Slakker

Awesome!

krazyk86cu

I ended up meeting the guy today to pick up the car. We go on a test ride and the car works fine. It drove seemingly normal.

We get back and I pay him and leave. I'm getting on highway with my girl friend following me in her vehicle and all of a sudden the car just revs. No drivetrain at all. I coast into a parking lot and same thing as last time. No reverse, no drive. The only warning light was for the convertible top which I managed to fix.

Please spare me the "I told you so's." I'm having the car towed to Porsche so thy can look at it. I'm done with this guy. Is there anything I can to do re-coup some of the funds I paid this guy? Or am I going to have to eat this bill.

krazyk86cu

Coolant is clearly low, this wouldn't cause this kinda problem though would it?

ZuffenZeus

Omg!!! I'm without words. I can't believe it! Actually after reading some of the posts about his work, it doesn't surprise me. I would hold him responsible. You have a witness ( girl friend) and note anything and everything you see. Get an objective evaluation of the problem. Notify him and have witness listen to his response. I would demand he take full responsibility, but be warned, he'll probably blame it on the used transmission or some "hidden" problem with Porsches. Good luck man and sorry to hear this... We were hoping for the best!

groovzilla

This is unbelievably weird?? I can't imagine low coolant having anything to do with the problem you describe.

I would have taken the car back to the guy who did the repair and at least have him witness the issue. And if too late for that, at least get him the evaluation from the Porsche dealer and go from there. The Porsche dealer will get to the root cause for sure. If it's negligence on the mechanic's part then it will be easier to rectify knowing the issue at hand.

If it's the same issue as last time then perhaps it wasn't a transmission issue all along?? Maybe your old transmission is good - Hope he kept it.

Man i hope it's something simple to figure out - All the best and keep us posted.

krazyk86cu

So I should take it back to him?

groovzilla

Let him(mechanic) know asap what is going on with the car and tell him to hold your check - It's Sunday so theres no way he deposited or cashed it - Did you pay cash??

I'm not mechanically inclined enough to know whether any of this could have been avoided - Ashai and others more mechanically inclined will have a better handle on it.

I think at this point the smartest thing to do is to take it to Porsche dealer and have them troubleshoot the issue. Something is not making sense here. If the issue can be resolved with another inexpensive repair or adjustment so be it and have Porsche do the work, have mechanic cash check and move on - If problem is more involved and not the fault of mechanic at least you will get the answer and then deal with it. *make sure your old transmission is kept in his shop - would be great if there was something else more simple causing the transmission problem and your old transmission is good. I can't imagine the used transmission you got could work fine for test drive and then just crap out?? Wish I had an answer for you brother!

Others will chime in with maybe a better game plan but you need to find out whats causing this problem and at this point taking it to the Porsche dealer I feel is the best move for an assessment of the issue at hand.

Kalashnikov

The fact that it drove fine before giving you the exact same symptoms as your original failure is very strange.

Your coolant tank pic may be relevant here. I know that tip cars have three radiators, I am not sure if one of them is an ATF- Coolant ex-changer?

I would think if you had coolant mixing with ATF, your mechanic would have caught it when taking out the original transmission.

krazyk86cu

For what it's worth, they opened up the transmission and it was trashed. He said he couldn't even rebuild it.

groovzilla

I don't remember the entire story but time for the story to end - I think only qualified recommended at this point.

Torontoworker

Questions: What codes do you have? All major Tip issues have codes - espy TC issues.

Have you tested the TCU?

These units are not a big deal to rebuild - most shops that handle Merc transmissions can do them.

There are several solenoids inside the case that can cause many issues - one of them being stuck in neutral as well as the control mapping in the TCU could be suspect if the TCU has gone bad. You need a PWIS 2 tester to properly diagnose the tranny as it can fire up all of the functions of the transmission and point you to where the issue is. It is RARE for a catastrophic failure without any systems reporting in.

Your mechanic is a joke and he purposely took apart your car to make sure you wouldn't go somewhere else. Normally these scum then low ball you a price to buy your car and then fix the issue and flip the car for a profit. You should have gone to a dealer. (I have a Tip myself)

krazyk86cu

I'm not denying that he is a joke. But the issue is, I originally took the car to Porsche. They told me there were no codes, just clutch material in the trans fluid and that the only option for them was replacing the transmission.

Torontoworker

Can't understand the lack of codes but, regarding replacement: That's what dealers do - they believe rebuilding units is a liability issue. Parts replacement is what they do. Specialists for these units (I know one - but he's in Canada) have rebuilt many of both the Daimler and ZF Tip's.

Am I correct in that this new failure is identical to the original one? What are the odds??

What is your next move?

krazyk86cu

Yes, as far as feel, it was the same. Only difference is the transmission went while I was driving this time rather than after I had come to a stop. Also, the gear shifter did not seem to fit properly when moving between drive, neutral and reverse.

I ended up towing the car back to his shop so he'd at least have the chance to make it right. He'll probably get the guy who synced the transmission to run it for codes.

The guy with AAA who towed me mentioned he had some business cards of guys who only worked on Porsches. I feel like that is going to be my best bet of this guy doesn't figure it out. If there is no resolve with the joke mechanic I'll probably take it back to Porsche to see if they can figure it out. If they want to put in another transmission I'm just gonna have to find a Porsche specialist.

I'm really just terrified that the car ate Kalash's transmission. If I have to buy another transmission I'm afraid I'm going to have to just tow the car to my garage and let it sit :/ I just can't afford to keep playing this game.

ZuffenZeus

Hey Man,

I remember you said that you first took it to Leith Porsche in Cary NC and the service manager reported back to you that the "torque converter went bad and took the transmission with it". That being said, did your indy replace the TC along with Kalash's transmission? Based on the dealership's evaluation, that was the culprit, right? Hopefully, it didn't repeat history and eat Kalash's transmission. It's going to be hard to find another deal like that and I'm sure you don't wanna swallow the $25K plus charge from the Porsche dealership. They were supposed to send an appeal to the Porsche corp. office (I'm assuming in Atlanta), did they ever give you an answer on that one way or the other?

Not trying to add insult to injury, but this is turning into a money pit that (personally) the dealership that sold you the car should have taken care of from the beginning. You didn't even have the car 30 days... still had the darn temporary Dealer tag on it. OUCH OUCH OUCH... please pass the Vaseline!