Hatzenbach

Short introduction: I have a 2009 C4S, PDK with ~60k miles.
I do maybe 8 - 10 track days / year
Let's travel back in time: My original PDK died about 3 years ago on the track and the 2nd one died 2 months ago - again on the track.
In both cases the PDK had "catastrophic failure", so I'm on PDK #3 now.
They say that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results, consequently I made the decision that I will no longer track the car.
But maybe I was just unlucky and it had nothing to do with HPDE, maybe it's because I have a 4WD drive car and that puts more strain on the PDK.
And maybe it's because it's a 1st gen PDK and the newer cars (991 and 991 GT cars) have a better version.
What I find amazing that there are a LOT of cooling solutions out there for Cayman PDK but none for 911 - weird.
Seems to me the Cayman guys know something we don't

After this long introduction I would like to get feedback from all of you folks who track their PDK cars.

• Any problems?
• What year/model are you driving?
• Any additional preventive maintenance?
• anything else?

And please let's NOT drift off in yet another PDK vs. Manual transmission thread, there's enough of those already

Thanks

kru911

Subscribed

alevine

Subscribed as well!

zedcat

2015 991GT3 PDK-S, 21 track days/approx. 2500 track mi, 21,000 total mi, no issues, no maintenance.

Maxant13

I have heard many times at the race track that heat is the biggest enemy of the PDK.

multi21

If you do a search of this topic, you'll get a ton of info. 1st Gen PDK obviously not as good as current gen. 911 PDK doesn't have the cooling issues that the Cayman PDK due to placement.

LuigiVampa

In race conditions I have seen it go into limp mode because of heat.

alexaqui

I know of someone with a Cayman GTS (NA) that has had 2 failures. Both failed in the same way where individual gears would just stop working. Car is tracked, although I do not think heavily.

85Gold

wwlee

Any guess if flushing PDK fluid annually would mitigate risk of PDK failure? Not as concerned about limp mode...more concerned about seizing up

ipse dixit

None in my 991.1 GT3.

Probably close to 1800 track miles (and over 26k overall on the ODO0

fatbillybob

I wonder if those who manually shift the PDK have more failures than those who leave them in "auto?"

jazztrip

I have a 2009 Cayman S track car w/PDK. I got her 3 years ago with 41k miles. She now has 56k miles, mostly on track or getting to/from the track. She has the BGB gearbox cooler which I use only on track. I change the transmission fluids annually. I have had three issues:

1. Early on, she would burp transmission fluid when she got hot after several laps on track. Eventually, that would lead to a transmission fault and limp mode. That was fixed with a catch-can that catches the 'burps' and returns the fluids to the gearbox.

2. On the way to a track event, I got a "transmission error" and limp mode. Turned out to be a faulty temperature sensor. There is a Porsche Technical Service Bulletin on this. Replaced the sensor and issue resolved.

3. On two different occasions if got "transmission error" and limp mode at the track. In both cases I had the rear tire pressures very low (like 25psi). In both cases, I got the error right after rolling from the paddock. The error was "Transmission- implausible value" or something like that. I reset the error with a Durametric cable, added some air to the rears and no issues. I think the reduced circumference at the low tire pressures confused the PDK.

Anyway, that is my experience. Good luck.

adi_d

I think you are just too fast for the PDK

991carreradriver

3 different 991's & about 10k track miles. Never had a PDK issue of any kind. The first two were the regular PDK and clearly not as robust as the GT3 PDK-S. Some not so smooth shifts from 3 to 4 in the regular PDK, but that is about it.