I want to gather whatever info and experiences I can about this issue. I have a 2010 911S / 42k miles / never tracked / never abused ... not driven like a grandmother but I've always respected the car.

Specifically to avoid problems like this. Problem being that I was heading home from a show a couple weeks ago and all sorts of warning lights come on & car goes into "limp mode". This is the first time I've seen or experienced this set of warnings so I make it home and park it. Couple weeks later I take it in to run diagnostics and they find all sorts of error codes. They felt it was a pressure valve issues but given Porsche's policy of not selling parts nor allowing even opening the PDK to find the problem who knows?

All I know is I'm being told that my only option now is to kick out like $16.5K for a new PDK transmission. Well, that's not an option so I now have a very expensive lawn ornament and am left severely disappointed with Porsche Corp that they would put such a crazy policy in place. I can only speak for myself but I'm not a millionaire, I worked hard all my life so I could buy a Porsche to enjoy. I'm left feeling like PNA kicked me in the crotch and told me to F off. I get that repairs aren't always cheap on exotics and that's fine.

Being forced into a $20k repair when it could be taken care of much cheaper doesn't sit well with me. I was always a manual driver and before I bought this PDK 911 everyone couldn't sell me hard enough about how "bulletproof" the trans is, nothing ever goes wrong, it's so much faster etc. Then reading about the PDK ... all that does seem to be true ... EXCEPT ... in literally a handful of cases. I've talked to numerous certified mechs and most haven't seen this unless the car has been raced hard and even then rarely.

Since I don't nor ever have raced the car I feel really screwed and that it was defective or is I'm just a victim of a terrible Porsche policy. In any case ... I can't afford $20 +- to fix the car which makes it a lawn ornament with a large ongoing payment. I am exploring what kind of options maybe out there. Can anyone help me out with any good ones?

Thanks

Ira

 

I believe that there has been talk on here about people getting refurbished units. So it would be the $8k replacement in this pic, and not the $16k one. Also, I would recommend talking to Porsche and seeing if they could do anything. I totally understand your frustration, simply because we had the IMS go out on our Boxster years ago, and it was disappointing having to put a new engine into a car when Porsche wouldn't do anything.

http://www.porscheatlantaperimeterpa...rimLevel=18175

 

A few thoughts ...

1. Electronics are very sensitive to voltage levels. A weak battery can throw all kinds of codes. You mention letting the car sit for a few weeks. I take it this is not a DD. Did you use a battery maintainer? When was the last time the battery was replaced? If it's been discharged once, assume it is bad.

2. Electronics are sensitive to heat. What were the operating conditions?

3. There is a connection problem on one of the sensors that can throw codes. Porsche has a one time fix on this (before the wire becomes too short to reconnect.

4. There are used PDKs out there.

5. Your core has value.

Good luck, and please keep us posted on what you find.

 

did you buy it new ?

 

Really sorry to hear about this. Many have had luck getting Porsche and their dealer to chip in on the repairs. Here's a thread and poll I started about the issue.
https://rennlist.com/forums/997-foru...e-new-ims.html

 

Porsche 911 are hardly exotics, not even close. It is a mass produced sports car.

Indeed, it is a shame that these PDKs can not / are not allowed to be serviced by the authorised dealer. This is clearly a market opportunity for somebody in the near future when more of these units go south. Ferrari owners (458 and California) have some of the same problems although Ferrari has since allowed specially trained dealers to replace faulty parts in their DCT transmissions.

CF

 

Hi folks ... will go down the line:

Bxster:I've been looking into all options. Talked to Porsche NA and they required me to take the car back to dealer for more diagnostics before anything can be further discussed. Just got it back there end of day yesterday so unlikely I'll know anything until early next week.

Honestly, I've looked into refurbished or "junked" PDK's and sure it's an option but 1) Porsche probably doesn't look kindly on that if something else goes bad. 2) its still as you mention $8k when a fix for what is probably just a valve pressure seal would be a fraction of that and palatable. $8k is still serious money at least for me when a lesser cost solution without question an option if Porsche didn't have such a stupid, restrictive policy in place.

I'm probably more aggressive about problem solving than many 911 owners who don't know that there are always options if you look for them. In which case, it's a really terrible policy to have for people that in many cases like mine worked really hard to have this car. Know that there are costs involved in maintinance and ready for reasonable ones. But never did I see this huge expense coming after all the championing of the PDK that they rarely ... if ever go back unless harshly abused. I never would have gone PDK had I any idea of policies like this. Anyhow ... not aiming any aggression at you ... I'm still on edge about this.

Really I can't see this as anything but a defective part issue and/or poor repair policy by Porsche. I was told Porsche just about never will do a part from PDK and only exception will be VIP's even then rare. That we can't even open the trans up to see what the issue really is ... an even more bogus policy. For all I know it's a .50¢ seal and they want me to pay almost $20k. Not all 911 owners are millionaires ... if I was I'd have a 918 or GT2 or both in the garage

Wayne ... thanks and here are the answers to numbered:

1: car was running great for a month+ since taking out of storage. There was no indications whatsoever anything like this was going to rear it;s head.

2: Operating conditions were pretty close to idea. 75+- degrees beautiful day.

3: As to error codes when check it showed many. Techs reset to factory. Took care out and it ran fine
until out of grandma mode where pressure started to build at which point went back in limp mode so
the issue was recreatable even after a reset.

4: Honestly spending more than $3-4-5k to fix this doesn't really sit well with me on an ethical level
since the actual issue causing this is likely a minimal issue if any other trans that was able to be opened.
I totally understand that there are expenses when any high performance car is owned but this goes to a
different level/place for me. This comes off to me as a "prestige" thing to me as opposed to having any logical reason disallowing opening the trans.

As far as I know Porsche techs at any dealer for instance are highly trained and if a good dealership then are among the best at working on 911's. So what other reason other than "prestige" or squeezing more money from us because they consider anyone who puts out for a 911 "could obviously afford it"?

Anyhow ... I really love my ride and I feel really mislead by Porsche. Doesn't help that PorscheNA made me jump through hoops to replace a known factory defect "safety harness" ( err battery cable ) on the 2008 911 I owned even when there were documented instances on the net it was known defect. They wanted $1400 to replace that ... finally after eating my heart out they went down to $300. Which was appreciated but why not just stand behind your products and start out here? So, I have trust issues with them.

Wayne ... hope the above doesn't come off wrong ... any aggravation is not personally directed at you.

Extanker: No didn't get it new. It was from a large dealer, certified, about a year old with 10k miles in pristine condition. It's at about 42k respectfully driven miles ... I don't drive like a grandmother but I've never even come close to driving it as it was designed to be driven. I'm out in the northwest burbs of Chicago and with all the towns out my way having their "revenue programs" I rarely get to get out of respectful "legal" driving mode. Its a daily driver and prior to this never been a problem.


Thanks folks ... almost time for a drink to wind down my attitude

 

I understand, what I would mention is that I believe the refurb PDK's do have a 2 year warranty on them through Porsche, and it is a solution that they will endorse. I agree, that it should be a much less expensive repair, since it is probably some electrical issue within the unit. You shouldn't need to spend that much. And I also agree that $8k is a ton of money, especially for something that shouldn't cost that.

 

Thanks Falcondriver ... thats what I'm trying to accomplish. I'm fine with paying a fair amount for repairs just not willing to be extorted. As mentioned in previous post I have some little prior experience with PorscheNA over a defective safety harness and they didn't have the customer's best interest in mind. Had I not supported my position that it was a known defect they wouldn't have budged. I love my 911 and have since a child but I refuse to buy into the the corporate elitist mentality that they can milk us for whatever they want. Sadly this corp mentality is all too common these days ...

======

Coolflash: "Porsche 911 are hardly exotics, not even close. It is a mass produced sports car."

Agree, but they are high end sports cars that are expected to have a well defined high quality standard.

" Indeed, it is a shame that these PDKs can not / are not allowed to be serviced by the authorised dealer."

This is a real sticking point for me. It makes no sense at all to disallow this when such an expense is required should something go wrong with the existing policy. Err ... $20k +- to replace or it becomes a lawn ornament or we're required to look for sub quality solutions. Not a standard I would consider in any form for my business.

"This is clearly a market opportunity for somebody in the near future when more of these units go south. Ferrari owners (458 and California) have some of the same problems although Ferrari has since allowed specially trained dealers to replace faulty parts in their DCT transmissions."

As you said this is an opportunity and in some cases it's already happening. I've talked to a few people I know from a car show/pca I've met and there are options like searching scrap yards, if you have access to people higher up in the community it may be possible to get parts etc. But as a loyal Porsche owner, customer and life time admirer I feel taken advantage of. Like I should allow myself to be treated however they want to treat me.

If this can't be resolved reasonably I'm done with Porsches .. not that they will miss me but there are a whole lot of other cars that $100k or less will buy where I'd be shown lots more respect.

 

Bxstr ... I'll keep watching the thread and when I have some answer to this issue I'll make note of it here. I'm also going to talk to some friends who are corp lawyers who have some auto background to see how this policy holds up. If Porsche won't do the right thing here I may have to consider every option ... If I have to "walk away" from the car it'll put like a $40k +- dent in and leave me $0 to get another ride with. That doesn't sit well with me ... and if I can make a difference for myself and maybe some other folks dealing with similar it will make it worthwhile. I want my moneys worth

btw ... is there are way to get Rennslist to timeout less quickly?

 

subscribed to see how they take care of you on this!

 

ssssoooo you have a used po out of warranty ,that you did not buy from this po dealer.......and lemme guess never had it serviced there but you want them to step up .....wow ....did you try the used car lot you bought it from or hey maybe the previous owner .....they might step up

 

As a owner of a PDK car also, I wouldn't expect Porsche to pony up for replacement tranny if mine failed but at 42k miles and knowing the car was driven sensibly for most of those miles, it still wouldn't change the fact I'd be extremely disappointed in a failure of such an expensive part of the car, with so few relative miles.

It also would be frustrating that your only option is to buy a new one. Even the motors can be disassembled and repaired when something fails (usually).

Lastly, knowing that Porsche has ponied up to help pay towards some of the cost for replacement PDK trannies which failed outside of either receptive warranties also wouldn't stop me from trying to get similar treatment.



OP, keep us posted & good luck.

 

when was the last time the battery was replaced? as Wayne mentioned, the car is sensitive to battery voltage. there have been posts on this forum about PDK warnings and hysterical behavior that went away after a new battery was installed.

 

Seriously?

If Porsche told prospective buyers that if anything goes wrong with the PDK, even a little problem, it will be $16k (or even $8k) out of warranty, how many do you think they will sell???