David350

I was backing out of my garage this morning when I paused for a minute while I futzed with my phone. Car was in gear (reverse) and foot on the brake, maybe for 20 seconds. My driveway is short but has a nice slope to it. I took my foot of the brake and backed down the driveway. Turns out I was just coasting down because when I went to shift into drive, nothing engaged. I worked through the gears, nothing. No drive, no reverse basically stuck in neutral. The gear position dash indicator light would flash in each position. I shut the car off, start the car back up and I’m back in business. Shifts fine when driving. Someone point me in the right direction?

sandwedge

Identical to what I had on my -09 C4S. Shut the car down, started it back up and things were back to normal. Same exact thing happened again about a month later except this time things did not return to normal after shutting down 4 or 5 times and starting back up. Car would not move in any gear selected. So flatbed to the dealer. Was told the next day that the PDK had to be replaced at a cost of $14,000. I had an extended warranty so it only cost me the $250 deductible.

I should add that I had the " transmission emergency run" warning come on a couple of times a month or two before the events that led to the replacement. Noticed nothing out of order in terms of operation on either of the two times this warning came on. Shut the car down and started it back which got rid of the warning both times.

I don't mean to be an alarmist but like I said, your event was identical to mine which eventually led to the PDK replacement. Hopefully yours was nothing more than a one time glitch. Is your car under warranty?

David350

This is not what I wanted to hear. It’s a 2009 997.2S... no warranty. Ironically I was backing out to to take it in for service including the PDK. Were the gear position lights flashing when you shifted between gears? Feels like software to me but who knows.

sandwedge

I know it's not what you wanted to hear but felt I had to share my experience with you since they were so similar. As for the gear position lights flashing or not, I can't remember . It's been more than 4 years since I went through that and that car was sold shortly thereafter. And I think your software assumption is spot on. The fault codes the dealership managed to pull all pointed to software/electronic issues causing the failure.

As you probably know though, the dealers are very limited in terms of what they're allowed to repair on the PDK units so anything that requires opening the transmission up is off limits and it's full replacement instead which is what happened to me. Like my service advisor said....."could be a $200 electronic component but we're not allowed to go there". Frustrating since the PDK was introduced some 12 years ago. You'd think the dealerships would have more latitude by now. Maybe they do but it's not something I've heard or read about.

Have you ever had the "Transmission Emergency Run" light come on?

cwheeler

Find the, Guide to respiring a PDK transmission. It's an active thread currently. Lots of great info there.

Petza914

I wouldn't own a PDK car without an extended warranty and I never buy extended warranties. The potential for a PDK failure is what kept me from buying a Macan a couple years ago, and now the window has passed, as my wife is back to DDing her 997 since my daughter is now driving.

While it's still working, I'd sign up for an extended warranty.

Balr14

An extended warranty for a 997 can be very expensive, depending on age, coverage and mileage. Ideally, a drive train warranty would be all that is needed, as it is far cheaper. However, since almost all PDK issues are electronic failures, there has been some discussion about whether or not this would be covered by a drive train warranty.

David350

is there one you recommend?

David350

read through it last night, great write up. I’m relieved to see that PDK’s are rebuildable. Hopefully it won’t come to that.

David350

No the only message I received was “service now”. No countdown, no warning. The car just passed 60k mi and is getting serviced now.

The whole thing is very fishy. Cold start, reverse works, stop on incline (~30 degrees) gear disengages and wont reengage. It’s as if a sensor tripped and shut it down. Maybe because of fluid level on the incline. I don’t have a good service history so who knows.

Ironman88

Fidelity Warranty Services. The Platinum coverage is the top level.

Many here have worked with:
Michael Jourdan, Mossy Motors - New Orleans LA.
mjourdan@mossymotors.com

BLU997

Exactly why I waited for a .2 MT

Doug H

The problem is the pdk is way past due on service. Needs to be serviced every 6 years regardless of miles.

You are now at 11 years, almost double the service interval. Unfortunately, many are not doing their pdk service at 6 years regardless of miles as many are doing service stuff themselves or using Indies, many of which do not do pdk services.

PV997

David - Please get a code readout using a Durametric, PIWIS 2, or similar scan tool as there will be one stored from the service message (code should start with a "P"). It could be something as simple as a sensor malfunction at the gear shifter which is easy to access and relatively inexpensive to fix. It could also be a glitch in the CAN bus communication between the units. Last off (and hopefully not) it could be an intermittent fault with one of the sensors inside the PDK. These are rare and the PDK is very reliable, but they do happen.

Post the code once you get it as I've got all the factory diagnostic and t-shooting guides. Thanks for the kind comments on my PDK post, we are learning more and more about the PDK everyday and have a few success stories already with folks doing DIY repairs.

sandwedge

Same here for obvious reasons. And I thought the same thing about getting a policy while the PDK is still working. Going by the failure on my car, PDK failures can give advance warnings as I described with mine. Two "transmission emergency run" events prior to the failure, both which were easily cancelled out by turning the car off. In retrospect though I see those two events as a heads up that the transmission was not feeling well and that perhaps bigger issues could be ahead.