PDK stuck in manual mode

If you reached this post in an emergency, scroll down to the paragraph that starts with " band-aid solution ." For everyone else, this post contains a call-to-action for willing owners. Thanks for reading! == Hello, I have a '12 987.2 PDK and have ran into an issue similar to this post, https://www.planet-9.com/threads/help-please-pdk-shifter-stuck-in-manual-position.86534/ . (Note: I'm starting a new thread because the former is old and no definitive solution was given other than replace some electrical parts, which doesn't seem to be the issue here.) Basically, the shift knob got stuck in "M"/manual mode after some spirited driving, meaning it could not be physically pushed over to the right side to be put back into "D"/drive mode. This essentially locked the car into drive. I tried restarting my car (thinking it was an electrical issue), and was greeted with a message on the dash telling me to put the car into neutral or park before starting it, which was not possible. This left me completely stranded. 🤦 Luckily, the transmission seemed to be mechanically in neutral as I was able to push the car both forwards and backwards to move it out of the way. Eventually (after getting an expensive tow off a mountain due to no cell service 😭), I learned through this post, https://www.718forum.com/threads/pdk-stuck-in-manual.17520/ , that 1) this issue seems to occur on all PDK Caymans generations at least up to 2018 718's, and 2) that there is a band-aid solution: [Band-aid solution] To summarize the post, the band-aid solution is to stick your head under the right rear of the car and push the lever connected to the right side of the transmission towards the front of the car using your hand. This lever is used to engage the parking pawl and is connected to a shift cable that runs from the gear shift assembly. It's routed similarly to the shift cables on manual transmission variants, i.e. through the firewall and over the engine. Based on the band-aid fix, it seems that moving the shift knob into manual mode causes the shift cable to become loose. This allows vibrations or air/debris to move the parking pawl lever towards the engaged position, which finally leads to the car being stuck in manual mode. Unfortunately, no-one seems to have a definitive answer on why this issue occurs and what the proper fix is. I had my friend test this on his '22 718 PDK and the issue was not reproducible so Porsche may have fixed this issue on later 718 MYs? There are several revisions of the 987 PDK gear shift assembly and one revision on the 981/718 assembly so it's a possibility. I'm planning on spending some time this weekend removing the center console trim to get a better look of how the shift cable connects to the assembly but in the meantime, I could use your help : I made a video outlining the issue and how you can test if your car is susceptible to the issue: It's the same procedure for all Cayman generations. I would greatly appreciate it if 987 PDK owners could try reproducing the issue for themselves and report back their findings. I will be doing the same in this thread as well as share my findings from the gear shift assembly teardown. Thanks and Happy New Year!

As promised, here's the update - I removed the center console and it seems the issue has to do with the assembly. Going to go further down the rabbithole and take apart the assembly to get to the root cause. Video here -

So I took apart the shift assembly and seems to be a poor design in the gear shift assembly causing the issue. (Note: The Porsche part number is 9G142601105.) Below I've included a technical breakdown of the issue. The shift knob is connected to a fulcrum which moves a plastic "tooth" on the opposite side. This plastic tooth seats into a plastic housing that connects to the parking pawl cable. When you move the shift knob from park to drive (towards the rear of the car), the tooth pushes the housing towards the front of the car (due to the fulcrum reversing your input), disengaging the parking pawl. The reverse is done for engaging the parking pawl. When you move the shift knob from drive into manual mode (to the left), the tooth is moved to the right and sits in a cutout. And this is the crux of the issue: while in the manual mode cutout, the tooth is completely disengaged from the housing which controls the position of the parking pawl cable, meaning the parking pawl cable is freely movable. Over time, vibrations and/or road debris hitting the parking pawl lever cause the parking pawl cable to be pushed backwards, therefore causing the housing to be pulled backwards, and the two cutouts for the shift tooth become misaligned, causing the shift tooth to become stuck in the manual mode cutout. A properly designed gear shift assembly should never allow the tooth to completely disengage from the parking pawl position control housing. Ideally, there would be some static plastic bits surrounding the tooth to keep the housing in place while the tooth is in the manual mode position. Again, I'd really appreciate it if someone could try replicating this issue in their own car just to confirm this is in fact a design issue. It doesn't take more than a minute to test for the problem as you can see in the first video I posted. Side note: It took quite a bit of extra force to manually push the parking pawl cable to engage the parking pawl, and this was done while the car was stationary, so I don't think there is any concern of the parking pawl accidentally engaging and destroying the transmission while you're driving in manual mode.

Hey, 987_2, I feel your pain and frustration following this. I wish I had a PDK just to be able to confirm this for you. Not even having a PDK , I’ve been reading your updates to stay abreast of this. There may be a day when I own a PDK , but simply learning the inner workings of these cars is a part time job and a lifelong obsession. Good luck with this ’sticky’ situation, and keep us posted. If this is an aftermarket unit hopefully the company will assist in remedying your issues.

Thanks for checking in, it's definitely been a bit of a journey and hoping I can get some closure on it. Also, sorry— I should have made it more clear, this is not an aftermarket unit. The part number is 9G1 426 011 05 and should be installed from factory on all 987.2 and 997.2 post-2009 (there was a revision to the original 2009 part in 2010). JOPP Automotive is the original equipment manufacturer for the 987/997 PDK gear shift assemblies.

Just got confirmation from a '11 CS owner that they are unable to move their parking pawl shift cable in manual mode. This means there's just something wrong with my car, either the gear shift assembly or something else. Going to order a new gear shift assembly and go from there.

Final update on this, I was unable to reproduce the issue on the used gear shift assembly I ordered, meaning it works! I successfully installed the working used gear shift assembly in my car, no programming needed. Problem solved for ~$100! 🎉 Out of curiosity, I opened up the working gear shift assembly to compare the internals to the defective unit's. Turns out there's just a piece of the assembly missing from the defective unit. It is a plastic tab with a spring that pushes into a notch on the opposite side (i.e. opposite to the manual mode cutout) of the metal piece that controls the position of the shift cable. When the car is in drive, the tooth pushes this tab back to allow the grey metal piece to slide backwards. When the car is in manual mode, the tooth releases this tab and it seats into the notch to hold the grey metal piece in place. I can't find this plastic tab anywhere in the defective assembly and don't see any way for it to escape, so I can only assume there was an assembly error from the factory. The defective gear shift assembly has a mfg date of 17.11.11 and a lot/unit number of 80226. Would be interested in taking a look at the internals of the gear shift assemblies of the 718 folks that ran into this issue to see if they have a similar manufacturing defect.

Gotta love it when a solution falls to hand like this - and that a member remembered to post the solution so others can learn and find it..