GT4 gearbox recall

[Steve Brookes]

Just thought I'd flag up the news that there is now an official recall to replace gearboxes on GT4s that were built with the welded 3rd gear rather than the original splined version. These are the later built cars that would have been registered in 2016. Your OPC will be able to check if yours needs to be changed. Or if they are proactive like mine (Wilmslow) they'll contact you about having it done.

Mine's booked in to get its new gearbox at the end of the month. Anyone else?

 

[Detrick63]

Yes I got a call on Tuesday so it's booked in the end on the month for two days with a loan car. On rennlist some posted their OPC would be changing the limited slip diff as part of the same recall, that wasn't mentioned in my case but when I get the pre booking call I'll ask.

 

[Motorhead]

Yes I got a call on Tuesday so it's booked in the end on the month for two days with a loan car. On rennlist some posted their OPC would be changing the limited slip diff as part of the same recall, that wasn't mentioned in my case but when I get the pre booking call I'll ask.

David,

I think that you'll find that you'll get a complete transaxle swap which will include the diff.

Jeff

 

[Detrick63]

It all sounds very expensive , I knew of the gearbox issues but only thought they would replace it only if anything happened , very proactive of Porsche still they did say that it would be covered by a new warranty.

 

[Steve Brookes]

Yes it's a good win for us owners...a new gearbox and and a new diff. Also good news for the dealerships as they get paid for doing the work.

I guess the big loser will be the gearbox manufacturers, Gertrag, who I guess will be footing the bill for the hardware.

 

[Brian_Innes]

Steve,

That's very good news for all welded 3rd gear GT4 owners.

When I first heard of the 3rd gear problems on GT4's I was astonished that the gearbox manufacturers Getrag, actually considered a weld to be satisfactory rather than splines. Having been a track day passenger in several GT4's I am well aware of the torque loadings on the gearbox during full throttle upshifts from 2nd to 3rd gears.

It took Porsche a while to make this a general recall on all affected GT4's. I wonder if it'll take a similar timescale for a Porsche recall to fit front radiator grills to the 718 GTS.

I hope your warranty transaxle swap is successfully completed before Oulton Park on March 8th.

Brian

 

[vitesse]

Well lots of things are electron beam welded these days including bronze worm wheels to their cast iron centres-there are plenty of sintered gears used but it all depends on the application-clearly Detrag got it wrong on these gearboxes either the rating or the production engineering or both!

I've also been pondering your general comments about protective intake grilles ,Brian & my simplistic analysis is that I can't see they would make any significant difference to the airflow arriving at & through the radiators.

In my opinion the airflow behaves according to Bernoullis Formulae when encountering "obstacles " in its path in that it the grille structure wouldn't stop that area of air flowing through the intake but merely accelerate the layers directly adjacent & affected by the grille cross section so that it joins up after the section with it's pre-grille layers & continues to the radiators-there may a little more turbulence but hardly likely or possible to reduce the cooling effect .

It's the same effect that causes the wings of aircraft to produce lift that allows them to fly as the air under the wing is at a higher pressure than the accelerated air above the wing so producing an upward lifting force.Overall,though all the air still passes the wing.

I did say -simplistic!I dare say one could make an adaptor to fit an air intake stick thin wool tufts around where it fits to the car ,then use a cold hairdryer to see whether fitting a grille leads to air spilling out rather than through the inlet compared to no grille.

i'll get my coat[8|][8|]

 

[Brian_Innes]

Thanks for the grill comments Vitesse. I think I just about got my head around that!

I quite agree on the point of airflow restriction being negligible, if at all, with grills fitted. It all depends upon Porsche's interpretation.

I am not optimistic about Porsche Chester being able to offer anything positive on the topic, but I have always taken the view that if you don't ask, you don't get. I had the same situation with my request for Michelin tyres on my new GTS. My car came with P-Zeros, and Porsche Chester went the extra mile and sourced a set of PS4S N0 tyres to swap them over. Whether or not I have the same success with my front grill request is a moot point. I'll post the result whenever I get it.

Brian

 

[Steve Brookes]

Steve,

That's very good news for all welded 3rd gear GT4 owners.

When I first heard of the 3rd gear problems on GT4's I was astonished that the gearbox manufacturers Getrag, actually considered a weld to be satisfactory rather than splines. Having been a track day passenger in several GT4's I am well aware of the torque loadings on the gearbox during full throttle upshifts from 2nd to 3rd gears.

It took Porsche a while to make this a general recall on all affected GT4's. I wonder if it'll take a similar timescale for a Porsche recall to fit front radiator grills to the 718 GTS.

I hope your warranty transaxle swap is successfully completed before Oulton Park on March 8th.

Brian

Yes I was concerned that the recall work could impact both on my planned trips to Oulton and Spa (1st April) but the gearbox is already in stock at my OPC and allocated to my car and will be fitted (3 days needed) in the last week of this month. So it's all looking good!

 

[vitesse]

You'll feel like a new man,Steve-but will it be as smooth a your "run in" box?

 

[Chris_James]

My re-call came this week and car is in to Brooklands to have it replaced. They say is is over a day's work and I assume it will include the diff, but will check when I pick it up.

 

[Motorhead]

Good to hear that UK owners are - at last! - getting the same treatment as their US counterparts where there have been a significant number of reported failures on tracked cars. There's been some debate as to whether or not the replacement transmissions are new or reconditioned units. I presume that decision will be part of the discussion between Porsche and their supplier, Getrag.

One interesting thing to note is that I believe the same transmission was used on the standard 981-series cars where the odd failure has been reported. The current recall is GT4 specific and could open a can of worms if there's a spate of 981 failures in the future.

Jeff

 

[Steve Brookes]

You'll feel like a new man,Steve-but will it be as smooth a your "run in" box?

You know me Colin..I am known as Mr Smooth! It's unlikely that I would have ever broken the welded gear but now not having to worry about it will be a bonus. []

 

[Capster]

When I asked about the warranty for the new gearbox I was told it only ran to the end of the existing 3 years, unless I took out an extended warranty after the original 3 years.

I would be interested to know what other club members have been told by their dealers.

I also asked the question was the replacement gearbox going to be a new gearbox or refurbished as I was also concerned about getting someone else’s gearbox that had possibly been heavily tracked previously, the reply I got was “as far as they are aware it will be a new gearbox”.

The reassurance of a new 3 year warranty on the gearbox would certainly give me peace of mind for the future reliability of the gearbox and Porsche’s confidence in the repair.

I suppose the obvious answer is to just pay for the extended warranty!!

 

[Brian_Innes]

A question.

Has it been confirmed the replacement GT4 gearboxes now have the 3rd gear shaft on splines?

Brian

 

[Motorhead]

Steven,

Isn't work carried out by any Dealership guaranteed for 2-years (you'd assume that includes any parts fitted)? Even if you don't get a 3-year warranty, you should have the benefit of 2-years. Worth asking.

Jeff

 

[Steve Brookes]

Brian,

Yes the recall letter says:

"We have been notified of a manufactures recall outstanding for your Porsche Cayman GT4. A 6-speed manual gearbox, in which the durability of the gear wheel for the 3^rd gear cannot be guaranteed over the entire service life of the vehicle.



We will replace the 6-speed manual transmission with a transmission with reinforced gear wheels."



I think we can take that as meaning the 3rd gear will revert to the splined version.



Capster,



This is a recall for cars that were supplied with the welded, weaker third gear. It's not a warranty thing. In theory, the car would not need to be still under warranty to qualify for the recall.

 

[Capster]

Steven,

Isn't work carried out by any Dealership guaranteed for 2-years (you'd assume that includes any parts fitted)? Even if you don't get a 3-year warranty, you should have the benefit of 2-years. Worth asking.

Jeff

Thanks Jeff for the reply, I will ask the question.

 

[Capster]

Capster, This is a recall for cars that were supplied with the welded, weaker third gear. It's not a warranty thing. In theory, the car would not need to be still under warranty to qualify for the recall.

Steve, thanks for the reply, my car is still under warranty until the end of July 2019. I did not realise however that a recall was treated differently so what in reality does that mean in the event anything goes wrong with the new gearbox in the future from a timescale perspective?

 

[Steve Brookes]

Capster, This is a recall for cars that were supplied with the welded, weaker third gear. It's not a warranty thing. In theory, the car would not need to be still under warranty to qualify for the recall.

Steve, thanks for the reply, my car is still under warranty until the end of July 2019. I did not realise however that a recall was treated differently so what in reality does that mean in the event anything goes wrong with the new gearbox in the future from a timescale perspective?

I'll start by saying that I don't exactly know! But from experiences of other recalls on other marques a replacement part (even though this is a big part!) usually comes with a 12 month guarantee. And that is usually parts only (not labour). If you re-new your warranty (I guess like most of us you will) that will also cover the gearbox (including labour for warranty work).

The unknown is will Porsche offer anything specific for the replacement gearbox? I'd like to think that it will come with a 3 year manufacturers guarantee from the point of fitting. Just like the rest of the car did when it was new. There is at least a president for this from the 991.1 GT3 engine failures. They're now guaranteed for 10 years. But even that is a bit muddy because if one of those fails after a couple of years and is replaced, I think you then only get the remaining 8 years of the guarantee i.e. you don't get another 10 years each time it is changed.

Hopefully they will tell us about what we will get with our gearboxes when we collect the cars after they are swapped.