AWDGuy

get your car out of there.

ZuffenZeus

OUCH! BIG OUCH KrazyK!!! This story is like a plane spiraling out of control. Lawd, I sure do hope you find a solution soon. I won't add insult to injury regarding your choices in mechanics, but I would be getting my car (and two transmissions) out of there and to an factory authorized Porsche service center or well-known indy that specializes in newer (i.e. 996 or newer) Porsches. For servicing my 996, I've checked out the so-called "Porsche shops" in my area and after much research, I've found out that most of the Porsche mechanics only fool with are air-cooled Porsches, but some of them will claim to work on newer ones, but I won't take my car to them.

Not gonna do it, wouldn't be prudent!

Now, regarding the money you've paid this mechanic. If he's as incompetent as many experts on this thread have mentioned, then I'm pretty sure he'll blame Kalash's transmission as being the problem and try to put it on YOU and not refund your money. If it were me, I would demand a refund because clearly he could not fulfill his agreement to get the car running properly. Personally, he should have evaluated the transmission for functionality before installing it and if he's such a great transmission specialist, then he would have identified any problem areas at the beginning. But as others have mentioned, the fact that he had to take the whole car apart just to remove the tranny, shows that he doesn't know what he's doing... in other words, he's "learning on the job" and when he screws something up, he attempts to cover his tracks and say, "It's not my fault, it's that damn used transmission you sent me!". Lawdy, I hope you get a qualified technician next time!

groovzilla

KrazyK - i called my mechanic mark akers at akers porsche here in seattle and explained your issue. akers is one of the best shops on the west coast and 5 blocks from my home. they are like family to me.

mark said if it was his customer he would be reading the codes, checking the fluids and going from there. the electronic components that are the brain of the transmission need to be operating properly and if not, the codes should be readable. he can't understand why the codes have not been able to be read and that would be his first concern.

wish i could help more.

FRUNKenstein

OP - Are you a PCA member? Following Groov's line of thought in reaching out to a real expert regarding this unusual mess, PCA has a committee of technical experts:

https://www.pca.org/technical-committee

It might be worth reaching out to them. Bill Burris, who I don't know from Adam, is the 996 expert on that committee. Maybe he can lend some insight or pull in some heavyweight talent to assess. The good thing is that you don't have to go into a long story - just direct him to this thread. My thought is that this entire scenario might be a cool story for Panorama. How many people have had a seemingly undiagnosable problem with a car? Probably most of us that have owned lots of classic cars. I hear stories like this here at the museum all of the time. What an opportunity for the PCA experts to ride in on a white horse and save the day and be able to showcase it all in the club magazine. Just a thought.

krazyk86cu

According to the dealer originally, they saw no codes. Also that's what the crappy indie said as well, although he couldn't even tell me what computer he or his buddy were using.

I'm not a member of PCA. I take it that it's a club with a forum as well?

As far as my mechanic, I've told him I wanted the car and the transmission towed to the new shop. I live an hour away from this place which is why it's a huge chore for me to just go down there and do anything. And I can't just demand any kind of r fund or anything because he never guaranteed anything. The only gaurantees came with letting him source the transmission for 9 to 15 thousand dollars.

Sneaky Pete

Think about it...Porsche Club of America

tharbin

PCA is the Porsche Club of America. You would probably be in the Carolinas Region. Most regions have web sites and even non-members can usually find some open forums or at least links.

Here is the links page for the PCA Carolinas Region:http://carolinas-pca.com/Sponsors.aspx.

There are a number of repair shops listed there. They do not appear to have a forum but if you reach out to one of the board members listed you can probably get a recommendation or two. This is no time to guess. Get a mechanic that other Porsche owners use and trust.

For what it is worth, the indie I mainly use is 50 minutes on a good day from me @ 75 mph. On a bad day...
It is worth it. You can do a lot on these cars yourself but when you need a mechanic, you need a good mechanic.

We also have an older GMC Envoy, we have a GMC dealer in town and dozens of indies. I take it to a GMC dealer 45 minutes away because I trust their work. Closer may be convenient but your life could depend on the quality of work.

Don't cheap out just because a 996 does not cost much to buy. It is still an exotic and it needs proper care. You would not believe the number of clapped out Ferrari 308s, 328s, 348s and Mondials because they were cheap, until you had to fix them. Now that all but the Mondials have doubled and tripled their value people are buying them up and then spending a fortune turning them back into sports cars.

I would not at this point worry about refunds. I know that is easy to say because it is not my money but with all due respect, you do not even know what is wrong with the car yet. If the new shops finds he was negligent, then talk to him. Same with the dealer. It looks to most of us like you really have an electrical/electronic issue and maybe both trannies are good but we are guessing. We are not with the car. It could (although very doubtful) turn out that both trannies are and were trashed. Fix the car, then worry about compensation otherwise you will get nowhere fast and at best get half-a** repairs just to get rid of you.

Cuda911

Asking someone at the local PCA for a shop recommendation is a MUCH better way of finding a good shop, rather than looking at who is listed on the PCA's site. Anyone can advertise, but some shops still reek. And some may be good shops, but vastly overcharge. Ask me how I know....

krazyk86cu

$46 to join PCA for a year!? I've done given all my money to this mechanic! Haha

I'm gonna join and post up a summary of this thread along with a link. I do have a good feeling about the new shop though. Before the guy even saw the car he started explaining how they'd first junk the electronics, fluids, control modules etc.

tharbin

Very true. I did not say it very well. Reach out to the members listed on the site but better yet join as well.

krazyk86cu

I've just typed up my story and posted it to their technical questions section.

Valkuri

Haven't read the entire thread, but: California Motorsports in Lake Havasu City AZ does nothing but Porsche transmission rebuilding work. No personal connection.
If not for you, then perhaps others on the site can make use of them, so as to avoid the '$25,000 Dealer Transmission' phenomenon.

Hope you're back on the road soon, and sorry for your experience.

Cuda911

Now that it's dark outside, I'll shine my Raby Signal into the night sky and see if he can't be summoned for an opinion.

FRUNKenstein

Does Jake even do transmissions?
If so, I shoulda called him to complain 4 years ago.

ZuffenZeus

What are the chances that the electrical connection between the ECU and transmission is faulty and not truly a mechanical problem?

Another personal "Dodge" story (again, for the record, I'm not a Dodge truck fan)

My *other* nephew purchased a used Dodge diesel truck that was sold to him as-is only to have the transmission go into "limp mode" two weeks after owning it. Just like your Porsche, the car would start, rev up, but changing to forward or reverse did nothing.

He then towed it to his local Dodge dealership and paid them to hook it up to their diagnostic computer and evaluate the problem. They met with him and explained that the computer did NOT show any codes, but it was their opinion the transmission was "burned up" and needed to be replaced. And so, my nephew took their advice and purchased a used transmission from a wrecked Dodge at the tune of $3,000.00, but instead of taking it back to the Dodge dealership to be installed, his close friend (who happened to be a Dodge mechanic, but doesn't work at that local Dodge dealership) needed a favor and offered to install the new transmission. He installed the *new* transmission as promised, but the truck performed exactly like it did before... it would start, but would NOT go into any gears.

(An incompetent mechanic's immediate reaction would be "the second transmission was bad too, but this guy was smarter than that!)

He then began to trace and examine all of the electrical connections from the transmission to the ECU and notice ONE line (yep! just ONE line) that was broken at the ECU connector. He repaired the line and the transmission worked properly.

Can you believe that??? After paying $3,000 for the new transmission!!!

Now, that got both my nephew and his friend (the Dodge mechanic) wondering... "Could it be that the old transmission was perfectly functional?"
And sure enough, the old transmission was perfectly fine and didn't need to be replaced. Fortunately, he was able to resale it on Craigslist, but went through a lot of trouble because of some incompetent dealership mechanics couldn't think beyond their precious diagnostic computer... they just based it on their limited experience.

All in all, to repair the broken ECU line would have only cost less than an hour of labor. It all boils down to having the most experienced technician that has the knowledge and experience to correctly zero into the exact problem, provide proper solutions, and not go the easy "replace the whole thing" route.

Cheers!