JurgenV

Hi Porsche drivers.

I own a 997-MK2-PDK and the rear wheels were spontaneously jammed after which a slight spin followed. Fortunately, I was just driving on the exit of a highway, so there was no accident.

After an initial investigation, there appeared to be a grinding noise coming from the differential when turning the rear wheels. The oil was then drained from the differential and only 0.3L of the 3.0L came out, but with an enormous amount of icing dust and iron parts. After additional investigation by the PDK specialist, it appeared that oil was caked on the inside of the gearbox. All gears and bearings were blue from the heat and the bearing of the Pilon wheel towards the crown wheel of the differential had completely broken due to the same overheating, causing the rear wheels to jam. Apart from the housing, all internal components of the PDK must therefore be replaced.

Now the car had just been serviced and there was no leakage on both the shaft seals, drain plug or other possible leaks. This was also confirmed by both companies who carried out the inspections after the incident. The big question is therefore where did the remaining oil (2.7L) go? There will be a small volume caked on due to the large overheating that has taken place, but not 2.7L.

Porsche prescribes that the 3L differential oil must be replaced once every 12 years with an inspection for possible leaks on the shaft seals and drain plug during all maintenance intervals. In the meantime, the PDK and engine oil must be changed according to the maintenance schedule. Both of these were therefore refreshed during the last maintenance.

It is a big mystery to me why the rear wheels jammed because the car had driven 106000km without any problems before maintenance, of which I myself as the current owner. After the maintenance it took another 3000km before the damage was so great that the rear wheels got stuck.

Because this is not logical, I am very shocked and I am afraid whether this can happen again?







I would therefore emphatically ask everyone here who knows or knows someone who has or has had to deal with a similar PDK problem.

Christian Stark

I would suspect that the fluid was not refilled during the service.

z3mcoupe

This is the most likely scenario. The clutch and gear oil were both drained, but both not replenished.

lexhair

Kind of exactly what I don't want to read about while my C4S is in for its 12 year maintenance.

z3mcoupe

If it makes you feel any better... I just had both of these oil changes done on my PDK last week!

Doug H

Did you have this work done by a Porsche dealership or independent shop?

While accidents can happen at either, I would err on the side of caution and have stuff like this on expensive, specialized items like the pdk which only Porsche has done by a Porsche certified technician at a Porsche dealership.

If a Porsche dealership did this, you also stand a much better chance of getting the dealership to remedy the situation or Porsche/PCNA to cover by Goodwill. Independent shops tend to have far less resources to right a situation like this and you stand no chance in Hades of Porsche/PCNA stepping up to help out if done by an Indy.

lexhair

I usually agree 100% with @Doug H but a vetted indy should fricken remember to put in what they out on a fluids maintenance. Accidents happen and depending on the damage/cost done, I'd have an attorney on this regardless of who did the work, PCNA or the indy.

Ironman88

I agree completely with this. Good advice.

ejabour

This^^^

Petza914

Have never seen or heard of this happening to anyone else before, so it's not something with the PDK transmission, but rather a service error. They clearly did not refill it after draining it. Thank goodness it locked up when and where it did instead of going 100 MPH on a track day in a corner. It's stories like this why I 98% DIY all my own service work and why I avoid cars with components that require dealer or indy service.

Keep us posted on how the shop steps up to correct their error.

JurgenV

This is a general reply to all of you in this Item.

Thanks for all the care and support :-)

I have got the same over all reply here on Rennlist than I got In at the Dutch forum.

Everyone agrees that the most possible reason that this happened is a mistake at the service shop

One reason that had mentioned is that there are several drain plugs for PDK and diff oil.

Is there someone that have got experiance with mixing them around during service?

I did have a meeting with the CEO but they point the finger to anyone als but to them selves.

4Driver4

Pretty common on Audi/VW models.
Customer goes to quickie oil change shop, has oil changed. Drives away, car begins smoking excessively and doesn't shift correctly. Gets limped or towed to dealer or other real shop. Auto trans is 3 quarts low and engine oil is 5 quarts overfilled.

Presto

if you drain the pdk differential oil, what is the normal fill amount? i know you fill till oil starts leaking out of the fill bolt.

sandwedge

Couldn't agree more. Got a first hand taste of this with my recent PDK failure which I've posted about previously but worth repeating after reading this story. The dealership I have used for 14 years had about a 3 week backlog so I decided to try the most reputable indy in town which told me they could start working on my car in 2-3 days. They also advertise that they have certified Porsche mechanics. Without going into every detail it became clear early on that I was not comfortable with where my car was. They also had to go through the dealership to get the replacement unit.

After some issues and discussions and before work on my car had begun I had it transported to the dealership waiting my turn there instead. Took some time but it was time spent in comfort instead of discomfort.

rob0001

See below from workshop manual about filling and draining plugs the diff and gearwheel set space. (which is one compartment)
1 = differential space
2 = gearwheel set space
3 = filling / oil level inspection for space 1 and 2

Since only 0.3L came out I suspect partial draining was done at the diff plug 1 which sits a bit higher in elevation leaving some oil behind in the gearwheel set space and obvious forgot to fill after! Probably this was drained together with the clutch oil and shop though that clutch and diff/ gearwheel are same space with oil and therefore not filled separate.
Or when draining the PDK clutch oil, diff space plug 1 was also removed for ease of draining PDK oil (they thought). Not sure but I believe that diff plug 1 is also near the clutch drain plug. This is more likely what happened reading this and on the Dutch forum.