Porsche 997 repair a PDK Transmission using Chinese PIWIS 2

Car model and year: Porsche 997

 

Purpose: to repair a PDK Transmission

 

Porsche diagnostic tool: Chinese PIWIS 2 V18.1

I bought hardware only 365usd here

http://www.obdexpress.co.uk/wholesale/porsche-piws2-tester-ii.html

 

Got PIWIS 2 hooked up today. First impressions are that it's solidly built, the box is heavy duty with a brushed aluminum case and high quality cables. After I got through a few configuration issues (my fault not the unit's) it was communicating with my car and working beautifully. I read back the PDK real time sensor data, confirmed the maintenance capabilities (fluid change, calibration), found an old stored fault code, and read the over rev report (70 stage 1 and 6 stage 2, seems typical for a PDK). So far I'm pretty impressed. The ability to read the "actual values" rather than just fault codes should be a huge help in troubleshooting.

There have been a few reports of these units overheating so I may add a small 40mm fan to the box or perhaps a heatsink to the processor. It did not seem to get overly hot when I used it today and hopefully that issue has been resolved. If anyone is considering this the link up in comment #7 is what I followed and it worked great. Two items not documented there are to 1) enable virtualization in the BIOS and 2) add your username to the virtual box user group if using Linux.

 

I'm running it as a VM using Oracle's Virtual Box (free download) and have had no issues at all. I didn't want to deal with trying to keep XP running after all these years and the VM is a great alternative as it won't go obsolete. It's a little slow loading taking maybe twenty seconds at first but runs fine after that. My OS is Ubuntu Linux running on an eight year old HP laptop, it should also work fine on Windows from what I've read.

No obvious signs of overheating as the case was just slightly warm to the touch. However the internals may not have a good heat path so I'm going to run it with it open and check the parts with an IR thermometer. If needed I'll add some supplemental cooling. I'll post what I find. The unit I bought is a Samtec clone that is recommended as the better unit over the J2534 version in the posts I've found online.

 

A real PIWIS phones home to Porsche when it needs to program a device (such as programming a new key). These online modules are the clone version where the PIWIS clone phones home (to China in this case) to get some bootleg version. There are different modules depending on what needs to be programmed, and they charge you for this, I've read $200 per module. This seems really sketchy to me and I would not do it. You can use the PIWIS clone without this to read all real time data, perform troubleshooting activations, maintenance items, etc. without having these modules. It also appears that you can do minor programming modifications (as opposed to reprogramming) without the modules though I have not confirmed this. If you do want these online modules you probably have to buy their software version as I don't think the VM version I discuss above supports this function.

 

I was playing around with the "coding adaptations" function for the various systems last night and was pleasantly surprised with how many things can be changed. I didn't actually change any on my car (not that brave yet) but seeing they were there was encouraging. Regarding the software speed it actually seems to run a little faster when hooked to the car when compared to simulation for whatever reason. It's still not very fast though. The software came preset for the VM to use 1.5 GB of RAM and two processors, that can be changed in the VirtualBox settings menu. It might be worth playing around with it.

I'm going to try and capture the PDK solenoid current values in each gear today, I should be able to use that data to construct a solenoid truth table (i.e. maps solenoid positions to gear selection). I'll add that to the PDK post as it's a key missing item needed to t-shoot transmission problems. I'll post some screen shots if it works out. The fact that Porsche makes none of this info available (and has ZF bound to a confidentiality agreement) really stinks to high heaven. It does make me wonder about some of the flack I got when I started this thread. I'll be happy when folks openly laugh and roll their eyes when some dealer claims the car needs a $20k transmission because a $30 part failed.

If you haven't done so, check out the thread from stjoh linked above regarding his 987. He did his own calibration of a 987 PDK which is certainly encouraging and shows how these devices can be used to break dependency on the dealers.

 

If you save your settings prior to making changes I think you're pretty safe. I've used these PIWIS clones (a couple different models/sellers) to do a variety of tasks such as PDK calibration, PDK fill, Airbag module reset, Seat belt sensor override, TPMS disable on several models (986, 996, 987, 997, 981) with no issues.
Likely identical to the OEM parts. Great tool to have if you're working on these cars.

 

this is looking very encouraging. I'm running the software in simulation mode and found you can read the specific values for the various pdk sensors, here's a screenshot:

 

 

 

Those "11070" are simulated values as I'm not actually connected to the car.

This has already shown me I made an error as I thought the pressure regulator control was the same for the clutch and the gears and it's not. The clutch uses odd/even (1,3,5,7 and 2,4,6) whereas the gear shift uses the pattern shown above.

 

As to running the software I followed the directions below and they worked beautifully. I did need to enable virtualization in my BIOS. I'm running Linux but the post used windows and both seem to work fine.

 

As to using a Durametric, I know it can read the PDK error codes. Can it read the individual solenoid and sensor values? I've got the clone software running in simulation mode (have not got the hardware yet) and it gives me some very nice options such as this real time value readout. Those "distance position" measurements are the locations of the shift forks. Can you tell me if your Durametric does something similar? Their website regarding the PDK says it can read or clear codes but cannot read actual values, perform activations, or perfrom commands. I don't have a Durametric so I can't confirm this myself.

 

One thing I know the Durametric cannot do is perform the required fill procedure and transmission calibration needed after replacing parts. So for these you will have to go to a dealer (or an indy with a PIWIS or more likely a clone). The dealer would probably do it but there is no guarantee they will, particularly if a lot of people start showing up after fixing their own PDK. So we are again dependent on the whims of Porsche and what they tell their dealers to do. At the risk of starting another moral debate, I think this is really something worth considering. There are required procedures to get a repaired PDK back on the road that can only (currently) be done with a PIWIS.

At least running in simulation mode the clone does support these procedures as shown here. We'll see what happens when I actually get hooked with the hardware.

 

As to using a Durametric, I know it can read the PDK error codes. Can it read the individual solenoid and sensor values? I've got the clone software running in simulation mode (have not got the hardware yet) and it gives me some very nice options such as this real time value readout. Those "distance position" measurements are the locations of the shift forks. Can you tell me if your Durametric does something similar? Their website regarding the PDK says it can read or clear codes but cannot read actual values, perform activations, or perfrom commands. I don't have a Durametric so I can't confirm this myself.

 

Durametric can not read any Actual Values, Activations etc for the PDK, only read and reset fault codes. Something I could really use to troubleshoot an overtemp message on my new to me Spyder.

 

I've successfully used a PIWIS clone before to do the fill and calibration procedures on my Cayman.

 

Enjoy!

Source:http://blog.obdexpress.co.uk/2020/04/26/porsche-997-repair-a-pdk-transmission-using-piwis-2/