2001 996 C2 - Torque Converter Clutch Solenoid fault at PPI

[jdcooper]

Hello there -

I'm looking to buy my first Porsche ASAP. (I have been living in NYC/London and not needed a car, or I'd have had one sooner :) )

I found a particularly sharp and well-priced 2001 996 C2 on Craigslist, and the owner very kindly took it to The Rennshop in Santa Clara, CA for a PPI.

The car has 94k miles and had the engine replaced under warranty 24k miles ago. It is Tiptronic. It's got the Fister exhaust mod and a Fabspeed intake mod.

Everything was basically fine on the PPI except for three transmission faults:

1. Fault 82 for pressure regulator 3. This fault was of low frequency, intermittent, and not present.

2. Fault 81 for pressure regulator 2. This fault was of low frequency, intermittent, and not present.

3. Fault 70 for the Torque Converter Clutch Solenoid. This fault had a higher frequency and was listed as present.

The first two apparently are common and not to be overly worried about. The last one Marvin @ The Rennshop hasn't seen many times before. When I ask him about it he mentions that a transmission replacement is about $8k and he can't be sure what the cause is without taking the engine apart.

I find this worrisome. Reading about TCC solenoids in the context of other cars, it seems like driving with a failed TCC solenoid at best affects one's mileage and at worst causes near-term transmission failure.

Other than this issue, the car is lovely; it looks good, sounds good, drives well. But I'm not looking to eat a transmission.

Has anyone got experience with this TCC solenoid that they'd be willing to share? I'd appreciate it. Do you think I should pass on this car?

Thanks,

Jon

[phillipj]

There are so many good P cars out there now be patient and look around. There is no reason to buy one that you know may have an issue in the near future.

Keep looking until you find exactly what you want. Also one that passes all mechanical tests.

Just my 2 cents...

[Loren]

Hello there -

I'm looking to buy my first Porsche ASAP. (I have been living in NYC/London and not needed a car, or I'd have had one sooner :) )

I found a particularly sharp and well-priced 2001 996 C2 on Craigslist, and the owner very kindly took it to The Rennshop in Santa Clara, CA for a PPI.

The car has 94k miles and had the engine replaced under warranty 24k miles ago. It is Tiptronic. It's got the Fister exhaust mod and a Fabspeed intake mod.

Everything was basically fine on the PPI except for three transmission faults:

1. Fault 82 for pressure regulator 3. This fault was of low frequency, intermittent, and not present.

2. Fault 81 for pressure regulator 2. This fault was of low frequency, intermittent, and not present.

3. Fault 70 for the Torque Converter Clutch Solenoid. This fault had a higher frequency and was listed as present.

The first two apparently are common and not to be overly worried about. The last one Marvin @ The Rennshop hasn't seen many times before. When I ask him about it he mentions that a transmission replacement is about $8k and he can't be sure what the cause is without taking the engine apart.

I find this worrisome. Reading about TCC solenoids in the context of other cars, it seems like driving with a failed TCC solenoid at best affects one's mileage and at worst causes near-term transmission failure.

Other than this issue, the car is lovely; it looks good, sounds good, drives well. But I'm not looking to eat a transmission.

Has anyone got experience with this TCC solenoid that they'd be willing to share? I'd appreciate it. Do you think I should pass on this car?

Thanks,

Jon

:welcome:

Um... the number one cause of fault 70 (P0740) is low ATF fluid.

He should check the fill (at the proper temperature), top up as needed - reset the code and see if it comes back. Could be that simple.

[jdcooper]

Um... the number one cause of fault 70 (P0740) is low ATF fluid.

He should check the fill (at the proper temperature), top up as needed - reset the code and see if it comes back. Could be that simple.

Thanks very much for the quick reply - that's much appreciated. The seller had the 90k service performed at Stevens Creek Porsche in July 2008 and according to the Carfax the transmission was checked. The vehicle has 94k miles now. It's odd that the fluid would be low 4k miles after being checked, isn't it?

I gather that the most likely cause after low fluid levels is a bad pressure regulator. I'm coming around to phillipj's point of view: there are a lot of p-cars out there, why mess around with one that is definitely going to need some work in the near future?

Thanks again for the replies.

Jon

Edited March 31, 2009 by jdcooper