crwarren11

Just curious if you ever had a fix to this? I am experiencing some similar issues.

The p/n for the inductive transmitter is 98632560800, $112.50 on Pelican.

In the process of troubleshooting a Tiptronic transmission issue (2000 Boxster Tiptronic, 92,000mi), of which you can read the history on this post: http://www.renntech.org/forums/topic/28941-serious-2000-boxster-problemplease-help/ To summarize, after losing all power to the wheels on Sunday, and the indicators flashing "D - 4", had the car towed home and I changed the ATF (following all proper procedures...I'm unfortunately quite familiar with that process). Still no power to the wheels (car is on jack stands, rear wheels are off the gound), and no "kick" into gear that I can normally feel when putting it into R or D. After reading some posts here, I unplugged the battery overnight to reset the ECU (seemed to have fixed others with similar problems). After replug on Tuesday, I had some power in D, minimal to no power in R...progress at least! Try again yesterday (Wednesday) and have good power in D (seemingly normal), more power in R (possibly normal), and feel the normal "kick" into each gear...promising! Switch over to M and no power...Arrrgh! Based on this, I believe this is all being caused by an electronic problem in the transmission control board(?). Not being very familiar with the Tip, I have what may be some elementary questions based on my experience yesterday: 1. In D, without the brake pressed and no gas pressed, both wheels initially spin (speedometer shows 10mph), but after ~30s the passenger wheel stops turning, while the driver's side wheel continues (speedometer still shows 10mph). Normal? Or is there a problem with my Diff? 2. In D, accelerate to 30-40mph, and car shifts into 3rd, sometimes 4th gear very smoothly, seems normal, both wheels spinning. 3. In N, without the brake pressed and no gas pressed, both wheels spin forward (speedometer shows 6mph), same thing happens after ~30s as mentioned in Q1. Normal? 4. In M, no power to wheels as mentioned above, but speedometer shows gradually increasing speed from the 10mph it showed in D, even though both wheels have stopped moving. WTF??? Since I had power in D, took it off jack stands and drove it out of the garage, made a quick loop at the end of the driveway and drove it back up and into its spot in the garage. My driveway is reasonably steep (~15deg) and everything seemed fine in that 1/10th of a mile. Waiting for a Durametric to arrive before I drive it too much more to see if it tells me anything important. I'll post codes as soon as I have them. Thoughts? Ideas? Help!?!

I ordered one of these shafts a while back (probably 2010) and it did not work for my 2000 Boxster. To be fair, I discussed it with Brian before and he was upfront about telling me that he did not know if it would work on my model and had never confirmed if it would or not, but I gave it a shot anyway and it didn't. So, unless there has been an update to the design, they don't work on the 2000 Boxsters from my experience. If someone has had these work on a 2000 Boxster, please let me know because I still have this part and would love to be able to adjust my clock without reseting the battery every start/end of daylight savings!

That is, of course, my fear! I made what may be considered a bit of progress yesterday. I unplugged the battery overnight to reset the ECU. Got some pretty good power in Drive, both in auto and M, but still limited power in R. Based on some of the other posts I've read regarding similar issues, I'm thinking (hoping) it may be an issue with the valves or pump. It acts like it's running dry, but I changed the ATF immediately after the tow (before resetting ECU), got ~4L out and put ~4L in, so it doesn't make sense that it is low, unless some stuck valves or something were causing the new ATF not to be circulated properly. I hope to recheck ATF levels tonight or very soon and see if it is somehow low. I have a Durametric on the way, too, even though I understand it may not tell me the transmission codes, I'm hoping it will tell me something worthwhile. Past that, if no progress, will drop the transmission and see if I can make any sense out of it...but that's a very long term project that I'm hoping to avoid!

I have driven the car now ~3k miles since the work above. Replaced the ATF two additional times to help further remove the contaminated ATF which was still in the torque converter over the past couple of months. The car was behaving normal until yesterday...drove in the morning perfect, drove to lunch perfect, left lunch, the car wouldn't get into gear. Got about 100ft onto the street and the lights started flashing on the gear selector gauge (I think it was back and forth b/w P and M). Had the car towed home and drained the ATF again, still contaminated with water from the initial problem, but not as bad as previous ATF changes I mentioned. Replaced with new ATF and car still won't get into gear. A couple of "odd" things from this experience compared to the previous issues: immediate issue with it not getting into gear (i.e. no gradual indication of something wrong); previously, anytime I changed the ATF it would immediately shift perfectly again, but not this time. Any ideas?

Project completed! Replaced both the engine oil cooler and the ATF cooler. Completed the ATF service, flushed/replaced the coolant, completed engine oil/filter change (oil was completely clean of any intermix). There will still be some ongoing work related to these issues as the ATF intermix will still be present in both the cooling system and the transmission since there was no good way to really flush it out. So, planning to do another couple rounds of ATF and coolant service just to remove even more of the intermix, but for now the car is running and shifting great. Got it smogged this morning and it's back on the road after almost two years to the day of being out of service! Many thanks again to those of you who helped. There was no obvious signs of an issue with the ATF cooler externally, so other than having it pressure tested for internal leaks, there isn't a good way for us to evaluate if that was definitely the problem. Even though all signs point to that. As a sanity check, are there any other potential sources of intermix in the ATF other than the cooler?

I've been there too...sounds like a coolant purge to me which I have had happen on very hot days (used to live in AZ). You don't need to remove the wheel to see the coolant overflow hose; it is visible from underneath the car and kind of jumps out at you because it's a hose with nothing attached to it (at least on the end you can see). The venting of the coolant can be caused by a blown heater valve (928-574-573-03) that runs ~$18 on Pelican. Reasonably easy to access and replace if you need to. But as ericinboca suggested, I'd just top it off and keep an eye on it for a few days to make sure nothing more is leaking. The only problem with that method is that it can sometimes vent when you don't realize it, then you're running around with no coolant, so keep an eye on the low-coolant light and your temperature. It always seemed to happen to me after I stopped and parked somewhere, though. If you're running hotter than usual then it may not be an isolated event and something that will require a fix. After a few of these events, I ended up replacing the entire reservoir tank, and never had that particular problem again.

That makes sense...thanks for the info!! ****!!

Ok, I definitely see what you mean now. The hoses on the picture are not easily accessible (without dropping the tranny), as they wrap around the back of the transmission, . So the latest idea is to pump new atf directly into the return line location on the mounting where we pulled the old ATF cooler from; assuming it will circulate through the transmission and then come back out the bottom where the switch unit is. On that note the switch unit is now completely dry of the intermix. Any idea if this implies that the torque converter has also drained? By the time we replace the ATF cooler and button everything up it will be about two weeks of being left open to drain.

Yep, I understand, but we'll try to rig something up to see if we can get some of it out. Otherwise I'll be in for another full ATF service very soon!!

Great, thanks.

Well I'm glad I can provide some intrigue at least! I was working off of this diagram and what I thought I could see from underneath the car. I got into removing the catalytic converter yesterday, which turned into a real pain, so haven't quite finished that step yet. Once that is done I should have a better idea of which of these lines I can access. I'm hoping, of course, to be able to leave the oil return line open, or disconnected somehow, to empty the system. I have a clear view to the heater valve (item 12), so figured I could identify each of the lines. Honestly haven't gotten that far yet, though. 16 is water supply line 17 is oil return line 18 is oil supply line 21 is water return line The repair manual is not very helpful on this one: Side question: do the oils from the differential and the transmission mix anywhere or are they closed systems in the Tiptronic? It sounds like in the manual transmissions that these systems use the same oil, but in the Tip they are different, and I'm assuming completely segregated?

One of the more interesting suggestions I found was to perform the refill procedure with the return line from the cooler disconnected to empty into a bucket. The sump would then pump the new fluid into the system (including the torque converter) while expelling the old fluid out of the return line. Would probably require more ATF, but would hopefully prevent having to do another full service in a month or two.

There is an ATF cooler and I can easily access the supply and return lines to/from the ATF pan. In fact, I will be replacing the ATF cooler as soon as my new one arrives. Once it is out, I susupect I could add ATF under pressure into the return lines and hopefully flush out the nasty stuff based on what you said. Does that seem correct?

Thanks guys. I will first do a check of the differential oil to see what kind of condition it is in, before committing to the full service.

I've been searching and haven't found any good DIY write-ups on changing the differential oil on a tiptronic boxster (986). Found several for the manual transmission. Anyone have this procedure or any tips for the tiptronic? I have the Porsche repair manual and it's pretty useless on this one!

I'm recovering from an intermix issue caused by a failed ATF cooler on a 2000 Boxster. Upon emptying the ATF and removing the pan and filter, it has become obvious that the lovely milkshake intermix is not easily removed. I have let it drain for a couple of days now with the filter removed, frequently wiping down the underside of the transmission, and it just keeps coming. Question is, is there a good way to "flush" out all of this milkshake out of the transmission?

One more question: is it ok to run the engine with the ATF pan and filter removed (trying to get some distilled water into the coolant system to begin the flushing process)?

I know you've all been eagerly waiting on the edge of your seats for an update on this. After a new baby and some other life changes I have finally been able to dedicate some much needed time to these issues. I have been fortunate enough to have a friend who has donated his fully stocked garage for my temporary use. Going on the suggestions of a few in this forum I got a new engine oil cooler and replaced it this weekend. Much to my relief there was no evidence of any coolant in the engine oil that came out of the oil cooler. Over the past couple days we drained all the coolant which had some, but not a lot of oil in it. As we emptied into our milk jugs for disposal the oil clearly separated from the coolant and it was not too much. The other thing I ordered were all the necessary parts to do a complete ATF flush, to try to resolve the shifting issues. We opened the drain plug and outcame the murky coffee mocha blend of oil and coolant that I've seen venting on occassion. As of now we are convinced that the intermix issue is coming from the ATF cooler, so I will look to purchase that part within the next week. It appears to be special order so it may be a couple of weeks until we can work on it again. I will also likely change the ATF cooler control valve which also sound like it is a source of many atf issues, so while we're there I figure it's worth the extra $20. A couple of questions for you guys: are there any other potential sources you can think of other than the ATF cooler which would cause the intermix ONLY in the ATF oil (i.e. not in the engine oil)? - Does anyone know any good ways to flush the transmission? We have left the pan off and the filter out and the intermix continues to drip out, even after many attempts to wipe down the bottom of the transmission. So hoping that by the time the new atf cooler gets here that enough of that gunk will be gone, but it would be great to flush it as much as possible. Next steps: replace atf cooler; complete atf service; flush/refill coolant; engine oil service. Anything else to recommend while we're doing these jobs? As always, thanks for everyone's help and input on this. It has been a great help!!

Sorry guys, but there really hasn't been any resolution to the problem yet. I've run into some other issues which have made it even more difficult to diagnose, mainly something with the transmission. Gears grinding, smoking in first gear, rough shifting throughout sequence. I have no idea how this could be related to the other issues, but it prevents me from doing any test drives for now. Still frustrated to no end. My car ran perfectly for the previous 9+ years of driving before this nightmare. Now everything seems to be going wrong. After discussing with some attorney friends it became apparent that the cost to pursue would be more than the cost to get a rebuilt engine. In addition, it is very difficult to do much, if any, forensics on this kind of thing to determine what actually caused the problem. Obviously, basic intuition suggests that a car running perfectly for 9+ years that then has a catastrophic failure within 20 miles of a shop doing work on it points to something the shop did wrong, but that's just not how our legal system works! In the mean time, I continue to tinker with what I can, trying to narrow down possible causes for continued problems, one at a time. The good news at this point is that the engine actually seems to be running very smoothly, but still finding oil in the coolant, and no coolant in the oil that I can see. Much of this could still be due to residual oil in the coolant lines, even though I have flushed it repeatedly.

I see. Thanks!

Thanks for the help. I will replace the oil cooler and water pump as soon as I can. These seem to be pretty straightforward DIYs from what I've read on this forum. Probably next year unless I run into some free time (and $) soon. Holidays, baby on the way, don't see a lot of tinkering time (or $) in the future. I heard a leakdown test runs ~$500...does that seem reasonable?

Hmm, got me thinking a bit more about the water pump. Before it goes bad, I seem to recall someone mentioning that you may hear a "whining" noise coming from the passenger side? I haven't heard it lately, but I do recall hearing this a couple of months ago. It sounded like I had a leaf caught in what I thought was the secondary blower. I heard it on startup but then it would go away after a few minutes, so I didn't think much of it. It was pretty consistent on startup, though, before I had my major meltdown. I also took some videos yesterday of the engine running, so I will try to get those up on youtube for viewing.

Interesting...I've been having problems with the Tip lately. Very hard shifting, my symptoms sound very similar to those in this post: http://www.renntech.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=28380 . Any chance that these problems are related to the shift cable? Thanks for your help!