GTgears

As I alluded to above, I'm not really on top of how they have packaged these things in recent years. One needs to take the vin and give it to a dealer to see what options the car has. Part of why I'm unsure is it's not the same all year and they've varied it. I stopped paying attention about the time the 981 came out. The thing you are looking for is it the car has PTV. Whether it is PTV as a standalone option or as a part of something like Sport Chrono is what you want to figure out. The VAST majority of Porsches are sold without.

You lose reverse and the car throws a PDK code. I don't know of any catastrophic failures of a PDK ever. It's a pretty robust gearbox overall, but the electronic piece of it appears to be really finicky.

okie981

Seems pretty ridiculous to have to give your whole transmission away as an exchange for $8k+ just because of a failed solenoid or control circuit. When oh when will Porsche support repairs by qualified shops....

dgrobs

As long has Porsche dealerships have service departments, the answer to that question is "Never".

Sales is only one of the dealership owners pocket. Service is the other.

Can't see them sewing that 2nd pocket shut anytime soon....

mwest

Everyone, thanks for all this help.
Quite a bit to absorb here.
I'll PM when I have more specific questions.
Thanks

Frank 993 C4S

Same for the 6-speed transmission BTW.

GTgears

nxfedlt1

I drove mine several weekends with no reverse, just had good paddock buddies that needed a leg work out....and puuuuuush.

badabing

Some questions/comments about this as they relate to 987;

PTV did not exist prior to the 981.

Sport Chrono does not include Option 220 aka PTV (981) or LSD (987.2). This is the case on my MY 2010 987.2 CS PDK with Sport Chrono but no factory LSD. (I also have a MY 2015 981 GTS Manual (Sport Chrono included in GTS Package) but PTV was separate).

PDK was introduced in the 2009 model year (987.2). At the time of introduction, it was possible to order a pdk trans with an optional lsd in it. It was Option code 220. Does an early PDK WITH factory LSD constitute a "large" gearbox according to your nomenclature?

If so, what is the difference, other than the larger cavity to accommodate the lsd? What about the "large" gearbox makes it motorsports grade vs "small"?

Also, as you have said, the majority of the failures appear to be electronics related. Do the 2 gearboxes (again I am referring to 987.2) have differing electronic components?

okie981

Regarding PTV, you are correct on 981 cars, Sport Chrono option by itself does not also include PTV.
Having said that, any 981 GTS will have the PTV option included for "no charge" (part of the GTS package). You would have to do a "PTV delete" to not have it on a 981 GTS. Sort of like how some GTS cars have "Alcantara delete" when a buyer wanted to have the ventilated seat option to be added. Otherwise the 981 GTS will have Alcantara seat inserts and no ventilated seats.

badabing

I don't think that is accurate. The buildsheet / invoice for my 981 GTS lists PTV (option 220) as a $1,320 option. As a comparison, Sport Chrono is not even listed (obviously it is so equipped), and the GTS Alcantara interior package is listed at "0.00".

Also, when I was searching for this car (for a year), most GTS examples I came across did not have PTV. I don't think most people would choose to delete this if it was no charge.

dgrobs

PTV was an option on my 2014 981S track car. I took it as it is a performance option/upgrade, as this car is only tracked. No street use.
Def an option on the 981S in 2014 at the very least.

GTgears

You've asked a list of questions I don't know the answer to. As I stated I haven't paid close attention to what's what and how it's packaged from year to year, model to model. I honestly don't pay any attention to it. I put the burden of figuring it out on the car owner and the installing dealer. Once they tell me which gearbox version they have, I supply the appropriate part. Sounds like you know more about it than I do. Any gearbox with an LSD in it is the big one, no matter what the options list calls the package.

To the gearboxes themselves, Porsche decided it was motorsports grade when they put it into the GT4 Clubsports. I also know very little about the electronics. Why one fails and the other doesn't is a bit of a mystery. It's part of why I made the decision I did about the baby diff. In the absence of any real hard data based explanation, I want nothing to do with it. It could have been $100k in annual sales and I likely would have made the same choice.

LSDs stress the system. On average they add 20 degrees F to the temps of the gearbox oil. Why can one handle that and the other one doesn't? No idea. And then you get outliers. BGB has one racecar with a baby PDK and it's been pretty damn reliable. Why just that one car and then we see street driven cars take a crap going to the grocery is beyond me.

Gear Rower

I've been tracking/racing my 987 SPC for the past 3 years and I am still fighting this phenomenon. I do the majority of wrenching and alignment on my car, and I'm struggling to understand why I'm getting the occasional "wicked rear sway" (nice way of describing it) on threshold braking. It's very unsettling car behaviour, especially under wheel-to-wheel racing conditions.
I've added a rear diff (Guards LSD) which seems to have tamed it a bit, and programmed the ABS to the CCB setting. But it's still intermittently happening. The only components I haven't swapped in yet are the monoball control arm links and the solid thrust arm bushing. Could these be the culprit(s)?
I'd rather understand the phenomena rather than just continue to throw component swaps/$$ at the problem.
TIA

NYC993

NYC993