For anyone who owns a Porsche with a tiptronic transmission, in my opinion, I would HIGHLY suggest you write off Porsche's first recommended tiptronic fluid change at 120,000 (180,000 km) or 12 years.
I don't want to scare any of you who own a Tiptronic, but mine had signs of kicking the can when I got the "Tiptronic Emergency Run" red dash warning notification about a month ago. Well, after being lied to by the Porsche dealer with what is wrong with it. I took matters into my own hands. I finally got around to draining the fluid and pulling the filter out. This is what my transmission oil looks like after ~2 years and 28k miles:
No, I did not pull the wrong plug, this is the Automatic transmission fluid
![Image]()
Not only does it look burnt but it reeked of burnt transmission fluid.
Quick notes:
As the initial fluid started to pour out and avoiding passing out from the shock of how my fluid looked, I ran my fingers through the oil that has been sitting near the drain plug (my car has been sitting for ~3 weeks undriven). The oil had metal in it. It was by no means on the grain size of sand, but rather I would describe it as if the metal in the oil was like a fine powder, almost like flour, so that was the size of the particles I was finding and feeling between my fingers when rubbing them together. I assumed this as moderately normal? I can't expect zero wear afterall...
Here is the pan:
![Image]()
Here is a close up of some of the metallic sludge that the magnets picked up:
![Image]()
.
Shocker No.2, let's have a look at the filter after 2 years and 28k miles...
![Image]()
![Image]()
![Image]()
This is what a brand new filter looks like...
![Image]()
SCARY!!!
If you drive a tiptronic here is my advice...
Look, I drive the HELL out of my car. I'm considering applying for a job that puts cars through rigorous tests. :hilarious: If it's not raining or if there is not snow on the ground, my transmission is running the gears to redline, blipping downshifts, and being driven like it was stolen. It's a Porsche, and mine is stripped out with race seats and harnesses, it's going to be driven hard.
So I will be fair and consider myself as an "outlier" Porsche tiptronic transmission owner. I'm sure most just showboat around in theirs. Not me. With all this being said, I would consider that you at least change your ATF fluid before 12 years or 120,000 miles. If you dive your car hard I would consider changing it at most every 20k miles. For me, if I can now fix my broken transmission, it will be changed every year or 10k miles. Whatever comes first. I already change my 3.4L engine oil every 5k miles even though it's recommended every 20k miles :crazy:
Please don't let your transmission break like mine after only 68k miles when Porsche boasts about them as being "bulletproof." I always have to ask if it's "golfguy11800-proof"
My car currently has 68k miles on it and the first transmission fluid and filter change was performed at 40k miles 2 years ago. Thank God!
Note: When I ran my fingers through the oil after it ALL drained out, it appeared very smooth between my fingers and there were no metallic grains that could be felt. It just seemed like a case of severely burnt transmission fluid.
For those who have been following my "http://www.planet-9.com/cayman-boxster-problems-complaints/76630-end-golden-era.html" thread... The filter looked so dirty and so clogged that I won't be surprised if a new filter and fluid fixes the problem. But we'll see... My fingers are extra crossed.
Again, all of you with tiptronic transmissions have been warned!!! Do not let my broken transmission rest in vain!
Happy driving everyone,
cheers
I've been having some after thoughts as well as to why my transmission fluid could have burned this fast and I thought about my race headers on the car. I have full catless race headers on my car and have been running those for 2 years now I think. Perhaps the added heat from the headers with a lack of heat shield could have escalated my transmission problem. Again, I drive my car very hard so those manifolds glow all the time. My car is also lowered on coilovers and I just remembered that the bottom black rubber "intake" vents that run near the engine have been ripped off. So that's another source of heat, well, retardation of that heat dissipation.
I don't want to scare any of you who own a Tiptronic, but mine had signs of kicking the can when I got the "Tiptronic Emergency Run" red dash warning notification about a month ago. Well, after being lied to by the Porsche dealer with what is wrong with it. I took matters into my own hands. I finally got around to draining the fluid and pulling the filter out. This is what my transmission oil looks like after ~2 years and 28k miles:
No, I did not pull the wrong plug, this is the Automatic transmission fluid
Not only does it look burnt but it reeked of burnt transmission fluid.
Quick notes:
As the initial fluid started to pour out and avoiding passing out from the shock of how my fluid looked, I ran my fingers through the oil that has been sitting near the drain plug (my car has been sitting for ~3 weeks undriven). The oil had metal in it. It was by no means on the grain size of sand, but rather I would describe it as if the metal in the oil was like a fine powder, almost like flour, so that was the size of the particles I was finding and feeling between my fingers when rubbing them together. I assumed this as moderately normal? I can't expect zero wear afterall...
Here is the pan:
Here is a close up of some of the metallic sludge that the magnets picked up:
Shocker No.2, let's have a look at the filter after 2 years and 28k miles...
This is what a brand new filter looks like...
SCARY!!!
If you drive a tiptronic here is my advice...
Look, I drive the HELL out of my car. I'm considering applying for a job that puts cars through rigorous tests. :hilarious: If it's not raining or if there is not snow on the ground, my transmission is running the gears to redline, blipping downshifts, and being driven like it was stolen. It's a Porsche, and mine is stripped out with race seats and harnesses, it's going to be driven hard.
So I will be fair and consider myself as an "outlier" Porsche tiptronic transmission owner. I'm sure most just showboat around in theirs. Not me. With all this being said, I would consider that you at least change your ATF fluid before 12 years or 120,000 miles. If you dive your car hard I would consider changing it at most every 20k miles. For me, if I can now fix my broken transmission, it will be changed every year or 10k miles. Whatever comes first. I already change my 3.4L engine oil every 5k miles even though it's recommended every 20k miles :crazy:
Please don't let your transmission break like mine after only 68k miles when Porsche boasts about them as being "bulletproof." I always have to ask if it's "golfguy11800-proof"
My car currently has 68k miles on it and the first transmission fluid and filter change was performed at 40k miles 2 years ago. Thank God!
Note: When I ran my fingers through the oil after it ALL drained out, it appeared very smooth between my fingers and there were no metallic grains that could be felt. It just seemed like a case of severely burnt transmission fluid.
For those who have been following my "http://www.planet-9.com/cayman-boxster-problems-complaints/76630-end-golden-era.html" thread... The filter looked so dirty and so clogged that I won't be surprised if a new filter and fluid fixes the problem. But we'll see... My fingers are extra crossed.
Again, all of you with tiptronic transmissions have been warned!!! Do not let my broken transmission rest in vain!
Happy driving everyone,
cheers
I've been having some after thoughts as well as to why my transmission fluid could have burned this fast and I thought about my race headers on the car. I have full catless race headers on my car and have been running those for 2 years now I think. Perhaps the added heat from the headers with a lack of heat shield could have escalated my transmission problem. Again, I drive my car very hard so those manifolds glow all the time. My car is also lowered on coilovers and I just remembered that the bottom black rubber "intake" vents that run near the engine have been ripped off. So that's another source of heat, well, retardation of that heat dissipation.
