2010 Porsche Panamera 4S Transmission Removal

[bimmertech]

First post on a forum, spent lots of time scavenging information from them but have never made a post to benefit others such as myself to scavenge information from- excuse me if there is lack of information or if instructions jump around- I am a technician not an author.
Note, you will need a lift for this procedure. I am all for DIY and being capable of accomplishing repairs from your driveway- however I do not see this task even remotely possible to achieve with only jackstands.
Remove all the undershielding from the vehicle. Several T25's, few T30's, 10mm plastic nuts, and 10mm bolts (that I do not believe were factory). All undershielding. Starting at the front underneath the subframe, then both long shields going along the sides of the vehicle, shield under the rear mufflers.
Remove exhaust components. Loosen both clamps at the rear of the catalytic converters until they can slide freely on the pipes. Remove 4x total 13mm bolts for hangers extension (two bolts each side for the hangers) at the side of the rear mufflers with a long extension. Two more hangers that use 4x total 13mm bolts on rear subframe- just in front of the rear differential. Remove center bracing- not sure if that is proper term for these parts- there is a W-ish shaped brace just below the front of the rear subframe held in with 2x 16mm bolts and 6x T40's. The brace that the 16mm bolts for the W shaped brace that was just removed will also need to be removed by removing the remaining 6x 16mm bolts. Now the big portion of the exhaust can hit the ground. Remove the brace at the rear of the front subframe- it also holds the sway bar bushings into place by removing 6x 16mm bolts and 4x 18mm bolts- some of the bolts you'll see will not be necessary to remove- there are access holes for other subframe bolts that will not need to be tampered with. This part was the least fun part of the whole procedure- removing the catalytic covnverters. Wedge your hand between the Left catalytic converter and the body of the vehicle, using a mid sized non ratcheting 12mm wrench with a slight angle to it, i was able to use my finger tips on the wrench to break the top bolt loose. You will need SMALL hands for this. After getting it loosened a bit, i switched to a stubby 12mm ratchet wrench to speed up the process- start with a non ratcheting though, i broke a gear wrench and the guts of the wrench became stuck on this un-accessible nut. I used the non- ratcheting wrench and a swivel 12mm socket to remove the remaining nuts with ease. The bracket at the top of the cat is held to it with a 13mm bolt. The bottom bracket is held to the transmission with 3x T40's. The Right cat will be removed very similar to the Left- the upper bracket to the cat is held by a 13mm on the bottom side of the pipe. The bracket is held to the trans with 2x t40's
Remove heat shields directly under the driveshaft with several 24mm nuts that cover some screws that stick out of the body lining all down the sides of the shields. There will be 2x t25 screws where the shields connect to one another just forward of the fuel cell.
Set transmission to nuetral. Assuming it is in park, use a long push pin removal tool and pop the shift cable loose from the lever on the transmission. Then slide the white piece of the cable up while you pull the cable loose from the bracket. Then pull the transmission linkage down all the way to a click/stop to set in nuetral.
Using an M12 triple square socket, remove all bolts from the drive shaft going into the transmission. Remove 3x e18 or 20's from the driveshaft going into the differential. Remove 2x 13mm bolts from the carrier in the middle of the driveshaft. Will likely need an assistant to hold the driveshaft while the rubber is pryed awat from the differential.
Disconnect transmission electronics. Two circular connections at the front of the transmission just above the trans pan and a sensor on the left side of the transmission.
Disconnect transmission lines on the right side of transmission above the front driveshaft. The plate that smashes the lines to the transmissions is held in by two t30's. I used a shortened t30 bit in a skinny bit driver using only my finger tips to remove the fastener towards the rear of that plate. For the front i used a 1/4" T30 just long enough to reach over the front driveshaft. Then used a long push pin removal tool to pop the lines out of the transmission.
Remove all but two e18 bolts- leave one bolt on each side installed until you have the transmission jack under the trans. Note- there are no torque converter bolts, usually that'd be the next step but it does not apply for this application. There are 4 directly at the top. I was able to remove them with a shorter length 1/2" drive ratchet while reaching over the top from where the cats were originally located. All the others are accessible, some requiring a small extension to get around some odd angles. 10x e18's of the same length in total.
Place transmission jack and secure transmission to the jack with a ratchet strap or chain- this is a HEAVY transmission. I had difficulty removing the front driveshaft, eventaully after wiggling the transmission towards the rear of the vehicle and wedging it in the transmission tunnel as far back as possible, i was able to just barely get the front shaft to clear and could drop the transmission straight down. Be cautious of your shift cable and front driveshaft snagging on the trans.

Let me know how to improve my posts to benefit the repair community, the lack of information for repairs is the hardest part of my job as a Euro technician- help me to do my part at making this information free for use to the public. Hope this helped. -Bimmertech, Stuttgart