How my $5,000 PDK dealership repair turned into a $385 fix.

So, I purchased my 09 Cayman in February 2015. The car had averaged 4,000 miles a year and was in great shape with records. Inspection showed no issues so I passed on an extended warranty of questionable exclusions. However, after about 6 months of daily driving it started to jump abruptly when shifting from first to second. Then, as the weather got colder it got worse and worse until it warmed up. I read lots of posts about this being common, or needing a software update, so I figured I'd get it looked at soon. Finally, it threw a red "Emergency Transmission Run" light on a HARD right turn at HIGH speed. No limp mode and when I turned the car off and on it went away. Still, I took it into the local dealership for a diagnosis. Ahhh...some of you are saying "That was your first mistake!" Well, I took it there to get its state inspection since it was the first time and honestly received great attention and service and didn't get any kind of a hard sell for unneeded repairs. So, I told the advisor he'd get the first shot at any problems that came up. (A DISCLAIMER...I understand well how dealerships operate. My Infiniti was once quoted $900 for an HID headlight ballast replacement. Three hours of my time and a $50 one off of EBay and I fixed it myself). So, I took it in and was told.....wait for it....the tech had gone through the flowchart...software update was already done...and after pulling some fault codes the following needed replacement: 9G131701500 CONTROL UNIT $2892.59 9G1-321-025-00 TRANS OIL PAN $521 9 000-043-305-13 TRANSMISSION OIL - $196.50 With labor....over $5,000 I paid the $169 diagnosis, told the very sympathetic advisor I'd be in touch, and walked out in shock. But then, after many beverages later I started to look into this. Sure, I get that the dealership has overhead but when I looked at MY price for the control unit I found that I could get it for $1682, over $1,000 cheaper! The oil pan....I could get that for $200 cheaper. I understand capitalism, but those markups seemed insane. Having owned a 928 before my Cayman I came to know that here in Virginia Beach VA we have an amazing shop that specializes in Porsches. So, I called Lutzo at LMN Motorsports. No, he isn't my brother-in-law and I'm not getting paid for this! He immediately told me that something didn't add up. Long story short, I dropped the car off, took time to ogle the other cars being serviced, and he asked if it would be alright if it took a little while since he wanted to call some other contacts to discuss it. Well....I picked it up this morning and....and it runs perfectly. It was cold when I got it and we went for a test dive. Shifted smoothly like there was no problem. So, the complicated repair? He changed the PDK fluid. That's it. I know, it's supposed to be lifetime fluid but he, and others, have seen that this can cause issues. As well, perhaps the low mileage and sitting around that this car did before I bought it were factors. Maybe this is putting off the problem and it will come back. I'll update this if that happens. BUT, this was a good reminder that there are still shops and mechanics out there who will try to FIX a problem instead of going right to REPLACING things that might be associated with the real problem. I don't even fault the dealership, and that's why I'm not naming it. They have to fix cars quickly and that means quick diagnosis and replacement. If I had the $5K in my pocket I would have paid it and been happy I suppose. At any rate, I'm adding this thread in case others have the same PDK symptoms in the future. Or, you need an old-school shop and mechanic in Virginia!

Kudos to the shop for going the cheaper route vs. Checkered Flag Porsche (Did I guess correctly?) going with we need more sales route. I would be pleasantly surprised if just a tranny oil changed resolved this problem, but dang I hope that's the case. Please keep us posted. Eddie

I'll be pleasantly surprised too, but at least I know the less expensive route was taken first. I'm purposefully not mentioning the dealership since I don't blame it in any way. They're "good people." I'm just not in the tax bracket of their typical customer I suspect.

Hello izlivz, Great write up! Thank you for sharing the info on changing the PDK fluid to possibly resolving the problem. It worked. Jim

Good luck that this solves the problem and thanks for the post. Maybe the fluid was low and the fluid change brought it back to proper levels? Porsche "lifetime" fluids are such a joke. The antifreeze is supposed to be lifetime but we'll never know when we have to change waterpumps every 4-6 yrs.

The fluid level was good but the mechanic commented that it wasn't the cleanest he had ever seen.

That is a very common symptom of dirty fluid and a dirty filter in every brand of automatic transmission.... ATF is not meant to be used for 6 years, just as engine oil is not meant to be used for 6 years; regardless of how low the mileage is.

I had the exact same things replaced on my '16 with 300 miles on the odo. Thank goodness for the warranty....but yes, glad you saved yourself a lot of $$$.

That is who works on mine and I am very happy with them. Won't sell you anything you don't need and price is very reasonable. No, I'm not affiliated with LMN. Just another satisfied customer. We have another in Virginia Beach that I hear good stuff about also.

I've never had a PDK transmission but I know from experience that if you let the trans fluid get too old in a Mastercraft or Ski Nautique ski boat with a Borg Warner drive that has wet clutches, it will start acting up and not shift properly when cold. Makes sense to me.

Yeah, this isn't rocket surgery! $385 for < 1hr labor and about $70 of lubricant? You was robbed!!!!! JK

Great that you have an independant that can be trusted. Our local indy let me down big time working on a friends car. ( I had high hopes for a good report) Kid took his Mini in to fix a misfire. They diagnose a burnt valve. Took 2 months and $4k for a valve job. If my Cayman needs a major repair I expect it will go to another town 3 or 4 hours away or I will have to learn some new skills.

Don't underestimate trans fluid. I had this 'slipping clutch like' symptom in my Honda's auto transmission and dealer told me that I needed new transmission. I told myself that I have little to lose if I change the fluid myself and it worked. Less than $60 buck.

It worked to change the Boxster trans fluid for Mike and Edd.

Sounds like my issue which started as a $23,000.00 repair at one Porsche dealer & turned out to be a $500.00 AOS at my Porsche dealer.

The maintenance schedule for 987.2 PDK calls to change the PDK clutch oil at 60k or 6 years, and change the PDK transmission oil at 120k or 12 years. 981 PDK is 120k or 12 years for both clutch and transmission oil. I wonder if the clutch oil had been changed on this vehicle yet? References: http://www.leithporsche.com/cdn.dlr...landing-pages/Maintenance-Schedule/Cayman/Cayman-2009-maintenance-checklist.pdf http://www.leithporsche.com/cdn.dlr...landing-pages/Maintenance-Schedule/Cayman/Cayman-2013-maintenance-checklist.pdf

Service records didn't show that anything had been replaced previously. My mechanic said it looked "dirty" and that he's had more than one experience now where fluid replacement cured a PDK issue, including one where an owner was told he'd need a COMPLETE replacement PDK tranny. FYI....Bad weather hit before I could get home. Slick roads, turns, stop and go....and the PDK worked flawlessly.

Did your shop change both the PDK clutch oil and PDK transmission oil or just one of them? Eddie

izlivz, thanks for sharing. I had a similar encounter with my 09 a couple of weeks ago but with a slightly different outcome. while daily driving my car I got the Emergency Transmission Run (mine was white - not red) and a couple of clunky shifts. upon a restart all was fine. As the car had already had 2 PDK oil changes (every 20-25k kms) fluid would be an unlikely cause for me. Running the diagnostics, it threw up about a dozen error messages including PDK errors, temperature errors, air intake errors etc. the techs at a local indy narrowed it down to a dirty MAF. Once it was rectified, things seemed to return to normal. I've been monitoring the situation and so far fingers crossed it does seem like its ok now. A few things to highlight: - Dont panic! (yeah try that when you get an error message like that) - There may be several symptoms that are tied back to a single source (can be confusing) - These cars rely on sensors for a lot of things

In case anyone has missed it in this thread: Porsche does NOT claim the PDK fluids (there are two) are good for the lifetime of the vehicle. If you have an '09 or '10, it's time to change the clutch fluid. I had mine changed in 2014, a year early but at 75,000 miles (late). I had no symptoms, but this is not something to be negligent about (like my PO). Changing the clutch fluid requires a hookup with a Porsche computer in order to manipulate valves to allow draining. I don't know the details, but it's possible that this procedure loosens something up, or shakes loose a little crud, and may itself be the thing that fixed the OP's problem, not the new fluid itself.

I dropped off a 12-pack of something tasty today just to check in and say thanks. The mechanic replaced the transmission oil and not the clutch oil. .At the same time a couple of the other mechanics were there who shook their heads and made comments to the effect of "We've seen this before where changing the oil makes all the difference." Car still is running great.