gota911

With each new iteration of the 911 (996, 997.1, 997.2) Porsche has not made parts available to repair the engines or transmissions The exception to this was the clutch assembly on the manual tranny). Porsche wants the complete unit (engine or transmission) back so they can determine what he cause of the failure was; design flaw, specific part failure, so they can rectify the problem in future units produced. This is how and why Porsche went from a double row IMS bearing to the later and more sound single row IMS bearing.

Once the model iteration is no longer produces As each iteration ceases to be produced, Porsche did make parts available for "out of warranty" repairs to be made. IIRC, in about 2005, Porsche released parts for the 996 manual transmissions, because the 997.1 had moved into production in mid 2004, with a different manual transmission.

This may or may not happen with the PDK. I understand that the PDK software has been tweaked a time or two since its introduction with the 2009 model. However, I don't know if any "hardware" changes have been made, and if so, how extensive they have been. Since the PDK is still in production, I don't know if Porsche will release and "repair" parts in the near future or not.

It would be a shame for Porsche to make an owner cough up $15k to $20k for a new PDK transmission, when a $2k to $4k repair "could" be made if parts were available.

kosmo

yes, ive heard the PDK hardware has seen some modest updates like lighter material but the over unit is basically the same.

chris.hanle

I was under the impression that in order to sell cars in the U.S. that a car company had to make 5 years worth of parts available. But I guess that an entire PDK could be classified as one part. Or some other interpretation of the law could be in play. I do not want to replace my PDK any time soon.

Tsmith84

Factory reman units are available and retail in the 8-10k range with exchange, depending on equipment. The clutch packs are currently not currently available, but as stated earlier, show no signs of problems. The hdraulic control units are available (think valve body) and I have replaced only 1. I have heard of them overheating on the track and going into limp mode as stated earlier and it seems that these vehicles have had the driver "left foot braking". I wouldnt be surprised if the one mentioned earlier is the same. Basically, the clutch fluid gets to hot and the vehicle goes into limp mode until it cools and then returns to normal operation. ZF, the manufacturer of the PDK states that this is normal and not a malfunction. As far as the launch control comment, Porsche's demo car at their driving school has had over a thousand launches with no malfunctions, and still counting. The count is recorded in the transmission control unit. Porsche is very proud of the fact that they dont limit the amount of launches that you can do, unlike their competitors. The only limit to launches is clutch fluid temperature, and if it gets to hot, it will restrict them until it lowers to a normal temp. I have done probably 15 in quick succession on 2 different vehicles to log acceleration data and did not get restricted on either.

PJorgen

Same here, couple of small leaks.

Iceter

Just when I begin to lose faith in the brand, I read something like this:

This is an amazing factoid--especially after reading tons of magazine articles about other supercars where after a few hard launches, the clutch is fried.