Ni_Mo

So I had my OPC do an oil & filter change, new water pump and I decided to do a tiptronic fluid change, why, because I noticed a very slight delay when going down from 4th to 3rd in manual mode and thought it might help.
Picked up the car & everything seemed fine, the following night I found that I couldn't move the lever out of Park, the top button would depress but it wouldn't move, it was as if something was blocking it's movement.
Switched off the ignition & tried again, after playing around with it I managed to get it out of park & drove home, parked up & thought I would test out its movement before shutting down the engine, moved through all the gear selections fine. Shut off the engine & then removed the key, then switched ignition on without starting & I couldn't move it out of park again. Key off & then went to start again & got the tiptronic emergency run flash up & then extinguish, still couldn't move it out of park.
Replaced the battery, as it was getting on & have understood that this plays quite a large role, started up & no tiptronic emergency run warning, moved out of gear as well, solved! or so I thought.
Took it for a spirited drive and then once back in the garage & engine shut down I tried moving the lever with the ignition switch on - wouldn't move - but the button would depress, again started the engine & I couldn't get it out of park!
Will return to the OPC tomorrow, anyone had anything familiar? Any ideas?
Thanks Nick

Rikky001

Guess it is related with the job done by your opc.

Maybe something is obstructing the movement of the tiptronic lever?
I assume your opc know how to replace the tiptronic fluid and that a lack of oil, or too much oil is not causing the issue.

Ni_Mo

So before seeing my OPC today I read lots of topics concerning the tiptronic gearbox, and while a sound piece of Mercedes engineering it does have some problems, first the conductor plate & connector plug can "go bad" and hence the tiptronic emergency run warning, but that was momentary and didn't return after I put a new battery in it, and if it is the conductor plate the gearbox will "hunt" for gears and dashboard gear lights flash like a Christmas tree.
So here is the solution, by the way no DTCs stored, from my OPC, if it is difficult getting it out of park it is 1 of 2 things - provided nothing else has been fiddled with, i.e. shift cables.
1. The brake valve, which will not allow you to depress the button on the top of the tiptronic gear lever - not my case. The brake valve connects up to 20 odd different systems - mostly electronic - in my case the brake valve was fine as I could depress the button on the top of the gear lever,
2. Inside the shifter mechanism there is a solenoid that is energized when you press the brake pedal and retracts a plastic arm which then allows you to move the gear lever - my problem.
Cheap fix as I had a spare shift mechanism for another project, OPC will replace & everything is OK.
When I get the parts I will post some pics up so others can see the solenoid.

Rikky001

The tiptronic is proven to be a reliable piece of kit, throw some figures on the table about the so-called "problems" please.

Good you sound the simple fix - as expected.
Most of the time the troubles start after some clown "flushed" the tiptronic and either dumbed too much, or too little fluid in as they have not a clue

Ni_Mo

Rikky while I can't throw numbers down about what goes wrong with these gearboxes, their are some areas where they do go wrong.
As I posted the conductor plate does have some issues, I watched a series of videos on youtube regarding this gearbox, there will be a link at the end for everyones viewing pleasure.
I wanted to post up my issues as I couldn't really find a solution to it, even though a number of people on other forums had similar problems, I assume they just forced the gear lever and the plastic guard just broke, mine was slightly bent from me trying to get it out of park!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bdt4g5jqo4E

Rikky001

Although the tiptronic under the 997 is a Mercedes type, it seems to be way more reliable than under the Mercedes. Correct that the connector has or had some seal issues on the Mercedes, surprisingly the 997 did and do not suffer from this, exceptions aside.

Regarding the blocked Park or a stiff stick, mostly related to a seized linkage under the car in my experience. This is easily fixed but most of the time people force the stick and break things.

I don't defend tiptronic gearboxes but 99.9% 997.1 in South Korea are tiptronic and have zero failure rate, very reliable, even on the track. Unfortunately the second hand cars become 10 years old and very cheap where some people save on maintenance. Replacing the tiptronic fluid is simple if the procedure is followed but some shops overfill, or don't put enough, or don't follow the temperature range required, wrecking the transmission quickly. Failure rate is quasi zero, even with the 997.1 turbo, but some people believe it is good to replace the fluid and screw it up. That is my experience. So far I have not replaced a connector as they do on the Mercedes but will not talk too loud.

My experience is also that people believe flushing the transmission is the best thing instead of replacing the 4.5 liter only. Porsche only recommends replacing the 4.5 liter instead of flushing the transmission. Needless to say that with a 9 liter fluid content the tiptronic fluid is not fully replaced with fresh fluid. This has a reason as the wear particles in the fluid "helps" the transmission to grip. On a car with >100 000 km flushing out the fluid and replacing 100% results in a lot of cases in a slipping transmission and the need to overhaul the transmission.

The tiptronic cars I maintain have between 50 000 km and 150 000 km and are driven on normal roads and on circuits. It surprises me all the time how fresh the fluid looks when it comes out although the manual say it is good for 12 year and 120 000 km.

Ni_Mo

I agree that these boxes are reliable, when maintained, I decided to do a fluid change at 57,000 miles, my thinking was that even though I haven't reached the mileage that Porsche recommends, time is passing and the gearbox is vented to the atmosphere, so there will be air getting in, which will bring in moisture - well that was my thinking anyway!
It was pure coincidence that after the fluid change I had the lever get stuck in Park, not related in the end and happy with my OPC & their attitude towards fixing it!

ocmacman

is that solenoid inside the shifter? I have my console off and am looking for that solenoid.

ronvanr

How is your car shifting from 4th to 3rd now? Did changing the transmission fluid help in shifting? My car in automatic mode can shift a little rough when going from 3rd to 2nd (typically after the car is warmed up). No problems going up the gears in manual or automatic mode. No problems going down the gears in manual mode. My car is a 2005 with 72,000 miles, I haven't passed the recommended miles, but I have passed the recommended time for transmission service.

Judder

Is this the same with the 996 tiptronic gear selector out of interest?

​​​​​​I have an issue where the button on the top of the gearstick will not depress and therefore I cannot take the car out of park - which sounds like a similar issue is it does...

Ironman88

There was another post recently on this - involving a PDK though, but I think it would apply with the tiptronic. Turned out that the issue was with the brake pedal switch. Had nothing to do with the shifter mechanism. Brake pedal switch was replaced (inexpensive) and the problem was solved.

May want to give that a look...

Judder

Many thanks, and sage advice!

I just tried and I think the brake switch is working as with the key turned but engine not started, I can step on and off the brake pedal and either not be able to push the button down at all (brake off) or have to apply quite a lot of pressure and then it _does_ release (brake on)

It almost feels like whatever is meant to move to 'unlock' the button on the gear stick, isn't quite moving enough and you have to apply excess pressure to 'push' it out of the way as when you reach a certain pressure on the button it gives quickly

I just tested on my C4S and with that you can feel a very light 'unlocking' vibration in the gear stick when you take your foot on and off the pedal as above

Luckily a replacement gear selector unit second hand in the UK is about $50 so I might just get one of those and replace the unit (*it that's where the locking solenoid sits)...

Judder

Right - finally solved my Tiptronic stuck in park problem with a new brake light switch

Here's some advice for the future for anyone else attempting this

On right hand drive cars, like mine, the switch is actually above the drivers foot vent so is even more difficult to access - here's it's location and highlighted



Highlighted



As the pedals on the right hand drive cars are in a different place than the LHD ones, the switch is even harder to access as it is above the drivers foot vent (photo above with holes in it)

The switch locks into the metal bracket just in front of the highlighted switch. The bracket has key slots cut out at the top and the bottom so that the notches on the sides of the brake switch can go into these. Once slotted in then you twist to 45 degrees either way for it to lock

Once you have located the switch you can twist it to align the notches with their cut outs on the bracket and it will come out. Here is mine as it dropped down



To get initial view of this I used an iPad with the screen camera on and a bright torch to highlight under the dashboard

Once removed you can find lots of replacement ones out there - the original part numbers are:

996 613 111 01
996 613 113 01
996 613 114 01

off of the switch on mine. I used a Cambiare replacement, and one thing to note is when they come out of the box they look much bigger than the original one. They are actually adjustable and with a light pressure on the top which holds the switch you can compress or extend this to match the height of the original




The bottom of the switch has a 'T' shaped key so can only be plugged into the car harness one way round.

From testing the original switch with a multimeter, with the switch unplugged, one set of the pins is normally closed and the other is normally open. I believe the normally closed is used for the brake light switch as this triggers when the pedal is extended away to closed while the normally open pair are used for the tiptronic lock as this is closed when the accelerator is in resting position and open when the pedal is compressed

On my original switch the normally open pair was sticking on compression and sometimes engaged and sometimes didn't - hence my problems with the tiptronic gearstick not unlocking!

Finally to install the new switch, on the RHD there was no way I could do this from the drivers seat position as you can't get your hand past the drivers foot vent - so I worked out an alternate strategy which is to put the drivers seat as far back and as reclined as it will go, and then to sit on the seat like normal but then rotate 180 degrees with your feet towards the passenger side as you turn around, as this way you can swing your head out of the open drivers door, and under the steering wheel

Final tip, the aftermarket switch was being a right pain to 'click in' once in the guides, so I used a sharp craft knife, and removed a little more of the bottom of the plastic guide pins where the metal bracket would sit, so that it was easier to turn

On second attempt of installation, after doing this, it clicked in much easier and job was done. HTH!