“Possible R gear fault, driving permitted”

[raj_28]

Hi,

I’m new to the forum so a hello to all of you.

I recently ran into an issue with my Porsche 718 Boxster GTS (20 reg). As background, it’s 4 years old, done about 18500 miles, bought from an OPC and is under warranty.

I was driving north to Durham and, after about 200 miles of driving, the dash showed an amber warning “Possible R Gear Fault, driving permitted”. As it said, “driving permitted”, I continued to do so but the traffic slowed on the A1 to 40mph (roadworks) and the car started juddering and I realised it was stuck on 7th gear and about to stall. Somehow, I managed to keep it going and got onto the first exit after a hairy mile or so (you can imagine the abuse I would’ve got if it stalled in the middle of a single lane motorway). As I had to slow down to take the roundabout after the exit and the car was still stuck in 7th gear, it stalled; I was lucky enough to guide it slowly to the side, out of the way (mostly) of the high-speed traffic on the roundabout.

Safely on the side, I googled the fault with no real help other than some contributors mentioning that they had had the same issue and if the car was switched off and restarted after about 15-30 mins, the fault disappeared. In some other cases, the folks pointed to a faulty PDK. I locked the car, unlocked after 20-25 minutes and restarted but, in addition to the above message, it started showing me an additional warning “Engine control fault, Consult dealer, driving permitted”. If the R gear was engaged, the “R” light on the dash would flash without engaging the reverse gear and, if the car was put in D, the 2nd gear would engage (not the first) with the “2” flashing on the dash. I tried this again after 30 mins with the same result. Please note, prior to driving away from home, I did not have any warning lights nor during my 7-month ownership.

I wouldn’t want to go into the details of the recovery other than to state that it was rather painful and it took the recovery guys 3 days to bring the Porsche back to my OPC in the South East. Now I’ve just received a message from the OPC that they’re unable to see or replicate the issue. Go figure…

Has anyone faced this issue? Any inputs will be most helpful.

Kid regards,

Raj

 

[Motorhead]

Hi Raj,

Sorry to hear about your troublesome - and potentially dangerous! - issue.

I assume that your dealer has interrogated the transmission using the Porsche PIWIS diagnostics and hasn’t found any error messages? Unfortunately there’s very little that can be done other than to recalibrate the PDK software, which you could ask your dealer to perform.

Hope that you get it sorted.

Jeff

 

[raj_28]

Thank you, Jeff. I assume they would’ve have plugged in the PIWIS as just looking at the dash lights wouldn’t really be appropriate to reach a conclusion. However, I’ll ask them and also pass on your recommendation on the PDK software. Need to be mindful that I don’t hurt their egos in the process

Thanks again.
Raj

 

[Motorhead]

Ha,ha! I wouldn’t worry about that Raj. I’d just ask them if - as a matter of course - they’ve recalibrated the transmission.

Good luck!

Jeff

 

[malarcy]

Thank you, Jeff. I assume they would’ve have plugged in the PIWIS as just looking at the dash lights wouldn’t really be appropriate to reach a conclusion. However, I’ll ask them and also pass on your recommendation on the PDK software. Need to be mindful that I don’t hurt their egos in the process

Thanks again.
Raj

Personally - I wouldn't assume that they had plugged in the diags. No experience of that OPC and I have had good service from my local one - but I have had several issues with main dealers over the years who simply treat everyone as a liar and/or idiot. - and Audi service manager told me the stability control warning that was on the dash was caused by "whichever monkey fitted your phone kit" - where said phone kit was simply a plastic cradle that clipped into the airvent - didn't even have any wires in it.

I would suggest an email to the service manager, asking them to details the diagnostics they ran and any codes found and then ask them if the followed any of the Guided Fault Finding procedures that the PIWIS software provides for tracing faults ( sure - there may not be a G.F.F. procedure for your particular scenario - but chances are they haven't got that far.)

I would then ask them since they cannot reproduce the immediate problem and assuming they have exhausted the diagnostics procedures have they referred the issue to Porsche GB and or the mothership.

Don't let them just pretend to do stuff - ask them for the steps they have taken. Typically an investigation into a warranty covered issue goes "we will run a test and investigate, if we find a problem covered by warranty then you won't be charged for the investigaiton" - in my opinion - if they didn't charge you then they did no more than look through the window to see if there were lights on

 

[raj_28]

Thank you. I had received an email from the OPC on Friday, requesting more details on the fault. I outlined the completed sequence of events as above. Haven’t heard back from them as yet. If I don’t hear back by this afternoon, I’ll ask them the questions you noted above .

Thanks again.

 

[raj_28]

As an update, i received the following email from the OPC:

“Very frustratingly the warnings are not occurring now and with no permanent fault codes having been recorded in the event memory. The next step recommendations from our workshop are to carry out some road testing to see if we can reproduce the concerns. To do this, would you be happy for our workshop manager to carry out some overnight testing putting some but little mileage on the clock to try and experience the warnings with our diagnostic equipment plugged in?”

My response:

“Thank you for getting back to me. I’m happy for you / the workshop manager to carry out the testing with the diagnostic equipment plugged in. However, out of curiosity, the PIWIS (assume you’ve already done this?) has not thrown up any fault codes and nothing recorded in the event memory? That is rather strange. And nothing in the GFF procedures to track / remediate such faults?

I would also request you, and you’re the expert here, to please update the software or reset it, if the software is the latest version.

Please do let me know how the test goes.”

Will let you know the outcome of the latest round of tests.

Kind regards,
Raj

 

[Motorhead]

A sensible approach I think Raj, and at least your dealer does appear to be engaging with the problem. Intermittent faults are always a bit of a nightmare to tackle, but potentially yours is a safety issue which needs to be investigated fully and resolved so that you can have confidence when driving the car.

Let’s hope you get some good news. Keep us posted.

Jeff

 

[raj_28]

Update:

The technician took it for an extended road test today (60+ miles per the PVTS!) and was able to replicate the reported concerns. They will now investigate further.

I’ll keep you abreast of further developments.

 

[malarcy]

That’s good news. Armed with that then it’s over to them to resolve.

Not wishing to be “that guy” but personally would be looking to see what the options for a replacement vehicle are (you may not need it but the cost of providing you a car helps focus the attention on fixing yours). You could be looking at a replacement gearbox which will have a lead time and take a few days to install.

I am all for working with a dealer in these circumstances but setting an expectation and keeping them honest doesn’t hurt in my opinion.

 

[raj_28]

Thanks. When my car was recovered to the dealership, I was told that I could get a courtesy car via Porsche Assist only, as cars in for recovery are not covered for a replacement from the dealership. Not really requiring a replacement, I let it pass.

Anyway, based on your suggestion , I’ve emailed the OPC to understand what my options are. In all likelihood, they might direct me to the Porsche Assist.

PS: unrelated to Porsche, received a letter from Audi yesterday on a recall for my plug-in hybrid… 2025 has commenced on a rather dour note for my vehicles