Transmission replaced - budget for fun things destroyed.

[3ball]

So I a while back when I posted odd behavior, i took my 04 CTT to the dealership in Mobile, AL.

Symptoms:

increasing frequency of denial to shift out of neutral at stoplights (would move to N and sit there), then would drop to first gear and burn all four tires snatching you across the intersection. VERY UNSAFE.

increasing frequency of shifting from any gear to 5th on easing off accelerator, for no reason at all, and refusing to go back (luckily I live in a flat city, or this would have been massively expensive for me and someone behind me)

They told me I needed a new transmission, and it would cost $8000+labor. I balked, since I drove it there, and drove it home. That's flat out insane. So instead I took it to a local transmission shop who replaced it with an porsche reman for under $6000. Still rough as hell, but it runs perfect now.

I haven't done anything crazy or out of the ordinary driving the car. I have a perfect service record. This will be my last Porsche ever, after this miserable experience. It took a lot of effort not to just offload the car for anything Japanese.

I'm very displeased with the entire experience. The only saving grace so far was I didn't require yet another trip back to the dealership. I can say that I was pleased with the dealership itself; their service personnel did seem polite though not very helpful in explaining the resolution besides "it aint workin! You want to write a check for a new transmission today?"

So for the immediate future, I've delayed my plans to modify the Cayenne's nav system. Luckily, I've designed the system independent of the platform, and have successfully tested it outside of the vehicle. I've designed it with open-source in mind, so anyone can put this system on their car/truck regardless of make or model. Code works fine for ipod and zune integration, *most* DVD playback (blu-ray hasn't been tested), mp3/wave/aac all work, and wireless access point through tethering a USB modem/phone works. Touchscreen is still difficult; I am trying to find someone will to code me a linux driver cheaply with little luck. But at least I made it that far...

[red_turbo]

So I a while back when I posted odd behavior, i took my 04 CTT to the dealership in Mobile, AL.

Symptoms:

increasing frequency of denial to shift out of neutral at stoplights (would move to N and sit there), then would drop to first gear and burn all four tires snatching you across the intersection. VERY UNSAFE.

increasing frequency of shifting from any gear to 5th on easing off accelerator, for no reason at all, and refusing to go back (luckily I live in a flat city, or this would have been massively expensive for me and someone behind me)

They told me I needed a new transmission, and it would cost $8000+labor. I balked, since I drove it there, and drove it home. That's flat out insane. So instead I took it to a local transmission shop who replaced it with an porsche reman for under $6000. Still rough as hell, but it runs perfect now.

I haven't done anything crazy or out of the ordinary driving the car. I have a perfect service record. This will be my last Porsche ever, after this miserable experience. It took a lot of effort not to just offload the car for anything Japanese.

I'm very displeased with the entire experience. The only saving grace so far was I didn't require yet another trip back to the dealership. I can say that I was pleased with the dealership itself; their service personnel did seem polite though not very helpful in explaining the resolution besides "it aint workin! You want to write a check for a new transmission today?"

So for the immediate future, I've delayed my plans to modify the Cayenne's nav system. Luckily, I've designed the system independent of the platform, and have successfully tested it outside of the vehicle. I've designed it with open-source in mind, so anyone can put this system on their car/truck regardless of make or model. Code works fine for ipod and zune integration, *most* DVD playback (blu-ray hasn't been tested), mp3/wave/aac all work, and wireless access point through tethering a USB modem/phone works. Touchscreen is still difficult; I am trying to find someone will to code me a linux driver cheaply with little luck. But at least I made it that far...

Sorry to hear your unfortunate experience! How many miles did your rig have? Losing a tranny is always a disheartening experience, my previous rig, lost its tranny at only 124k, which they've touted as having the "heavy duty Allison Transmission".. yeah right, I used it to tow TWICE and it blows up on me.

I've since purchased a daily driver with the hopes that I drive my CTT for pleasure trips and long journeys, but always have its reliability reputation in the back of my mind since I'm approaching 80k miles.

It really is disappointing to be part of a statistic.

[wvicary]

I hate to break it to you but Japanese transmission fails as well.

[schmidty]

I'm going to agree with the above that all manufactures have transmission failures. My grandparents' Honda accord (literally driven by an 85 year old woman) with perfect service history and less than 70k on the clock, had the transmission die earlier this year. Honda agreed to split the replacement transmission cost, but not the labor cost, since it was a known problem. Very disapointing given the extremely light use and low mileage on the vehicle and the widely held perception that Japanese equals reliable. But then again Toyota is having a rough go right now as well...

[3ball]

I was at 78k and change when it started acting odd. And I'm very sure I won't run across a Japanese car (outside a GT-R) that has a 7 thousand dollar transmission...

I've done some horrible, nasty, dirty things to a nissan stanza that should get me beaten by the engineers, and it still ran like a champ for another 6 years (and I never told my ex-gf about it either, man that was fun!). Based on my experience, I'd figure the Cayenne just had a few engineering flaws, which I expected, but not that I was prepared for. I am part to blame because I still love the CTT; it's staying in the stable. I'm just irritated.

What sort of driving behaviors cause automatic transmissions to fail? Could I have done something weird? I feel guilty, but I can't figure I did anything out of the ordinary. I did take TCS off about once or twice a week for fun...

[RFM]

As wvicary stated "Japanese transmissions fails as well" you have the best example, Cayenne automatic transmissions ARE Japanese made.

[TopGun2000]

As wvicary stated "Japanese transmissions fails as well" you have the best example, Cayenne automatic transmissions ARE Japanese made.

wow, im amazed

[TopGun2000]

I did take TCS off about once or twice a week for fun...

Wow, Cayenne shouldn't be a dedicated offroad machine. Being in dirt once or twice a week may be too much for its tranny. You should at least service your tranny on a regular basis.

I think you will probably be able to find a used tranny from a junk yard for about 2k ~ 3k.

Edited February 2, 2010 by TopGun2000

[phillipj]

Boy I guess that changes this thread in a big way :o

[wvicary]

I wouldn't consider this a common fault. Overall the Cayenne transmission seems to be very reliable except for some valve body problems in the early production run.

[the head]

Yep, transmission is an Aisin unit. TR-60SN, designation 09D for all wheel drive. You can see the exploded view here:

http://www.automaticchoice.com/Catalogue/aw_tr60sn.pdf