carguy999

Hey guys, looking for some advice -

Dropped the car off today (997.1 3.6L manual) because there has been some notchiness to first and second which I read is normal, but also some grinding when going into fourth and fifth when cold. The dealership said the only thing we can do is replace the transmission, and the materials will be ~$9500 and roughly 10 hours of labor. They also said they found some metal in the transmission fluid which indicated the same. I had recently had the transmission fluid changed but I'm thinking maybe should have this changed again? I don't really have the tools or the space to work on a car myself so I am relying on dealerships and indy mechanics, but I am not sure how to verify anything anyone is saying about this. If they tested the fluid, they would have had to drain some out right? Does that make it more dangerous to drive on?

cdk4219

Change the fluid first to some redline or other high end synthetic before diving in.

ATX_Native

I would find a good Indy in your area for a second opinion.

Dealers normally won’t fix any internals, instead they will want to push you towards a whole new or remanufactured case.

Also dealers have eye watering prices, my local dealer charges near $400 for an oil change. lol, no.

4Driver4

I honestly had no idea that any 997's were still going to the dealer for work.

For a fluid change, I'd use the OEM stuff.

carguy999

I just had it in to wrap up a couple of items from the 60k service and just get a once-over by a mechanic I don't usually go to. My typical spot is a well-regarded local mechanic so I will definitely be seeing what they say.

groovzilla

I've had several 997's all higher mileage 70-90K miles and those cars all had original transmision and I had never heard of any transmission related issues until I purchased my current 06 997 C4.
The Carfax shows the Transmission in my car was replaced at 9000 miles. - Car currently has 107K and shifts as smooth as silk.

I'm wondering if previous owners of your car didn't service it properly or were hard on the transmission? Driving these cars with a failing clutch does damage to transmissions - Also hard shifts from Tracking

carguy999

Eh maybe, but from what I can gather previous owners took pretty good care of this car. IMS and RMS were replaced maybe 8000 miles ago and at that time the tech noted that the clutch was in good shape, did not warrant replacing, so I don't think the issue is driving with a worn clutch. Any tips for going forward though? I plan on hopefully keeping this car for a long long time.

Also hey when you say possibly didn't service the trans properly, what all needs to be done for transmission service?

groovzilla

Fluid change - Also change fluid in C4S is all wheel drive every 40K miles. But if your car has 60K miles fluid change shouldn't have caused the issue you experience.
I would suggest taking car to Indy or calling Indy and finding out what a rebuild costs if that is what is needed. Should be much better price than a new Transmission

It's really rare to hear of a MT Transmission issue - Especially syncro issues.
SOunds like the car was driven hard by previous owner---->I'm going to take a guess that the car was Tracked by a previous owner - Any documentation supporting that? Have you tracked the car?

carguy999

No track history that I know of, and I haven't tracked it though someday maybe!

carguy999

Do you have any links to the fluid(s) you might suggest?

Thanks in advance!

sandwedge

How many miles on the car? Can't say I've read every post on manual transmissions but this is the first I've read about replacing a manual due to malfunction. Different story with PDK's. And metal in the transmission fluid? I'm not a Porsche mechanic so as a novice I would hazard a guess that either the previous owner didn't know how to drive a manual and just beat the hell out of it on the street or on the track.

Second opinion is almost never a bad idea although it sounds like the way the transmission performs and with metal particles in the transmission fluid it's difficult not to rule out abuse of some kind in this case. For the cost of the oil change, I just had the "service now" light come on. Had the oil change and a brake fluid flush done by a very reputable indy for a total of $375. The owner of the shop drives a 997.1 so I have no worries about the quality of work.

Petza914

There is only 1 fluid to use in a manual 997, and that's MobilLube PTX. Nothing else works as well. It's one of the only fluids in any of my 7 Porsches where I don't use a lubricant offering from Driven because they don't have the right spec fluid and neither do most others. Just because you used something else in a different car (Redline, Motul, M1, etc) and had good results with it does not mean it's going to work as well in a 997 as PTX.

Grinding in multiple gears could also be a clutch issue and not a trans one. Definitely try the cheap stuff first as I've only heard of 1 MT failure here in 11 years.

Doug H

Probably just synchro letting go. Not exceedingly rare, yet not common. I replaced 3 transmissions on my 2006 Elise by 2008 that all had similar symptoms.

I once ignored the symptoms for 6 month to a year and it got to where I had no reverse and would only go in 1st, 3rd and 5th.

$9,500 is not a horrible price for a transmission. Those little Toyota gear boxes were $16k or $17,000.

i recall stories of bad synchros in the 997s over the years.

Pilot Sport 4S

On an 18k mile, manual 997.2 4S, the service schedule calls for the TF to be changed every 12 years or 120,000 miles, yet I've read posts where they indicate changing it every 2 years !? Should I be changing it this Spring ? Only slight observation is that it sometimes, very rarely, takes a second longer to get into first gear.

Petza914

Change it every 30k-45k miles, and at least every 60k miles. I wouldn't worry about the time with manual gearbox oil as its not like motor oil that gets combustion byproducts in it and lives in a closed environment.