Third gear started working again for no apparent reason.

[ditch68]

I posted last week that I changed all my shifter bushings, and then 3rd gear just stopped working - meaning, no matter what I did adjustment wise, it would pop out of gear with an application of throttle. But, I could downshift and decellerate in 3rd.. Odd.

901 trans popping out of 3rd gear

Well, this weekend I tuned and CLEANED the Webers with fantastic success. I then set out to try to figure out the 3rd gear issue. I tore the shifter apart completely, checked for wear, greased and reassembled. Nothing obvious there. Then, I readjusted the linkage again, no improvement.

Drove around town Saturday and Sunday a little, but nothing too serious.

Drove to work this morning, still popping out of gear. Well, on the drive home, I get to my freeway offramp, and downshift into 3rd, and it feels distinct and tight. So, I gingerly take a chance when I get down to about 35mph, and give it some throttle...

Holy cow...it stays in, and accellerates. I upshift to 4th, no problem.

Drove all the way home (5 more miles) in stoplight traffic, going through all the gears, up and down, and leaning on it a little, too.

It feels perfect - tight and positive engagement, just like all the other gears since the bushing job.

WTF?

I mean, I don't care, as long as it keeps working. But what is up? I have never has "pop out of gear" issues suddenly or intermittently. It is usually a wear out type thing, at least with all my VW's.

How curious.

Jeff

[john walker's workshop]

the spirits are with you.

[ditch68]

Thanks, John! Yeah, creepy. I think the car heard my gentle whimpers and tears, and felt guilty.

...and to add, I checked the trans mounts like you said, and they are fine. Odd.

I think I will drain and flush the transaxle, maybe there was a little piece of crap floating around in there that prevented full engagement.

Odd.

[euro911sc]

Just a thought... are your engine and tranny mounts tight? Are their respective bolts also tight? Perhaps there was excessive movement under accel that popped it out. now it has settle in a spot where that does not happen... until it unsettles itself again...

Another issue I had once was the bushing in the aft tunnel came loose.. turns out I had cross threaded the locking screw and thought it was tight as a drum when in fact it was loose as a goose...

Good luck!

-Michael

[poc533]

The gods must not like 3rd gear on the 915 tranny this weekend. I had the same problem during the POC club race at Fontana this Sunday. Regardless of what I tried I could not get the car into 3rd gear coming out of turn 9. 2nd 4th 5th no problem. 3rd gear would not engage..

After the race, driving around the paddock, 3rd worked fine. puzzling, I know


Thanks to this forum and discussions with others, the speculation is that my original motors mounts will not live to see 24 (car is an 86). While at it I am now planning on doing the bushings, the Wevo PSJ coupler the motor and tranny mounts and depending on my budget the Wevo shifter.

[MindtrapX]

If you are going to drain the tranny, you may want to pull the panel off on the bottom of the transmission toward the pass side & check your Shift Fork. I was having the same isses with my car, and turned out to be a pretty easy fix.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsche-911-technical-forum/458574-shifting-issues-driving-me-crazy-few-s-post4526711.html#post4526711

[john walker's workshop]

this is a 901, so the guide fork is a solid piece, unlike the 915.

[MindtrapX]

Originally Posted by john walker's workshop

this is a 901, so the guide fork is a solid piece, unlike the 915.

Oops, thanks for the correction. I didn't see a trans type in either post, should have checked into it a bit further before my reply.

[ditch68]

Sorry, Mindtrap. The only place I mentioned 901 was in the title of the old post...no fault of yours.

I will do the flush. How odd, the engine and trans mounts are tight. That is one thing I checked right away.

Stay tuned...my next post tomorrow may be laden with colorful metaphors describing my feelings about 3rd gear failing again...

Thanks for the replies!

POC533, I will be refurbishing all mounts soon. John, thanks for the insights...I will of corse keep everyone informed of my results.

Jeff