Sportsmatic not going into gear while started

[CaliCarGuy]

Hey guys this is a solved issue that I wanted to share with the community for anyone in the future with similar issues. I did not find any help on this forum so I’m posting it now.

It’s a 1977 Porsche 911S 2.7L Sportsmatic Transmission

Owner passed away and bought it from the family as a non-runner was sitting for 10 years. after a lot of engine work the 2.7L was running smooth but Could not get into gear.

Went fine into gears while the engine was off but while the engine was started it was grinding and wouldn’t go into any gear at all.

So I red the factory Sportsmatic operation Manual and found out the is an automatic clutch that engages when you put your hand on the shifter it makes contact to a connector that engages the clutch, the con to that is if you touch the shifter while driving the engine will rev up, so then I noticed a small red button on the back of the knob shifter on my car so I pressed it… Wala! went into all the gears smoothly while pressing it. looks like someone did this either because the connectors failed or they just like keeping their hands on the shifter while driving. Either way it all worked out the car does run and drive now.

But you have to press that button right before you shift into any gears. Not sure how many people did this those days but wanted this
Information out there for the pelican family.

[Zuffenwerker]

Wow that’s pretty interesting. Not really a good idea because it will slow down shifting but an interesting solution to a shifter contact issue