geolab

PLEASE SPREAD NEWS;

Our beloved 993 with the magnificent TIPTRONIC option is subject to a very serious problem that could endanger people.

The 993 uses the much acclaimed ZF tiptronic gearbox ZF4HP22 HL (rear wheel drive) modified by PORSCHE , BOSCH , and ZF to include the manual selector and later the upgraded tiptronic S gearbox.
All tiptronic gearboxes in a Porsche 964-993-968-996 etc are subject to
" premature forward clutch failure "

this is interpreted in a sudden, out of nothing, neutral clutch disfunction, thus
if you are in neutral and oil sips from converter to forward clutch, your car will be in gear. Your gear lever is on N or even in P and the car is in gear. There is an oil seal that is reputed to fail such that there is an upgrade kit for that.

I had the scare of my life, the parking space I have at work is between two pillars opposite my front wheels with rear of car to the wall. So I have to close the door to be able to drive out , between the two pillars. Last Friday, I installed the Dach 200 cell pipes, and in this parking, put the lever on Park and blipped the gas pedal about 50 times listeneing to the pipes, rpm going up to 4000 - 5000 - 6000. Driver's door full open and my left foot on the floor, I know lots of you do that.
Saturday morning went to friends house and found out he wasn't there, got in the car and started car, Reverse all is well, neutral I felt rpm low I bliped the throttle and the car jumped 10 meters.

Eversince, I put the car in park and accelerate, the car jumps like a mad dog, but a foot or two because wheels are locked mechanically. Even though
imagine it happened the day before with my leg outside the door and the pillar right next to the front wheel ??? the door would have chopped my foot away.
Please spread the news, we don't need a nightmare out of the impossible happening to a 993 owner.
I know a lot have a manual gearbox, and how many trust the neutral position, as in a manual gearbox, could you ever think the car could go in gear with lever in NEUTRAL?

Since saturday, the PST2 gave me ZERO ERROR CODES
and I was trying to find out all info, and this link summons all in pictures:

http://www.freddiestransmissions.com/html/danucci.html

don't know the house, but pictures tempting to send mine cross atlantic, to them, if someone with a texan accent could inquire about the price would be swell.

my 0.02cts, if you want to higher your revs in neutral, make sure all is clear in front, and your foot inside the car.......

regards

cdmdriver

Good to know! Thanks for the cautionary tale.

ga993

Thanks for the heads up.

MarkD

early version of launch control?

but seriously, thanks for the info!

AOW162435

George,
I hope you get this sorted. The shop you linked to looks like they do amazing work.

I think Freddie wants to help you:





Andreas

geolab

hello Andreas, thank you for the encouragement.
the link was easy to find, I googled; 'extreemly clean porsche auto transmission'

chris walrod

This is a great PSA, truly. Thanks for this.

Do you feel Porsche, with the cars of this age, will start a recall campaign?

MarkD

Freddie certainly documents his work well... I might be able to rebuild one after going through his pics. wow.

Howdy993

Thanks GEO!!

ltc

So a company called Independent Transmissions of Florida produces a kit for a known issue that PAG hasn't acknowledged nor produced a kit for?

That just seems odd, given the nature of PAG and # of transmissions in the field.

Texas993

Never heard of ole Freddy. But what a write up!

Geo, if you need me to help you with something, Freddy is about 20 minutes from me.

Birol

Unbelievable incroyablement !

Merci pour l'avertissement !

Canyon56

Freddie seems like an amazing guy and what a website! Geez, he seems to not only know his stuff but takes time to document it all on the web. Lots of info there.

And seems like a nice guy too. Even has time to do charity work.....

Don Plumley

Thanks for the info, I posted over on the Pelican forum.

geolab

re-reading the post, I maybe sounded like a young guy on car forums rushing to post info and show-off ...
While the rush part is true, that adrenalin was pumping through the fear I had.
Whenever I think about it, I imagine the car creeping in neutral, and the door crushing my leg.

Found many links , of which one particular DIY handling the issue cheaply

http://www.disgruntledgoat.com/conte...ar/ZF4HP22.php

Over the phone with ZF since yesterday, I await their conclusion and will post accordingly

Patrick thank you but I'll take a rain check on that, if that's all right.

Lewis, plenty of dubitative posts on the net over that kit, see DIY link above, but all swear by teflon upgraded seals (rings) instead of the metalic ones initially installed