STRANGE PHENOMENA - Tiptronic stuck in 4th gear with D & 4 LEDs alternating blinking! - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners

Greetings esteemed fellow Boxster owners! I've only owned my 2000 Boxster since last summer, so only was driving it about 4 months. I had it evaluated by the local Porsche dealership here in Chicago's western suburbs, and they told me it was leaking both oil and trans fluid. I drove the rest of the summer/fall, then put it away in nice storage til just about 2 weeks ago... I took it out of storage, and - after a battery recharge, it's been great. The Tiptronic transmission has actually been a dream,, adn 've experienced no problems whatsoever apart from one: I got a P1119 enginee code, which I think I've traced back to the air-oil mixture sensor. No real problem. I can clear the code with my diagnostic computer, and it won't reappear for at least a week or more... Then a few days ago something REALLY weird happened. I was out & about running errands and visiting the local Cabelas... when on the way home (it was after dark), the following happened almost concurrently: 1. The lights under the dashboard gauges got VERY bright, then VERY dim; 2. The radio was playing... and then suddently completely died (stopped); 3. The car suddenly appeared stuck in 4th, with the LEDs alternately blinking between "D" and "4". :-O My immediate impression was that something overheated, power somehow got triggered to shut dow, and what I was seeing were diagnostics. It was 23 miles home from Cabelas, and somewhere with about 3 miles left to get home, the dash lights suddenly lit back VERY bright again, AND the radio mysteriously turned back ON... but the LEDs CONTINUED to alternately blink betwen "D" and "4"... Suspecting my trans fluid (which lubricates AND cools the trans) was low - REALLY low - I dropped by the Porsche shop to buy a gallon of bulk hypoid ATF... but took it to my local mechanic - the only fellow I trust around here... I've yet to hear back from him, but thought I'd ask HERE if anyone has ever heard or experienced this phenomena. Any ideas? Thanks, -Mark

the blinking 4 and D is the car's way of saying there is a fault with the tip and to get it serviced.

Not necessarily a problem in the tranny. I just had a customer come in with blinking tip last week. There was no problem in the transmission, but in the instrument cluster which was shot and shorted out. Something similar can also happen with a faulty ignition switch as well. Happy Boxstering, Pedro

Thanks everyone for the feedback thus far! That said, I'm still struggling that it could be solely the dash... If you re-read my symptoms, you'll note the car went into 4th and stayed there for about 15 minutes... then - still in the middle of driving around 8:30pm at night, it mysteriously went back to normal... Can problems in the DASH yield this sort of behavior? I dropped the car off with my favorite mechanic (not a porsche expert, but someone I definitely trust) to simply check the trans fluid level and top it up if needed. He'll call me early this coming week with an update, and I'll keep this thread updated. Thanks again, -Mark