Under normal "D" mode, I have noticed that by default the car starts out in 2nd gear from a stop. also, when cruising the transmission always rolls up two gears and I find myself on the brakes way too often.

On my now-departed Dinan 330i, I upgraded the tranny with the Dinan software which allowed the car to start from 1st and held the gears until a higher rpm had been obtained, and also downshifted the trans much quicker when slowing down.

Are there any software upgrades or tweaks avail for the 996 tiptronic?

(yeh, yeah.. I know.. A stick woulda been more satisfying, but hey I got a great deal and it's still fun.)

 

I've read that the Tiptronic will adapt to your driving style, so if you drive aggresively, repeatedly for an extended period of time, it will adapt to shift according to your driving style. Or, for an instant soution, I think you could get the dealer to reprogram it for you.

I'm just recalling from what I read on other forums, I don't know if this info is accurate or not.

 

Thanks- When i bought the car, the seller took it to Porsche for a thorough inspection (Dallas Porsche dealership).
They decided that the tip was not behaving as expected and replaced the module ($1500, the seller picked up the tab, nice guy!).

So maybe it just has some 'default' factory settings? I swear I only know how to drive one way (let's call it "spirited"...heh), and it has not shown any signs of adaptation in D.

Guess i'll call the local P dealer and see what they say... If it is in fact programmable, that would be awesome.

 

Cool, let us know how it goes. Or, you could always drive it in Manual mode.

 

I just had a read-though of the full service manual (courtesy of renntech.org), which describes the complete operational methodology of the MY02 996 tiptronic trans in great detail.

so yeah, mine is not behaving like the manual states so I will have to take it it for a check.
The tip is operating smoothly, just is not acting performance-like in D.

I do use the manual mode often but on lazy days in "D" I at least like to hit the gas and start out from 1st instead of 2nd all of the time, and come out of a corner in the proper lower gear.

i will post more as I find out more...

 

actually- I found this out from the service information manual which describes the tiptronic operational characteristics:

? Warm-up map
A warm-up map which is activated at engine
temperatures < 32 °C is integrated in the
stepless shift map adaptation. In the warmup
map, the shift-up points are offset to
higher engine speeds, the transmission starts
in 1st gear and the torque converter lockup
clutch is opened. If the reverse gear is engaged
during the warm-up phase, the vehicle
starts in a short reverse gear. These measures
result in both the engine and catalytic
converter rapidly reaching their operating
temperatures.
Unlike previous transmissions, the new Tiptronic
transmission shifts back into the first
gear if the vehicle is started in first gear and
then stopped again.
In addition, if the selector lever passes
through "N" as it is moved to a different position,
the first gear is always engaged for approx.
one second, irrespective of temperature.
If the vehicle is driven off during this
time, the transmission shifts into the first
gear.

Now, this i have confirmed is a much perkier driving mode, but unfortunately the tip switched back to 'sloggy 2nd gear mode' and did not hold the gears as high after the engine temp gets to 1/4 on the guage.

Ideally, if there is some way to DIY a button that tells the signal wire to place the tip back into warm-up map, this would be stellar.

Try it out with your tip when it is cold- Do a drive-off in D, and you will see what I mean. It is a noticeable difference.
The point that I italicised above does not seem to work for me when the car is warm, only when the car is cold, so I'm not sure if this is really supposed to work or not after the engine temp is over 32c.

Can anyone out there assist with tracking down the signal wire that tells the tip when the engine is over x degrees? also need to know how this wire receives the signal and what type of signal it is..
I'm willing to test this mod out on my car, if it pans out this mod might benefit a lot of tip drivers. It would be like having a 'Sport Mode' button.

 

I've never noticed the car driving off in 1st gear when it's cold, I'll pay attention next time...but it's not gonna be cold here for another 5-6 months!

My car always starts off in 2nd gear in D mode.
And when I approach corners, it is usually one gear too high.
When I'm driving, it usually shifts up too early.

What I do is I just flick the Tip button one gear down whenever I need it, like just before approaching a corner, accelerating, etc.
Not too hard at all, much easier than shifting a gear down in a 6speed-manual transmission!

I guess that's the way it's all set up. D for economy so it tries to always upshift for good fuel consumption, and M for the times when you want a spirited drive.

 

let me clarfiy on the temp, I meant when the engine is cold. If you fire up the car in the morning and drive off you should see the tip shifting from 1st for a few minutes at each complete stop until the engine hits the 1/4 mark on the temp gauge.
After it get's past the 1/4 mark on the engine temp it will change to 2nd gear mode.

 

Oh, Ok...I will pay attention to it tomorrow when I start her up.
From what I can recall, it has been on 2nd all the time, everytime that I looked,
but then again, I could have missed it completely when the engine was still cold, and just assumed that it was in 2nd.

 

YES, it did roll off in 1st gear today when I first started the car.
But only for less than a mile, on my next stop at the junction of my sub-division/main road, it started off in 2nd.

 

Yep, that is the case! Did you notice as well, that the tip held the gears much higher / longer before upshifting? I swear this is how it should be all the time.
It does not take long to get to operating temp so the warm-up map benefits are short lived.

Now here is the problem w/ modifying:

the signals to the tip computer for engine temp etc. are input by hi and lo CAN-bus signal wires, which can't be messed with directly. (I studied the tip electronics schematic last night).

SO- the only probable way to modify is for someone to come up with custom software to apply some of the warm-up map's characteristics to the overall system.
Which should be possible if the tiptronic software is programmable or re-loadable via the diagnostic interface- we do this with the engine software, Dinan does this with BMW tranny software.

I see $$ to be made here, if it is in fact possible to re-program the tip parameters with custom software.

 

It sounds like the car is in "upshift delay" mode when cold (holding gears higher and starting in first). Usually this is designed this way by many automakers to heat up the catalyst more quickly and get rid of "rich" emissions. Just my 2 cents worth.....

 

Yep, that is exactly correct and is stated somewhat similarly in the service information manual. However, this also makes the car much more fun to drive and noticeably more responsive.

 

So, now I start observing the gear in which the car rolls off from start...
I left it parked inside the garage at work, for about 5hrs.
(My drive to work was only 9miles...about 12mins)

When I left work today after 5hrs, the car started in 2nd.
How long does it take to "cool" things?

 

I guess that depends on how cold it is outside- the engine temp (and maybe the trans temp too) must be below 32c.
I park for 5 hrs, come out at lunch and the car starts in 2nd as well. I think with the relatively warmer temps outside it will take an overnight for everything to get below 32c and enter the warmup map on startup.