nemo06

Also my old Macan Turbo MY16 was perfect, while the current Turbo MY 21 is full of transmission problems, so much so that I sell it (out of desperation) after a year.

Noah Fect

It's a dual-clutch PDK built under contract by ZF, or at least licensed from them. Some say it's a different part # than what the other Porsches use, which would make sense. I don't know or care who makes the Tiptronic slushbox.

Audi doesn't make PDKs, and neither does Porsche. It makes no sense to call it an "Audi" transmission to distinguish it from a "Porsche" transmission. We do have Audi engines, which can be distinguished from their Porsche counterparts by their ability to retain their oil. But there's really nothing Audi-specific about the gearbox. It's installed in Porsches, so in that sense it's a Porsche transmission.

Macan't

Actually, its a ZF transmission, not an Audi. ZF makes transmission for Porsche, BMW, Audi, and many many other. The PDK is specific technology to Porsches.

Some PDKs do fail, but its not because of stop and go traffic. No one has pinned down anything specific that gets them to fail because its so rare. Switching to sport mode isnt going to do anything for you. They dont overheat at all. If anything is doing to damage it, its going to be idling along below the speed where 1st gear is fully engaged. This is slipping the clutches and inducing extra wear. So if youre in stop and go, actually stop and go. Dont just creep along at 2mph.

Porsche only replaces the transmission because its complicated as **** and made by ZF. Its not practical or reasonable for Porsche to generate exhaustive repair documentation and train their techs on it. There is a bunch of super proprietary stuff in there that they are trying to protect as well. So Porsche decided to make the entire transmission a module that gets replaced as a whole.

If you found a PDK repair specialist, that is something special. I tried and there werent any in the United States. A few people said "well take a look" but I gave up trying. It could have very well been a transmission specialist that has experience with ZF transmissions that are used in other German cars.

beaverlake

Perhaps, more correctly, PDK is a Porsche designed double clutch transmission manufactured by ZF. It is not a torque converter (typical) auto trans and it is definitely not sourced from another auto manufacturer that is also not in the business of building transmissions. As to Audi - what model has ever had a double clutch trans? Ferrari has. IIRC there have been a couple other exotics as well. If PDK was sourced from Audi - wouldn’t that kinda be front page news in the auto rags? I don’t recall that being part of any press activity anytime in the Macan life cycle.

We’ve put about 75k miles on various PDK units and they are sensitive (responsive?) to the driver’s input but we’ve not had any issues on either the 911s or the Macan.

dgjks6

165k on Macan PDK and no issues. Changed PDK fluid every 40 and gear oil at 160,000

54k on my 997 PDK and just had it replaced to a tune of $18,500

They are both double clutch units but different.

The Macan is front drive biased like all Audi units. The front drive axles come off the transmission and at the back there is a transfer case that transfers some power to the rear wheels.

The Porsche 911 unit, since it is rear engined, has the axles come off the trans and drives the rear wheels. And the transfer case is not attached to the transmission but to the front differential.

After having both the Macan unit is a much better unit.

hammergjh

I'm not sure the Tranny in the Macan is front drive based like my Q5. In the torque split screen on the dash in my Macan, it's almost always shows bias towards the rear wheels. When I put my foot into it, I'll see a more even split.

Here's a cool video on the Q5 Quattro system.

PSEE

The consensus seems to be the Macan's PDK is an Audi DL501 unit. Read the posts in this thread for more info.


https://www.macanforum.com/threads/o...ars-etc.21282/

dgjks6

I guess when I say front vs rear drive bias I should be more clear. The front wheels from the Macan PDK are always driven and the transfer case controls power to the rear wheels. I guess they could program it to get more power to the rear

Another example is BMW x drive. From the transmission the power goes via a drive shaft out the back to the rear wheels. There is a transfer case on the back of the transmission that transfers power back up front to a front diff to the front wheels. So the rears always get power and the power to the front is controlled by the diff.

TikiLou

I had a 2004 Audi TT 3.2 that had a DSG (dual-clutch) transmission. My particular one was buggy AF and almost got me killed a couple of times.

MrMarco

Eh-um, that's interesting. I wonder why they would put that in the owner's manual if...

Noah Fect

Same reason they tell you not to exceed 4000 RPM in your new 911 for the first 2000 miles, I imagine. The people who write the manual are in a different building campus continent drug regimen from the people who do the engineering.

You are absolutely not going to harm the PDK by creeping along in traffic. Post a poll, maybe, and ask how many people have had to replace worn-out PDK clutches in the 10+ years since they appeared on the market.

(Edit: I'm also pretty sure that using the throttle to hold the vehicle on an incline, which is a very different act than creeping on level ground, will trigger the HOLD mode. I should try it intentionally to be certain, but I could've sworn I've had that happen.)

MrMarco

I seem to recall the owners manual in my RDX also made mention of never running out of gas as it's harmful to the fuel system (wet pump.) Surely people have accidentally run out of gas (even the best of us old farts have pushed it too far and had to walk it to the next exit) but not a mention of one single burned up fuel pump on the forums. I'll bet Brake-Riding-Betty's burnt PDK clutches will not make it on your "poll" either.
Maybe you could provide some evidence to back your claim that you are "absolutely not going to harm the PDK by creeping along in traffic."
Additionally, I am not sure what your intent was with the strikethrough text... but if your aim was derogatory in nature you missed the mark as the second sentence and you make no sense.

Noah Fect

Because running out of gas is an everyday part of normal driving conditions.

Petza914

There are 3 problems with running out of gas, besides the obvious one.

1. the fuel pumps are in the tanks and part of that design is for the fuel to provide liquid cooling for the pump. The pump runs hot once the fuel no longer covers it as a cooling medium.
2. And junk in the fuel tank that normally floats on the gas gets sucked through the pump impeller once there's no longer enough gas to float the junk above the pump inlet. The fuel filter is after the pump and designed to keep the junk out of the HPFP and injectors - doesn't help the pump issue.
3. In today's Ethenol enriched fuels, if you ever run ethanol blended gas and the switch to non-ethanol fuel, even for a single fill up, the non ethanol fuel can't absorb the water content that used to be in solution with the ethanol blend and it forces the water out of the solution. The water is heavier than the gas and you end up with phase separation and then the pump pumps water to the engine and it dies. If you're going to convert to no - ethanol fuel you need to do it gradually. You can't run the gas down to 1/8 or 1/4 tank and then fill up with non-ethanol or you'll create this phase separation phenomenon.

Fill your tank before the light comes on for all the above reasons.

Noah Fect

Very good advice there. You're basically sucking water at that point, so it's best not to let it get to that point.

I never thought of the problem being exacerbated by switching between ethanol and ethanol-free blends, but it makes sense. Temperature changes could be expected to have the same effect.