Tiptronic Issues - Advice?

[daver52]

Hi all, I searched before posting this but couldn't come up with what I'm looking for so hoping I may find someone who may be able to assist.

I'm 300 miles or so in to ownership of my 986 and loving it, warts and all. One issue that has come up recently is a reluctance for the Tiptronic gearbox to shift in manual mode. No issues with shifting in auto mode, and no indications of some of the gearbox issues I've read about on here that are identified through the lights on the dash holding at certain numbers/in D or flashing.

So thinking/hoping it's just the steering mounted rocker buttons that are not working properly, though unsure how to diagnose that myself. I can get it to shift perhaps 30% of the time with the left hand buttons, not at all with the right.

Anyone have any experience with this, or advice on how to diagnose further?

[Starter986]

That's a good question. I had my 98 Tip Tran rebuilt a couple years back... so this is my advice...

Don't disconnect the battery. You MAY/MIGHT/WANT to have the transmission codes read. Now... my trans tanked completely... and there was no way too replicate the problem to reveal codes. I'm just saying.

Next... have a trusted shop read the codes.

I'm thinking it's electrical-associated. You could pull the steering wheel... spends a lot of time hunting. Me, after my experience, would just take it in too have the codes read.

Wish I had more for you.

[husker boxster]

There was an old Wheeler Dealers episode (so old that Edd was the mechanic and they were in England) where Mike bought a 986 w/ Tip. The issue was either the Tip wouldn't shift automatically but would manually or vice versa. The fix was to change the trans fluid. Might want to track down the episode on YouTube and see if it matches your issues. Sorry I don't remember the exact specifics of the show, but it was 12+ yrs ago.

Good luck and welcome.

[azlvr]

Look at the light on dash to see if it’s in manual mode. Sometimes when I’m in manual mode it sometimes goes back to auto mode because console moves a bit. The manual switch is in the selector mechanism. Maybe the switch is bad.

[daver52]

Originally Posted by azlvr

Look at the light on dash to see if it’s in manual mode. Sometimes when I’m in manual mode it sometimes goes back to auto mode because console moves a bit. The manual switch is in the selector mechanism. Maybe the switch is bad.

Thanks, I did check this just to be sure and it's in manual mode, isn't bouncing/moving back.

Originally Posted by husker boxster

There was an old Wheeler Dealers episode (so old that Edd was the mechanic and they were in England) where Mike bought a 986 w/ Tip. The issue was either the Tip wouldn't shift automatically but would manually or vice versa. The fix was to change the trans fluid. Might want to track down the episode on YouTube and see if it matches your issues. Sorry I don't remember the exact specifics of the show, but it was 12+ yrs ago.

Good luck and welcome.

Thanks for this, will have a look and it might be a good idea to change the fluid regardless!

Originally Posted by Starter986

That's a good question. I had my 98 Tip Tran rebuilt a couple years back... so this is my advice...

Don't disconnect the battery. You MAY/MIGHT/WANT to have the transmission codes read. Now... my trans tanked completely... and there was no way too replicate the problem to reveal codes. I'm just saying.

Next... have a trusted shop read the codes.

I'm thinking it's electrical-associated. You could pull the steering wheel... spends a lot of time hunting. Me, after my experience, would just take it in too have the codes read.

Wish I had more for you.

No worries this is really helpful, thanks very much. I have some local Porsche specialists so see if I can get them to read the codes.

[daver52]

Just responding to this in case it comes up in someone's search later looking for a potential solution to a similar problem.

Firstly thanks to those that replied, I had gone out and tried a few other things to diagnose the problem and figured it must be related to the steering wheel switches as everything else related to the transmission was working fine. Then an unexpected and helpful eureka moment, the horn didn't work. So thought bingo, must be electrical.

Followed the steps online and removed the airbag to get in to the wiring underneath to see if there was something obvious that could be the issue, and luckily found that one of the wires for the horn was worn right through and hanging on by a little bit of the plastic cover.



I figured as it wasn't fully disconnected there must have been some times when the circuit was completed hence things working previously but intermittently. Anyway the wire quickly broke away completely so I pulled the spade connector out, stripped a bit of the wire back and fixed to to the connector. Put everything back in place and now the horn and shifter buttons work as they should.

Anyway will see how things fare with the fix for now, but massively appreciate the forum and this community for the resources/advice so I could (fingers crossed) sort this out.





A couple of quick things for people doing similar tasks (that I got from other posts but helpful to have in the same place as the above):
- the disconnected red/yellow wire in the last photo is supposed to be disconnected, so don't worry that it isn't where it should be (not sure how model specific this is, but mine is a 2003 S)
- don't do what I did, which is diconnect the battery and then close the bonnet! That was a split second moment of stupidity, but at least taught me how to release the bonnet with jumper cables and the connector in the fuse box