Fellow Porschefiles, I would like to know if anyone else has experienced a R & P type noise from their trans. Mine started about 4 months ago after a few track days. I've only had the car about 7 months and it has had some extensive mods done to it which obviously would put more wear/torque on the stock tranny. It has a motor swap to a 3.8 997 A91 DFI engine and a stage 2 TPC turbo. It has also had a Quaife differential installed at a Porsche dealer.The car only has 34000 miles and only 14000 since the diff has been changed. My questions are: Should I contact the Porsche dealer that performed the diff swap to see if there is any guarantee on their work? Or should I just bite the bullet and pull the tranny myself and pull the cover to see if there is anything obvious wrong with the R & P? The noise is not a constant noise like a bearing would make, it is only on accel and decell that it makes the noise.
Also, quick question: Can the tranny be pulled on a Cayman without removing the engine, it sure looks like it could.

Thanks in advance!!!

 

You could I guess take the car in and ask about a warranty but I don't hold out much hope one would be forthcoming. I would be very surprised if the dealer/Porsche would warranty the diff swap with the presence of a 3.8l 997 engine in the car. The engine's output is obviously quite a bit above that of the factory installed engine and its presence would have to invalidate any warranty.

I trust the fluid level in the tranny/diff is ok?

Reads like you are either going to have to live with the noise unless of course it is too bad to be comfortable with or open up the diff and probably remove the diff assembly and subject it to a rebuild to be sure everthing is ok before you install it back in the car.

The noise suggests the gear lash has opened up but I'm not up on what failure modes would result in gear lash changes other than in some diffs shims are used to set the lash and either one more shims have failed or a bearing has developed excessive play and this is allowing the gears to move out of their ideal engagement.

 

Macster, thanks for the input.
The noise is now loud enough that I won't drive it very much except to do more diagnosis before I tear into it. The fluid level is factory level. I have even changed it a couple of times using different fluid to see if it made any difference, no difference but getting louder. I ran it last week at an AutoX just to get some use out of it. I have checked the grease in the CV's just hoping one was dry making the noise to no avail. Since I have it torn down far enough to inspect the CV's, I will probably pull the ring gear cover and inspect the R & P to see if anything is obvious.
Still wondering, does the tranny come out without pulling the engine on a Cayman?

 

Both my Boxster -- to do an RMS years ago -- and my Turbo (ditto) have had their transmission dropped without having to remove the engine. (The Turbo has had is tranny out twice now: The first time to replace it under warranty, the 2nd time for the RMS.)

I think the recommendation is with the Boxster and this is probably true of your Cayman, once the stiffener panel is removed and some other hardware and the transmission out you do not want to lower the car and let its weight be supported by the tires/wheels. This can affect alignment.

With the Turbo the tech had to support the engine. The first time he used a very tall engine support jack. The car remained on the lift in the service bay the whole time awaiting the new transmission. The 2nd time the tech used an engine support bar that bolted to where the rear sway bar attaches to the car's chassis.

 

The differential can be changed with the trans axle in place as described here:
http://www.planet-9.com/reviews/caym...-987-club.html

Did your fluid have any metal in it? You might fit a magnetic drain plug. Good luck.

The engine stays in the Cayman when trans axle is removed. The engine has to be supported though.

 

Thanks Macster and r553 for the information. I will be pulling the diff assembly this weekend to visually inspect the R & P gears for anything abnormal.