996 tiptronic problem - Solved see update

Out for a drive today in my 1998 3.4 tiptronic, everything absolutely normal but then as I went round a left hand corner and accelerated the engine revs went high/screamed and I lost all gears and had to coast to a stop. No warning lights, engine starts and runs okay but it just won't engage any gears including reverse and no difference on manual. The gear selection does show on dashboard but it's just as if it was in neutral or what you'd expect with a clutch depressed. Where it happened I did not find any oil on road or other debris from my car. Because it happened on a Sunday I had to have it recovered back home. Has anyone any ideas as to what may be the problem and do you think I would be best putting it into a main dealer or would a good independent be the best bet? Thanks in advance. Update Turns out it was the main input shaft broken and then debris into the valve body.

Can't really help with diagnosing the fault. My first instinct would be to check fluid levels and then change fluids and filters in the transmission. Sounds very weird to go completely like that... Regards main dealer or indy, Personaly I go for an indy. Northway in Reading gets my vote (location dependent of course!)

Thanks. Had various suggestions now. These include fluid levels, oil pump, drive shaft, relays, multifunction switch. Spoke to my normal indie this morning and car is going to be recovered to his place (JGC Brackley) hopefully on Wednesday for a proper look and diagnosis. Will post eventual diagnosis on the forum in case others have same problem.

My Indy has been unable to identify the fault and believes it must be something gone wrong within the automatic gearbox but even if taking out the engine and gearbox he will not be able to repair it and I'll need to get it sent to a specialist. Can anyone recommend a good automatic gearbox specialist in the Oxfordshire or nearby area? Thanks.

Hi chap Autofarm just North of Oxford just off A34 Also people have spoken about Wrighttune I think it's called in Wallingford. Not sure where in Oxon you are Mark

Thanks Mark. Presently phoning around the various specialists. No one seems to have had problems with the tiptronic box and it seems I have just been unfortunate.

DSteve, Have you contacted Nine Excellence? They’re in Surrey and their website says that they have experience to diagnose and repair Tiptronic transmissions. The Tiptronic trans is a conventional ‘slush pump’ auto so a general auto transmission repairer may be able to assist you if the problem is purely mechanical. Jeff

I had issues with my Tiptronic box a couple of years ago and 9excellence were brilliant in sorting it - I cant very recommend them highly enough.

Thanks very much for the suggestion. I have been looking at a couple of possibilities, STA in Aylesbury and AJ Automatics near Dunstable. But its good to know of somewhere someone has actually used and I'll give them a call.

STA in Aylesbury have worked on my Tip box in the past. Really good guys!

Thanks. STA were on my shortlist but after a personal recommendation the car is as of yesterday at DW Performance in Wellingborough. Hopefully it will be sorted out in the next week or so. When I finally find out what the problem is I'll post it here in case anyone else has this issue.

Hi Steve Any news on your situation ? This gearbox is a very common Box , it's Actually a Mercedes Benz gearbox and are normally quite diagnosable , there are so many reasons for this but this should be relatively straight forward to pin point , A diagnostic Actual values check and system test should show up where to begin . It's providing the fluid pressure is present at the valve body then it could be just a solinoid valve . But like I said it could be a number of things , lets us know how you get on . Mark

Hi Mark The gearbox is a ZF automatic and apparently the problem was a broken main input shaft! A new part is now installed and the box is back together. It should be installed and tested ready for collection next Wednesday. Not sure exactly how the shaft broke and I'll asking a bit more about it when I pick the car up - and posting it here for the info of others.

Update Turns out it was the main input shaft broken but still problems when tested and finally found to be debris into the valve body.

This as happened to mine this morning. Same scenario too.

Very sorry to hear about your car. Is it definitely the shaft, perhaps you may find its something a lot cheaper? For your info I'll recap what happened with mine. At the first stage of getting it fixed I took it to my local Indie but he could not identify the problem without starting a strip down. I then might only have had the option of him sending the box off to be repaired (as he freely admitted he would not be able to rebuild the box if necessary), or get a refurbished one. The problem I saw with that was if the Indie put it all back together and there was a problem then I could have been involved in an arguement as to who would meet the cost of stripping the engine/gearbox out again. So I looked for someone who would be prepared to do the whole job from taking the car in and repairing, with guarantee. As it happened this was exactly what happened, the main shaft was repaired and the box looked ok, but when it was reinstalled it didn't work smoothly and it all had to come out again. The box was then sent off to a specialist for the valve body to be rebuilt. Even then there was a problem with a leak of the ATF which manifested itself after a 60 mile drive home. The car was then recovered back to the garage (at his cost) and from there back to the rebuild specialist. So altogether the engine/box was probably out of the car 3 times to fix. DW Performance in Wellingborough took on the job and gave me a 2 year guarantee, which was double what other automatic gearbox specialists were offering and of course they were just giving basic estimates for the rebuild without knowing that the shaft was broken. Good luck.

Cheers For the heads up. I’ll give them a bell.

Hello Steve The exact thing happened to my car today. Can you tell me what was all needed for the repair and what the cost was? Thanks Aaron

Hi Aaron Sorry to hear about the car. If it is the same problem I had, then my gearbox was/is a ZF automatic on a 1998 3.4 C2 tiptronic at 122k miles when it broke. The problem was a broken main input shaft. DW Performance requested a payment of about £1000 in April 2019 as a deposit and to cover the cost of purchasing the shaft. Although this seemed a bit unusual, as the engine and gearbox was out by then and although I had expected a one final bill, I made the payment. The transmission was rebuilt and I had a final balance to pay of about £2500. So in total about £3500 at 2019 prices. I've done over 6k miles since without problems. After the initial replacement of the shaft, the box still didn't work correctly due to swarf in the valve chest and so the engine had to come out again for flushing. There was also a problem with the fluid leaking. In all the box was out three times so I highly recommend getting someone prepared to do the full job rather than splitting it between a garage taking the box out and someone else rebuilding it. All the best.