Fixing a Leaking Sportomatic .... (or, "Wouldn't You Like to Convert to a 5 Speed Manual???)

We started noticing a problem under acceleration on freeway onramps and up hills.  The normally crisp acceleration was not there and the tachometer was increasing out of proportion with the speed.  Obviously something was slipping in the transmission.  Backing off acceleration brought it back under control.  Time to visit the mechanics ...

After disassembly a leaking seal in the sportomatic was diagnosed.  The relatively small leak was allowing oil to get into the clutch chamber, moisten the clutch plate, and allowing the disk to slip.  A relatively simple fix.  A replacement set of seals was ordered all around for good measure.  However, only the initial one was readily available and as we needed our daily driver back we opted to reassemble and get on our way, big mistake.  

In taking the thing apart one of the larger seals had been disturbed.  We found this out upon returning to the car to find an oil slick under that car large enough to bring the Federal EPA and BayKeeper down on our heads for poisoning the fish from the San Francisco Bay to the Farallon Islands.  Return to the mechanic, seal still not available, lets try some glue to hold seal in place.  This is about the time the mutterings of converting to a 5 speed manual starts.

A few days and another oil slick later and we were back.  No-one around here has the seal.  I start calling far and wide, everyone I talk to asks "why not just convert to a 5 speed, that is what 'everyone' does."  Ok, no go in the US front, lets order from Germany, order is placed.  We are taking a vacation to France, maybe we could take the train to Germany and ....  Karen puts the kabosh on that, nothing is getting in the way of dining, museums, and shopping in Paris, much less a trip to Germany for a stinking tranny seal ...  We return from France, still no seal, start calling around, turns out Porsche is not making the seal any more but never took it out of their ordering system, you can order it, it will just never arrive. 

Figure OK, we used to own a British car.  These guys are masters at figuring this kinda thing out (delinquent manufacturers and leaking oil seals being their stock in trade).  Five minutes after we call our British connection he has a genuine Porsche seal on its way to the mechanics.  Seal is put in, engine and tranny mated up and put back in car one more time and away we go ...

Pain in the butt, but the car's character is wrapped up in being a Sportomatic in our mind, if we had to convert it we'd just have to sell it and buy something newer.  This is one Porsche that has that inestimable quality that brings out the British car lover, 'Character.'  And its 'character' is partially defined by its transmission.