them, made from plastic. The days of actual metal rods to push and pull gear selectors are long gone. The Numeric cables are all metal, as is the connectors on them to the shifter and the transmission. Plastic is not as stiff obviously and makes less noise.

YYC991.2

A quick update almost 2 months later after a ton of back and forth:

The original diagnosis on the gearbox failure was that the gear cable became dislodged due to some poor workmanship at the factory. The dealership advocating on my behalf were actually fantastic to deal with, granted they wanted the service revenue no doubt. Initially, Porsche Roadside agreed to repair the front lip, but balked at the clutch replacement. I argued that if they were so confident that the clutch was fine, then offer me a lifetime warranty on said clutch. I then called Porsche Canada to file a formal complaint. The first girl I spoke with was extremely apologetic and I was promised a quick turnaround on response. Needless to say I never heard from her again! In the meantime, there was a lot of back and forth between the dealership and Roadside with them eventually agreeing to allow for at least the clutch to be pulled out and reviewed. From my understanding, a new clutch would have to be ordered from Germany to compare to the old clutch. This took 2.5 weeks to come in so I grabbed the vehicle until the parts came in. During that time period, every time I would get out of the vehicle, the strong odor of burning clutch remained.

Fast forward to late last week, the work had been completed with the front lip being replaced and PPF and ceramic being re-installed along with the replacement of the clutch. Having driven the vehicle for a few days now, everything seems good to go. Despite losing five weeks of a relatively short driving summer here in Alberta, I hopefully still have a couple of weeks to enjoy it before the snow starts to fly!

911newguy

Glad it worked out for you!

Funny about how apologetic and helpful the person on the phone was, who then blew you off.

AlterZgo

Glad the ordeal is over and you’re back on the road. Did they ever tell you how much wear your clutch had from the tow driver burning it out?

tmslc

you should put snow tires on it and run it all year/night long!